Sisters (2025)

Maria Munro tells the story of discovering that she had a sister back home in Venezuela she never knew about.

This is a glorious film. This is one of the best docs I've seen in 2026. Its a film that is so full of life and the connections we have that we aren't always aware of.

Told in a simply style, and several parts that simply drop us into a mystery and pull us along SISTERS moved me in ways few films have done this yeas. Its a simply tale told in the best possible way.

I don't have much beyond that except I have no notes. The film is perfect.

See this film and you'll call someone you love. 

LOST CHAPTERS (2024) NDNF 2025

Young woman returns from Spain to visit her father. Arriving home she finds he is searching for rare books that will help preserve Venezuelan history and that her grandmother's memory is fading. When she finds a postcard  stuck in a book, she sets off with her dad to find a previous unknown book.

If you have been going to New Directors New Films for any length of time you know that the festival frequently shows small films that, while good, are probably not going to get a huge release. It's not that that they are bad, rather that they are just so low key or atypical most distributors in the US wouldn't know what to do with them. Often, as in the case with LOST CHAPTERS, small also means short, in this case 67 minutes, which means most theaters won't play it. That means if you like small, atypical films, you are going to have to jump to NDNF in order to see it.

This is a low key film that isn't really about the plot. Told in longish static shots this is more about the relationships of the people and the ideas being discussed in their conversations. This is a film about family, about memory, about how we see the past and decide what to hold on to, and what we unexpectedly lose. It's a film where we follow some good people around for a while and see how they feel about the things in their lives. I know some people have compared it to a documentary  in its approach but that isn't quiet right, while some sequences feel that way, others are most decidedly written.

I like the film. Its a small gem of a film. It doesn't have bells and whistles, it just quietly entertains and makes you ponder life. That this film is probably going to disappear from view here in the US is a kind of a sad sign about the state of American cinamtic tastes. That said, if you want to see something good, mae an effort to go see LOST CHAPTERS before it disappears from  New Directors.

Brief thoughts on Me and the Beasts (2021) Neighboring Scenes

Andres is kicked out of his band for political reasons. As he tries to sort out what to do he encounters some people who make him want to compose new music.

I have been sitting on this review for a while now. While I like the film, I really don't knw what to say about it. The problem is that my thoughts of the film are nonverbal consiting of recalling some of the music and being hanted by the two figures clad in yellow (see above).  Say what you will it's the images that I remember.

DO yourself a favor become haunted and go see this film when it plays at Neighboring Scenes

ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA (2020) Starts Tomorrow on Topic

Located on Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the village of Congo Mirador. Built on stilts it is a town that is slowly dying. While the lake should be dredged to stop the sentiment to build up, the government instead gives them empty promises. Worse the lake is polluted and there is no hope in sight. However despite it all it is election time and the government people are looking for their support.

This is a beautiful film of a way of life that is slowly disappearing,  ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA will haunt your dreams. As music mixes with slices of life takes this film puts us firmly into the lives of everyone we see and we are better for it. 

All hail director Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, who returns to the village after several other film projects, and which resulted in a familiarity that allows us outsiders to get up close to the people on screen. This is a rarest of films that make us truly feel that we are part of what is happening on screen.

There is much to consider here and I need a second time through before I can fully unpack all the film has to say about community, corruption, pollution and poverty. Until I can give it another go and truly form my thoughts I suggest you take the time and see the film for yourself. 

Recommended.

Topic is available to U.S. and Canadian audiences on Topic.com, Apple iOS, and AppleTV, Android, Amazon Fire TV and Roku, in addition to Amazon Prime Video Channels.

A LA CALLE. (to the street) DOC NYC 2020

Filmed over 3 years A LA CALLE is look at the opposition movement to Venezuelan President Maduro who took control of the country as the economy began to falter and then ran both into the ground. Full of interviews with leading players as well as people on the street, the film is a you are there look at the pain and suffering being inflicted on a country by its leadership and the struggle to stop the pain by getting the dictators out.

This is a good look at the situation in Venezuela from the standpoint of the opposition. There is no effort made to talk to anyone in power, and as a result they only appear in passing news stories on the situation. Not that there could be anything for them to say since it's clear from the footage that thy aren't liked and completely out of touch with reality.

