THE DRONE (2019) Slamdance 2019

From Jordan Rubin the director of ZOMBEAVERS comes THE DRONE about the soul of a serial killer that takes over the drone he uses to spy on women with. Just because he's in a drone doesn't mean the killings stop and it's up to his ex-wife and her new husband to try and stop the carnage.

Nominally a horror comedy the scares aren't really there and the humor is almost as low as you can go. The jokes are more groaners than laugh out loud funny ones. While there are some laughs more often then not you will be shaking your head.

Best viewed if you are with a group of friends who are in the mood to riff a film, THE DRONE is a film that requires that you absolutely and completely disregard any sort of logic, even internal. I say that because  nothing in this film makes one lick of sense on any level. Yea, its a goofball horror comedy but we need to accept that a small drone can cause so much damage, even on it's own terms, for this to really work and THE DRONE never provides that. (How does it come through a hole in the wall smaller than it is? How does it fly up the cop's bottom? How does it chop people up with such tiny blades?)

Because I loved ZOMBEAVERS so much I went along to the end of THE DRONE but found I was disappointed at almost every turn. While it isn't bad, it just never manages to walk the fine line of horror/comedy without tripping and falling on it's face.

Slip Road (2019) Slamdance 2019

Raphael Dubois’ SLIP ROAD is a small gem. A moody creepy confection it chills and makes you want to see more.

The film has a young man drive into a forest to meet a being to seal a deal. He drives and encounters souls on the road. What it all means is for you to decide.

It is a stunning film that raises more questions than it answers. I want to know more. I want this expanded into a feature, but while I want to know more, I am afraid that knowing more might wreck the magic of this small treasure.

To that end why don’t we just give Dubois enough money to make a feature and go with what is next. If we do that we can keep the wonder of SLIP ROAD and then see something even more wondrous and new from a young man who is going to make some great stuff in the future.

Slamdance ’19: Demolition Girl

It is good for high school kids to have jobs, because the employment experience teaches responsibility. Cocoa already happens to be plenty responsible, unlike her deadbeat father and even worse deadbeat brother. Unfortunately, her choice of employment will lead to trouble and scandal in Genta Matsugami’s Demolition Girl, which screened during the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival.

It wasn’t Cocoa’s idea, but an old friend of her brother convinced her to appear in his foot-crushing fetish videos. Right, we’re talking about women’s feet stomping on things. She really doesn’t get it either, but the money is good and the work doesn’t take long. Those are both important factors, ever since she decided to take a shot at the national university entrance exams. She should be smart enough to pass, if she could study as much as her friends, but paying tuition and expenses will be another matter entirely. Of course, her lazy father and parasitical brother still expect to live off her.

Cocoa’s upbeat resiliency is quite appealing, but viewers will rightly suspect her method for earning quick money is not sustainable. When the shoes start to drop (so to speak), the film takes a decidedly dark turn. She can justly blame her brother’s friend, who unwisely started selling his videos through a gang of sleazy underworld thugs, but he really isn’t a bad guy. On the other hand, her brother is truly pond scum.

Aya Kitai was quite deservedly recognized with an Honorable Mention for the Slamdance Acting Award, because her performance will make your heart ache for Cocoa. We feel for her acutely, yet the remarkable thing about her portrayal specifically and Matsugami’s film in general is how uplifting it is, despite all the rotten things that happen. Somehow, her indomitable spirit lifts our own. She also forges believably grounded but very different kinds of rapport with her besties and the aspiring fetish filmmaker.

Matsugami’s DIY-style aptly suits the drabness of Cocoa’s depressed provincial town and the mean circumstances of her life. Everything in his film feels really real. Yet, Kitai lights up the digital screen. After watching Demolition, we sincerely hope Matsugami continues to tell Cocoa’s story, returning to her every so often, like François Truffaut did with his Antoine Doinel films. Yes, I’m dropping Truffaut’s name in a review of Demolition—honestly, Cocoa might just be even more emotionally engaging (even though Truffaut’s artistry was admittedly greater). Very highly recommended, Demolition Girl had its world premiere at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival.

