Dozens of Norths (2021)

 

Kōji Yamamura‘s DOZENS OF NORTHS is a masterpiece that is several decades from when it should have come out. This glorious animated film should have come out in the 1970’s and 80’s when it’s dream like imagery would have made it a midnight movie favorite. Yea back then it was Rocky Horror, Eraserhead, Pink Flamingos and others like Fantastic Planet. Now imagine Eraserhead spawning with Fantastic Planet and you have a vague idea of what this is.

The film is a visualization of the journal of a man who visited various norths. However because time has addled his mind the various norths are jumbled and the film is trip through his broken memory.

While the images above and below give you an idea of what the film looks like it doesn’t really give you any clue what its like to watch this.  This is a trip into another universe. I was awestruck by the images and left staring when the film was done.

What had I just seen?

I don’t know but god damn I wanted to see it again as big as possible.

Seeing DOZENS OF NORTHS was one of the cinematic experience of the last few years.

WOW.

Track this down and see it.

THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER V and THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER (both 2022) Make Believe Seattle 3/26

There are a couple of tricks to watching these films.

Watch V first then 1. Try and watch them together. Also remember that the films are send ups of long running series from the 1980’s and 90’s.

The idea behind the films was that V was the only surviving film in a series that spun off from a 1980’s horror film about a serial killer who survived his execution and then sought to get revenge.  The film is a note perfect comedy horror film in the style of  series like Friday the 13th or Slumber Party Massacre. Watching it it feels like coin into the middle of series. After the filmmakers finished the film they went back and made what the first film would have been if had actually existed.

I liked these films, but to be perfectly honest these are not films to sit at home and watch. The two THIRD SATURDAY films should be seen in a theater with like mined people who get the jokes and the references. Sitting at home watching this for the review my thoughts constantly shifted to how much greater this would have been being able to listen to everyone around me react and comment on the film. Sure I could have invited friends over, but at the same time a living room full of people is not the same as being in a darkened theater.

If you are a horror movie fan these films are recommended, If you are at a festival or some place where they are playing together with a real live audience they are a must.

PURSUED (2023) MAKE BELIEVE SEATTLE

After the death of her father a young woman starts to investigate her mother’s new boyfriend, but she makes a mistake and connects with a serial killer with the same name.

Pursued is a good but unremarkable throw back to similar films from the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  Hitting a lot of the expected notes the film expertly tells a story we’ve seen before. While it’s entertaining, the film suffers because in addition to riffing on the films of the 80’s and 90’s it is a bit slackly paced.  If you removed 15 minutes this would be a lean mean killing machine.

I feel bad for seeming to pick on the film but the truth is there is a lot of good stuff here, particularly the lead performances, that make me wish this was a bit tighter.

Worth a look for horror fans.

Spaghetti Junction (2022) Boston Underground Film Festival

The title of the film refers to the nick name of a section of Atlanta Georgia.

The film is the story of a  teen girl whose life was recently upset by losing her leg in an accident. It’s a complication that has made being an awkward teen with a social butterfly and a sometimes difficult father even more challenging. When she investigates a glowing light outside her window she finds that a young man from another dimension has become stranded in our world.

Good but kind of all over the place film doesn’t seem to know what it really wants to be. Is this a heartfelt coming of age film or a science fiction tale? The pieces are good but they never fully mesh since the film never really gives itself into being one thing. The result is a coming of age tale that is genuinely good (the performances are excellent) if a bit to slow, and a science fiction tale that only builds up momentum in the final sections of the film.

Don’t take my words as indicating that the film is in anyway bad, but rather that it’s a diamond in the rough where things two excellent pieces  don’t quite mesh. We  can see the seams.

That said for a patient and forgiving audience this film is worth a look because the two pieces reveal that director Kirby McClure is going to be doing some great things down the road.

Crawlspace (2022)

 

It’s not really relevant but I was directed to CRAWLSPACE by C. Ernst Harth who stars in the film. We were discussing films that didn’t didn’t get talked about enough in 2022 when he mentioned the film. He was reluctant to do so because he was in it, but I didn’t care because I love it when people effectively press a film into my hands and say “you need to see this”.  More so when the love a filmmaker is there not because they are part of the project, but because they absolutely love it.

