Festivals

Film Festival reviews, interviews, and podcast episodes.


SIFF 2023: Until Branches Bend

Written by Anna Harrison “Like her protagonist, Jarvis also finds herself split between two impulses: there is the plainer, more domestic fare of her film, and the dreamlike paranoia that Robin finds herself slipping into…”

Cannes 2023: Légua

Written by Taylor Baker “João Miller Guerra & Filipa Reis’s latest film “Légua” is a solemn piece of observational cinema that touches on transcendentalism through its depiction of three generations of women living in a house…”

SIFF 2023: 26.2 to Life

Written by Taylor Baker “In the end, “26.2 to Life” retreads the same ground we’ve seen in other sports and prison documentaries, though it is a functional bit of PR material for the 1000 Mile Club program.”

SIFF 2023: I Like Movies

Written by Anna Harrison “It’s a testament to Levack’s writing and directing, as well as Lehtinen’s performance, that they both manage to find the humanity in Lawrence…”

SIFF 2023: Other People’s Children

Written by Michael Clawson “As an exploration of the emotional complexities facing adult women in regard to family, romance, and the prospect of motherhood, the movie is carried by Efira’s radiant screen presence.”

SIFF 2023: The Night of the 12th (La nuit du 12)

Written by Taylor Baker ““The Night of the 12th” begins with a rare distinction that few police procedurals and detective narratives begin with, the promise that this case will go unsolved. Instead of being hindered by the promise…”

SIFF 2023: The Grab

Written by Taylor Baker “The film is at its best in the periods where it examines the contents of “The Trove,” when it explores the land rights of the Zambian citizens, and the water rights of the Arizonans losing their aquifer…”

SIFF 2023: Past Lives

Written by Taylor Baker “…the rawness that the lead actors wear in their performances elevate the film and confirm Song as one of the most exciting screenwriting dramatists since Florian Zeller burst on the scene with 2020’s “The Father.””

Hot Docs 2023: The Team (El Equipo)

Written by Maria Athayde “The documentary begins in 1984 when Dr. Snow receives a call asking if he could go to Buenos Aires to help exhume the remains of “los desaparecidos” or “the disappeared,” who were kidnapped, murdered, and tortured under the military…”

Hot Docs 2023: Stephen Curry: Underrated

Written by Taylor Baker ““Stephen Curry: Underrated” details some of the major moments in the three-point shooter’s rise to popularity through his feats in high school, college, and professional basketball. Though it’s more of cursory toe dip into the life of the…”

Hot Docs 2023: We Are Guardians

Written by Maria Athayde “In their feature directorial debut Edivan Guajajara, Chelsea Green, and Rob Grobman paint a complex portrait of Brazil. Told through the eyes of Indigenous leaders and forest guardians, illegal loggers, private landowners…”

Hot Docs 2023: Roberta

Written by Taylor Baker “Alternating between still exterior expanses and cityscapes to boisterous underground discotheques and a slew of cluttered domiciles “Roberta” excels as an extended slice of life doc that details both the mundane and the personal.”

Make Believe Film Festival: The Five Devils

Written by Taylor Baker “Léa Mysius’s “The Five Devils” is a noteworthy sophomore film, not just in its accomplished delivery of craft but its effortlessness at capturing the story of a young girl time-traveling while a family and small community seem splinter apart.”

Slamdance 2023: Downwind

Written by Maria Athayde “928 is the number of nuclear weapons the United States government detonated over a 41-year period in Mercury, Nevada. Narrated by Martin Sheen “Downwind” chronicles the fallout from these tests.”

Slamdance 2023: MiND MY GOOFiNESS: the Self Portrait

Written by Maria Athayde “Experimental and goofy in the best possible ways “MiND MY GOOFiNESS” tells the story of Alex (Alex Michel) – a guy living in L.A. who wishes he was “funnier like Bernie Mac or Candance Ownes” – who agrees to…”

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