BETWEEN THE WHITE KEY AND THE BLACK KEY (2024) opens Japan Cuts 2024 tomorrow

Set in the  1980's and based on the memoirs of jazz pianist Hiroshi Minami, BETWEEN THE WHITE KEY AND THE BLACK KEY is the story of a man who wants to play jazz. Directed to go to the cabarets by his teacher, he ends up on an odd adventure partially set in motion by playing the Love Theme From The Godfather to the wrong person.

This is film as jazz. It's a film that is loose and seemingly improvised and yet tight and focused. It's a film that has the rhythms of jazz quartet playing a set. Its a film that doesn't feel like any other I've ever run across even, though it feels very familiar -- just like great jazz.

If you want to see to see a film that Hollywood would never touch, this is it. This is a film full of life and quirks and the sort of off beat nature that Hollywood would destroy if they ever thought that they could cash in on it.  It's a prime example of the sort of wonders that lie outside of the American cinematic mainstream.

As much as I admire this film's construction and uniqueness, it is not a film that I full warmed to. Sure I enjoyed it, but at the same time I never fully connected to it.  Blame it on the quirkiness of some of the characters keeping me arms distance from the story. It's far from fatal but there is so much I love here I wanted to love the whole package.

My pickiness aside, this film is a cinematic joy. Buy a ticket and go.

Sorry Not Sorry (2023) opens Friday

This is a film based on the  New York Times article that outed  Louis CK's sexual harassment of women that paused his career briefly. 

Looking at the women who were brave enough to speak up, the film is a damning look at the state of comedy  and society. It's a frequently funny film, it is a  film that deals with comedians after all, that is also bruising portrait that will leave you feeling sad about the state of comedy and society.  

I should state that I was never fan of CK's. I don't know why but he never clicked with me. When he fell from grace it barely made a dent in my existence. My friends were beside themselves. Watching the clips of CK after several years I still am left to wonder why he ever clicked.

Charting  Ck's career from rise to fall and rise again the film also charts the lives of three of the women who told the truth. We know what they said was true because CK said it was before he slunk away. The fact that he admitted it right at the start is the reason that many people are welcoming him back with open arms. While we should forgive, I'm not so sure we should completely forget since what he did wasn't  a willing sex act but a one where some one could help your career wants you to do them a favor or else. It kills me that because CK cultivated a shlumfy persona many people think he didn't mean it... yea he did. His shlumpiness is why he is still standing and other shits who were more authoritative (Harvey Weinstein or Matt Lauer) are still pariahs. 

Watching the film I was saddened listening to hear so many comedians defending CK if not out right but by saying they didn't know with big smirks on their faces.   I was troubled seeing other predators talking to (Charlie Rose) or about (Matt Lauer) CK when they themselves were doing the same thing. But I am most saddened by how the fans really never paused to question what he did. It was as if nothing had happened. (Don't get me started on Dave Chappelle)

There is much to unpack about the film and the situation it discusses. It is a film that requires careful consideration. It is a film very much for our time and the issues raised are important.

You must see this film.

( And if you look at various review sites for more info, consider that low audience scores seem to be due to CK's fans working to to get the algorithms to tank the film by posting low grades without seeing it) 

Liz Whittemore on Arze (2024) Tribeca 2024

This originally appeared at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Director Mira Shaib brings a story of perseverance to Tribeca 2024 audiences with ARZÉ. A single mother living with her sister and teenage son makes pies to support the family. Delivering them on foot loses them potential clients. Arzé secretly pawns a piece of her sister’s jewelry to put a down payment on a scooter, but when it’s stolen, she and Kinan embark on a wild goose chase through the streets of Beruit in a race against time.

Mother and son hit the ground running, quite literally, in a manic search for the stolen scooter. Arzé tries every trick in the book. Her negotiations for information include swapping whichever religious icon will get her to the next clue, though her delightful pies become the slyest currency.

Betty Taoutel gives agoraphobic Layla a delusional sense of hope that her estranged husband will return. She is a wonderfully character-driven foil for Kinan and Arzé. Her mental health and emotional trauma hide her deep love for her nephew and sister. It’s a lovely turn.