Crawlspace is the story of a plumber who is sent to a remote cabin to deal with a plumbing issue.  As he is working in the crawlspace with his headphones on, some bad guys drag a in a hostage and  begin to interrogate him. The plumber is oblivious to it all until  he gets splashed with blood  from above. Its at this point he realizes he’s trapped in a bad spot with no way to get out.

Get some popcorn and a drink or two and sit down and watch because this film is a great deal of fun.

Is it high art? Oh hell no but it is frequently funny and always suspenseful. It’s a film where we are dragged along hoping and fearing what is going to happen next. What an absolute joy.

I completely understand why Harth loves this film. It is an absolute blast and a half.

What I love about the film is you can feel the love with which the film was made. Everyone knew they weren’t making an Oscar winning film but they didn’t care because they knew they were making a film that was going to entertain generations of people who want to chill out on a Saturday night. Basically the exact sort of film I love to discover because assures me I have another film I can curl up with.

Highly recommended

Moon Garden (2022) Boston Underground 2023

Moon Garden is a masterpiece.

The story of a little girl who goes to dark magical place after falling down a flight of stairs is pure movie magic. It has wonders the likes of which you have never seen.

The film is a purely visceral trip, the result of largely being the story of the mind space the little girl finds herself as she lays in a coma. Any notion of a plot falls away in favor of recounting what the child is experiencing. Because she is young the reference are emotional and more visceral than they might be for an adult. The result is a fantasy that is in many ways more intense than the vast majority of horror films you’ll run across. The images and events are dredged up from the darkness of a child’s frightened soul.

I love this film.  I can’t wait to see it again when I can see it on a big screen when I won’t be able to look away and have to take it all in.

Highly recommended.

This maybe one of the most magical films you’ll see this year

Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out (2022) Make Believe Seattle

When a high school girl moves with her parents to a new town in the middle of nowhere she makes the acquaintance of one her fellow students, a young man who believes his parents were abducted by aliens ten years before.

Looking and behaving like a 1990's attempt at riffing a Spielberg film, ALIENS ABDUCTED is better than 95% of the Spielberg riffs that were cranked out in the 80's and 90's in an effort to catch the wave that was ET, GOONIES, GREMLINS and related Amblin films. Funny for the right reasons it is certain to put your smile on your face. 

While the film hits all of the expected plot points and thematic notes ALIENS ABDUCTED still manages us to suck us in and drag us along. This is a film you will fall for, though if you are like me you will spend the first 15 or 20 minutes groaning at how cliche it is until the cast of characters win you over and you just go with it.

If there is anything wrong with the film its in the final minutes when the film's effects go intentionally retro and it somehow loses the  magic as things stop being "real" and become a movie.

That said the film will make you feel warm and fuzzy and as such is recommended.

Code of the Assassins (2022) is on HI YA! and on DVD and Blu Ray Tuesday

 

CODE OF ASSASSINS is the latest from director Danny Lee (14 Blades, Dragon Blade, Black Mask, Three Kingdoms). It’s a spectacular computer enhanced tale of a young assassin.

The story is the tale of an assassin who is a member of the brotherhood of assassins. He was taken in years earlier after his father made a map to a vast fortune and was killed for his efforts. The map disappeared and no some years later the map is said to have been resurfaced. As everyone scrambles for the map our hero is set up to take a fall. It seems someone is shooting to not only get the map but also take down the brotherhood.  Armed with his withs and the fantastic mechanical hand he was given years earlier he has to fight to remain alive ad save is brothers.

Overly convoluted tale is the pretext for lots and lots of enhanced CGI action. This is a film with so many characters fleetingly introduced that I was lost early. As much as I appreciate --- and his crew trying to tell a big story there is simply too much going on in too many locations and too many characters for this ever to fully emotionally resonate.

One the other hand the action here is truly spectacular and I found I was talking to the screen about most of the action sequence. Sure it’s all computer enhanced, but I really didn’t care since what we were seeing was so damn cool. I wish I had seen this big, and perhaps in 3D.

If you love action and don’t mind a messy plot line CODE OF ASSASSINS is recommended.

Rhino (2021)

The rise and fall of a gangster in Ukraine in the wild and crazy days of the 1990's. Unable to get anywhere he takes a job an an enforcer for the criminal elements, however the longer he is in the life the darker things get and the more damaged he becomes.

