Almost Home: Life After Incarceration (2023)

This is an excellent look at life after lock up. Specifically it’s a look at how those released from prison are attempting to reintegrate back into society. It’s not a  boiler plate feel good film but a carefully considered film that ponders what do we need to do to help the people we lock up for crimes.

The film follows several people connected with a program in Southern California aimed at helping released prisoners get back on their feet. It’s a programmed designed to teach the men and women what they need to do and most importantly to give them support when things look dark. As one of the counselors says the fact that the members are willing open up to each other opens everyone up because they see that they are no alone in feeling what they do.

One of the most moving things this film does is illustrates the statement  that everyone who goes to jail essentially is getting a life sentence. That may not sound right but it is when you consider how our society nominally sends people away to serve their time so they may come back and be welcomed into society. The trouble is with few exceptions they aren’t. Jobs are limited, and the rules they have to live by are often ridiculous, so while they may have served their time they are still locked up. No wonder the rate or re-offending is so high.

ALMOST HOME is a moving film. It really shows us that the end of prison isn’t the  end of serving time. It shows us that the system that should make everyone safe is actually working to make it so that isn’t so. I reveals forcefully that more needs to be done to break the cycle,.

This is a super film and highly recommended.

MEET ME WHERE I AM (2023) Dances WIth Films 2023

Feature length look at how we handle grief in our society and how we should change the way we view people who are grieving.

I’m mixed on this film. While I appreciate what it’s trying to do I kind of view it in the same way as the people it says it dislikes, those who say things like “well they are in a better place” or other less helpful things.  To me this is a feature length attempt at making us feel better.

Seeing this film on the 3rd anniversary of the death of my dad, an event I am still wrestling with, probably was a bad choice on my part. It wasn’t so much that the film kicked up things, more it just seemed to be saying things I didn’t really find helpful.  I don’t blame the intent of the film, rather I blame the way the film feels, which is like an extended educational short that is supposed to teach us things. I hated them when I was in school and dislike them as an adult.

I’m sure this film will work for some one but for me this was a miss.

KATIE’S MOM (2023) Dances With Films 2023

Recently divorced mother ends up having an affair with her daughter’s boyfriend.

Surprisingly good comedy/drama works because the cast is so damn good you can’t help but like them.

Trust me this is a small gem of a film that surprised the hell out of me. I went into the film not particularly interested and only seeing it because I said yes to reviewing it with out knowing what it was.  While that has resulted in several disappointments at this year’s Dances With Films, here it resulted in a charming little film I actually have been recommending and looking forward to seeing again.

I know that isn’t much of a review, but frankly it doesn’t need more than that. His film is a delight. It’s good time with great people which is perfect in my book.

Remixed (2023) Dances With Films 2023

A pregnant woman with a shaky marriage finds a box left to her years earlier by her dead brother. In it is a bucket list scavenger hunt he wants her to complete. With two friends in tow she heads off to give it a try.

First episode of a series left me feeling uncertain about the future. Where is the series going to go after a certain number of episodes? I'm not certain. Frankly I'm of the opinion this probably would have been a feature film with a definite ending.

While not bad I'm not certain what I think. Honestly there is are a couple of reasons I don't normally do review series where I'm only given a single episode (The first episode is more often then not the rest of the series, and you can't see where it's going to be five or ten episodes down the road) and my mixed feelings for this single episode reflect that.

You Have No Idea (2023) Dances With Films 2023

When Beth's son is diagnosed wit Autism she sets out to try an beat the odds and give him a life full of family and friends.

Okay documentary on autism suffers from being a bit too static. There are too many sequences of Beth and other people just sitting in chairs talking.  The result is a film where I feel like I'm being told the story instead of being shown it.

A miss.

GIRL IN THE BACK SEAT (2023)Dances With Films 2023

Beautiful woman is drugged by a semi blind date and hauled off to a life being human trafficked.

While the film is supposed to be based on a true story the story plays out in a similar way to any number of other films. We’ve been here before... 

On the other hand,  that’s not a fatal thing here because the film had enough small details to keep things interesting. I wanted to see how it played out and who lived and died.

Worth a look.

The Black Guelph (2022) Dances With Films 2023

Canto is a not so young  man in a lower class part of Dublin is looking to get out but it doesn’t seem to be possible. He’s been thrown out of his house by his girlfriend who doesn’t want him near his kid. His dad is just out of jail and is squatting in an abandoned orphanage. The past is haunting everyone, as is a local kingpin who is trolling the neighborhood looking to get paid back – and Canto owes more than he can come up with.

This is a bleak examination of life on the downside of Dublin. Everyone is hamstrung by toxic traditions, bad choices and dark secrets in the past. It’s the story of a group of people who can’t get out of their own way even though they desperate to do so.

One of the best films I’ve seen for this year’s Dances With Films THE BLACK GUELPH is the feel sad film of the festival. It’s film that feels more like real life than a drama and as such it hits hard. I didn’t want to watch the lives imploding and wanted to look away, but I liked them so much I couldn’t not see what happened to them. It’s such  a good film that I can’t believe it’s director John Connors‘ first feature.

I really liked the film, but the downbeat edge to it makes it a film I may not revisit.

My reservation about revisiting it aside, this is definitely one you’ll want to see at least once.

GLUE TRAP (2023) Dances With Films 2023

Strange thriller/black comedy has a couple going to the woods and meeting a weird and overly perky woman who is someone they never should have let into their house.

