THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (2025) opens December 17 at Film Forum

This is the true story of the Red Crescent call center workers who desperately try to rescue a six year old girl trapped in a car in Gaza after it was shot up by Israeli forces. Her uncle, aunt and cousins were all killed, but Hind was left alive and unable to leave. Because of the violent situation in Gaza and the need to try and get safe passage the rescuers who were eight minutes away had to wait hours to attempt a rescue  

When I heard about the film I wasn't certain what I thought since the voice on the calls is actually Hind's. Was it being used for sensationalism or because it needed to be there. Having seen the film, it needed to be there. There is no way that another voice would have worked as well. Does the film do anything "sensational",  not really. Even the video and photos at the end are not too much since, we never leave the call center, it makes clear the insanity of what happened.

Do not go into this film looking for happy since this is as bleak a film as you will see all year. As I said right after I saw the film, politics aside there is no way that you can not be moved by this film.  This is more or less straight reporting of what happened when a call came in.

That the film works as well as it does is because of the cast. These are the best performances you will see all year. I would gladly give Motas Malhees, as the man who gets the inital call,  the award for best actor now but I think the academy will ignore him. Saja Kilanic will also get ignored as his boss for Best Actress despite giving a performance for the ages.

Trust me when I say my words can nowhere near match the power of this film. Forget the politics, this is just a portrait of humanity under fire.

A must see.

Park (Taman-taman) (2024) First Look 2025

Asri and Hasan meet after work in the park and discuss life and things as the sun goes down.

This film shouldn't work as well as it does. It's a film that is basic a series of long static shots from a good distance away from the film's subjects, but it is so perfectly done the film puts us in the park where we are over hearing a long conversation or series of conversations between two people. We are there just listening to to people discuss life in a film that, for most of it's running time feels like life.(only when the film shifts to the lighted booth does it feel contrived).

The film is a blending of fact and fiction. I would be hard pressed to know what is or isn't real. Yes the set up is essentially fake, but at the same time I couldn't tell you where the lines between fact and fiction are. I was fully focused on the screen the whole time because the discussion was more than just eavsdropping. 

While this may not work for you if you need constant motion on screen, this film is recommended for anyone who wants good discussions.

Sing Sing (2024)

Domingo Coleman plays Divine G one the founders of a prison theatrical group in Sing Sing Prison. As they finish up their production of A Midsummer's Night Dream they begin to plot their next production and welcome some new members.

This is more a slice of life then a big dramatic story. Yes, somethings happen, and there is drama but mostly this is a look at the men finding solace and hope in performing in a play. It is a film filled with staggering levels of humanity and a real sense of being lived.

Going in I knew the film was based on a true story, but I didn't know more than that. I say that because there was a moment when the various inmates- who we had seen earlier in scenes- introduce themselves as the audition for the roles in the play and it suddenly occurred to me that these are the real guys playing themselves.  It was a deeply emotional moment that changed the film for me which stopped being a "Hollywood" drama and instead became a docudrama of the realist sort.

What is amazing is that all the guys are fantastic. I know Diego Coleman is being mentioned for an Oscar, but what Oscar needs to do is recognize all these guys and the program because they freaking hit it out the park and then some.

I'm not going to say the film is perfect, it isn't. It wanders dramatically, things are left unsaid, as if we are just seeing moments, but at the same time the film has an emotional power that is unmatched. If the film wants us to feel for the men in prison and make the case that giving them something like RTA (Rehabilitation Through Art) will change them for the better, it does so in spades. It doesn't do it big and loud, but in quiet emotional moments that result in muffled sobbing at the end of the public screening this afternoon when two men who became friends hugged.

This film is an emotional power house with much to say. It is a film that is vitally needed and needs to be seen so that hearts and minds can be changed, and most importantly so that audience can meet som great men who will forever become friends and live in their hearts.