Bleak and black tale if life in the former Soviet Union. Based on a friend of the director, it's a tale of people who exist largely just to cause pain and take what they want. It's a  scary portrait of a life and time I would not like to see for myself. It's a film that reveals the mindset of a society that warped by the brutal Soviet regime and its disappearance. There is a sadness to it all because there seems to really be no hope.

This is a good portrait of a young man in a bad situation. You pretty' much know this isn't going to end well, the question is how bad is it going to get. I'm not going to tell you how bad it gets but I will say this is a violent  and bloody tale that may just curl your toes. While we don't get to know our hero to the depths of his very soul, as we would in other films,it's okay because I don't think he knows the depths himself.

While the film falters in that we know how this is going to go, this is still a wild crime drama and a must see for fans of the genre

Five Devils (2022) opens this week in New York, plays MAKE BELIEVE SEATTLE this weekend and the Overlook FIlm Festival next week

Young Vicky has a supernatural sense of smell. She can smell anything. She makes jars full of smalls that bring back memory. When her aunt returns to town it sets the already tense relationship between her parents on edge. Things become complicated when her aunt brings with her something that sends Vicky back in time to around the time all of the tension started.

Intriguing science fiction or magical realism tinged tale is mostly a kick in the pants. Setting up all sorts of intriguing plot threads we end up hooked early as we want to know what is going on and where this is going.  For most of its running time FIVE DEVILS is its own wonderful beast brough to life by a killer cast (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Moustapha Mbengue, Swala Emati and in a star making debut Sally Dramé) who make it all perfectly believable. More importantly while the films wrestles with the big themes of homophobia and racism, the film never loses sight of the human tale and the emotion between the complicated triangle of adults is never lost.

If the film has any real flaw it’s that it doesn’t quite stick the landing. It’s nothing terrible  but in a film largely unlike  anything else we’ve seen the film suddenly becomes a tad predictable. I would have loved a conclusion that wasn’t one that I had kind of eyed a few minutes from the end.

Quibbles about the ending aside this is a film you’ll want to see, especially for young Ms Drame.

Mr Organ (2022) Boston Underground Film Festival 2023 Overlook Film Festival 2023 MAKE BELIEVE SEATTLE 2023

 

Mr Organ will chill you to the core. The film is the story of grand manipulator and son of a bitch who lives to fuck over people. He’s a man who is described as being so evil that if he went to hell Satan would go to Heaven just to get away from him.

The film is the story of filmmaker David Farrier interactions with Michael Organ. He is a manipulator, con man and sick bastard who loves to destroy people mentally. Farrier ran into Organ when he was booting cars that parked in a private car park after hours and then it went from there. If you saw Farrier's earlier TICKLED you know that any story he has to tell doesn’t go remotely as expected and that’s the case here. The twists and turns will knot your stomach as Organ digs deeper and deeper intoFarrier's life in order to ruin it because he can.

This film scared me more than any horror film of the last five years because what happened here could happen anywhere. There are dozens of Michael Organ’s out there looking to get sick thrills out of people’s pain.

If you notice that I’m not telling you anything about what happens and that’s intentional. I want you to see the film as I did, knowing as little as possible. I want you to get punched in the face and kicked in the gut as this just goes weirder and weirder.

This is a real life nightmare.

I can’t recommend this enough.

If you are up for it this is a must see.

Sadness and Joy in the Life of Giraffes (2019)

THE SADNESS AND JOY IN THE LIFE OF THE GIRAFFES is nominally the report an rather tall young girl gives to her class. It is also the story of the young lady as she goes on an adventure with a foul mouthed teddy bear in order to get the Discovery Channel. It’s a wild and unexpected ride.

The film is a labor of love for writer Tiago Rodrigues who has turned his play into a trip across the city. It’s a very funny one that had me smiling from ear to ear. The dialog is incredibly clever to the point that you don’t really mind that it has been crafted to be impossibly perfect. However considering that one of the main characters is a guy in a bear suit you end up forgiving a great deal in the name of it all being entertaining.

I loved this film a great deal. It made me smile and think… and smile.

Recommended.

Nightsiren (2022) Boston Underground Film Festival 2023

A woman returns home after many years after the death of her mother. The towns folk don’t know what to make of her and are wary of her after she takes up residence in the abandoned home of the local witch.

Nominally this is supposed to be a film about witches and things that go bump in the night. The reality is that this is less horror film than a look at superstition and how our pasts affect us and the choices we made.  This is more a drama with a supernatural tinge and we are so much better for it.

