[rating=8]
road trip buddy comedy, sex farce, chick flick
US, 2013, English, 90 minutes, color
description
Farah Mahtab, a woman in her 20s, tries to lose her virginity while campaigning across America for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. Farah and her friends K.J. and Roopa follow the campaign trail across historic Route 66 on their way to Ohio, the central battleground state of 2004, seizing control of this charged moment in their lives and the life of their country. Roopa aspires to a job in politics, K.J. brawls her way through a personal motivation to end the war in Iraq, and Farah struggles to locate not just her desirability, but her desire. Though they’re advised to focus on “purple” states where Kerry stands a chance of winning, they naively campaign in states like Texas. We know how the election turns out–but will Farah meet her personal goal for their American odyssey?
contributors
cast Nikohl Boosheri, Kandis Erickson, Kiran Deol, Michael Steger, Samrat Chakrabarti, Lyman Ward
director Meera Menon
producers Laura Goode, Danielle Firoozi, Erica Fishman, Liz Singh
screenwriters Meera Menon, Laura Goode
cinematographer Paul Gleason
editors Meera Menon, Kate Hickey
summary review
Funny, interesting, filled with a number of interesting themes and ideas. Very well produced with good production values. Quite remarkable for a first film.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=8] | |
| acting | [rating=9] | |
| cinematography | [rating=8] | |
| technical quality | [rating=8] | |
| afterglow | [rating=8] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=8] | |
trailer
see imDB info here
Farah Goes Bang
[rating=9]
Drama | History | Western, US, 2013, English, 92 minutes, color
description
Set during the Civil War, we follow 13-year-old Will, a fatherless black boy who has taken up with a bounty hunter gang. Gang leader Burrell sends Will on a risky mission to retrieve Nate, a wanted black man with a lucrative bounty on his head. To ensure Will’s return with Nate, Burrell threatens the boy with death if he doesn’t bring back his quarry. Will and his fellow gang member Marcus (another black man) find Nate digging graves in a Union graveyard and convince their unwitting prey to follow them back to Burrell’s gang, under the ruse that they’re leading him to see his dying brother. Along the way, the initially aloof Nate and Will begin to bond, developing an unexpected surrogate father-son relationship. As unforeseen events complicate the journey and Will grows closer to Nate, he is consumed by a wearying decision and a moral dilemma: Should he deliver Nate to the gang, or tell him the truth and risk death if the gang finds out he let Nate go?
contributors
director Chris Eska
cast Tishuan Scott, Ashton Sanders, Keston John, Bill Oberst Jr., Christine Horn, Alfonso Freeman
producers Jacob Esquivel, Jason Wehling
screenwriter Chris Eska
cinematographer Yasu Tanida
editor Chris Eska
summary review
An outstanding, satisfying film. Visually beautiful, thematically complex and poetic, it builds to an inevitable tragic and sorrowful dénouement but ends with a sliver of hope for the future. Lingers in the mind.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=9] | |
| acting | [rating=9] | |
| cinematography | [rating=9] | |
| technical quality | [rating=9] | |
| afterglow | [rating=9] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=9] | |
imDB info here
The Retrieval
[rating=3]
Art House & International | Drama
New Zealand, 2013, English, Maori, 93 minutes, color
description
Turei’s family are hard-working potato farm workers in rural New Zealand. A talented musician, Turei dreams of his band being the support act for Bob Marley’s 1979 tour. But it’s a dream that challenges the traditions and values of his upbringing and sets him at odds with his family – particularly his father, a true man of the land.
contributors
cast Stan Walker, Temuera Morrison, Miriama Smith, Ngawai Herewini, Troy Kingi, David Wikaira-Paul
director Tearepa Kahi
producer Quinton Hita
screenwriter Tearepa Kahi
cinematographer Tearepa Kahi
editors Paul Maxwell, Tearepa Kahi
summary review
Interesting insight into rural Auckland in the late 1970’s. Terrific music and the ceremonial welcome dances are the only highlights of this film, because the dialog is unintelligible. The decision to have Maori dialog with no subtitles is a disaster – you can’t understand what is going on, particularly where the scenes are all talk. Needs to be-done with subtitles.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=6] | |
| acting | [rating=6] | |
| cinematography | [rating=7] | |
| technical quality | [rating=1] | |
| afterglow | [rating=1] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=4] | |
trailer
see imDB info here
Mt. Zion
[rating=1]
Animation | Theatercast | Documentary | History
US, 2013, English, 49 minutes, color
description
Aural performance remade into an animated movie. combining theater, animation and storytelling. Based on actual accounts of events occurring on New Orleans’ Danziger Bridge September 4, 2005. Storyteller/narrator Noel reanimates the events of the past through a staged performance of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects on his home and community. Katrina and the ensuing aftermath destroyed Noel’s community, neighborhood and home. But he is rebuilding, and as he rebuilds, he tries to evoke the memories of what was, through the enlistment of his personal archives. His memories are complicated by the tragic Danziger Bridge events. As Noel reflects back on what has been lost, the story he tells about his neighborhood is affected by the story of innocent people attempting to cross a bridge in search of safe haven, and for Noel their plight clarifies the questions that arose in the aftermath of Katrina.