Otro Sol (2023) NDNF 2024

Docu-fiction  about two men who investigate the myth of Alberto Cándia, a Chilean international thief who stole theCathedral of Cadiz in Andalusia in the late 1980s.

If you can click with this rambling little film you are going to have a good time. Leisurely paced and wandering off in all over the place, this meditation on the nature of truth, myth and reality has some compelling pieces. I loved the various stories we hear about treasure and the quest to find out about Alberto Cándia. The stories are told in such away that we feel as though we are sitting with the characters and tellers shooting the breeze. Its compelling and a great deal of fun.

At the same time I’m not sure the film really adds up to much. This isn’t to say the film is bad but more to state that the film is uneven. Blame some of the long sequences where nothing happens or no one speaks. For example the film begins with a monologue in the back of truck that ends and we are in the truck as it drives along and this drifts into following people as they walk down the road. “Quiet sequences” punctuate the  film and for me they stop the forward momentum. While I love the discussions I’m not certain about the rest.

While I think the film is uneven, I still think it’s worth seeing. There are some great pieces here. (I’m going to leave the question about which parts of this are real and what parts are made up to you)

Little Nicholas Happy As Can Be (2022)

Animated gem of a film is the dual story of the creation and creators of the Little Nicholas comic strip and the adventures of their character as well. Sweet little animated film begins with the creation of the Little Nicholas comic strip and then moves into the adventures of the little guy and his friends.

This film is a delight. It’s a “hand drawn” film that is certain to put a smile on your face. It’s a celebration  of a creation and the creators that is just a lot of fun. I just chuckled my way through the film from start to finish.

While the film is good fun from start to finish, I’m not going to lie and say it’s perfect. The sections of the films on creators René Goscinny, and Jean-Jacques Sempé where Nicholas isn’t involved are less compelling. Yes they are good, but the problem is its about the life of grown ups which makes them less fun that Nicholas. The Nicholas stuff is a blast and I’m so annoyed that I never ran into him before this.(I will have to track reprints down)

If you need to smile you need to see this.

It hits VOD on July 28

Air (2023)

AIR is the story of how Nike wooed Michael Jordan and changed the sneaker market forever.

Good behind the scenes story is hurt by Matt Damon being in his typical Matt Damon mode. If you've seen a lot of Damon films, you know where he often is simply his charming self with no coloring what so ever. That's his character here, Matt Damon the charmer. Sure the scripts make it clear that Damon is not the same person he is in other films, but the truth of the matter is he just cut and pasted his performance from an earlier film. While he's never bad, he's always Damon. 

Its a shame since the film has some really great performances from the rest of the cast, who disappear into their roles. Chris Tucker for example had me doing triple takes.

While the film is never bad, you really have to wonder why this film cost so much to make and why some critics are falling all over themselves about it.

It's worth a look but I'm glad I watched it on Prime.

Starring Jerry As Himself (2023) Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023

This is a documentary narrative hybrid about Jerry Hsu who tells us the story of what happened after he was recruited by the Chinese police.

The less you know about the arc of this story the better it's going to play for you. I say that because this is a beautiful puzzle box of a film. This is a film about what happened to Jerry, his life, his family and the making of the film.  Its a film that is full layers and as the film goes on doors are opened and the layers of the story are peeled away.  

It's a hell of a ride...and a bracing cautionary tale that you need to see.

EXODUS 91 (2022) New York Jewish Film Festival 2023

One part documentary and one part dramatization, this is the story of how Israel rescued 15,000 Ethiopian Jews from famine and the civil war. Codenamed Operation Solomon the operation was beset by all sorts of troubles as the Ethiopians pondered if they were simply being used for show. In the end opened the flood gates and allowed for mare to emigrate.

This is a solid docudrama that will have you wondering how this is all going to play out.  I remember following the story back in 1991 and I always wondered what exactly happened. I say that because the TV news coverage of the time was limited and not really detailed. I like how we really get a sense of everything that went into the rescue.