Bilal Al Hamwi plays Kinan with ferocious energy. His head is in the clouds. A push and pull between childhood and adulthood, Kinan longs to escape Beruit but feels tethered to his girlfriend and the mother he thinks holds him back.

As the titular Arzé, Diamond Abou Abboud shines with a palpable determination. Her relentless pursuit to make things right will capture your heart. She is abundantly charming. Abou Abboud delivers a shockingly powerhouse performance that sneaks up on you.

The cinematography is beautiful in the ever-changing natural light of Beirut. The script is a thoughtful mix of sadness, desperation, and hope. The score is almost comically upbeat but perfectly suits the surprising highs and lows in all the shenanigans.

Screenwriters Louay Khraish and Faissal Sam Shaib offer moments of levity amidst the seriousness of Arzé’s plight. It is also an interesting commentary on blame, the dangers of stereotyping, and tribalism. They give our leading lady a level of observant intelligence that reigns supreme.

ARZÉ is a delightful and entirely unexpected film in Tribeca 2024’s lineup, but undeniably one of the best.

Surprise! A brief NYAFF 2024 Curtain Raiser has appeared!

 

SURPRISE!

Here is a brief curtain raise for the New York Asian Film Festival.

I know it sound weird because there has been a curtain raiser for the last 15 years, however this year  things seemed to be conspiring to keep it from happening. Then things freed up at the end of last week and I've been in the bunker doing little except watching films and snatching a few minutes of sleep here and there.

This year there are 90 films playing. They are a selection of films from across Asia and they cover everything from family films, to crime to horror to comedy. There are several films about the game go, a bunch about runaways, several involving time travel and too many involving dating apps and all sorts of bang bang shoot'em ups and crazy ass action. Basically, there is something for everyone.

Buy tickets and go.

As this posts I've seen around 30 films, I'm planning on seeing  around another 35 so belt in a lot of coverage is coming.

I have tickets to several of the big events, so there were reports, and pictures

One word of warning, this year the festival is spread out over four locations  which means there is a good chance that you may have trouble getting from venue to venue if aren't cabbing/ubering (more teleporting) it. I mention this because there were a couple of times when I was buying tickets I had to make a choice of what and who I wanted to see more(Josie Ho or Nicholas Tse?) making the decision as to what film isn't getting covered. I wouldn't complain, but the festival has programmed some must see events/films against each other and I am unhappy I've had to choose which limb I'm going to cut off. 

My TED talk having ended I will say the festival has programmed some bangers so if something appeals to you buy a ticket.

While there are a lot of great films, based on what I've seen there has been a lot of niche programming. A number of films are going to be great for, say, the art house crowd but not the general movie going audience. Other films are great for those who like slasher films but not those who want a romance. My initial hesitancy to do a curtain raiser was that of the first 15 films I saw,  only one was not a niche film. I didn't want to do a recommend list that was all qualifiers.

Now that I've seen another dozen plus I can honestly do a recommend list, small though it is where I think the films will play well for most film fans:

FOR ALICE - A world premiere film about two lost souls will rock your world. It's all about the two lead performances where Tai Bo and Kuku so knock it out of the park.
CITY OF WIND - fantastic coming of age film about a young shaman who collides with a young woman who changes his world.
PATTAYA HEAT- one of the best films of 2024 is a multi-character wide ranging tale of crime and corruption that is mixed with the right amount of humor. You must see this.
CAREFREE DAYS may not be the best of the fest but it heralds the arrival of director Liang Ming who crafts sequence after sequence and image after image that will make you sit up and go WHOA.
BREAKING AND RE-ENTERING is a reverse caper film that gets better as the plot really kicks in an we get to know the characters.

I've also covered ESCAPE which just opened in theaters and is playing the festival next weekend. My review is here.

Addendum: on a more serious note please be warned the WOMEN FROM ROTE ISLAND contains several sequences of sexual violence. I mention this because I know people who will have problems with the film.

