Tag: U.S. Indie Film Review
Saint Frances | Review
Au Pair Affair: Thompson and O’Sullivan Present Warm Debut with Body Positive Dramedy
There’s much to be said for an authentic, well-calibrated scenario, whether or...
The Assistant | 2020 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Executive Suite: Green Metes Modern Monsters in Narrative Debut
Documentarian Kitty Green (last on hand with her unique memory tapestry Casting JonBenet, 2017) moves into...
The Night Clerk | Review
Spy Hard: Cristofer Returns with Faulty Noir
It’s been nearly twenty years since Pulitzer Prize winning scribe Michael Cristofer has developed a theatrical feature, last...
Troop Zero | Review
Feeling Like a Number One: Bert & Bertie Get Glossy with Good Intentions
For those who prefer to view the world through rosy-tinted glasses, there’s...
The Wolf Hour | Review
Watts the Matter with Naomi?: Griffin Mines Madness in All-Consuming Character Study
Director Alistair Banks Griffin revisits one helluva hot summer in the city with...
Mickey and the Bear | Review
A Bear to Care: Attanasio Scores Modest, Sincere Debut
Although lacking in originality and narrative energy, director Annabelle Attanasio more often than not makes up...
Dark Waters | Review
Far From Heaven: Haynes Mounts Modest Environmental Drama
In the oft-prestigious subgenre of environmental thrillers, particularly those detailing the grossly inhuman actions of powerful...
Honey Boy | Review
Tears of a Clown: Har’el and LaBoeuf Exorcise Demons
Honey Boy is a shockingly personal movie where Shia LaBoeuf plays his own dad. If that...
Harriet | Review
A Road Less Traveled: Lemmons Lionizes Historical Icon Harriet Tubman in Safe Biopic
As the arrival of the first theatrical feature to properly pay homage...
Frankie | Review
A Death in the Family: Sachs Sacks Huppert in Sun Dappled Soap Opera
The latest film from American director Ira Sachs is set in the...
The Lighthouse | Review
I Can Hear the Mermaids Singing: Eggers Unleashes a Hyper-Stylized Portrait of Nautical Madness
Virginia Woolf (who, having known something about the subject and its...
Lucy in the Sky | Review
Loosey Goosey: Hawley Gets Histrionic with Uneven Melodrama
At the end of Now, Voyager (1942) the chain-smoking Bette Davis delivers her iconic line to Paul...
Sister Aimee | Review
If You Seek Aimee: Buck & Schlingmann Resurrect a Fallen Angel
Directors Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann succeed with one overarching point in their indie-ensconced...
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? | Review
Fox and Her Friends: Linklater Falters on the Architecture of Blanchett in Bizarre, Uneven Dramedy
The boldest move made by Richard Linklater in his latest...
After the Wedding | Review
Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Freundlich Updates Danish Drama with Gender Bending Twist
Just as Danish director Susanne Bier masters the art of cult filmmaker with...
The Peanut Butter Falcon | Review
Falcon Shows His Moves: Sincerity Sails Past Expectations
Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’s The Peanut Butter Falcon is a refreshingly sincere, unexpectedly funny raft-trip movie...
Light of My Life | Review
If You’re a Boy or a Girl: Affleck Explores Gender in the Post-Apocalypse
Nearly a decade after his stunt documentary I’m Not Here (2010), actor...
The Nightingale | Review
Bloody White People: Kent Hits Hard with Brutal Revenge Trip
Jennifer Kent follows up her formidable debut The Babadook with a less inventive, but decidedly...
The Mountain | Review
Who’s Wally?: Alverson Goes Retro with Punishing, Complex Period Drama
Always intent on making his audience do some of the work, American indie helmer Rick Alverson...
Adam | 2019 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival Video Review
Trans Substantiate: Ernst Turns Back Time in Sincere, Flawed Trans Rom-Com
“Lying is stupid and lonely,” says Margaret Qualley, a wearied queer woman towards the...
Midsommar | Review
Secret Ceremony: Aster Gets Cruel for the Summer with Wicked Rituals
Director Ari Aster, who revitalized the potential of psychological horror with his phenomenal 2018...
The Dead Don’t Die | Review
Fear the Mocking Dead: Jarmusch’s Zombie Sketch is DOA
“The world is perfect. Appreciate the details,” says deliveryman RZA (in one of the film’s many...
Swallow | 2019 Tribeca Film Festival Review
Tough to Swallow, in a Good Way: Davis Offers Big Gulp Feminist Thriller
Carlo Mirabella Davis’ debut feature Swallow is a haunting study in gender politics in...
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile | Review
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me: Berlinger Tackles Ted Bundy in Narrative Form
Revered documentarian Joe Berlinger, best known for his Paradise Lost trilogy, makes...
Under the Silver Lake | Review
Under the Sun of Satan: Mitchell’s Messy Neo Noir Revels in Elitist Superficiality
Look no further than David Robert Mitchell’s third feature, the labored neo...
