Tag: independent movie
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Sundance: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Plot via SundanceTender caresses and enveloping embraces are portals into the life of Mack, a Black woman in Mississippi. Winding through the anticipation, love, and heartbreak she experiences from childhood to adulthood, the expressionist journey is an ode to connection — with loved ones and with place. Review notes: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt…
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Sundance: A Thousand and One
Plot via SundanceStruggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and…
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“Madeline’s Madeline” Isn’t Quite WTF Enough
The titular heroine, who may or may not be going mad, is played by newcomer Helena Howard. Don’t take her disaffected scowl for serious acting. Three quarters of runway models can produce and sustain the same look.
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“The Rider”: The First Great Western of Our Time
The Rider is a heartbreaking portrayal of those who can and cannot give up, of those living broken lives with broken dreams and broken hopes.
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“Blindspotting” Is There There
Blindspotting is pure Oakland, pure there there. It drills down into the city’s essence and finds not just a physical place but the perfect metaphor for a divided and disenchanted America struggling and resisting change.
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“Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot” Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Sadly, Callahan’s cartoons vividly animated and sketched are receded as the art becomes background to the Oedipal drama of a son successfully overcoming his abandonment issues and alcoholism.
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“You Were Never Really Here” Is One of the Best
Lynne Ramsey who made the hallucinogenic school violence themed fantasmagoria We Need to Talk About Kevin returns to direct after a five year hiatus. Like Kevin, Here is an impressionistic tonal assault of over saturated images, amped up acoustic exaggeration and minimalistic acting.
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“The Skin of the Wolf” Is Beneath Just Barely a Man
There is no explanation, no backstory just observation enshrouded in mythic layers of beautiful cinematography. Everything is left to interpretation, which is both besides the point and probably is the point.
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“First Reformed”: An Anguished Meditation on a Corrupted World.
First Reformed is one of Schrader’s finest films. It is his redemption, and a perfect fit for his transcendental style
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“All I Want” Tries to Get Pass “The Big Chill”
All I Want, a smart little indie co-written by the actress Melissa Center and debut director West Liang, is the millennial attempt to beat The Big Chill.