In my lifetime, no New Year’s Eve has felt more enormous, more life-changing, more open to possibilities than NYE 1999. Take out the fact that it was a tumultuous time for me personally, the whole world was unsure if all… Read More ›
English
You’ll want to linger after you “Stay the Night.” [SXSW Film Festival]
I love a good romance. Perhaps because reality is unpredictable, often heart-wrenchingly so, there’s comfort in a romantic tale. The key in sticking the landing is the perspective of the creative team, as well as the talent in front of… Read More ›
“Seriously Red” is a love letter to impersonators and the celebrities they embody. [SXSW Film Festival]
There is something truly magical about movies that are just effortlessly charming, endearing, and whimsical. Then there is something extraordinary when one writes and stars in the feature and pulls off that ever so delicate balance of amazement. In Gracie… Read More ›
The message of Augusto Sandino’s “A Vanishing Fog (Entre la niebla)” stays with you long after the credits roll. [SXSW Film Festival]
In recent years, Colombia has really begun to reveal itself as a very interesting home for strange, introspective indie cinema in a way I don’t think anyone expected. With global voices taking the mainstream stage and with storytellers unafraid to… Read More ›
Nyla Innuksuk’s humorous action horror “Slash/Back” tackles colonialization armed with heritage and the strength of community. [SXSW Film Festival]
Nyla Innuksuk tells a coming-of-age alien invasion story rooted in Inuit culture and legends in her debut feature film, Slash/Back. In Slash/Back, Innuksuk manages to knit together a movie that both pays homage to the “kids on bikes” movies she… Read More ›
Short film “Everything Will Be All Right” packs a feature-length emotional punch. [SXSW Film Festival]
In the current circumstances we live in, and have lived in for the last two years, we sometimes have to remind ourselves that everything will, in fact, be all right. We need that deep breath, that reconciliation with ourselves that… Read More ›
A Conversation with “Split at the Root” producers Marti Noxon and Maria Grasso & Immigrant Families Together co-founder Julie Schwietert Collazo. [SXSW Film Festival]
EoM contributor Justin Waldman recently interviewed producers Marti Noxon and Maria Grasso and co-founder of Immigrant Families Together Julie Schwietert Collazo to discuss their work on the documentary Split at the Root, which is premiering at SXSW. During their conversation,… Read More ›
Documentary “Crows are White” is a surprising exploration of the intersection of faith and truth. [SXSW Film Festival]
On Mt. Hiei in Japan lives a secretive sect of Buddhists who push their bodies to their limits in order to achieve enlightenment. Seeking guidance, documentarian Ashen Nadeem travels to the monastery in hopes of chatting with Kamahori, a monk… Read More ›
Iuli Gerbase’s “The Pink Cloud” utilizes a fictional global crisis as a means of exploring gender roles in a microcosm.
“Written in 2017, shot in 2019, Official Selection Sundance 2021” — these words find themselves repeated often when promoting writer/director Iuli Gerbase’s feature-length directorial debut, the science fiction drama A Nuvem Rose, now more widely known as The Pink Cloud…. Read More ›
Martika Ramirez Escobar’s “Leonor Will Never Die” combines art and imagination to craft exuberant cinematic chaos. [Sundance Film Festival]
Movies are magic. They can transport you to a different place and time, can help you process emotions you didn’t realize you had, or can just be a salve for what ails you. Even the most wild films, the ones… Read More ›
Danish horror “Speak No Evil (Gæsterne)” is pure nightmare fuel, powered by interpersonal tension and full-fledged dread. [Sundance Film Festival]
“I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself” – Kim Cattrall I like to believe I’m a pretty friendly person. My mother raised me that way. I’m inclined to view the… Read More ›
Thriller/dramedy “Nightshooters” brings the action amid laughs and horror.
For all the talk of major releases like Dune (2021) or Eternals (2021) or the bemoaning of limited access of films like Last Night in Soho (2021) or Antlers (2021), all films which were released by large studios, it’s easy… Read More ›
“Be careful what you wish for, be certain what you pray for:” Religious intentions are put on trial in “The Righteous.” [Fantasia International Film Festival]
If you’re into Southern Gothic literature, you’ll go nuts over Mark O’Brien’s feature directorial debut, The Righteous, which screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival earlier this month. Granted, it was filmed in Canada and not the American South, but… Read More ›
Dramatic thriller “Glasshouse” is a stunning feature-length debut which challenges our trust of memory. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
There are many ways to view identity. Some define themselves by their faith, by their location, by their profession, or by their hobbies, their fandoms. Some define themselves by their sex, their gender, or their sexual preference. One thing that… Read More ›
Actors Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse bring their dazzling fists of fury to writer/director Benny Chan’s final film: action thriller “Raging Fire.”
Which would you rather do: the hard right thing or the easy wrong thing? A decision like this is simple when the stakes are low, like what’s for dinner: cooking it yourself when you have all the ingredients but are… Read More ›
Identity and moral responsibility are at the heart of Lee Yong-ju’s sci-fi thriller “Seobok.” [Fantasia International Film Festival]
What defines “personhood”? This is a complex question that gets debated quite a bit, specifically in regard to pre-birth healthcare. Is it from the moment of cell division, the presence of a heartbeat, or the moment a life reaches prime… Read More ›
Director Nick Gillespie’s second feature, “Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break,” utilizes conventions, only to usurp them, crafting a scruples comedy tipped in horror. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
In this life there are few things worse than being misunderstood, to possess the feeling that those around you can’t see about you what you see in yourself. This schism between social reflection and personal identity has been the source… Read More ›
Adventurous, heartrending, and undeniably raw, “CODE NAME: Nagasaki” offers a reimagined documentary told through the language of cinema. [North Bend Film Festival]
When it comes to self-discovery, there is no one right path, no universal means for those who walk this earth to become comfortable with themselves. This is the struggle, the burden we all share, whether we’ll admit it or not…. Read More ›
“Peace by Chocolate” isn’t tempered to satiate an instant craving, but to preserve a legacy. [Tribeca Festival]
Immigrant stories are treated as all-to-common and extraordinary in the same breath, especially in the United States and Canada. The majority of people who live in both countries did not originate there and each possess a legacy of doing terrible… Read More ›
Martial arts crime comedy “Undercover Punch & Gun” is largely undercooked despite good ideas.
Over the last few years in America there’s been a surge of “gun fu” films: The Matrix (1999), Equilibrium (2002), all the way up to the recent John Wick series. It’s not that the combination of martial arts and weaponry… Read More ›