NIGHTSIRENS is one of the great surprises of the 2022 film year. It’s a “genre” film that really isn’t, even if it hits all the marks. It’s a wonderful character study of a young woman haunted by her past. It is also a killer thriller from literally the first minute when something happens that makes you sit up and go “hello”. It was at that moment I had to see where the film was going because it was clear that nothing was off the table.

I love this film.

What I love about this film is that it has a great deal going on. Its film that has a great deal on its mind. It’s a look at life in a backwoods town, a look at a the male female dynamic, a look at motherhood (and the loss of it), at superstition, and how we view all of that.  Several weeks on and numerous discussions I’m still turning the film over in my mind and still trying to sell the film to anyone who is willing to  listen to me talk about its wonders.

This film is a must.

Stand By for Failure: A Negativland Documentary (2023) Boston Underground Film Festival

 

If you know the group of people known as Negativland then you know that their albums  and videos consist of a collage method of construction. They pull things all together from a wide variety of places that they weave together to kind of form a new whole. Some times if fails but a lot more times it soars which is why the Over The Edge radio show has been running for decades in California. (Though my understanding its now repeats)

I discovered them decades ago when they were featured in books and magazines on Fringe subjects and then really noticed them where some of their work, a single called U2 in particular,  got them sued by a certain rock group who thought they were infringing on them. It was a clear example that Bono and the boys never heard the piece, and not understanding that they  were doing,  what not leaving them alone would ever do, which is give them an international attention.  People sought them out just to see what the fuss was.

In the early days of the internet I started listening off an on to the Over The Edge Radio show they did every week a for 3 to 6 hours before drifting away. Though recently I fell back into OTE and I listen to episodes almost every night. SO when I saw Boston Underground was running a new documentary on them I had to see it.

If you don’t know the group this film is going to seem to be all over the place. If you do know them the film is going to be the perfect portrait. The film is a collage of old video and audio pieces mixed with new ones. It’s up to date covering the death of some of the founding members. It’s a film that has a through line, lots of seeming digressions that all come together in the end.  I absolutely loved the film.  If perhaps I didn’t get to really know all of the guys in the band, that’s okay because what’s here is choice.

Sonically this film blew me away. Containing one of the most aggressive audio tracks I’ve ever run across the audio seemed to be dancing around my laptop as I was watching the film, and I say that since the sound was coming out of the tiny speakers built in- I shouldn’t have felt like I was in a Dolby theater.

This film is an absolute trip. It is a beautiful tribute to a bunch of friends who spent the better part of the last five decades making mischief and making their audiences think. Its a film, like their "music" and their radio show that you have to experience rather than read about- so go see it.

While the nature of the film and the group at its center isn’t for everyone, for those who are open minded and willing to take a ride, this is going to be something glorious.

The Lost King (2022)

This is the story of how Philippa Langly put the pieces together and figured out where the body of Richard III lay in rest and him exhumed and re buried with the pomp and circumstance deserving of a king.

This is a great story given an okay presentation. The reason to see this film is the always wonderful Sally Hawkins who is utterly charming as Phillippa. She holds our attention as the film simply drives head long in telling its story.

The problem here is either Steve Coogan’s script which is much too brief to cover the subject or the editing which reduced the story down way too much. Yes the film tells us everything we need to know about what happened but it strips everyone on screen to being simply fonts of information. No one interacts, everyone simply says something to move the plot along. Actually the only character development is between Phillipa and the specter of Richard. Everyone else is not developed except for what the actors can get across in their brief time on screen. Its so odd that I’m left to wonder if the film had an hour or so removed.

Despite the lack of characters, I liked the film. Anything Sally Hawkins is in is instantly worth seeing and there is enough to the story that when Richard is finally uncovered I got misty.

While not the great film it should have been THE LOST KING is still a good one thanks to Hawkins and a hell of a tale and as such its worth a look

What the Hell Happened To Blood Sweat AndTears (2023)

 

This is the story of the group Blood Sweat and Tears (BS&T) and their State Department sponsored trip behind the Iron Curtain to Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland.

BS&T was originally formed by Al Kooper who wanted to bring horns fully into rock music.  While the first album was a critical success it didn’t sell and Kooper left the group and was replace by David Clayton Thomas whose personality and vocals made the band one of the biggest in the world. As part of Nixon’s efforts to cool the Cold War the band was sent to Eastern Europe to play music. The tour would be filmed and released as a documentary.  The tour did not go as expected with walk out in Yugoslavia and the police turning dogs on the crazed audience in Romania.

