★★★ Strawberry Mansion is a trippy and bizarre film about a dream auditor (Kentucker Audley) sent to audit an old woman’s dreams that’s filled with muchness to the point of explosion. It tries to cram in so many ideas that it becomes overwhelming. Bizarre, poetic dialogue adds only a thin layer of understanding to the … Continue reading SFFILM 2021: Strawberry Mansion
SIFF 2021: Too Late
★★ Too Late is a horror comedy that fails to find the perfect balance of the two genres. A reliance on stale stand-up comedy acts to drive the story along is a bit lazy. For some reason, the constant ‘several weeks later’ passages of time and stand-up routines add the feel of vignettes. Occasionally, one … Continue reading SIFF 2021: Too Late
SBIFF 2021: We Burn Like This
★★★ I assumed We Burn Like This would delve deeper into heritage and Judaism in its exploration of a Holocaust survivor descendant. Instead, it focuses more on the lead’s relationship with religion than with Jewish culture. The new drama, part of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, is a modern coming of age story. It … Continue reading SBIFF 2021: We Burn Like This
SBIFF 2021: Coast
★★★★ Tender and rousing music adds flavor to Coast, the feature film debut of directors Jessica Hester and Derek Schweickart. On surface level, it’s a coming-of-age drama film about 16 year old Abby (Fatima Ptacek) as she figures out where she belongs in the world, while working on a hometown history paper. What does she … Continue reading SBIFF 2021: Coast
Panic Fest 2021: Captive
★★★★ Captive, formerly titled Katherine’s Lullaby, is a slow-burn horror/thriller from skilled writer/director Savvas Christou. Teenage runaway Lily (Tori Kostic), fleeing her abusive father, gets kidnapped and held against her will by a delusional older man (William Kircher) convinced she’s actually his daughter. In order to survive, Lily must play pretend for as long as … Continue reading Panic Fest 2021: Captive
SXSW 2021: The Fallout
★★★★ School shootings are a touchy topic for obvious reasons, covered to varying degrees of success in films like Elephant, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and The Dirties. 2021 Sundance Film Festival favorite, Mass, tackled this through the lens of the parents, and how they are affected emotionally. SXSW drama The Fallout similarly approaches … Continue reading SXSW 2021: The Fallout