As I continue to watch goodies from the fest go check the website and buy tickets (I bought tickets for 6 films and looking to get more)

HEART OF AN OAK (2023) 7/12 in the UK

 

HEART OF AN OAK is a look at the animals living in and around an oak tree in France over the course of a year. We watch as the eat, fight, mate and everything in between.

This is the sort of film that used to play limited runs in theaters in the 60’s, 70’s an 80’s before these sort of films shifted to cable and stations like Discovery or Smithsonian. It’s a modern take on Disney’s Wilderness Adventures. It's a film I would have eaten up as a kid where the thought of seeing the animals on the big screen would have delighted me.

As an adult I really liked this a great deal.  It was so cool at times that I really wish I was sitting in the old Cove Theater back in 1974. The  awesome micro-photography made the thought of seeing them on a huge screen (the Cove was an old school movie palace)  made me sad I didn't manage it.

This is good stuff and worth a look when it opens in the UK Friday. 

National Anthem (2023) opens Friday

NATIONAL ANTHEM is the story of Dylan, a young man living at home with his mom. He is helping to raise his younger brother. He is putting money aside to by a RV so he can hit the road and see the world. Working odd jobs, he takes a two week job at a ranch way out of town and falls in with the people of living there. They are a collection of LGBT people who drifted in over time.  Entranced by Sky he slowly becomes friends with everyone at the ranch as he tries to find his place in the world.

NATIONAL ANTHEM is good time with great people. This was like hanging out with some of your best friends over the course of a several weeks. It’s a beautifully crafted collection of people who bleed off the screen in ways that will leave you insisting that these aren’t performances but people you know. Hell, by the time the film was done I wanted to leave the theater and go find the ranch.

Deliberately paced this film takes its time going where it’s going. Honestly I am glad I saw this at a screening instead of via a link because I was forced to allow the film to happen. I couldn’t get distracted in the dark theater so I had the time to fall in love with everyone on screen.

The film has several lines of profound wisdom floating through it which made me love it more. Lines like “She loves you but she needs him” and “You’re not boring you just haven’t found your people yet” kind of put things in my own life into perspective.

On the downside the film doesn’t really have a strong narrative drive. Yes, there are some questions of romance and some family conflict with Dylan, but at the same time there are no big “problems”, life kind of happens and Dylan and friends drift through it. I kept waiting for something big to happen but it never did despite the film constantly angling that it would.

Still I love the film and I would love to show this to any LGBT kid who didn’t think they will find a place.

If you think you can go with its mellow rhythms or if you want to meet some characters who will become your new best friends go see NATIONAL ANTHEM.

Twice Colonized (2023) hits VOD on July 12

There is a moment in TWICE COLONIZED when the film won me over completely. In the scene the film’s subject Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter is seen in a hotel room dancing on her bed. There was something so quietly screamed "she's just a person!"  in the shot that it removed any and all distance between me and the subject and made think of her as my best friend.

This is a quietly great film. The film is the story  of  Ms Peter who, in the wake of her son, begins to move toward reconnecting with her Inuit heritage and working toward breaking with Denmark who still control Greenland. It’s the rare recent film that manages to balance the portrait of its subject so that we not only feel like we know her both personally and professionally.  We get to know about her and her fight for autonomy in courts, and of her coolness and as a result we walk out of the film feeling we know the whole woman.

What I really like about the film is that in addition to getting to know Peter we get a good look at not only the fight for indigenous rights but also life in Greenland. That may not sound like much but for most people the country is simply this large island in the Atlantic about which we know nothing. I was talking to a friend about the film and I mentioned that the films was about the Inuit in country and they said they had no idea who lived there.

This is a great film. It delighted me because it made me think and feel and taught me a great deal about things I didn’t know.  I was so happy with the film that I was emailing friends to tell them to watch the film at Sundance.

Recommended

Japan Cuts 2024 Starts This Week

This Wednesday the Japan Society’s Japan Cuts starts and we are better for it.

Bringing some of the best and unheralded Japanese films from the last year to the streets of New York. It’s a festival I discovered years ago when everyone at a rival film fest NYAFF mentioned that I should be going to see the films that were playing there.  I did and ever since I have been wading into the fray.

