Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, a reflective documentary on the life of the Beach Boys musician, makes its long-delayed world premiere. Brent Wilson worked from roughly 70 hours of footage between Wilson and former Rolling Stone editor (now Director of Content Development) Jason Fine to pair this film down to just over an hour and a half. This doesn’t even begin to take the archive footage into account. When it comes to Wilson and his…
"Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road – Tribeca 2021"Category: Film Festival
Esther in Wonderland sees a young married woman testing the boundaries of her existence within Chasidic life in this 13-minute film. There’s a lot of pressure on young married Chasidic women to get pregnant. This is clear during the opening frames of Esther in Wonderland. When we first meet Esther (Naian González Norvind), she’s in the shower. Also, a trigger warning for anyone because it appears that she’s also having her period, too. On the…
"Esther in Wonderland – Tribeca 2021"
Tango Shalom, currently playing the Jewish film festival circuit, makes some questionable choices in a film about a Chasidic Jew. I’m Orthodox and as such, I’m entering the film through that perspective. Prior to the pandemic, I would split my time between the local Modern Orthodox shul and Chabad. Even back home, I was exclusive to Chabad. With that being said, this film falls short on so many levels. Rabbi Moshe Yehuda (Jos Laniado) considers…
"Tango Shalom Falls Under Hasidsploitation"
Honeymood, which premiered last year, is a hysterical Israeli comedy that is currently playing the Jewish and Israeli film festival circuit. We all know what happens in a romantic comedy: Couple meets, breaks up, and gets back together by the end of the film. Honeymood starts right after the happy ending. Surprisingly, this film plays along some of those similar beats! When you see so many of these films, you have somewhat of an idea…
"Honeymood: A Hysterical Israeli Comedy"
Clerk is an inspiring documentary that manages to take us back to where everything all begin for filmmaker Kevin Smith and then some. It’s more than just a film about the QuickStop Groceries, of course. Yes, the store played a huge role in his life as he was working there when he first got the idea for Clerks. Smith drives us around his New Jersey hometown while pointing out the important places in his life.…
"SXSW 2021: Clerk"
WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn launches first at SXSW before later going into homes by way of Hulu. By the end of the year, this film will have one of the longest titles. I’m sorry but this film isn’t really SEO friendly. Now all of this aside, the film’s main subject only appears in archival footage. That’s right–neither Adam Neumann or Rebekah Neumann decided to participate in the film.…
"SXSW 2021: WeWork"
A number of short films are screening during the 2021 SXSW Film Festival and they deserve as much attention as the feature films. The Other Morgan This film quickly rose up to the top of my list of SXSW short films after viewing. It’s a hysterically absurd comedy. A young exterminator (Alison Rich) learns that there’s another version of her (Mary Holland) out in the world. As you can imagine, she begins to question all…
"SXSW 2021: Short Films Recap"
Introducing, Selma Blair takes viewers on an intimate journey with the actress following her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis. Here is what we know about MS: this disease it affects both the spinal cord and the brain. Symptoms differ for everyone and sadly, there is no cure. Blair went public about her diagnosis in an October 2018 post on Instagram. To say that this film is raw would not be an understatement. It honestly hurts to…
"SXSW 2021: Introducing, Selma Blair"
Hysterical takes us behind the stage and on the road with a number of female comedians who are veterans, rising stars, or beginners. It’s no joke that breaking into stand-up comedy isn’t easy. G-d knows I’ve tried but I’m more suited for improv and sketch comedy. Here’s a little known fact about me: I hosted a late night comedy talk show for six weeks during sophomore year of college. This was also before coming out…
"SXSW 2021: Hysterical"
See You Then is the next cinematic game-changer in terms of transgender representation both on screen and behind the camera. Imagine the Before trilogy of films but with a transgender lead in one of those roles. That’s what you’re getting in the story of this film. It’s a two-hander of a story. In hindsight, screenwriters Mari Walker and Kristen Uno would have probably set this film during the daytime. At least, that’s my understanding from…
"SXSW 2021: See You Then"