Slamdance ’19: The Vast of Night

It really was a weather balloon. If you doubt it, check out the articles in The Skeptical Inquiry debunking the Roswell UFO myth. It is a good story, but it is just a story. Nevertheless, the need to believe has made New Mexico ground zero for the flying saucer faithful. Apart from the Roswell rumor-mongering, New Mexico’s wide-open deserts and low population density make fictional Cayuga, NM a suitable location for paranormal goings-on in Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night, the plucky microbudget winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival.

Vast of Night is ostensibly an episode of a 1950s science fiction anthology show called Paradox Theater that we start watching on a vintage black-and-white vacuum tube television, before the picture morphs into the evocatively washed out color of the characters’ world. Everett is a cocky high school student who works part-time for the local AM radio station. Everyone in town probably assumes he and Fay will eventually become a couple, but for now, they just bicker too much. Tonight, he is happily helping her get the hang of the new portable tape recorder she just ordered from Montgomery Ward.

Nearly everyone in town will be at the big high school basketball game, but he will be on the air at WOTW and she will be covering the town’s telephone switchboard. When reports of strange lights in the sky start to come in, the ambiguous couple will be able to coordinate their efforts to investigate. It turns out, something downright Roswellian might be afoot, based on claims of “Billy,” a former US Air Force officer, who calls into Everett’s show.

Frankly, it is shocking how well put together Vast is, especially given its extreme budget constraints. It is definitely one of the best looking, smartest written X-Files-esque films in decades. Patterson and cinematographer Miguel Ioann Littin Menz give it an intimate vibe with their claustrophobic long takes, but they also capture a sense of the lonely emptiness of the small town when their restless camera pans from one location to another during transitional scenes. Strange Invaders, the cult favorite from 1983, would be a logical comparison title, in terms of themes and vibe, but Vast is a far superior film.

The period details and visual effects are definitely impressive, but the chemistry between Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz, as Fay and Everett, respectively, is what really elevates Vast. They are terrific together and they both absolutely knock out of the park screenwriters James Montague & Craig W. Sanger’s long, knotty passages of dialogue. They also get first class support from the rest of the ensemble, including the pitch-perfect heard-but-not-seen Bruce Davis as Billy and Gail Cronauer, who holds viewers absolutely rapt as Mabel Blanche, another eye witness of sorts.

Vast of Night is a film you really should see in a darkened theater, because it would be a shame to let the distractions of mundane life break the spell Patterson and his actors cast over the audience. Granted, the story itself is hardly groundbreaking, but Patterson’s mastery of mood, the palpable sense of place, and the work of his two co-leads are really quite special. Very highly recommended, The Vast of Night should have a long life ahead of it with genre film fans, after winning the Audience Award at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.

Slamdance Shorts HANDS AND WINGS, 11010, ALL ON A MARDI GRAS DAY, and ROUGHLY DELICATE

HANDS AND WINGS
A handicapped young man fantasizes about the angel he in love with and... I don't know. There is something here, but there also kind of isn't. The film tries awfully hard to set a tone and make a point but it never manages to make the premise work to the point where it wasn't just uncomfortable.

11010
Really off the wall animated short about people getting sucked into a virtual world. Assuming you get past the really weird visual style of the stop motion characters this is a film you'll either love or wonder what the hell is going on- I'm of the WTF was that camp.

ALL ON A MARDI GRAS DAY
Stunning and glorious portrait of Desmond, who works all year on his Mardi Gras suit, which he wears each year in the battle to see who is the prettiest. Truly wonderful portrait of a man, a culture and the worlds Desmond lives in will open your eyes and your mind to a new world and a way of getting by. I don't know what to say other than this was one of the real treasures of this year's Slamdance- May it have a long and profitable life everywhere

ROUGHLY DELICATE
Intriguing portrait of Chinese women who shoot guns and dance (not at the same time) as way of dealing with their lives. Proof positive that what you expect someone to be is not necessarily who they are asthese women mix old and new ways of passing the time. Absolutely worth a look.

Slamdance 2019 Short Takes: Eyes At The Specter Glass, Tijuana, and No.3 In the Absence of Angels

Eyes At The Specter Glass
Must see big and loud. This trippy animated experimental film is a perfect marriage of sound and image. Shot at the aspect ratio of 2.76 to 1 this is a reason to go to the movies. Trust me this film will overwhelm you.