If there is any real flaw in the film it assumes that you have a working knowledge of the situation in Venezuela. I say this because while there is some effort to explain it simply, I found that I understood more of the basic situation thanks to having previously seen an episode of John Oliver's show and some other films.

Still if you have a working knowledge of the unrest this film is excellent and worth a look.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA (2020) DOC NYC

Located on Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the village of Congo Mirador. Built on stilts it is a town that is slowly dying. While the lake should be dredged to stop the sentiment to build up, the government instead gives them empty promises. Worse the lake is polluted and there is no hope in sight. However despite it all it is election time and the government people are looking for their support.

This is a beautiful film of a way of life that is slowly disappearing,  ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA will haunt your dreams. As music mixes with slices of life takes this film puts us firmly into the lives of everyone we see and we are better for it. 

All hail director Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, who returns to the village after several other film projects, and which resulted in a familiarity that allows us outsiders to get up close to the people on screen. This is a rarest of films that make us truly feel that we are part of what is happening on screen.

There is much to consider here and I need a second time through before I can fully unpack all the film has to say about community, corruption, pollution and poverty. Until I can give it another go and truly form my thoughts I suggest you take the time and see the film for yourself. 

Recommended.

Human Rights Watch 2018 Short Takes: WOMEN OF VENEZUELAN CHAOS, SILENCE OF OTHERS and A THOUSAND GIRLS LIKE ME

WOMEN OF VENEZUELAN CHAOS
Low key look at the lives of five women who are contemplating their future in Venezuela where the economic crisis has resulted in staggering inflation, food and medicine shortages and increasing levels of dangerous violence. Do they stay or do they go?

Low key film is focused entirely on the women and not the world outside. Director Margarita Cadenas turns her camera on the women and lets them talk with the result we come to understand the madness of the country on a human level.

Worth a look when it plays June 15 and 16.

SILENCE OF OTHERS
After the death of dictator Francisco Franco the Spanish government pass a law saying that the past terrors of the Franco years were to be forgotten. There would be no prosecutions or memorials just a false forgetting of what happened. Now forty years on those who didn't live through the terror have have no idea what happened. However some people can't forget and thy are taking steps call for an accounting and find out what happened to missing loved ones.

Solid look at at how it is never too late to ask for justice. We get sucked in as victims try to get the government to address the past by filing human rights lawsuits in countries outside of Spain. I sat riveted for the 90+ minutes as the story unfolded and things slowly moved forward.

Definitely worth a look when it plays June 19 and 20.

A THOUSAND GIRLS LIKE ME
A portrait of Khatera who was the first woman to attempt prosecution under a 2009 Afghani law that seeks to prevent sexual abuse of women. In this case Khatera wants to prosecute her father whose repeated abuse has left her pregnant.

This film give a real on the ground look at what is happening in Afghanistan. Its a film that lays out the cost on human terms not only of the abuse but also of the countries refusal to change it's ways. Its both chilling and sad. It will move you to tears and pisss you off.

The film plays June 19 and 20.

For ticket and more information on these or other films at the festival go here.

Bad Hair Opens Wednesday

I saw Bad Hair when it played Tribeca. With the film opening Wednesday at Film Forum in New York he’s my review

What an uncomfortable film.

Written up as a coming of age story with a heartbreaking choice in the Tribeca festival listings, the key word in the description is heartbreaking. This is a bleak little film that tries to have you leave the theater happy with an end title sequence that is pure fantasy.

The film tells the dual story of Junior and his mother who are living, barely, in an apartment in Venezuela. Mom has lost her cleaning job, thanks to a bone headed action of her son who takes a bath in a Jacuzzi instead of cleaning it. What follows is a collision of mother and son as Junior wants to straighten his hair for the school ID picture (he wants to look like a rock star) and his mother wants just have a life.

A mess of a film, this film is listing as being about Junior when it's really about his mother as well. about half the film or more deals with the mother trying to get a job or trying to figure out how to deal with her son who she feels maybe gay. Kind of. I say kind of because various plot threads come and go seemingly at random. The continuity is loose and I'm not sure where and how things play out. Frankly I have lots of questions about the whys and hows of the plot line.