contributors
director Lawrence Andrews
producer Lawrence Andrews
screenwriter Lawrence Andrews
cinematographer Lawrence Andrews
editor Lawrence Andrews
summary review
An earnest effort to recast an oral performance into a movie format. Animation crude, visuals muddled, references obscure, sound murky. Doesn’t work.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=4] | |
| animation | [rating=1] | |
| cinematography | [rating=1] | |
| technical quality | [rating=1] | |
| afterglow | [rating=0] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=1] | |
video
see imDB info here
ownerBuilt
[rating=2]
Dance | Drama | Allegory
US, 2013, English, 97 minutes, black & white
description
After 15 years away, Thorson (played by Russell Murphy, former San Francisco Ballet principal dancer) returns to the ballet company where audiences once flocked to see him. He has choreographed a ballet for troubled times but it’s not going to be easy to finance new work with funds for the arts drying up. As his original scheme collapses and he loses heart, a new experience, both transcendent and terrifying, seizes him.
contributors
director Rob Nilsson
cast Russell Murphy, William Martin, Anita Paciotti, Michelle Anton Allen, Dan da Silva
producers Rob Nilsson, Michelle Anton Allen
screenwriter Rob Nilsson
cinematographer Deniz Demirer
editors Stuart Sloan, Drow Millar, Deniz Demirer, Gustavo Ochoa
summary review
Interesting technically with its black and white, noire approach, extreme angles and close-ups. Becomes a mish-mash of pretentious avant images and muddled ending. A failed effort.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=3] | |
| acting | [rating=6] | |
| cinematography | [rating=8] | |
| technical quality | [rating=8] | |
| afterglow | [rating=1] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=2] | |
trailer
[rating=6]
Adventure | Drama | Thriller | War
UK, Israel, Hebrew, Arabic, 2012, English, 110 minutes, color
description
Beirut, 1982. During the 1982 Lebanon War, an Israeli fighter pilot, Yoni, is shot down over Beirut and captured by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Fahed, a precocious young Palestinian refugee who is angered by the death of his father in an Israeli air attack, agrees to help Yoni escape and lead him out of the city if Yoni will get him over the border and back to his family’s ancestral village. As they embark on a hazardous road trip across the war-ravaged country, Yoni and Fahed move from suspicion and mutual antagonism to a tentative camaraderie as they make their way closer to the place they both call home.
contributors
cast Stephen Dorff, Abdallah El Akal, Ali Suliman
director Eran Riklis
producers Fred Ritzenberg, Gareth Unwin
screenwriter Nadir Rizq
cinematographer Dan Laustsen
editor Herve Schneid
summary review
The film starts out strong but devolves fairly rapidly into a sentimental, road buddy tale. Not possible as reality so best to enjoy it as a feel-good, fable of enemies growing to endure/like love each other.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=4] | |
| acting | [rating=8] | |
| cinematography | [rating=8] | |
| technical quality | [rating=8] | |
| afterglow | [rating=4] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=6] | |
trailer
see imDB info here
Zaytoun
[rating=5]
Drama , US, 2013, English, 76 minutes, color
description
Daniel Thatcher, a young romantic, recently lost both parents in a car accident. No friends came to the funeral: now he’s losing the family home. The weekend before he moves out, Daniel hosts a memorial celebration and insists his friends attend. He also invites his ex-girlfriend, Olivia, hoping to rekindle their old romance. Things quickly take a turn for the worse as no one shares Daniel’s good old days nostalgia. And when Olivia finally arrives, she brings her new fiancé. As the night progresses, the house brings out the adolescence in everyone. What follows is an evening full of drinking and dancing. Laughter and secrets. Sex, drugs, mischief and regret.
Next day everyone faces the revelations of the night before, including Daniel, who finally confronts his friends about their absence at his parents’ funeral. Again, Daniel finds himself alone and brokenhearted. He has to let go of the past, to mourn, forgive. In doing so, Daniel begins to see that the flaws in the people he loves intertwine with their beauty. As everyone leaves the house for the last time, childhood memories come flooding back, and Daniel is left with the hope that the friendships of his past will become the family of his future.
contributors
director Chris Lowell
cast Beck Bennett, Will Brill, Brett Dalton, Erin Darke, Ryan Eggold, Jessy Hodges, Britt Lower, Reid Scott
producers Jason Potash, Paul Finkel, Chris Lowell, Mohit Narang, Steven Gorel
screenwriter Chris Lowell, Mohit Narang
cinematographer Tim Naylor
editor Nick Houy
summary review
The stage is set for an interesting exploration of ongoing friendship over time but the players and characterizations do not ring true. Might he better and more interesting as a sitcom.
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ratings
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| script/story | [rating=5] | |
| acting | [rating=7] | |
| cinematography | [rating=8] | |
| technical quality | [rating=8] | |
| afterglow | [rating=3] | |
| [rating=0] | ||
| Overall | [rating=5] | |
imDB info here
Beside Still Waters