BS&T changed rock as we know it as they made the use of horns and other instruments part of the rock band for more than just a song. You could play rock and have big band arrangements.

This is a crazy tale  about a moment in time for one of rock’s most influential bands. It’s a look at what happened and how the trip ended up changing their trajectory (some people called them sell outs). It’s a tale with unexpected twists and turns that don’t end until the final fade out.

While I enjoyed the hell out of the film, I think the material could be better organized. For example we are 40 minutes into the film before we get a history of the band. AndI know it’s a nine piece band, but we never get any sense of the members as people at all. The film also doesn’t say much about the group beyond the end of the trip and the “collapse” of the full documentary.

Quibbles aside this is a hell of a story and if you love classic rock or history this film is a must see.

REFUGE releases Friday

At the opening of Refuge the film looks like it’s going to follow the typical tale of a white supremacist and a member of a group he professes to hate becoming friends. It’s the sort of thing that we’ve seen in numerous films over the years. It looks like  it’s going to follow the typical track. However the film begins to bend relatively early on as we get to know Chris Buckley and Heaval Kelli.  We really like the two gentlemen. We can see them as friends. Actually what begins the film bending is the story of Clarkston a small city in Georgia not far from where Buckley lives.  This is a where Kelli lives. The city has been welcoming refugees and immigrants for decades and as a result it has grown and prospered into a place where everyone is welcome. It’s ground zero for the story since it is through visits to the town that Buckley begins to change his mind.

This is a super little film. While the film doesn’t chart any new ground, it does give us a great deal of hope since the film shows us clearly what can happen if we don’t choose hate.  That the film works as well as it does it thanks to  Buckley and Kelli as well as Mama Amina who charms our pants off. We see what not going into darkness will bring us. Literally choosing love, Buckley‘s wife tells him change or she would divorce him and take their kids, can change our lives for the better.

What a wonderful film.

Recommended

Nightcap 3/19/23 Angry- A PR person crosses the line, small films need shout outs, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't mean anything and more

I'm pissed right now. 

Granted, this isn't my fight, but I'm still pissed off because over the years I've had people try this on me.

While I know there is a lot of talk about how critics shouldn't be mean in their reviews, recently a certain PR person savaged a friend both personally and professionally for being "mean: and "the only negative" review of a film they were handling. The PR person told the outlet that if they didn't take the review down they wouldn't work with them again and then work to see that they have their credentials pulled from a festival.

This is wildly over over the line and complete and utter bullshit. 

Reviews are opinion and everyone has the right to their own. If the reviewer didn't like the film too bad, you can't make someone like a film. 

The PR person lost the argument when they said the review was the only negative review as if that means something. It means nothing only that someone person didn't like the film. (And if it was the only bad review why care? The weight of the good reviews will win out.)

Having read the review in question it wasn't mean, it simply stated what the reviewer didn't like about the film (which was a great deal). 

The PR person claimed that publishing the review was out of line and the reviewer should have declined to review  if they didn't like the film. No, out of line was was attempting to blackmail the outlet into removing the review by having their credentials pulled and withholding other films. 

I have been doing film coverage for over 13 years now and I have never gotten an offer that said "Could you please cover this film... but only write something if you have nice to say." All the offers were for coverage, good bad or indifferent. Reviews are supposed to be honest opinions not something written at gun point or from one point.

If you send out a film, or put anything out for people to see, you run the risk of not getting a good reaction. It's a roll of the dice. I know I've been savaged for some of the things I've written. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You do not threaten anyone to pull a bad review. Ultimately it will backfire since in the end the films you handle will not get coverage from any outlets.  This is mafia tactics and who wants to put up with that crap? 

As numerous PR people have said any coverage is good, particularly since so many films simply do not get any coverage. If a filmmaker wants a good review they must make a good film, but filmmakers and PR people have to understand that sometimes people just don't like a film. 

Honestly, I'm considering not working with that PR person because I am so disgusted.

ADDENDUM

This wasn't an isolated incident.

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Speaking of films not getting coverage...

I want to know what my fellow film writers are doing regarding coverage of inde films and shorts. 

