Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Spring Of The Vanishing (2024) Santa Barbara 2025


This is the story of a mother who is trying to find out what happened to her son  in Nuevo Laredo on the Texas border. It is a story that involves coverups by both the American and Mexican governments.

The short version of the story is that when the leader of the drug cartel that controled  Nuevo Laredo was removed a vacuum was created. Federal police were put in place. While they were supposed to be keeping the peace people started to disappear, some turning up dead.  The problems were the result of deals made between the the Mexican and US governments to get control of the border area.

This is a good film on an important subject. The whole notion of trouble in the border region between the US and Mexico is ahot topic thanks to the current adminstration, but as this film makes clear the issues are neiher nothing new nor as simple as the current bunch of authorities are making out. By focusing on the plight of one family the film allows us to get glimpse at the problems happening on a larger scale. It also allows us to emotionally connect to what is happening, as opposed to a cold and impersonal TV news broadcast.

This is a solid film and i recommended.

Monday, February 10, 2025

Universal Language (2024) opens Friday

 


I started laughing almost from the first frame and continued doing so until the end credits. I laughed more at this film than almost any American comedy of the last two decades.

At the outset the plot of UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE seems to be several different stories. The truth is it’s all one big interconnected tale, you just have to stick with it until all the pieces line up.  Don't worry that isn’t going to be a problem because the film is going to be making you laugh out loud for most of its running time.

The humor is very much absurdist of the best sort. Think of it as something akin to the manic madness of a Marx Brothers comedy but with a more modern and less devil may care attitude.  Referencing the Marx’s may make you wonder how that is possible, but something happens in the first few minutes that makes you realize that is the absurdist territory we are operating in. (I will not spoil it)

What I love about the film is that the humor isn’t dry or forced.  Too many absurdist comedies don’t feel real and feel like they are trying to make a point. Eugène Ionesco’s plays which are excellent absurdist pieces, can, when done badly feel forced. Here there is things feel silly absurd but they also feel grounded. We can see the things that happen actually happen.  I can see myself trying to figure out how to get stuck money, deal with stolen glasses or pretty much anything else that happens here including dealing with turkeys.

I laughed out loud from start to finish, and when I wasn’t laughing I was smiling.

And I know there is more to this film beyond the laughs, but the laughs and smiles are what I took away from the film, so that is what I am reporting on.

I love this film.

Highly recommended.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

FINE YOUNG MEN aka (HOMBRES ÍNTEGROS) (2024) Santa Barbara Film Festival 2025


Alf is a young man recently returned  to a Catholic school in Mexico after a stay in America. He quickly finds himself back ith his friends who are very alpha male always competeing to get drunk and score with the ladies. However Alf is more interested in one of the other young men in the school, however the macho rules of the group he travels with makes it impossible for him to give into desire. 

This is a very busy film with a kind of split personality. On one hand the film is an examination of  someone struggling to find out who they are and what want from life, and at the same time the film kind of loses that focus as an certain event shifts the film into an examination of society and how it looks to present itself as right and upstanding but is really rotten behind the curtain. It's a split that kind of works against the film because the two halves feel not always connected.

The real problem with the film is that the film is so well made as to be perfectly polished. It is shiny and waxed to such a perfect degree that our ability to connect to it kind of bounce off the screen. This is a film with a lot to say but it it is too slick to grab on to it. The reason for that is that the film is so perfectly constructed in order to make it's point it didn't create real breathing characters.  Yes we like them and we watch them but we don't  connect to them as if they were people we know. They always remain characters in a movie going through movie things. It's frustrating because the material and cast is better than the package they are contain in.

I don't dislike the film, I just wish it was it was better

Murder By the Clock (1931)

Creaky murder mystery about the unnatural death of the matriarch of a family and the attempt of the heirs to stay out of jail.

A rather complex tale the film demands attention because so much is going on. Full of over ripe performances this is the sort of movie that they don't do any more. Its perfect late night viewing especially with the great sets of the manor house , grave yard, secret passages and other strange things, this is a film that takes you to a dark and creaky place.

