Author: Allie Loukas

Earl Cave and Monica Dolan co-star in “Days of the Bagnold Summer” that follows a heavy metal loving teenager, Daniel, and his polar opposite librarian mother Sue.

After his father fails to take him in for summer vacation in Florida, Daniel must learn to live and get along with his mother in a sleepy British suburb.“Days of the Bagnold Summer” would certainly be classified as a coming-of-age film, it reminded of films from the 90’s and 00’s, but without the goal for Daniel being losing his virginity or obtaining a girlfriend.

School was also not a running theme in this movie, it was actually quite the contrary. Daniel only really seemed to be discovering himself and learning to live with how different he was from his mother and the few other suburban British teenagers he encountered, with only his friend Ky (Elliot Speller-Gillott) having anything in common with him.

The aspect that truly separated this piece from other genre examples was the intersecting story line of Daniel’s mother Sue, and how the film was not about Daniel’s relationship with his peers, but rather with his mother. As an audience member I empathized with Sue, she was gentle and unsure of herself, and even in Daniel’s fits of rage she found a way to be kind and not take any of it personally.

Sue even went through struggles in her love life when Daniel’s history teacher Ian (Rob Brydon) asked her out on a date. Initially thought to be genuine and a nice man, it turned out Ian was a player who treated every date as pedestrian and only used Sue as a conquest.

My heart broke a little for her when prince charming turned out to be not so much. I could relate to that feeling of disappointment, and was touched by some tender moments where Daniel tried to protect his mom.As an overall though, I didn’t really get a firm on the films’ message. I saw a relationship between a mother and a son and how their experiences shaped them, but I did not see either go through any sort of significant change where I could grab onto it and identify it as the meaning behind the film.

All of the scenes did not really come together to create one strong whole, the plot sort of just plodded along without clear direction and the pieces of the puzzle never connected. I found myself waiting for an a-ha! moment that was never realized. Taking a risk by focusing the plot almost wholly on the teen’s relationship with his mother was appreciated, but I suppose there are reasons why coming-of-age films tend to show school and friends, it gives them more of a fun element that this was sorely missing, and it felt like everything was in slow motion.

My best guess as to why this happened is that the film is based on a 2012 novel by Joff Winterhart, but for some reason the adaptation of the text did not translate so much to screen as other strong examples in the genre, i.e. “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014.) Sometimes certain stories are better read than viewed, and I think that’s what happened here.

Western style short film “The High Ridge” from filmmaker Julien Lasseur follows a husband and wife bounty hunting duo who are on a break in the mountains after their latest kill.

As they recap their recent history of kills for cash, the wife, Phoebe, wonders if they are being followed and encourages her husband to look out over the high ridge for a sniper.

A bit downtrodden and lackadaisical, he instead looks out on the low ridge insisting that no one had followed them. He then comically focuses on how he lost the bounty hunter of the year award and how greatly disappointing it was. The lead actor, (Brian Groh’s) performance was very entertaining and reminded me of Don Johnson as “Big Daddy” in “Django Unchained” a comparison I will touch on in a moment.

Although this film is flush with a gorgeous backdrop and captivating cinematography by DP Nate Stifler, I know I have seen it before. The iconic 2009 film “Django Unchained” from Quentin Tarantino basically has the same plot down to the bounty hunter storyline.

I can appreciate that the filmmaker is an admirer of Tarantino, as am I, but if this were to be an homage to his work he probably should have gone for a straight up parody of Django rather than a close copy.

I really think modifying the script to having the actors talk about being something other than bounty hunters would help, because it was hard for me to differentiate this from Tarantino.

I appreciate the potential the filmmaker has, and the direction shows promise, but it is missing the flair that would made this wholly unique and fresh, and a new storyline on the next venture would certainly help.

That being said, the cinematography, editing, score, sound design, and lead performance in this piece were a treat to watch and listen to, and I will look forward to seeing what new work Lasseur has to offer in the future, as I think he could ultimately develop into an interesting filmmaker.