While I follow what is happening at the Japan Society, I am notoriously not covering the films there as much as I should. However while I do bits and pieces through the year I always dive in to Cuts and do as many films as possible simply because they have so many great films, most of which I never heard of until the screening.

This is one of the best festivals every year. It’s a fest that has never disappointed me, and always surprises me in in the best sort of way. Need an example? I had no hope for WHALE BONES because it is from the co-writer of DRIVE MY CAR which disappointed me. However because it’s at Cuts I gave it a try and I ended up loving it.

What makes the festival rock is that the people at the Japan Society care about everyone attending. If you have a question, they’ll answer it. Need help? They will help you. They are like a big hug from a family member you never knew you had.

I love this festival and the people who run it.

You need to buy lots of tickets and go. (Information here)

If you need direction as to what to see may I make a few suggestions: 

SHIN GODZILLA – whether in black and white or color, this is one of the best Godzilla films ever made. Sure it doesn’t have a ton of monster scenes (some people I know dislike the film because it’s about people) but it still kicks ass and won the Japanese equivalent of the Oscar for Best Picture.

THE BOX MAN- sure the central notion that we are all living in our own boxes is obvious, but what legendary director Gakuryu Ishii does beyond that is stunning. It is probably his best film of his 44 plus year career and  it just shows how under appreciate he is. (And while you’re at it also see his WATER IN AUGUST, a classic from 30ish years ago that still rocks)

WHALE BONE from Takamas Oe who co-wrote DRIVE MY CAR is a hell of a ride. A film that requires you stay to the very end because what it is and what you feel about it changes as the story goes on, it is filmmaking of the highest order.

ALL THE LONG NIGHTS is a film that will live in your heart forever. The story of two broken individuals who find a way to fix themselves through a friendship it is a film free of false drama and infused with life. A must see.

KADONO EIKO'S COLORFUL LIFE is a glorious look at the woman who wrote Kiki's Delivery Service and at 88 keeps going.

LOOK BACK left me a sobbing mess. The story of two women who bond over a love of comics is a story of creating because you have to and what happens when you find someone who shares your passion. I lived much of this. A must see.

They are sold out but if you can score tickets to either SHADOW OF FIRE or KUBI do so.  They are the new works by two of Japan's greatest filmmakers. But be warned they will kick you to the curb.

Also Shorts Collection Two has the first film from master animator Rinatro in 10 years. It’s a film that ponders what a great director from the 30’s had made a film about a rogue. Trust me it’s something wonderful (and not like his earlier films)

For tickets and more information go here

Liz Whittemore on Darkest Miriam (2024) Tribeca 2024

This originally appeared at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Someone seems to be leaving Miriam cryptic notes and clues connected to her life. A kind-hearted and observant Toronto librarian at a quiet branch filled with an eclectic group of patrons, Miriam’s mundane existence gets upended by increasingly weird incidents and a new love affair with a young foreign cab driver. 

Britt Lower’s narration moves this enigmatic story forward. The entire narrative flows as a reminder that this is a splendid adaptation of Matha Baillie’s novel The Incident Report.

The notes are poetic in their veiled threats, filled with delicious language choices. It is a pensive tug-of-war between love and grief. 

Britt Lower commands the screen with not much more than a stare. Miriam is mired quietly in grief. Lower is effortlessly magnetic, capturing every bit of nuance inside of Miriam.

The film delves into the fact that libraries are often a public refuge for the misunderstood. More importantly, the love story is a haven of intimacy and honest expression. As the plot shifts, her unresolved trauma, tinged with the macabre, becomes a worry for the audience. You are rooting for Miriam, full stop. Tribeca 2024 should settle into the pros of the script and allow themselves to live with Miriam, if only for a short time. 

Liz Whittemore on Shelf Life(2024) Tribeca 2024

Give me all the cheeses. It’s a phrase I should embroider on a pillow in my home. We have an entire drawer dedicated to cheese in our refrigerator. Spending two years in New Haven, my husband and I had the privilege of eating at a restaurant called Caseus (RIP). Their famous five-cheese grilled sandwich was a taste bud revelation. Tribeca 2024 documentary SHELF LIFE is tailor-made for cheese freaks such as myself.