Tijuana
A short pilot/proof of concept intrigued me from the moment I saw the trailer. Set in Tijuana just as prohibition begins the film begins with the American wife of the new chief of police as she begins to use her wiles and her husband’s new power to make money running liquor north into America. While the 15 minute pilot does little more than set things up, the series is full of potential. As many of my friends know I don’t watch much episodic television but Tijuana has my attention and should it go to series I would definitely revisit to see how much of the potential is realized.

No.3 In The Absence of Angels
I'm not going to say a great deal about NO. 3 IN THE ABSENCE OF ANGELS other than it is one of the best films at the festival. A kick in the chest that will deflate you. The story of the aftermath of a brutal sexual assault it is  painful and real and will make you want to look away.

THIS TEACHER (2018) Slamdance 2019

French Muslim needing a break travels to New York to visit a friend and is shocked by the changes living in America and dealing with the casual racism  have made in her friend. Feeling out of place she flees to the country but even alone in the woods there are somethings she can't escape.

Good looking, beautifully acted and very deliberately mannered THIS TEACHER is going to be a film that you either fall in love with or find much too calculating. I'm in the later having never fully connected with the film from the first frames when Hafsia Herzi stares into the camera before repeatedly saying "I'm Here" to the person on the other side of the phone. It's a statement of fact for the character and a statement of intent for the film which then paints a portrait of how Herzi is marginalized.

I admire what the film is trying to do, I just never warmed to it's artificial construction.

Slamdance 2019 Short Takes TUNGRUS, LOST HOLIDAY and WE ARE THANKFUL

Part documentary, part narrative WE ARE THANKFUL tells the story of lead actor Siyabonga Majola, playing a version of himself. He lives in a small town and wants to be an actor. When he finds a film is going to be made nearby he travels to the set where he meets director Joshua Magor is working. Very meta film is an interesting piece of docufiction. How you react to it is going to be determined by how you react to the observational portions of the film.

I am not sure what I think of LOST HOLIDAY. Listing as a mystery, the film is more the wanderings of a well off college couple who travel through Washington DC kind of get involved in a kidnapping and stuff. To be honest mostly what I remember is just --- being cranky and quietly pining for an old flame. I lost interest because I really didn’t like anyone so I didn’t have any reason to care or connect.

I am kind of at a loss about what to say about TUNGRUS. This short doc is about a family that is being terrorized by their pet chicken. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem but they live in an apartment and have an insane bird wandering around is handful. The family is interviewed and they discuss the possibility of killing and eating the errant fowl. Running 13 minutes the film is one of those films that is better to see rather than read about. Recommended.

THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album (2017) Slamdance 2019

Artist Zdzisław Beksiński recorded his and his family's life with what ever her could. From film, audio tape and later video  tape. He also sent letters and kept diaries and journals. as a result of all this recording it charted his "cursed" families history though mental illness, plane crashes and suicide.

While Beksiński's odd and dysfunctional life was the source of the film THE LAST FAMILY from 2016, this is the unvarnished truth. A full feature of the material that filled the final moments of the earlier film this film is often hard to watch. A little too much is revealed. We don't need to know this much about anyone, even ourselves. The result is a film that is utterly fascinating.

There are observational documentaries and then there is this film which manages to be both subjective and objective. We see the world ordered through Beksiński's choices but it records moments that are life as lived and which almost no documentarian would have or could have filmed. Its  gripping even as we wonder why are we watching this.

While this is not going to be every film fan or documentary fan's cup of tea,  for those who honestly and truly want to see a life as lived, and which goes sideways, this is going to be manna from heaven.

Highly recommended.

Beats (2019) Slamdance 2019

Based on a play by Keiran Hurley BEATS tells the story of 15 year old Johnno and Spanner in the days leading up to the passage of the the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which banned unauthorized gatherings where music with a beat was played. The idea was to stop raves from happening. This is to be the last summer together for the two young men. Johnno and his family will be moving and Spanner faces an uncertain future. As their time together is coming to an end the pair spends their last days together.

I liked BEATS but I don't quite love it. The film has some truly transcendent moments, some great exchanges and a very good score but I never could shake the feeling that as hard as the film was trying to be "great" and be a film that made you fall passionately love with it, it was never going to be more than good and a one time dinner after work sort of thing.

