Narrowsburg tells one of those stranger-than-fiction stories that could honestly make the translation from documentary to narrative feature. Think about it. This is film is telling the story of a long con. If you’re one of the people who lived it, it’s an experience that you probably don’t want to live through again. Narrowsburg was going to be the “Sundance of the East.” Or so the small town’s citizens were being told from festival organizers. …
"DOC NYC 2019: Narrowsburg"Category: Film Festival
One journalist is seeking to find the story that will go onto define his career in Sasquatch Cinematic Universe installment The VICE Guide to Bigfoot. Atlanta-based journalist Brian Emond is on a mission. At first, it’s to interview a rapper in Atlanta. Following this, the film takes us on a journey through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Brian’s career isn’t going in the direction that he wants so he jumps at the opportunity to…
"Austin Film Fest 2019: The VICE Guide to Bigfoot"
The Truth (La Verite) features some brilliant acting as director Hirokazu Kore-eda tackles a project that isn’t set in his home country of Japan. The root of the film is the mother-daughter relationship between Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) and Lumir (Juliette Binoche). Lumir’s relationship with her mom is tenuous at best. The reason why she’s back in her native France is her mother’s memoir being published. To say it’s a memoir would also be exaggerating the…
"Chicago Film Fest 2019: The Truth (La Verite)"
Haroula Rose’s feature film, Once Upon A River, features stunning performances and camerawork as the indie plays the festival circuit. Bonnie Joe Campbell’s novel comes to the big screen in this well-made feature. Margo Crane (Kenadi DelaCerna, making her feature debut) is a Native American teenager living in rural Michigan. What drives the teen in this coming-of-age story is the search for her estranged mother (Lindsay Pulsipher). As Margo goes on this journey, she utilizes…
"Chicago Film Fest 2019: Once Upon A River"
Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century may be one of the strangest historical satires about Canada that one will ever see in theaters. This film is not going to make any sense to people who are unfamiliar with Canada’s political history. Take it from this American. My initial reaction following the film basically comes down to this: I don’t know what to make of what I just saw. This is certainly a satire that plays better…
"The Twentieth Century Is A Strange Satire"
Jungleland is a film about about a pair of brothers traveling across the country while also touching upon themes of toxic masculinity. Stanley Kaminski (Charlie Hunnam) and Lion Kaminski (Jack O’Connell) are a pair of brothers living in Massachusetts. They’re down on their luck with the only hope of making money being a boxing match in San Francisco. Easier said than done. Lion is a boxer and Stanley acts as his manager. If Stanley had…
"Toronto 2019: Jungleland"
Bad Education features a star-studded cast and tells the incredible true story about what transpired in a prestigious Long Island school district. When Hilltop Beacon reporter Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan) looks into some expense reports for an upcoming Roslyn School District project, she finds something else. Together with her dad, David Bhargava (Hari Dhillon), the two of them realize that there’s more here than meets the eye. Appropriately, they look into it. One thing leads…
"Toronto 2019: Bad Education"
Booksmart‘s Beanie Feldstein delivers another strong leading performance as teenager who becomes a rock music critic in How to Build a Girl. The film isn’t the typical coming-of-age comedy. Not many people come of age while seeking to reinvent themselves as a rock critic. This is what happens for Johanna Morrigan (Beanie Feldstein). Once a bullied high school teenager, Morrigan transforms herself into rock critic Dolly Wilde after taking a job with D&ME. The opportunity…
"Toronto 2019: How to Build a Girl"
Incitement may come off as a character study but the film will not change anybody’s mind when it comes to the tragic assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. There’s no telling what could have happened had Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin not been assassinated by Yigal Amir (Yehuda Nahari Halevi). It’s likely that we could have seen peace in the Middle East. The reality is that this is such a big what if that we’ll never truly…
"Toronto 2019: Incitement"
You’re going to need to pull out every Kleenex box you own because you’re definitely going to need it while watching Our Friend (formerly The Friend). While the film may be inspiring, it’s also heartbreaking as we follow the Teague family. The film goes back and forth in time as it follows Nicole Teague’s (Dakota Johnson) cancer diagnosis. She doesn’t have long to live so best friend Dane Faucheux (Jason Segel) moves in with the…
"Toronto 2019: Our Friend (Formerly The Friend)"