Kim’s Video is such a welcome surprise, functioning as a nostalgic ode to the culture that video stores cultivated, a plea for the preservation of physical media, and an unexpected documentary/heist film hybrid that proves endlessly entertaining. It’s stretched a little thin (even at 90 minutes) and could’ve used more spirited narration, but all film fans will find something to enjoy here.
Little Richard: I Am Everything is sometimes too straightforward and standard of a documentary to truly capture the spirit of its central star, but it comes together in the end by offering a comprehensive - and most importantly, honest - look at its subject’s entire life and all its ups and downs, from the industry’s erasure of his work to his lifelong struggles with his sexuality.
The Pod Generation has a lot to say about all the ways we’re becoming overly dependent on technology - centering around artificial childbirth - but not all of it feels new. Still, solid worldbuilding and persuasive performances from Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor elevate it, even if remains too long and repetitive in the end.
Sometimes I Think About Dying occasionally feels like a short film stretched to feature length (it is), but Daisy Ridley turns in a remarkably restrained performance that succeeds on subtleties and has immensely charming chemistry with Dave Merheje (even though Marcia DeBonis might steal the movie with a single scene near the end). Sublime classical score, too.
Though at times perhaps a bit too muted to make its ideal impact with all audiences, the introspective elegance of Kogonada's ideas in After Yang are too enthralling to deny entirely, powering the picture to a stirring - if subtle - resolution, enhanced by Colin Farrell’s poignant lead performance.
Read my full review on Next Best Picture!
Lucy and Desi may not break any new ground for documentaries, but it fantastically fills in the blanks left behind by Aaron Sorkin’s recent biopic, Being the Ricardos, and offers a more comprehensive dissection of this dynamic duo and the ups and downs in their relationship over the years.
Read my full review on Next Best Picture!
Palm Trees and Power Lines is like watching a car crash in slow motion. We’ve seen stories like this before - a charming yet manipulative older man slyly seducing a younger woman - but rarely with such stark and unsparing direction. Lily McInerny is a revelation. Jonathan Tucker, terrifying.
Alice’s scrambled screenplay results in scattered storytelling that rushes its lead character’s progression, but Keke Palmer’s persistently persuasive performance (somewhat) steadies the ship.
Read my full review on Loud and Clear Reviews!
Dual presents us with a compelling sci-fi concept and has a solid start, but it sadly stumbles in the home stretch, despite the best efforts of star Karen Gillan.
Read my full review on Loud and Clear Reviews!
You Won’t Be Alone is what you get if you crossed an A24 horror title with a Terrence Malick movie. At times it can seem a little too slow - and the plot is pretty repetitive - but there’s still something mightily mesmerizing about its meditation on the meaning of life.
Nanny is a dark deconstruction of the “American Dream,” with Anna Diop giving a gripping performance that’s one of the best of the fest. The integration of the horror elements is iffy at times, and the end feels fast, but Diop anchors the entire affair in authenticity.
Babysitter was a major misfire for me. It raises a lot of questions about misogyny, male privilege, and the media, but it has little significant to say about any of these issues, and its commentary is clouded by obnoxious overdirection, overly absurdist acting, and erratic editing.