“I wanna be just like a melody, just like a simple sound, like in harmony” — Glide from “All About Lily Chou-Chou” Projections of the future in cinema have mainly foreseen a world where war, disease, and pervasive alienation are the norm. Korean-born writer/director Kogonada’s vision of the future, however, is not a dystopian world…
A film about two teenage girls navigating the streets of New York by themselves with little money or a place to stay is normally the breeding ground for melodrama. In the hands of director Eliza Hittman (“Beach Rats”) and remarkably natural performances by first time actors, Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder, however, the film Never…
The Assistant is no doubt the ultimate reflection of the current times, where the implication of sexual harassment — in part due to the #MeToo Movement — is at its highest alert. In it, filmmaker Kitty Green (“Casting JonBenet”) delves into the tattered psyche of a young woman destined for career-oriented greatness, but gets caught…
By virtue of shared history and experiences, siblings are pack animals, asking blind loyalty in return for fierce protection. They inspire imitation and a sort of “in it together”-ness. In Jeremiah Zagar’s first narrative feature, We the Animals, brothers Manny (Isaiah Kristian), Joel (Josiah Gabriel, “Night Comes On”), and Jonah (Evan Rosado) are likewise. They…
Some well-meaning films, no matter how big or small in scale or scope, have the undeniable power to reveal truths however biting they may be. Noted Bay Area-based writer-director Boots Riley’s (from the political hip-hop group known as “The Coup”) dark satirical comedy Sorry to Bother You is just such one of those unassuming and…
As spectators flock to see Billie Jean King defeat Bobby Riggs in straight sets in “Battle of the Sexes,” there is another tennis match currently playing on the silver screen. This battle of sexuality that airs before the full-length feature Beach Rats is a surprising cartoon short, in which a defending champion is struggling to…
Beasts of the Southern Wild is shot through the eyes of a six year old. To Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), the islands of southern Louisiana are a magical place filled with lucky people who do not have to live like cowards behind the levees and only get one holiday a year. Hushpuppy’s voiceover also reveals the…