The problem is is that the film hits every coming of age note you think it will. This is the story of one last blast and a thumbing of nose at authority before disappearing into the lives that we are expected to live. While the details vary this is very much like any other coming of age tale. I know that is partly intentional since in the press notes director Brian Welsh talks about how the source play resonated with anyone who saw it. I think for me the problem is that in opening up Keiran Hurley's play  didn't quite work. What worked on stage as essential a monologue with music doesn't translate as well with characters. In a monologue you can get away with a bit of cliche, but that doesn't quite work when actors portray the characters.

My other problem with the film is I really don't like Cristian Ortega as Johnno. Or is it I don't like the character? I'm not quite sure. The problem for me is that as written Johnno is more a reactor than an actor. He is our surrogate and he walks through the film in our stead and while he takes part in the events he more often than not seems to be watching until events simply overwhelm him (the rave). While Ortega is never bad, he is never really given much to do and so he seems more like a lost puppy with his frightened posture and doe eyes.

While I'm not sure it all hangs together there are moments. The rave is exceptional. There are some lovely exchanges between the two friends  and the acting is across the board wonderful. Everyone outside of Johnno seems to be real characters.

I feel really bad not absolutely loving this film. I went into the film with high hopes, owing in large part to the Steven Soderbergh's name which is being splashed across some promotional material you'd swear it was his new film.

Is BEATS bad? No, not remotely. Frankly I do like the film, I just don't love it, which is something it seems to be trying very hard to make me do.

MUDANZA CONTMPORANEA (2018) Slamdance 2019

MUDANZA CONTMPORANEA is a hard to describe film. It has something to do with the random things in our lives...and a ghost... I think. I know that much of the film made me laugh out loud as director TeoGuillem dances around in various sheets and stuff.

That may not sound thrilling, but trust me it’s hysterical in the right sort of way as the mix of sound and image are made glorious by stunning editing. From the instant we get a sheet drifting to a vacuum cut to someone dancing in the same sheet I was hooked. It’s wonderful filmmaking.

But it’s not perfect. There are some long passages where we watch a woman on a TV screen which kind of kills the momentum of the film. I’m certain that’s tied to the deeper meaning of the film about the ghost of the past, but it’s nowhere near as much fun.

I am probably missing the point of what the film is about by just focusing on the crazy motion but god damn its great.

Playing at Slamdance MUDANZA CONTMPORANEA is recommended

023_GRETA_S (2018) Slamdance 2019

Annika Birgel‘s 023_GRETA_S is an uncomfortable masterpiece. Arising out of a casting call the director had, the film lays bare the creepy things that men do to women especially in an “official” job related manner.

The film has Greta go in for an interview with a director for an unspecified role. He then proceeds to ask her a series of personal, and way off base questions. It’s clear from watching Greta’s face that none of this is alright or okay. And while none of it is graphic, the tone and sheer weight of the probing just makes it uncomfortable.

Never having had to endure anything like this I squirmed in my seat. I was incredibly uncomfortable and I desperately wanted to pull Greta out of there. I’m guessing that most women who see this will be screaming at the screen in acknowledgement of what is being shown. Most men, who probably never had to endure anything like this will stare at the screen dumbfounded.

Kudos to Lilian Mazbouh as Greta. She is the whole film, her’s being really the only face we see. Told in painful close up (think of her as a modern day version of Dreyer’s Joan of Arc) she makes us feel everything. It is an award worthy performance and one that will make you wonder why the various big awards don’t include shorts- until you realize that the work being done in these small films more often than not put to shame the work of the big stars in bloated Hollywood films.

In any age and not just the current #metoo one  023_GRETA_S is a must see.

HIEROPHANY (2018) Slamdance 2019

To be honest I don’t know exactly is going on with HIEROPHANY but god damn its magical.

The film tells the story of three young men in the fields around a farm in Florida. They are hunting for rabbits in the hope of making some money. They are watched over by a falcon. Where it all goes and how it goes is the film.

Gorgeously shot in black and white this film is an absolute delight for the eye. Every shot (except one) is perfect in composition and perfect on how it conveys a mood or emotion. This is as good as filmmaking gets.

To be honest I don’t know what it all means but I like it. I like the feel of the film. I love the sense of character. We don’t know a great deal about them but I did get the sense of someone behind the eyes.

