An incredible calling card of a feature debut, Small Engine Repair is a remarkably well-written and acted character study of three deeply flawed men trying to reconnect with each other.
The Evening Hour is a heartbreaking portrait of addiction and desperation
Set with the gorgeous backdrop of Appalachia all around them, The Evening Hour is an indictment on how little opportunity and a lot of desperation can push a man to thing he never would have considered otherwise. Cole (Philip Ettinger, First Reformed) was born and raised in a small town destroyed by corporate greed and coal mining and living day to day the best he can. An orderly at the local senior home, he also makes ends meet by selling opiates around town. We’re immediately drawn to him for his good deeds around town: bringing groceries to elderly locals, giving cash to his grandmother, but he’s still part of a system that creates and keeps folks addicted.
Telluride 2021: Cow, Petite Maman, the Card Counter
In this dispatch from the Telluride Film Festival, Andrea Arnold on a farm, Celiné Sciamma in the woods, and Paul Schrader at the poker table.
Telluride 2021: Spencer, C’mon C’mon, the Power of the Dog
A dispatch from Saturday at Telluride featuring films from three master directors, each of whose primary action is catalyzed by a challenging marriage.
Yakuza Princess, a gritty, bloody hallucination set in São Paulo
in her lap along with a stranger (Jonathan Rhys Myers) who can’t remember who he is, much less why he’s drawn to her. Running on instinct and a small bit of info from friends of her grandfather, she travels to a hidden compound where things begin to reveal, and unravel, themselves. She discovers her destiny and for some reason knows the stranger fits into it.
Telluride 2021: Bergman Island, the Hand of God, the French Dispatch
My second day at Telluride featured three very different takes from distinctly different directors on the creative process.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is awesome in the same ways (nearly) every other Marvel movie is also awesome
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is getting a lot of acclaim and attention for being the first Marvel movie to be led by an overwhelmingly Asian cast. It’s quite cool and mostly lives up to all of that hype.
Telluride 2021: Encounter, Cyrano, the Rescue
The Telluride film festival returned yesterday, and aside from uploading proof of vaccination, providing a recent negative Covid-19 test result, and wearing masks inside, the biggest difference from recent years was that it started a day early (yay, more film!) and was marked by a series of drizzles and downpours. Every store in town was out of umbrellas and covered outdoor seating was at a premium.
Telluride is back: the SHOW goes on in 2021
After taking a year off for the pandemic, the Telluride film festival is back, in-person (during a pandemic) for 2021. Attendees are …
Candyman can scare the bejesus out of you, if you want it to
Set in the fast-gentrifying Chicago arts scene, this updated-for-2021 slasher/thriller wants you to know that it’s politics are righteous. If it provides a few thrillers, even better. Overall, I liked it, even if there were often times when the politics felt heavy-handed and took away from the scarier aspects of the thriller, even when I agree passionately with the points the filmmaker is making. Still, there was plenty of horror that came through clearly.