Okay thriller never quite manages to get a tone  or a focus right. The first half hour is all set up as we get to know the couple and its just okay. When the woman shows up the film becomes cringy sort of the comedy as the couple isn’t certain what to do with her. The film than turns again as the woman goes off the deep end and the film skates into darkness…that isn’t that dark. The shift with each chapter breaks any sort of spell and by the end I just didn’t care.

A miss

BIBI (2023) Dances With FIlms 2023

Vivian is a woman dealing with the death of her daughter. She is  slowly beginnings to lose her grip on reality. Her surviving child is unhappy that her mother is drifting. As reality and fantasy blur Vivian finds that she is being stalked by a dark figure.

Okay psychological thriller is intriguing so long as its cards aren’t revealed.  Sadly as the film goes on and the film begins to reveal answers the suspense disappears and by the end the excitement of the early part of the film is gone.

I was disappointed.

Five And A Half (2023) Dances With FIlms

 

A young girl is allowed to spend an afternoon with her ex con father. She has to disappear into her mind 

Uncomfortable drama is based on a true story. This is a well acted little tale that at times feels much to real. I was squirming in my seat seat.

Worth tracking down.

Waiting For The Light To Change (2023) Dances With FIlms 2023

Five friends get together in a beach house and talk.

A couple of quick tidbits and quibbles with the promotional material to start. Ignore the talk of the budget. They are trying to promote the film as being made for a minimal amount of money. It’s a pointless come on. I say that because unless someone pointed it out you’d never know. This is a film about people and not effects so cost doesn’t enter into it.

The other thing to ignore any comparison to The Big Chill. It’s lazy. The film is good enough that it stands on it’s own feet.

What is not a quibble is the fact that this is a great little drama about friends hanging out. It’s a film that feel vital and alive. Told largely in long takes with the camera settling in just observing. It’s a method of story telling that sometimes can result in a film that feels static, but here, with everyone close together with the camera, the film feels alive. We are in this place with these people and living life. The choice by director Linh Tran is a good one because instead of making us outsiders  we are one of the group.

There is magic here.

Tran has assembled a magnificent cast. I have no idea if they were friends going into the film, but on screen everyone feels like they belong together. We sense connections that most films never manage. Everyone feels like they really are friends. Its this point that makes this film better in many ways than Big Chill it wants to compare itself to.

I really liked this film a great deal. While the characters are a good deal younger than myself, thoughts and feeling still connected to me. There is a reason that great art transcends age in that it speaks to something universal in us all. There is something about the human condition that touches us. WAITING… connects us to our humanity.

This is a small gem

Recommended.

ANGIES CURE (2023) Dances With FIlms 2023

Young woman who was a rape victim years earlier, takes out her rage on a an intruder to her shop. She then pushes things even farther making her wonder if the drive for revenge is turning her into a similar monster.

This well made and well acted film didn't really work for me. Blame the pacing which stretches what should have been a tight little thriller into an almost two hour slog. While I like the way the trauma is handled,  in other ways it doesn't quite work since the film also wants to be a more serious exploitation film.

A well made miss

Dances With Films 2023 Shorts- Bucket City, Firefly, A Real One

BUCKET CITY
The story of a squirrel and a duck and their love of basketball over time. This is a neat little film that moves like the wind and put a big smile on my face.

DRAGON FLY
You’ll remember the visuals more than the story of  the spirit of a dead boy telling her sister about how their mother survived the fire bombing of a city in Japan.  As good as the visuals and the central tale is, the framing device doesn’t really work and actually keeps us out of the film instead of putting us into the tale.

A REAL ONE
Much too short story of two friends - one of whom discovers the secret of the other- she is romantically involved with her teacher. This is a beautifully made film that really needs to be expanded. Despite being only 15 minutes this film has a great deal to say about numerous subjects and I would love to see what writer/director McKenzie Chinn would do in a long form version. Recommended

Goodbye Tango (2023) Dances With Films 2023

 

An older lesbian couple is put to the test when one of the partners refuses to accept that her pet hamster has passed away

Amusing small little comedy seems to be a trifle of a film until we reach the ending and it not only sticks the landing but ends so magnificently that it made me smile and get teary. It’s a film that proves emotion and reality is hidden in unexpected places

Recommended

MERMAID’S LAMENT (2023) Dances With Films 2023

This is probably the most beautiful film at Dances With Films. It’s a beautiful tale of a therapist who takes on a patient who may or may not be a mermaid. 

Yes I know it’s a version of stories we’ve heard before, however the reality is that the visuals make the story. For me the film pushes things just far enough away from reality that the world can safely operate in its own little world. More importantly the visuals and the other things that work in the film are good enough that we don’t mind the occasional bump or hick up.

Watching a screener of the film for a review my brother came into the room to do something and was so intrigued by the little bit he saw he sat down and joined me in watching the rest of the film. That may not sound like much but it’s a statement of the power of the film's visuals to grab us and pull us along to it’s conclusion. Truthfully I’m hoping that the film eventually makes it’s way near me so I can get the change to see it on a truly big screen and lose myself in it.

Recommended

Heightened (2023) Dances With FIlms 2023

 

A woman with OCD returns to Maine to live with her parents and deal with court ordered public service as a park ranger.

How you take this quirky comedy will depend upon how you take this film's heightened sense of humor. With everything mannered and happening in a sitcom sort of way the film is one you are either going to love or hate.  The film didn't really work for me most of the time, with the film only really clicking in the smaller quiet moments which were too few and far between to really win me over. 

I was disappointed