Tribeca alum Ian Cheney (The Search for General Tso) features an array of cheese fiends from all over the world, like Mary Quicke, a 14th-generation cheese maker in Devon, England, Alisha Norris Jones, a cheesemonger on Chicago’s West Side, equates cheese and decay and death. A continued thread of philosophy seamlessly weaves into each discussion. Cheesemaker Jim Stillwagon describes eating cheese as “a sensorial adventure.” He’s not wrong.

Immersive camera work and fast-paced editing keep the audience engaged throughout. At times, the film feels like those great visits to factories on Mr. Rogers. Footage from Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm features mesmerizing close-ups of both machine and human.

We study the microbiology of cheese. Cheese mites are a thing I didn’t need to know about, but now I do. The science of cheese isn’t something I contemplated before watching. Now, I appreciate the process and the immortality of a thing I love so much. SHELF LIFE is a doc about the art of cheese and how the universal savoring of this singular wonder brings people together. Could cheese bring world peace? Anything is possible.

Beautiful Faces (2024)

Portrait of doctor Larry A. Sargent who specializes in helping children with facial deformities. The film charts his work through three of his patients, Josh who was born with a cleft palette and lip and is now an accomplished singer and actor; Greer a young woman who was kicked in the head by a horse and Beth who suffers from Pfeiffer syndrome which cause some of her bones to fuse to early.

This is everything you ever wanted to know about facial reconstruction but were afraid to ask. I'm serious about that because this film does not look away during the difficult parts. It's a film that goes into detail about the conditions and reveals how the surgery can and does change lives.

As informative and important as the film is the film has one key flaw and that is it is a bit too clinical. Or if it isn't clinical it is a bit distant. I felt too much on the outside everyone. I never felt close. The doctor was the doctor and the patients were his patients and none of them ever felt like more  than that. The result is a film I admire more than I like. 

Worth a look for those who are interested but not a must.

Liz Whittemore on The Everything Pot (2024 Tribeca 2024

This piece originally ran at Liz's home REEL NEWS DAILY

In the Tribeca 2024 feature film THE EVERYTHING POT, two couples in vastly different places collide, and it all starts with a wedding gift.

Claire and Charlie are engaged. Charlie insists on inviting his former co-worker Rachel and her husband to the wedding. Newly empty-nesters, their overly enthusiastic RSVP triggers both couples to reevaluate their feelings.

Claire is irrationally jealous but without any specifics. Rachel and Adam are a lovely pair, filled with the familiarity of being with a partner for a long time. The film suggests that Rachel has lost interest as of late, but the mention of marital boredom only comes in the form of eye-rolls and innuendos from neighbor Gail.

There are many gaps that the audience needs to fill in. Charlie’s unresolved feelings towards Rachel go without much detail, and his waffling in making a move leaves Charlie coming off as flaky and inconsistent. It is a common theme as THE EVERYTHING POT plays out.

The most successful aspect comes in the natural dialogue between Rachel, Adam, and Gail. In the scene where they co-opt Adam’s phone over Claire’s childish shenanigans, the plot finally picks up the pace. Lisa Edelstein, Erik Griffin, and Gina Torres‘ talents feel wasted. Despite their delicious chemistry, there is a feeling as if entire scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Not that I’m suggesting making the runtime longer because I’m not.

The cast delivers enthusiasm and charm, but that “it” factor is missing in the script’s flow and pace. THE EVERYTHING POT ultimately falls flat.

Escape (2024) starts Friday in theaters and plays NYAFF later in the month

North Korean soldier has been plotting his defection for years, making maps and working out the best way to go. When things go side ways, he finds someone else blamed and himself hailed as a hero thanks to the intervention of a "friend". Put into a new and dangerous situation he begins to plot anew.

This is a good but kind of by the numbers film.  While I wasn't really certain how this was going to play out at first once the initial escape attempt is turned on its head I had a pretty good idea who this was going to go once the friend intervenes.  I don't blame the filmmakers rather the seeming need to make a rah rah North Korean soldier escapes tale. I would have been shocked if this had ended as badly as the film seemed to hint at times.