“Shoot to Marry” is a documentary style romantic comedy from filmmaker Steve Markle (“Camp Hollywood”) and winner of the 2020 Audience Award from the Slamdance Film Festival. The film follows Steve, who plays himself, on a journey to attain his heart’s true desire, a wife. After lamenting over a failed proposal to his girlfriend,

Steve adopts a new lease on life and decides not to give up on love, but rather search for it in an unconventional way by creating a documentary about women; but, there’s a catch! It’s not actually a documentary about women. In reality, Steve just ends up using the guise of documentarian to try and find a new way to meet single women, and, hopefully, a wife.

I appreciate the ambition from the filmmaker. It was a refreshing and somewhat odd choice to see a single man in his mid-40’s create a film, released in 2020, where his burning desire in life was to one day be a good husband. The want for marriage seems increasingly rare in cinema today when so many films portray, and in many ways normalize singleness, dating multiple people, endless swiping on apps, and divorce. That being said, the issue I hold with this is that I didn’t really like how Steve went about finding his perfect mate.

In the film he approaches different women he finds interesting for one reason or another, tells them he’s making a documentary about interesting women, then, after meeting them, tries to pull a bait and switch and see if they want to date him. That made me uncomfortable. Using a documentary as an excuse to meet women who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have agreed to meet him seemed deceptive. I know and understand that modern dating is hard, and it’s hard to even find a decent match on a dating app, but this to me really was not the way to go.

Though I guess it did work out for Steve in that he, without ruining any major plot points, got to take his journey of finding true love on camera, and make what ended up being an award winning documentary so I have to give him credit where credit is due; killing two birds with one stone I suppose. I did enjoy getting to meet the women Steve encountered in the film; a hat maker named Heidi Lee, and an artist named Kate Kelton were particularly interesting to me. I enjoyed their works of art and would like to know where I can purchase one of Heidi’s hats. I also adored Steve’s parents, they seemed like great people, a wonderful couple and a shining example of a rare and happy marriage, meeting them was very sweet.

Although the random visit Steve took to a sex club where he witnessed an orgy seemed grossly out of place and out of character for a man who desired marriage, but my guess is he wanted to give the audience a good jolt and to break up the monotony of the film.

I’m not really sure where this piece could find a place with a broader audience, I would venture to guess it would turn off feminists, and I’m not too sure how many people who are into romantic comedies would be into the whole trick date plot line, if it had have been executed in a more pure way it could have potentially resonated with them.

I get that Markle was trying to add the whole comedy element, but pseudo dating women who had no idea he was trying to actually date them really didn’t come across all that funny to me, more than anything it felt like the comedy sort of got lost in a sea of cringe.

All negatives aside, Markle is clearly talented, and this was a labor of love as it was apparent it was filmed over multiple years. I hope to see more of him in the future, and could totally see him with a mockumentary-style self-deprecating show like “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I also thoroughly enjoyed the different city settings, Manhattan in particular was very fitting. Isn’t every good romantic comedy synonymous with Manhattan?

Bombshell: The BRWC DVD Review – As a film that attempts to define the Me Too movement “Bombshell” disappoints. Unfocused and manically frenetic the film fails to properly explore the underbelly of sexual harassment, the environments that cause it to thrive, and even be abetted with encouragement and dudebro high fives.

Multiple intersecting and interjecting storylines are never fully developed and the film is left with one-dimensional characters, most of whom are based on real life victims of sexual harassment. What the world needed was a hard hitting expose, and what we got were some strung together shaky cam shots and flimsy exposition.

There was a great potential here to show what happens when a woman attempts to climb the corporate ladder in a thoughtful and emotionally rich way, but, instead, the script from screenwriter Charles Randolph gets confused. It is muddled in unabashed limousine liberal speak that distracted from the real point, women being assaulted by higher up executives, women being forced into quid pro quo situations, and the post traumatic stress that follows any form of sexual harassment or assault.

