Welcome to the Circle, a cult in the middle of a remote forest. Blessings on you! Good tidings and all that! When a father and his daughter are attacked in the woods by a bear (maybe?), they find themselves rescued by The Circle, a small group consisting of lovely females and a bald leader who…
Relic could be reductively described as “Hereditary” meets “Dark Water” with traces of “The Babadook.” The last reference might be due to this being a dour Australian horror involving an old-style house and maternal issues, but it’s a fine connection, nonetheless. While it also features small and sinister objects as well as strained family relationships,…
Youthful rebellion goes on a road trip in Martin Monk’s short film Favourites, which offers a simple, patient look at how chance encounters can reframe our perspective on life. In an unbroken opening shot, we follow behind teen Sofia (Lia Wilfing) as she strolls determinedly alongside a busy Viennese road, sticking out her thumb and…
Poor Nancy, life is a drudge without any hope of things ever picking up; an aspiring writer who receives endless rejection letters she is also a loner yearning for human contact who can only find company in the form of her trusty ginger cat (the ironically human named) Paul. Nancy is in a rut, both…
For the most part, hard luck familial dramas have the potential for being notoriously manipulative on an emotional scale. However, when done remarkably well — with the right precision of pathos and truth — such melodramas can resonate and overcome their soapy constraints. Director/co-writer Jake Scott (“Welcome to the Rileys”) oversees such a one with…
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress” — Frederick Douglass The war began peacefully. In 2012, university students and others launched peaceful protests against the regime of Bashar-al-Assad whose government had been in power since 1971 and had failed to institute promised reforms. When government soldiers fired on…
“You think I am waiting to die . . . But I am waiting to be found” — Samantha Reynolds In a mission from which they have little chance of returning, a group of condemned prisoners elect to undertake a voyage to the deepest regions of outer space to attempt to harness the energy of…