While completely enjoyable, I still wish the film had been a little grittier and a little real world meaner. Say what you will the North Koreans are kind of cartoony, even if they kill people, and it takes the edge off everything.

Worth a look when the film opens Friday in theaters or if you miss it to catch it when it plays at the New York Asian Film Fest on the 14th or 18th.

Liz Whittemore on Family Therapy (2024) Tribeca 2024

This film orginally appeared at Liz's home REEL NEWS DAILY

Sonja Prosenc‘s Tribeca 2024 film FAMILY THERAPY features a nouveau riche household that operates in rigid formality, slowly cracking upon the arrival of a new member.

The film opens with Aleksander, Olivia, and daughter Agata picking Julien up at the airport. He is patriarch Aleks’s twenty-five-year-old son from a previous relationship. Following an awkward evening, they awaken to loud knocking in the middle of the night, setting off a chain of events that will make or break these four people.

Their home is modern, essentially a glass box with cement walls. The production design team’s selection of art inside the house speaks volumes. They are strategically placed on vast walls, begging for your eyes. The music by SILENCE is based on Henry Purcell‘s King Arthur Opera. This decision creates an entire mood from the first frame. The camera work is delicious.

Mila Bezjak gives Agata a suspicious sass. Her personality gets a boost from her severe hairstyle. Blunt bangs and thick coiffure make her resemble an overgrown doll. Her attention-seeking behavior has everything to do with her parents’ infantilism.

Aliocha Schneider is Julien. Down-to-earth, kind-hearted, edgy, and fearless. Schneider connects with each family member in a layered way. It’s a compelling turn.

Olivia is mean, anal retentive, gallerist. Actress Katarina Stegnar gives off a genuine wicked stepmother vibe, a cover for genuinely feeling powerless. Her arch is visceral.

Aleksander never shuts up. He flaunts his eccentricity most ignorantly, fancying himself a writer despite only writing a single piece twenty years prior. Marko Mandic is loathsome in the best way.

Writer-director Sonja Prosenc does a spectacular job of holding back information, leaving us small breadcrumbs of this odd family dynamic. The symbolism of fracture and subsequent healing comes in multiple genius forms. Bites of fantasy further the nuance of unresolved trauma and the search for joy. FAMILY THERAPY is brilliant stuff.

America (2022) opens Friday

 

After ten years away a young man returns to Israel from Chicago in order to close up the estate of his estranged father. Reconnecting with a childhood friend and his fiancé things become complicated when tragedy strikes.  

A rare cinematic love story with such finely drawn characters that you can’t help but be torn about the fate of everyone concerned.  We genuinely like everyone and want them all to come out of this happy.  This is a solid drama whose only flaw is a title that has absolutely nothing to do with the film other than being the place where the film begins.

Liz Whittemore on 1-800-ON-HER-OWN(2024) Tribeca 2024

This was originally posted to Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Ani DiFranco was a force of nature in my high school and college years. Her songs informed my passion, my power, and my voice. 32 Flavors remains my theme song as a woman. Dana Flor‘s 1-800-ON-HER-OWN gives Tribeca 2024 audiences a sneak peek behind the righteous audacity of Ani DiFranco. 

An editing wonder, the doc opens with performances of her song Shameless throughout the years and mashes them into one great montage. As a fan, it is electric. Ani talks about the extreme highs and lows of fame. She has always been entirely honest about the traps of the industry, but her fans clammer for her fearless writing. 

1-800-ON-HER-OWN-Clean-16x9The revelations in the film are astounding. In a collab session, Ani confides in Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) that she’s never written a song with anyone else. Her warmth and honesty are not simply for show. Witnessing this creative potion-making is chill-inducing. At 18, Ani and Scot Fisher created Righteous Babe Records. Their partnership proved to be an emotional rollercoaster, for better or worse. The remnants of that time echo in her present-day reclamation of her power. 