Actually I have about ten pages of notes for the film. Taking that many notes- most in the form of whole paragraphs- is not a good sign since it means I'm not in the film but outside kicking it.

This is not a happy film. Life sucks for everyone on every level and it's clear these really are fucked up people. I don't say that lightly-nor will you once you see how the mother seeks to teacher her son proper gender roles.

By the end of the story I wanted to jump in front of a subway... only to be met by the WTF end credits sequence which is light and fluffy and what I thought for a while the end might be. What is it doing attached to the film?

What was I doing watching this film?

I don't know. Thankfully Chocko was at the screening which made recovering from the film easier.

Despite some great, bleak moments, I can't in good conscious recommend the film. Its too jagged and uneven to suggest you pay money for the film.

House at the End of Time (2013)

In 1981 Dulce is imprisoned for killing her husband and being involved in the disappearance of her children. Thirty years later she gets out of prison and is placed under house arrest in the very house where all the bad things happened. However as she soon finds out the past and the present are not that far apart.

Intriguing  horror film is supposedly the first from Venezuela. Its also one of the highest grossing films in Latin America. This is an old school horror film that is also a dynamic drama. Using the dramatic interplay between the characters  the film generates a hell of a lot more suspense then if it had just gone for scares. Additionally the film is lifted out of the classification as to whether it's just another horror film.

Doing interesting things with framing, the use of shadow (for mood and to represent characters), and the reoccurring theme of duality this is the work of a director,Alejandro Hildalgo who is very much at the top of his game. Most times these days when you watch a horror film anything beyond the scares seems to be an after thought  but the design of every facet of the film seems to be designed to create a mood or prepare you psychologically for something later on in the film.

To be honest I'm not sure completely what I think of the film. I know it's very good, but somewhere early on I started to watch the craft of the film (the shots, the set design, how things were arranged) more than the film. Its not that the film was bad, more that I was being a film geek and I was watching how a master filmmaker was doing his tricks, sort of like how I'll watch a magician.

Most certainly the film worth seeing when it plays at Fantasia and elsewhere- especially if you are sick of typical modern horror films.

The film plays tonight and July 30. For tickets and more information go to the film's festival webpage here.

Bad Hair (2013) Tribeca 2014

What an uncomfortable film.

Written up as a coming of age story with a heartbreaking choice in the Tribeca festival listings, the key word in the description is heartbreaking. This is a bleak little film that tries to have you leave the theater happy with an end title sequence that is pure fantasy.

The film tells the dual story of Junior and his mother who are living, barely, in an apartment in Venezuela. Mom has lost her cleaning job, thanks to a bone headed action of her son who takes a bath in a Jacuzzi instead of cleaning it. What follows is a collision of mother and son as Junior wants to straighten his hair for the school ID picture (he wants to look like a rock star) and his mother wants just have a life.

A mess of a film, this film is listing as being about Junior when it's really about his mother as well. about half the film or more deals with the mother trying to get a job or trying to figure out how to deal with her son who she feels maybe gay. Kind of. I say kind of because various plot threads come and go seemingly at random. The continuity is loose and I'm not sure where and how things play out. Frankly I have lots of questions about the whys and hows of the plot line.

Actually I have about ten pages of notes for the film. Taking that many notes- most in the form of whole paragraphs- is not a good sign since it means I'm not in the film but outside kicking it.

This is not a happy film. Life sucks for everyone on every level and it's clear these really are fucked up people. I don't say that lightly-nor will you once you see how the mother seeks to teacher her son proper gender roles.

By the end of the story I wanted to jump in front of a subway... only to be met by the WTF end credits sequence which is light and fluffy and what I thought for a while the end might be. What is it doing attached to the film?

What was I doing watching this film?

I don't know. Thankfully Chocko was at the screening which made recovering from the film easier.

Despite some great, bleak moments, I can't in good conscious recommend the film. Its too jagged and uneven to suggest you pay money for the film.