That said I don't think the film is anything other than good. As I said the over ripeness of it kind of diminishes the quality, but at the same time its got mood to burn.

Worth a look for a dark and stormy late night.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Static Cling (2024)


A rauchous evening in a laundrymat, centered around a self centered guy who tries to make time with a beautiful woman just as he ends up trapped in is coat.

This is an amusing diversion of the silly humor sort. It's an amusing romp that is has bunch of digressions around a slender narrative thread.  It's frequently very funny.

Is this high art? Absolutely not, but it will put a smile on your face which is all you need to know.

Worth a look.

Friday, February 7, 2025

Knights War (2025)


A warrior knight gets mixed up with a prophecy about a red headed woman, withes and demons and ends up crossing over into another world to stop a great evil.

This is one of the best looking fantasy films I’ve seen in a long time. Sure the big budget Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Dungeon And Dragons look great, but they spend more than the GDP of many small nations doing it.KNIGHTS WAR, which is not as complicated in what it’s doing, looks just as good as those films. The effects don’t look bad, and it helps sell the film.

The cast here is first rate. No one phones it in. Too often in fantasy films actors emote like they are at a rennasiance faire emoing for the rubes. Here they heep it real and it works.

To be honest he plot is a bit overly convoluted (hence the brief description). There was a point where I stopped caring about the details and was just went with generalities. There is enough here that I didn’t need all the details. Besides, as I said above, the cast is so good they carry things along. 

I really liked this.

Recommended

Dark Nuns (2025)


Semi-sequel to 2015's THE PRIESTS, though it has no carry over characters that I'm aware of, follows two nuns  who get involved with the exorcism of a teen who is said to be possessed by a demon known as the 12 manifestions.

This is a creepy little horror film that overcomes any problems by the mixture of Asian and Western religios tropes (it's not just catholics, but also shaman as well) to keep us off balance, and well as some kick as characters, especially Sister Yunia (Song Hye-kyo) who maybe the most bad ass exorcist ever put on film. Seriously, I want to know what her back story is.

While the film isn't perfect, some of the link sequences between set pieces are not as compelling as the bigger sequences, the film still is haunting, with the performances and technical aspects of the film coming together to create moments you will always remember (I love the firey images).

The best thing I can say about the film is that I would gladly watch a sequel, when and if it ever materializes.

Recommended.

Love Hurts (2025)


Ke Huy Quan stars as Marvin, a top real estate saleman, whose life is turned upside down when his past comes to call in the form of Rose, a girl he was supposed to kill, but let live because he loved her.  Rose wants revenge on the people who wronged her and she also wants Marvin to be the bad ass he used to be.

This is a breezy 80 minute action film that feels like this was a two hour action film where the cut everything out except for the action. There is little to no exposition, just Marvin  being forced into doing violent things. Don't get me wrong there is bad about what is here except that the characters need  room to breath and for the action to be give a bit more in the way of reason for happening.  The result of it all is that Marvin is a guy who bounces between being a nebish and John Wick. I suspect the reason there are problems is that the script has been bouncing around for years. I'm certain that any changes or tweaks over the years wounded the film.

WHile the film has problems, odds are this will be a film you stop on every time you run across it on cable... but not so much for the compelling plot but because the cast is so good . Seriously they create a bunch of likable characters, who for the most part you root for (the whole thing between Marvin's Assistant and the killer make this a genuine emotional romance). The only ones you don't care for are the two chief baddies, Marvin's brother and the bad guy who set Rose up because they are the worst drawn of any  of the characters on screen. There is nothing there a few quirks (the bubble tea) and their vileness.

To be completely honest, despite sensing this was a longer better film chopped down, I like the film. It's very much the least of the producers films, the classic NOBODY and VIOLENT NIGHT are mentioned in the advertising but this isn't even close to their heights,  but in the right frame of mind it does entertain. At the same time I saw this for free at a press screening with free popcorn and soda. I don't know if this is worth full movie prices. (This is going to be a hit streaming)

Yes you should see it, but you just may want to wait for less that 15 bucks a head.