Wild Nights With Emily | Review
The Exorcism of Emily D: Olnek Goes ‘Rowing in Eden’ with Affectionate Glance at Emily Dickinson
Her carriage apparently held more than just the morbid...
Native Son | Review
(Not So) Good Times: Johnson Stumbles with Modern Homage to Richard Wright
Marrying historical contexts to modern aesthetics is often an arresting avenue for consideration,...
The Beach Bum | Review
Tales of Ordinary Madness: Korine Courts Cutesy in Outlandish Stoner Comedy
It’s no fun being the designated driver, which is the position the audience of...
The Mustang | Review
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?: de Clermont-Tonnerre Leads Us to Water with Minimalist Melodrama
Animal love is at the heart of Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s directorial...
Gloria Bell | Review
I Think They Know Her Alias: Lelio Revisits His Breakout Title with English Language Remake
Chilean auteur Sebastian Lelio, who recently took home an Academy...
Mapplethorpe | Review
NY & Leather pants – Timoner Delivers by-the-numbers Biopic of Iconoclastic
With her seventh feature film, Ondi Timoner offers an effervescent biopic of iconic queer photographer. From the...
The Lodge | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
You Gotta Have Faith: Severin & Fiala Mine Familial Madness in Warped Psychodrama
Reexamining similar themes of the inherent madness of isolation and the potential...
Hala | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
A Way with Words: Baig Tests the Limits in Sophomore Feature
Minhal Baig’s sophomore feature is an important film: a winsome coming-of-age story that will...
Destroyer | Review
Sabotage Triage: Kusama and Kidman Break the Bank in Riveting Revenge Thriller
Robert Burns’ eternal line “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/Gang aft...
If Beale Street Could Talk | Review
I Can Feel the Beale: Jenkins Does Justice to Classic Baldwin Novel
Following his history making Best Picture winner Moonlight, stakes are set high for...
Vox Lux | Review
A Star is Worn: Corbet Confirms his Talent with Daring Sophomore Effort
2015’s The Childhood of a Leader (review) was a surprising debut in many ways,...
Interview: John Maringouin & David Zellner – Ghostbox Cowboy
Ghostbox Cowboy might be John Maringouin's first foray into the narrative form, but there is a lineage to his previous docu features; best known for...
Ghostbox Cowboy | Review
Damn Sell: Maringouin’s No-Frills Pynchonian Mind-blowing Masterpiece
Unfolding like a Thomas Pynchon novel, John Maringouin’s latest oeuvre follows an American inventor-of-sorts who gets taken for...
At Eternity’s Gate | Review
Pigments of Your Imagination: Inside Van Gogh’s Mind
Julian Schnabel’s aesthetically-spellbinding Vincent Van Gogh biopic, At Eternity’s Gate, places viewers inside the Dutch artist’s eye....
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | Review
Six of the West: Coen Bros. Release Minor, Uneven Collection of Frontier Short Stories
In thinking about the anthology form in cinema, Joel and Ethan...
Bodied | Review
Shock the Body Electric: Kahn Addresses Pertinent Isms in Provoking Comedy
Lauded music video director Joseph Kahn delivers a successful contemporary conversation piece with sophomore...
A Private War | Review
War is War is War: Heineman Tackles the Controversial Marie Colvin in Narrative Debut
Oscar nominated documentarian Matthew Heineman (2015’s Cartel Land), follows up recent...
Nancy | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Out of the Void: Chloe Embarks on Nuanced, Complex Search for Human Warmth
In Christina Choe’s first feature, Andrea Riseborough gives a subtle performance as...
What They Had | Review
Tragedy + Comedy = Family: Chomko’s Unforgettable Alzheimer's Story
In a year where so many films feel politically charged, What They Had is a refreshingly...
Bel Canto | Review
Music Makes the People Come Together: Weitz Hits False Notes in Hostage Drama
If ever an aria could conjure the essence of camp, it would...
Lizzie | Review
Walk Away Genet: Macneill Revisits the Lurid Case of Lizzie Borden in Fascinating, Empowering Psychological Portrait
For true crime aficionados, there is perhaps no figure...
One Last Deal | 2018 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review
Art to Art: Haro Conjures Another Character Study in Crowd-pleasing Drama
Much like his contemporary Dome Karukoski, Finnish director Klaus Härö is one of his...
Searching | Review
The Search is Over: Chaganty Transcends ‘found-footage’ and then some with Debut
Aneesh Chaganty’s absorbing feature debut Searching follows a desperate father’s hunt for his missing daughter—set...
Support the Girls | 2018 SXSW Film Festival Review
Give a Hoot: Regina Hall shines in Bujalski’s latest Slice of Life
Andrew Bujalski is one of those quintessential American independent filmmakers whose mature work...
BlacKkKlansman | Review
Klan Destiny: Lee Returns with Strongest Joint in Years
Although not as finely wrought as his subversive (and underrated) 2015 Chi-raq, Spike Lee returns with...