I know it maybe a pipe dream but I’d like to see this expanded into a feature- or if not a feature I want to see what director Kevin Contento can do on a larger canvas. If its half as good as this it will b something special.

Happy Face (2019) Slamdance 2019

Alexandre Franchi's HAPPY FACE is a wonderful little film that will put a smile on your face and tears in your eyes.  It is one of the unexpected pleasures of Slamdance.

Stan tapes up his face to appear disfigured. He is trying to come to connect with his mother who is being ravaged by cancer. When Stan's masquerade is discovered he  fights to be allowed to remain part of the group which has become his found family. As Stan helps his friends come to terms with their problems they in term come to help him deal with his fears.

Before you ask, yes the film does hit some of the themes and points you'd expect a film like this to hit. At the same time Franchi does a few things that are unexpected with the result the film never feels like something we've seen before.

Helping a great deal is the fact that Franchi has found a killer cast of actors. Everyone on screen is actually a person with some sort of difference. It may sound like a "no duh" thing to say but the fact that we are watching real people on the screen makes the film all the more real. If you ever need an game set and match reason as to why filmmakers, and all of Hollywood needs to hire real people and not make up artists, bring up this film. Seeing David Roche, Cindy Nicholsen, E R Ruiz, Dawn Shaw and the others adds a layer of humanity that seeing say Angelina Jolie with a rubber face could never duplicate. Seeing all these fine actors on screen makes the film connect us to the story all the more.

I really liked HAPPY FACE a great deal. And by the time Stan offered his mother some french fries and vinegar I was gone, reaching for a tissue to mop up the tears.

While I probably can't call it one of the absolute best films at Slamdance, I will call it one of the great joys and one the great finds not only of the festival but also of 2019.  Ultimately this is a wonderful little film that is marvelously full of life.

Very Recommended.

Boni Bonita (2019) Slamdance 2019

Boni Bonita tells the story of the relationship between a 16 year old girl who meets and hooks up in a years long on again off again relationship with a musician twenty years her senior. As their feelings ebb and flow the relationship morphs and changes over time as we drop in at several points.

Shot on film in 16mm with a focus that shifts depending upon the moods of the characters Boni Bonita is a trip inside the heads of the protagonists. We are parties to their thoughts and feelings and it makes for interesting viewing.

Outside of the technical aspects of the film and the structure of the story telling Boni Bonita didn’t click with me. There is something about its low key approach that never drew me in. I sat outside of the events and was a passive follower. It was not a matter of the film being bad but more that something about the film not hooking or clicking with me. About half way in to the film I had the realization that I could appreciate what the film was doing but I wasn’t invested in it.

While I can say that the film is definitely worth a look if you like tales for a relationships

In brief: Butt Fantasia (2018) Slamdance 2018

Five minute riff on Disney's Fantasia using men's butt to act out various scenarios set to music.

Amusing to a point but this is a film that probably should have played at Cinekink or some other similar festival. While in no way sexy, the film's singular vision doesn't really sustain the "stupid cinema" premise even at five minutes unless one finds bottoms endlessly amusing, I found it "cute, but could we please go on to the next thing" and its "stupid cinema" premise is pushed past the breaking point where I wondered why I was seeing it at a festival such as Slamdance. 

While I normally don't normally question why programmers chose a film for their festival this one has me scratching my head because it's there really isn't anything here.

KIFARU (2019) Slamdance 2019

The review that follows is by Unseen Films writer Ariela Rubin.  Ariela is taking the lead on this review because when I found out what this film was about I made an effort to see the film with Ariela because she has met the men and rhinos profiled in the film. Since she is more qualified to discuss the film she is taking the lead on the review.

KIFARU is the Swahili word for rhino. This documentary about the last three remaining Northern White Rhinos, was originally called Sudan: The Last Man Standing. This film takes place primarily at Ol Pejeta Conservatory in Kenya, where the last three Northern White Rhinos lived: Sudan, Naji(his daughter), and Fatu(her daughter). This documentary was one I’ve been awaiting to see, and holds a special place in my heart as I went to Kenya and to Ol Pejeta several years ago, and was inspired to go there to meet Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhino, before it was too late.