Thursday, February 6, 2025

The Night Is Dark and Colder Than the Day (2025) Rotterdam 2025


This is a mediation/essay on childhood that involves kids talking about their hopes and fears and sequences of them being kids and others doing things representative of their feelings.

This is very much an art house film. It is a heady film that forces the audience to engage with it. The film has much it wants to say and requires that you come along for the ride it has chartered.

How you react to the film is going to depend upon how you react to the very deliberate construction of the film. How you react is going to entirely depend upon how you like art films.

For me I was up and down with the film. Because of the varying styles of the film, one part documentary one part mediation, one part artistic exploration,  my interest varied. There are some great sequences in this film. There are also some sequences where I intellectually know what the filmmakers were reaching for but I don’t think they achieved it

Is it a bad film? No far from it. The truth is that I can see this playing several of the more serious festivals in the US (New Directors New Films, the New York Film Festival on one of the side bars). If there is any question about anything it would be I am uncertain about how wide an audience the film is going to get.

Worth a look for anyone who loves art house fare.

PAINT ME A ROAD OUT OF HERE (2024) opens tomorrow at Film Forum


This is a look at artists Faith Ringgold, who painted  piece of art called For The Women's House which was placed in Riker's Island as a means of inspiring prisoners to realize that they could achieve more,  and Mary Enoc h Elizabeth Baxter who was chosen to paint a new work to replace it. It's a lovely portarit of the two women  that also examines how society tries to incarcerate women of color.

This is a super film. Not only are we given a history of women in prison over the last half century, and what that really means for society, but we also get portraits of two incredible female artists whose art is changing lives because the people who see it can use it as a hand hold to help them change. It is not often that we get to see how art actually helps people, but this film shows us that very clearly.

You will be moved. In an age where the billionaires and oligarchs who are now running the country are trying to reshuffle money into their pockets by cutting funding for art and social programs, it's great to have a film that will remind us that these things matter.

Highly recommended, see the film when it plays either at the Film Forum or a theater near you.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Who's Behind Black Art? (2023) is on Aspire TV starting tomorrow


Four part  docuseries  about five up and coming black artists. The subjects are Tae Ham, Jewel Ham, Adrian Armstrong,Lauena Fineus, Mario Joyce and the film tells us they story, shows us their art and explains why they are going to be successful.

This is a great series. I don't normally watch a whole series at one time but this is just so good I watched it from start to finish in one go. Blame it on the series focusing on five great people whose stories speak volumes about more the art world.

To me this is one of the best documentaries I've seen on the art world because it connects the art, the artists and the real world together. Why does art matter? This film/series will explain it to you perfectly - it can change people's lives for the better. 

I can't recommend this series enough.

CREATURES OF HABIT (2024)


A reporter going over his work in a bar is joined at his table by a stranger who seems to know too much about him.

Much too short  short needs desperately to be expanded. Running only six minutes this is a creepy film that is a great presentment of a moment of time but leaves way too many questions to be fully satisfying. Make no mistake this is a great film, but the lack of a definite anything makes it feel like a proof of concept film rather than a full formed film.

Highly recommended none the less the film will make you hope this is expanded into a feature.

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Perla (2025) Rotterdam 2025


Perla is an artist living in West Germany with her daughter who is a musical prodigy. She had escaped Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the Russians invaded.  When the husband send her word that he is dying she and her daughter go back, risking arrest. The trouble is he as an ulterior motive for having them back.

I like a lot of this film and I'm kind of disappointed in other parts.

The early part of the film where we watch Perla and her daughter trying to survive and get along are very good. The performances are spot on. We can feel the desperation in simply trying to get by and manage money which always seems to be just out of reach. There are several small moments that really, the use of Bronski Beat, give the film a lived in quality. 

The problem is that the film is very much an art house film and the plot takes some turns that feel contrived. It's a feeling that is intensified by the direction, which looks great, but which seems to be going for intellectual truth over emotional. There was point where the film shifted from an organic narrative to one that seemed to be headed toward one I could guess.

While the film is never bad, the problem it never soars consistently as as high a it does in parts.