The doc chronicles Ani during lockdown, leading her to discuss her childhood in Buffalo, NY. Her mother’s feminist anger and the household’s minimal parenting drove her into survival and creativity mode from early on. 1-800-ON-HER-OWN boasts a brilliant amount of archival footage with voiceover stories from all the artists in her life. Lockdown also brings uncertainty and the relatable chaos of forced homeschooling our kids, Zoom glitches and attempting to maintain an identity and sanity under the circumstances. Her vulnerability spills off the screen beyond the songs. Ani’s unfiltered confessions hit you square in the chest.

1-800-ON-HER-OWN-21-800-ON-HER-OWN is a celebration of an artist in a league of her own. Ani DiFranco‘s relentless magic hangs in the air in my house. This film reintroduces her to the world. 

COLD BLOWS THE WIND (2024) hits VOD July 2

A couple run over a jogger in a drunk driving accident. Instead of calling the cops they take the body into the country with the intention of burying the body only to find there are complications.

Supernatural thriller with a dose of humor has some wicked moments but never quite gets the tone quite right. The problem is that instead of playing this straight the film has a thread of humor running through it all which takes the edge off everything. We are not pulled into events but kept outside and as such there is no real suspense.

It doesn't help that the the film is shot so that it looks less like real events, but like a movie with striking colored lighting and camera placement that largely gives us an artificial distance from events. It looks like a low budget TV show and not anything close to reality.

While I liked the film I kept wishing that the filmmakers played it straighter and with less tongue in cheek.

Worth a look for the moments that work.

Liz Whitttemore on Hongfu Hotel (2024) Tribeca 2024

This review originally ran at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Undoubtedly one of the most visually spectacular short films at Tribeca 2024, Tian Xu’s THE HONGFU HOTEL finds a father and son on the eve of the demolition of their family hotel in New York City. Feng arrives to check in on his father, Chan, the proprietor of their generations-old Chinatown hotel. Sold and marked for destruction to make way for a new road, Chan’s mission to see the spirits of the hotel’s old inhabitants reincarnated has seemingly failed. He plans to return to China and wishes to sign over the hotel and the profits to Feng. 

Feng battles demons past and present as he agrees to bid farewell to the upper floors one last time. What he finds has little impact on him but transfixes the audience with the lush production design. The set is intricate from ceiling to floor. Without spoiling the magic of THE HONGFU HOTEL, the film delves into Chinese mythology and religion in a mesmerizing way, challenging the viewer to open their minds to intergenerational trauma and the things we cannot see. 

Tian Xu and the entire HONGFU HOTEL crew have something indisputably special on their hands. I would be incredibly interested in an expanded universe here. The possibilities are endless. THE HONGFU HOTEL is spellbinding.

Paris in Harlem (2022) is hitting VOD July 4

This is my brief review from Slamdance from 2022. It should have been a longer film but it was the best I could do at the time. 


Life in around a jazz club in Harlem when the no dancing law is repealed.

This is a slice of life film with lots of people coming and going. It’s also full of great Jazz and is highly recommended

Liz Whittemore's thoughts on Beacon (2024) Tribeca 2024

This review originally ran at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY

Director Roxy Shih brings mystery and tension to Tribeca 2024 audiences with her film BEACON. Emily’s solo sailing voyage ends when she shipwrecks in rough seas. Her rescuer is the lighthouse keeper on a remote island. They are wary of one another, trading sailor superstitions while they wait for the weather to comply. 

Demián Bichir plays our suspicious keeper l, Ismael, with grace and calm but always quietly keeping Emily at arm’s length. His apprehension is palpable. Bichir delivers a complex portrayal of a man haunted by his isolation. He is magnificent. Julia Goldani Telles gives Emily a slick darkness. Holding her own on-screen opposite Bichir, Telles brings a mesmerizing feistiness that pushes the envelope. 

Daphne Quin Wu‘s cinematography is inviting. The intimacy, the lighting, and the beautiful framing draw you in. Two strangers in a small space automatically lead to distrust and claustrophobia. Screenwriter Julio Rojas challenges us at every turn as Emily and Ismael continuously manipulate one another. Clever fantasy sequences and questionable behavior from both parties have you guessing from moment to moment. BEACON is a heart-pounding psychological thriller of the highest caliber. You’ll be questioning everything the second the screen goes black.