It was more of a hit piece on conservatives and Fox News when it should have been focused on the emotional torment these women went through when they were being harassed throughout their careers. It came off preachy and disingenuous, almost cheapening their stories. Sexual misconduct does not know political lines. It is not assigned democrat or republican, it is a widespread cultural and societal issue and should be treated as such.

Director Jay Roach was definitely an unlikely choice as he made a name for himself in filmmaking as the helmer of the Austin Powers series, and who could forget the famous line “do I make you horny, baby?” Considering his problematic directing history with female characters, such as Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley,) from the original “Austin Powers” who was initially disgusted by Austin’s sexual advances, but then as he chipped away at her resistance she fell in love with him, or Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) from the Austin Powers sequel whose name says it all; it was no surprise to me that this movie did not dig deep, and did not understand women. It barely even scratched the surface, there certainly were and are better choices that could have been made in terms of a director for this piece.

All of this being said, the film did excel in makeup. Kazu Hiro deserves accolades for transforming the actresses into the anchor women they portrayed, and some of the resemblances were uncanny. None of the performances were particular stand outs for me, or even very good. My favorite performance, ironically, was the fictional character Kayla played by Margot Robbie, and I think that likely has to do with her being able to craft it herself.

Though “Bombshell” undoubtedly tackled an important topic, it came across like a made for TV movie that really missed the mark, and it is a shame because it was a story worthy of being told, just not in such an uninspired and careless fashion. Here is to hoping that one day women get the MeToo movie they deserve.

In Search of Greatness is a documentary feature from filmmaker Gabe Polsky, it examines the life and mind of sports greats and what it takes to be a champion. There are interviews with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, football great Jerry Rice, and soccer star Pele. This piece was equally as fascinating as it was inspirational.

It showed how sports stars are not some accidental freaks of nature, they really aren’t built differently from anyone else, nor do they possess a special aptitude, and, sometimes, as Wayne Gretzky put it, they can’t even play the sport better than anyone else. These athletes showed how above all, belief in yourself, wisdom, and innovation can supersede how hard you train. 

What these athletes did was identify a method, a creative flair, something that made them different and then capitalized on that thing that made them unique that many people sadly miss in their lifetime, and used it as a tool to become the best. I appreciated the not stereotypical nature film as it really showed professional sports as an art, and was not just about how far athletes go to contort and stretch their bodies, basically torturing themselves into becoming super human. It was about their passion, love, and desire for the game; and their innate ability to stick to something until they identified a way to succeed. 

I have to admit when I was assigned this film I shrugged. As I’m not a huge sports fan, I thought this would probably be difficult for someone like me to relate to and pull meaning from due to my personal lack of interest in sports; but what I found was the exact opposite. This film is riveting and I was inspired, I say this truthfully as I know anyone will be able to relate. The athletes are really taken off the pedestals society puts them on and shown as they are, human. They are people with passion, hopes, and dreams just like all of us. Although their joy was synonymous with their sport, no matter what field we are in, their motivation is magnetic.

Out of all the athletes they interviewed I think I identified most with Wayne Gretzky. I loved the story he told about his parents, how they never pushed him to become anything, he just had a passion and a talent, an inclination towards hockey. He basically picked up the hockey stick on his own because he loved it, not because he was being prodded by his parents. He credited their parenting technique as something that helped him become great, the freedom to make his own decisions.

In the world we live in today we see too much pushing of children into sports or activities to the point where they have no time to be creative and decide what they really want. Not everyone shares the same skill set or path in life, we are all individual people and maybe that path to greatness can be achieved in the way Wayne Gretzky’s was, through individualism and self discipline.

All in all, In Search of Greatness is a gem. A delightful, wholesome watch, and a perfect pick me up for anyone who feels left behind or unmotivated.

In Search of Greatness is released on digital platforms on 6^th May.