Worth a look, but it's not something you need chase down.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Jesus Thirsts - The Miracle of the Eucharist (2024)


This is a look at the sacrament of the Eucharist in Catholic life. Through interviews with religious leaders and believers the Eucharist (the body and blood of Jesus) we see what the rite means to them and their belief.

In fairness, my taking this film was a kind of uncertain proposition. I have my beliefs and while the tend to run parallel to the church they are my own and less connected to the rites than the message of do unto others. I went in curious as to how the film would make me react.

As a believer but not of the sort that needs the constant rites in my life, I found the film interesting but not particularly compelling. This is not to say that the film is bad, more that I couldn’t connect to the message the film was giving me. Yes I understood what it was saying but it never connected to my heart because I’m not that sort of Christian, I don’t need proof or connection to god through a right or an object because in theory all things connect me to him.

My lack of emotional connection aside I can see how dyed in the wool Christians and Catholics will love this film. It is a lovely profession of faith and belief and an explanation in their terms of the connection between them and their view of God. If you are a devout Catholic or Christian you are going to eat this up.

Recommended for church going believers, all others will find their mileage will vary.

Armand (2024) opens Friday


A mother is called for a conference at her young son's school. Something has happened and Armand is alleged to be behind it. As she meets with the teachers, and the parents of the other boy, who happen to be her in-laws, things are not quite as straight forward as they seem.

Renate Reinsve gives one of the best performances of the year as Armand's mother. It's a performance that is completely unexpected and very human. What do I mean by this? There is a moment where in the middle of discussing the difficult events at the center of the story and she begins to laugh uncontrollably. At first it seems funny, then it seems out of place and then you realize it's something that makes you take a step back because the reaction, especially with the emotional collapse at the end is on target. Too many filmmakers and writers think that serious subjects mean serious and histrionic reactions. That isn't always the case. Reinsve should be in the Oscar mix because this is a glorious performance that is more real than almost any other you'll see this year. 

The film over all is very good. It's a gripping thriller that pulls you along. It's more interesting than most of the recent problem with children at school films that have hit the local multiplexes (say TEACHERS LOUNGE). I say this because the film is looking to throw its net wider and forcing us to look at the parents and administration and not just the kids. This is a look at parents and parenting and the things they do.

The problem with the film is that as the film makes a few choices that don't always work. Moving away from Reinsve's character gets us away from the the center of the film. She is the character we know best so there are moments of catch up when she isn't on screen.The other problem is the film adds in some subjective surrealism. While it helps explain the characters' head space it makes the film less real.

But I am quibbling. This is a really good film. It will both entertain you and give you something to think about.

Recommended.

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Nightcap 2/2/25: I am done with the NFL, Random reviews, notes on the Oscars, and notes for the month,


A few notes for the new month.

--

I’m pretty much done with pro football.

The sense that the league is controlling the narratives and that they are pushing the Chiefs is so overwhelming that I’m done. The NFL wants the Chiefs in because it's good for ratings and the non-football fans will tune in.

I find it funny it kicks in just as the sports books are getting closer to the sport. I also find it funny in that the NFL was started by the team owners, all of which were gamblers and not beyond cheating to win bets, so that the games would not be fixed. And now 100 years on it seems like the games are being nudged if not outright fixed.

Come on- how many weeks in a row can Kansas City get so many questionable calls in their favor that week after week that the “errors” let them win.

It’s bullshit.

Never mind that everyone is sick of Mahommes, Reid and Taylor Swift.

I can't be bothered and I’m making plans not to watch the Super Bowl.

--

I've seen Robet Zemekis' HERE. It's the life of a room from prehisstoric times where we are  on the land where the room  will be on through time and focusing on the life of one family who live in the house. It's based on a comic the perspective never changes. What worked on the page is dead on screen, even with a great cast.

I saw the Netflix film BACK IN ACTION with Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close. It's about retired spes who end up back in the game. Yes we have been here before, but the action is good and the cast is great. I want a sequel.

--

I’ve seen all the features playing Slamdance and there is some great stuff there.

Buy tickets or a streaming package.

Details here.

Reviews when the embargo drops.