I asked this because while doing a couple of recent film fests I got emails filmmakers and PR people were shocked when I asked for art to run with the review. I noticed it because I got 3 or 4 shocked emails during my coverage of Santa Barbara, and a couple more since then.

Apparently some filmmakers didn't think I would actually cover the films.  But unless I truly don't have anything to say or there was a technical issue I cover whatever I ask for.

I know it isn't always possible for other writers because editors at some outlets don't want coverage of small films or shorts because they think they won't get clicks (they will when people know your outlet covers them) but please, please, please do make an effort to cover the small films you run across. The filmmakers busted their asses to make the film and word needs to get out.

I'm very serious about this. getting any sort of coverage is vital. If one person/outlet can cover a film very often that can get more people to cover the film since one noticed  it so other people will want to take a look. Filmmakers have told me repeatedly that if I can get something up they can get into festivals and more reviews. 

Too many filmmakers that no one or very few people will look at their films and then say something. Trust me, thinking you have no audience hurts. See these small gems and talk about them.

And even if you can't review it, and you see it say something to the filmmaker, or on social media so they know they have been seen

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A reminder- just because some of us aren't on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't mean we aren't worth having us cover your film. We are. 

This is in reaction to being told multiple times this week (and few more in the weeks before) that I would not be getting screeners because the studio/producer only wanted  RT accredited sites to cover a film.

Actually this is something not directed at the PR people as such since the people telling me "no" were people I have been dealing with for years, so they know I'm good, and I know the orders were not from them. This is more directed at the producers. 

RT is a false indicator of quality and worthiness. 

Yes I would like to be on it but truthfully my interest in being accredited is purely related to the "you can't cover you aren't on the site" problem.

(And for the record RT will not accredit me because Unseen is my site and you can not be accredited for your own site. Which is why some of the other writers here can have their work put up at RT)

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I have seen the BAFTA/Oscar winning IRISH GOODBYE and while it's good I think the other films its up against for the Oscar are better.

I also saw the Oscar shortlisted, but not nominated BAZIGAGA and that too was very good.

Apologies to the filmmakers for both but despite my best effort over the last few weeks I have no words  for a review.

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If the studios want to keep theaters in business they have to do something so the theaters don't have to charge 10 bucks for a popcorn and 8 bucks for a soda. The prices are out of control. 

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Coverage is coming of Boston Underground, Overlook, New Directors New Films and other fests. Plus look for a bunch of new releases.

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Lastly people have asked me if I really like the films I rave about. 

Yes I do.

I write what I feel. And while I will try to find something good in something bad, if I like something, I say so. If you need proof go to lunch with me and ask me about some of films I like.  I won't shut up, so much so my lunch will be cold and you will be done.

The Lake (2022)

What happens when you mash Korean monster film THE HOST with GORGO (or GAPPA or…) and films where victims connect with killers and filter it through the Thai film industry? THE LAKE is a good idea.

Wild and crazy, and at times all over the place, THE LAKE is the story of giant monsters coming out of lake and causing all sorts of problems after an egg is found by a little girl. It also raises questions about the destruction of the environment and how its coming back to haunt us...assuming you want to look for something deeper than monsters eat people.

What can I say, but the monsters come early and stay to the closing credits. As a monster fan I love that we didn't have to wait to get to the good stuff. This is a film of amazing set pieces and uneven linking material. Basically it's an old school monster film and a delight.

This is a film where over 60% was achieved with practical effects, including man in suits, making it a delightful giant monster movie. It's so well done I wasn't always sure what was done practical and what was computer generated.

Yes the film riffs on other better films, but at the same time the film is stealing from the best and coloring the mayhem in it’s own unique way. You really won't care, just smile at the nods.

I had an absolute blast. Honestly I was having such a great time I was pissed that I missed the film when it played very briefly in theaters.

High Art? Are you kidding?

Entertaining? Absolutely. This is the perfect film to keep us happy until the next Godzilla project hits.

For details on where to see THE LAKE go here

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MRS WU (2021) hits VOD Tuesday

 

Knowing her time is short Mrs Wu has her granddaughter and friends spring her from the nursing home for a wild ride up the California coast, her daughter in hot pursuit. Its a grand game to repair the fractures in the family before time runs out.

Good drama hits all the right notes in an entertaining way. To be honest the film doesn't hit break any new ground, but it doesn't have to since what is here is good enough.

Definitely worth a look