FOREVER YOUNG (2023) releases Tuesday

Older woman is given a chance to become young again. When she brings it up to her husband, he declines because he is happy with her run. Undergoing the procedure it upsets the status quo.

This is good small scale drama. Barely a science fiction film it is instead a solid drama exploring , life, regret and our pondering of the roads not taken. It’s a film that throws up a number of intriguing questions that  we will have to ponder at some point in our lives.

Where the film scores is in the cast. Full of stalwart vets, the cast full engagement with the material make this a film we want to see. Say what you will watching  people like Diana Quick, Bernard Hill, Amy Tyger , Mark Jackson, Stephanie Beacham , Anna Wolf, and Julian Glover taking a spin across the screen is enough for me. I particularly love Bernard Hill’s turn, particularly in the later part of the film. He brought some tears to my eyes, as he should.

While not the most earthshaking of films, it does entertain and it does move us and as such the film is recommended.

SPINNING MAN (2021)

 A man alone in a bomb shelter after the bomb drops broadcasts a radio show to anyone who will listen and talks to anyone who radios back.

Much too short film is killer show reel for Travis Mitchell. On screen for the entire film, he gives what should be a star making performance as a man trapped alone after the end of the world. Mitchell is scary good in the “if Oscar looked at shorts, he’d win one” sort of good.

I loved everything about it, and I have to put writer director Jordan Rosenblum on my list of people to follow list. I would love to see what he would do with a feature…

Which brings me to the thought that I’d love to see a longer version of this film. There is so much more that can be done with this and as it goes the film begins to introduce things that bleed off the screen.  This could be a stunning  feature- especially with Mitchell and Rosenblum continuing on.

Recommended.

ID EST (2023)

ID EST is a film I really like and I am really annoyed with.  I love this small compact moment in time science fiction tale, but this is a film that needs to be expanded because within its brief running time plot bleeds off the screen and all over the floor; I want to know more.

The plot has a group of prospectors having a rough landing on a planet. As they sort out where they are they are attacked...

Spinning off on the idea that there are different types of leaches the film raises a number of questions about our relationship to the earth and each other. While the narrative focuses on one moment in time there are references through fleeting flashbacks to a larger story. What happened before and just who is everyone? We don't know, though the film is intriguing enough that we want to.

And the brevity and not having answers is the films one flaw. As much as I like what is here this needs to be expanded. As I said above the plot and characters bleed off the screen so much, we need to get answers to the myriad of questions it raises.

One to track down, but be prepared to want more.

AGGRO DRIFT (2023) NYFF 2023

IF Harmonie Korine wasn’t the director this film would never have played the NYFF. A pretentious and dull sci-fi action film that is part of the world of rapper Travis Scott the film tells the story of a futuristic hitman.

While the film was shot in infrared which gives the real world images an instant futuristic look. It’s stunning and one of the coolest looking films at the festival. The problem is that there isn’t anything else here. It’s a lot of narration and meaningful voice over. I got bored very quickly as the film slid along like the opening of a video game stretched to 90 minutes.

While the film has visual style to burn and some kick ass moments related to that, the rest of it is hollow and empty.

DUAL (2022) Sundance 2022

Set in a world where terminal people can get duplicates of themselves DUAL concerns a woman who is told that she has a terminal disease. She is told there is a 98% chance she is going to die, however the 2% chance of survival is the margin of error so death is certain. She opts to get a duplicate but she survives, which means she must now fight her clone to the death.

Mannered and low key comedy drama this is a film you are either going to love or hate. It’s not so much the that the story is bad, though there are too many questions about the world for it to fully make sense, rather the presentation is so deadpan and off kilter as to be annoying. For example, Sarah, Karen Gillan's character is not really affected by things until she  is. I mean he illness is discovered when she wakes up in a bed covered up by blood. She then goes to a clinic and tells them it’s not an emergency – until she vomits up a torrent of blood at which point the nurse dead pans “I thought you said it wasn’t an emergency”, as if it’s an off handed joke.  More off handed jokes follow that don’t produce laughs so much as cringes.

I just kind of stared at the screen wondering if I should be laughing or not, I knew the answer was I should be, but the presentation just didn’t work. I get what it was trying to do but it never pulled it off. It also doesn't help that the deadpan performances work against it. For exampl Gillan seems to be speaking in fast forward for no good reason.

If you like off kilter and mannered low key comedies try it, otherwise try something else.