--

For those wondering the reason there is only so much Sundance coverage is because I was not officially accredited. Unless I was to go there my pickings are going to be limited and the remote option is a pain in the bottom. It’s easier and better to cover the  fests here in New York instead.

For those wondering if there are any other festivals I won’t cover, the answer is SXSW. I won’t do so because the press office a couple years back told a couple of writers that they would back the PR person who wanted have their credentials pulled for writing bad reviews. I will not deal with the festival, nor will I deal with that PR person.

--

This month look for Unseen’s 15th Anniversary, coverage of Berlin, the aforementioned Slamdance as well as the New York Children’s Film Festival which starts the last night of the month.

--

What are my thoughts on the Oscars?

I love that they nominated Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in the scathing Apprentice.

I love the multiple noms for Flow.

Lots of things left out but there are only so many slots.

I actually have horses in some of the races owing to the fact that I know or interviewed some of the nominees (GO ED LACHMAN!)

To be honest this is the first year in decades where there doesn’t seem to be anything radically wrong with the picks.

--

EMILIA PEREZ may get some acting awards but I don’t think the it will win any of the other awards.  It’s not the controversy, which I think is tempest in a tea pot and will be quickly forgotten  away from the spotlight, rather than I’m not certain it’s good enough to win any of the other awards.

There are other better choices.

SUNDAYS WITH DAD (2024)


Actor Timothy Cox is the writer behind this charming film about a father and son having lunch and opening up to each other.

This is one of the best films I’ve seen Cox in. That he wrote it makes it clear that he is as fine a writer as he is an actor. This is a perfectly told tale of a father and son shooting the breeze and then some. It’s vital and alive. It’s so perfectly done that it feels like director just set a camera down and let Cox and his father talk.  And having had a two plus hour interview with Mr Cox I can attest to how on target this is.

You need to find this film and see it.

Destined to be on my year end list, SUNDAYS WITH DAD is a great film.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Bokshi (2025) Rotterdam 2025


Influenced by a teacher in a school and one of the students, a young woman goes on a journey across India in the hope of finding clues as to what happened to her mother. She finds herself in the middle of a mystical group centered around the worship of the earth mother.

Women’s empowerment meets folk horror in a personal film from director Bhargav Saikia. It’s a film that feels lived and that is coming from a personal place. Its so personal that a couple of times I had the feeling that bits were being pulled from real life.

The one problem with the film is that I’m not certain there is enough here to sustain 166 minutes. While nothing here is bad the low key nature  of the film makes the film long in the second hour. It’s not fatal but I found I was less connected to the film.

My quibble aside, BOKSHI is worth a look for anyone who love folk horror films.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Legends of Paris aka L’Armée des Romantiques (2024) Animation First 2025


Animation First screened the first episode of the animated series LEGENDS OF PARIS. The series is a four part history of the romantics of the 19th century. We see the lives of Hugo, Dumas, Balzac, Sand and others. We watch as they create, and influence each other and the world.

Playing as a kind of animated Ken Burns film, it's a look at how some like minded men and a woman changed the world. It takes a couple of minutes to get going, but once it does you will be disappointed if you don't have another episode. 

The series works because the film perfectly mixes the subject and the art style. The film's art picks up the the story and drives it forward giving us a better understanding of the lives of the artists and their headspaces.

After the screening there was a Q&A with the minds behind the film. It was an interesting, if lightly dry, exploration of how the series came together and how they made the choices of what stories to highlight.

I enjoyed the show and I am looking forward to seeing the remaining episodes.


Thursday, January 30, 2025

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976) Animation First 2025


The film was a screening of  the second film based on the Asterix The Gaul comic series by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. It is the only film that they actually had anything to do with.

The film has the Romans pondering if the Gauls are actually gods and  making a deal that if they can complete 12 tasks they will not only be left alone but be put in charge of Rome.

The film is essentially a few minutes of set up and then a series of 12 blackout sketches as Asterix and Obelix attempt to complete the tasks. This results in a in an amusing film that's full of laughs and smiles.

While there are laughs there is a point where the film begins to feel long. Blame the constuction of the story which is simply a series of sketches.

That said I had a good time.

Recommended