The film follows the three main caretakers: James, Jojo, and Jacob (I met James when I was there, and he showed us around). These men spend 10 months of the year there, away from their families, to protect the rhinos. You can see that these men are dedicated to taking care of the rhinos, and really get attached to them. They are true heroes.

This film is a real look at what extinction looks like. We get to see it first hand through Sudan. It’s heartbreaking. Heartbreaking that humans have done this. I hope everyone sees this documentary, it’s such an important film to see, and make sure you have tissues nearby.

Memphis 69 (2019) Slamdance 2019

Memphis 69 is almost certainly going to end up as one of my favorite films of 2019. Made up of the footage shot at the Memphis Birthday Blues Festival in 1969 the film was locked away for 50 years because by the time it was developed by Gene Rosenthal no one was really interested in it. It wasn’t until Fat Possum Records expressed an interest in the audio recordings that things began to shift and work began on finally editing the film.

The film is not a complete record of the festival, stretched over three days where the temperature reached 106 degrees, but a sampling of the artists who played. Running a much too brief 75 minutes the film gives everyone a song or two to shine, and shine they do. This is 75 minutes of glorious music that will move your heart and stir your soul. It is, sonically, one of my most favorite films I’ve run across. I simply want to listen to the music over and over again.

Visually the film is nothing flashy. A record of the performances and the people attending the festival, it just shows us the performers and nothing more. However considering it is reveals to us Nathan Beuregard, the 106 year old blind blues player who connects the time to the Civil War, or Sleepy Eyes Estes and Yank Rachel rocking out, Bukka White kicking ass and taking names or the Bar-kays playing Let The Sun Shine In the simplest approach is best.

I have no words- seriously I have nothing but WOW and OH MY GOD.

Highly recommended for anyone who love great music MEPHIS 69 is a treat of the highest order.

America The Beautiful: The Video Evidence (2019) Sundance 2019

Shot entirely on iPhone (the film is told with a vertical framing) crime thriller is made up of video clips found on the  iPhone found after a crime. It charts the descent of a marketing exec in California as he makes friends with a member of a right wing militia and swings farther and farther to the right and becomes more and more paranoid.

This film about changing face of America this is an important one. I find it interesting that it has taken two years of Trump in the White House before we have started to get attempts to explain how the hated filled rhetoric is altering the lives of millions. That AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL is taking a head on, in your face approach makes it something more than a film that can be easily dismissed.

As good as the film is on many levels it does suffer from some of the problems that plague many found footage films, particularly the questions of why did the person shooting actually choose to shoot this particular moment (a number of scenes are not be the sort of thing anyone would film except if they were telling a story)and why things suddenly take on a "professional" look when something important is happening? Its a forgivable sin that comes as a trade off with the immediacy of the tale it is telling.

Having World Premiered last night at Slamdance the film is about to begin a festival march so keep an eye out for it.

In Brief: MARKIE FROM MILWAUKEE (2019) Slamdance 2019

I don’t have a great deal to say about MARKIE IN MILWAUKEE other than see it. This is a portrait of a giant of a man who transitioned into being a woman and decided to transition back because of his faith and reaction of his family. It is a deeply moving portrait of a person trying to find themselves in their own eyes and the eyes of God.

I was moved.

The reason I don’t have a lot to say is because I don’t want to talk about Markie, rather I just want to go up to him and give him a hug and say I’ve got your back. That’s a weird reaction to have to a film, but it’s a testament to Matt Kliegman's film which does more than just show us an interesting character, but instead makes us his/her friend.

While Markie is going to get all the attention, we need to take some time out and note how good a job Kliegman did in putting the film together. After seeing the film I genuinely feel like I’ve been hanging out with Markie for years and not an hour and a half. Kliegman‘s ability to do that is rare because most filmmaker don't often manage to have the walls between a subject and the audience be so utterly obliterated.

Yes, this is a film that is more than just a portrait of person trying to find themselves, this is a thoughtful and thoughtful examination of what the self is. What part does belief and religion play in all of that? Kliegman gives us much to chew on and a couple of weeks after seeing the film for the first time I am still pondering it. The fact that I am still pondering it is another reason that I don't have a lot to say right now. The fact that this is a film that requires interaction with it is what makes it so great. We can't simply say it was good and move on, but we much wrestle with it.

This film is a masterpiece. It is also one of the best films at Slamdance and highly recommended.