Recommended

For details on the screening on the 21st go here

Pendular 2017 plays Ovid.tv starting July 23

With PENDLAR playin OVID.TV here is the review I ran when it played New Directors New Films in 2017

One of the best acted films in the entire New Directors New Films festival this year the film is going to divide audiences into two groups those who fall madly in love with it and those who admire it's technical achievements but never fully warm to it. The film is the downward arc of a couple. He sculpts, she dances. They have moved into a large industrial space, Part is their home and the rest is divided evenly between their work spaces. While the thought of always being with the one you love may sound great, the actuality is it kills many relationships. While the film is beautifully acted and expertly put together the storytelling never worked for me, Its not that there is anything truly wrong with it other than the film seems to be trying a little too hard to make it's points, while not always being clear what they all are. On a certain level I really loved the film but there was a point where it couldn't bridge the gap between what it was trying to do with what it was doing. That said, the pluses out weigh the minuses and the film is one of my recommended films for the festival.

American Trial: The Eric Garner Story (2019) Hits VOD May 18

With AMERICAN TRIAL hitting VOD  on Monday here is a respost of my review of this must see film.

Unfairly getting lost in the final weekend of the New York Film Festival is AMERICAN TRIAL: THE ERIC GARNER STORY which very probably is the most important film playing at this years festival.

The film is a docufiction  trial of New York City Officer Pantaleo who wrestled Eric Garner to the ground using a choke hold when they he and several other officers tried to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes. Since Pantaleo was never indicted, so he never went to trial,  filmmaker Roee Messinger assembled a team of former prosecutors and a team of expert defense lawyers to use the public record and actual witnesses to put the officer on trial.  Pantaleo is portrayed by actor Anthony Altieri and his words are those found in the public record.

Allowing that some witnesses who would have been called to trial, (the man who shot the infamous video, the other officers, any other people on the street) AMERICAN TRIAL goes a long way to say that Pantaleo should have at least been indicted. The evidence is there to at least take the case to trial since its clear that within the definition of the NYPD department guidelines and the law what Pantaleo did was not allowed and probably strangulation under the criminal definition even if only for a matter of seconds. Watching the film, which was not scripted by simply the record of the mock trial the full extent of the miscarriage of justice can be seen.

Again in fairness to the fact that we do not get to see all the witnesses that we would have seen at trial, I will hold off saying that Pantaleo would have been convicted at trial, but he should have been indicted. All of the information needed for that is in the public record....

I should also point out that one of the strengths of the film is that it points out that there are things that most of us don't know such as the facts concerning what happened prior to the video such as a fight, not involving Garner (who according to testimony tried to break it up) that took place that brought the police and that ten minutes of unrecorded talk between the cops and Garner happened before the video began which makes it even more curious as to why things suddenly escalated. A full accounting of what happened makes clear at what a tragedy this was.

In fairness I do need to quibble about one or to choices that Roee Messinger makes in the later portion of the film and that is to add flourishes outside of the courtroom proceedings to paint Pantaleo as a bad guy. She hammers home the points that Pantaleo had numerous unsubstantiated reports concerning civilian charges against him. While there is no doubt they are part of the public record, and her use of them outside of the court room portion of the film are merely flourishes to show the officer as not a nice guy, their use and they way they are included, despite being fleeting, will allow those who think Pantaleo was right in what he did to dismiss the film as a hatchet job. Those seconds of screen time make this a film some people can dismiss if they choose to. But that is a quibble.

Ultimately AMERICAN TRIAL:THE ERIC GARNER STORY is a kick in the ass and a wake up call concerning the criminal justice system. It is a must see film.

ADDENDUM
AMERICAN TRIAL: The Eric Garner Story opens virtually in theaters on May 18. A live-streamed Q&A with director Roee Messinger and Eric Garner's wife, Esaw Snipes Garner, will take place on May 21, where the audience jury verdict will be announced.

Please visit the American Trial website for more information on theaters, tickets and the Q&A: www.passionriver.com/AmericanTrial