Author: Ben Gummery

LoveTrue is a new indie documentary from Director Alma Har’el (Bombay Beach) and is executive-produced by Shia LaBeouf (Transformers).

Har’el follows three complicated, real-life relationships as they unfold in distinct corners of the country. Alaskans Blake and Joel pursue a promising romance, in spite of physical limitations and her stripping career. In Hawaii, free spirit Coconut Willie discovers another side of true love after realizing his son is not biologically his own. And singer/songwriter Victory comments on faith and faithfulness as she and her siblings perform in the streets of New York City accompanied by their father John, who was abruptly separated from his wife.

This is a very abstract and artistic approach to documentary film-making as we weave in and out of the three narrative ‘threads’. The result is a very reflective piece; rather than having a clear narrative or commentary it is more like a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ look at several real life relationships. This is certainly an interesting take but will not be to everyones taste.

A haunting score from Flying Lotus mixes atmospheric sounds and classical strings in a beautiful embodiment of the artful nature and abstract ‘narrative’ of this film.

What the film-makers call ‘artful camerawork’ i’m afraid doesn’t do much for me; and some of the sound production is a little rough. Having the camera go slowly in and out of focus is something of a indie ‘trope’ and I don’t think it really adds anything to the film.

Presented with English Subtitles.

This real-life documentary from director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami follows the every-day life of Afghan refugee Sonita Alizadeh; now living in Iran.

 She faces the oppressive traditions of her culture that have been imposed on her by her family. She dreams of a different life and a career as a rap singer; quite opposed to what is expected of her.

There is no set story-line here and the film allows Sonita to tell her own story. It is refreshing to not have the footage broken up with talking-heads however these long, drawn-out sections can at times lose the pace. Where there are interview style sections these are very in-formal and Sonita responds in typical stand-offish teenager style.

Shot mostly unobtrusively and in almost fully ‘fly-on-the-wall‘ style; the film allows the subject to speak for herself and lets us into her world. The story is made perhaps even more powerful and culturally significant not only because it features a female at the centre but also it was shot by a female director.

An insightful look at the real-life of a refugee struggling against the traditions of her culture.

Sonita Alizadeh is an Afghan rapper and activist who has been vocal against forced marriages. Alizadeh first gained attention when she released “Brides for Sale,” a video in which she raps about daughters being sold into marriage by their families. By help of Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian documentary filmmaker who over three years, documented her remarkable story in the film Sonita, Alizadeh filmed the video to escape a marriage her parents were planning for her, even though it is illegal for women to sing publicly in Iran, where she was living at the time.  After releasing the video on YouTube, Alizadeh was contacted by the Strongheart Group, who offered her a student visa to study in the United States, where she currently resides.

Preacher’s Boy was directed by Brian George Hutton, written by Benjamin Cyrus-Clark and stars Richard Angol, Marissa Joseph and Mohamed Dyfan.

Ezekiel learns the hard way that not all new beginnings are a blessing.

The film looks into everyday relationships and the role religion plays in our everyday lives. This premise holds enough merit for this brief exploration.

I appreciated the performances; especially Richard Angol as the preacher of questionable charecter Joshua.
However; the main thing I noticed about this film is the sound production was really rough – even for something produced for YouTube and I found this very distracting from the story.

You can watch Preacher’s Boy on YouTube.

Spaghettiman is written and directed by Mark Potts with stars (and co-writers) Winston Carter, Ben Crutcher and Brand Rackley.

“Clark doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care about the world. He barely cares about himself. But after an incident with an old bowl of spaghetti and a malfunctioning microwave, he becomes a superhero that can fight crime with the power of spaghetti. However, you have to pay him.”

From this film’s title; you might get the wrong idea and on first impression I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The premise itself is pretty diabolical; fortunately my worst fears were not confirmed as this film stays clear of taking itself too seriously whilst still presenting a some-what engaging story.

‘Spaghettiman’ sounds like the stereo-typical B-Movie superhero and that is what Ben Crutcher delivers here; however excellently so. He is like a low-rent Deadpool except rather than being fuelled by a sense of duty or revenge he does his good deeds mostly in exchange for tips. This contrasts excellently against his strongly moral housemate Dale (Winston Carter) who is an aspiring cop and a hilarious conflict ensues.

This film rips on tropes of the superhero genre as is evident from the plot and dialogue which is mostly hilarious and well written. The film is un-ashamedly indie and un-ashamedly a comedy at it’s core but I felt it actually punches well above it’s weight when it came to the action sequences and choreography which excels above many B-movies with much larger budgets; and these moments were genuinely thrilling. All this is backed up with kicking rock score and adept cinematography and performances. I would love to see these film-makers put their skills towards a more serious project given the level of skill displayed here.

For more information check out http://www.spaghettimanfilm.com

See also Motivational Growth