film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: BRWC

  • Ruth Orevba: A Quick Chat

    Ruth Orevba: A Quick Chat

    By Eleanor Klein. There’s no question that Ruth Orevba is currently one of the most sought after models in New York City. Not only is she beautiful but many do not know she is a fashion executive at one of America’s most prestigious fashion brands. Today we had the opportunity to chat with her.

    Take us through a typical day for you…

    Wake up at 8 am! I like to get ahead of my work schedule so I check my phone for new emails and messages and start responding right away while still in bed. I get out of bed and look at myself in the mirror. I am obsessed with skincare so I look to see if the products I used the night before are working. After I shower, I do my morning skincare routine (I always use vitamin c serum, rose water, and sunscreen), put on the clothes I laid out the night before, get my cup of black tea, and make myself some scrambled eggs with feta cheese.

    Now I’m ready to take on the day!

    9:15am – I get on my computer and work my day time job remotely. I work in marketing in the fashion industry so my day is filled with many zoom calls and figuring out our next launch.

    1pm – I eat a light lunch such as sushi or grilled chicken with brown rice
    After I am done with my day job I work on self-submitting myself to castings, reaching out to photographers, and trying to get my next booking.
    At 7pm I go out for a 4 mile run around my neighborhood. I come home and put on my VR Oculus Quest headset which I have been utilizing to practice meditation and Tai Chi.

    After this, I cook dinner usually broiled salmon and roasted veggies. I eat my dinner while I watch whatever I’m currently binging on Netflix ( Schitt’s Creek is 10/10). At around 11pm I shower, do my nighttime skincare routine and get myself ready for a nice peaceful slumber.

    What is one thing our readers may not know about you

    When I was living in Abuja, Nigeria at the age of 6 I attended a military primary school. From what I can remember it was quite the experience.

    How did you get into modeling? 

    At a young age I always knew I wanted to be a model. Growing up reading Vogue magazine and watching TV shows such as America’s Next Top Model. I started out in the pageant world. I won the title of Miss Rhode Island United stated back in 2017. I then compered at the national level
    for the title of Miss United States 2017 and decided at that point I was going to pursue a life in modeling.

    I packed my bags and moved to New York City with the hopes of catching a big break. I luckily was able to book my first modeling show a month later during NYFW fall 2017. During that show, I networked with a casting director who puts on a local charity fashion show every Sunday. I was invited to come the following Sunday to walk in the show and I was excited for any opportunity that came my way.

    The audience was small and I didn’t think any of it. After the show ended an agent scout from a New York modeling agency came up to me and expressed interest. I met her the next day at the office and was signed to my first ever New York modeling agency on the spot.

    What has been your greatest accomplishment to date? 

    My best accomplishment I would say is getting my very first magazine spread. Last year, 2019, I did a photo shoot with a local New York photographer who reached out to me that he is putting a team together (stylist, designer, makeup artist). He wanted me to be the model of this photoshoot that he would end up submitting to various fashion magazines. I honestly didn’t think I would get published but 3 months later I got a spread in Horizon Magazine. I was very happy to see myself published in a fashion magazine!

    What has been your most difficult challenge to date and how did you overcome it? 

    My most difficult challenge to date has to be the recent passing of a family member. While enduring this pandemic, my father sadly passed away July 2020. It was a very hard time for me and my family. Not to mention I got a call the same day about a job offer I had been praying on.

    I had to take a step back in my life to mentally heal and process the loss. My family and close friends were my main support group. I give thanks to God for keeping me strong, and the loved ones who have been there and continue to be there for me.

    What advice would you give to someone looking to follow in your footsteps?

    1. If you want to model make sure you to get clear images of yourself. Your best friend or family member can take them on their iPhone if you don’t have access to a photographer. I wish someone told me to create a comp card before I moved to New York City.
    2. Be open to opportunities that come your way especially when you are starting out in the modeling industry. You are allowed to ask questions and vet the opportunity before you proceed.
    3. Next, you need to network, network, and network!!! This is also true in any professional corporate field you go into. Whenever I attend any modeling/entertainment events I try my best to get to know the people who are attending and the individuals who hosted the event. A lot of
      the designers, stylists, and other models I know were through just meeting them at a fashion show or modeling industry event. I always think back, what if I never spoke to the women during the NYFW Fall ’17 show? Or I did not accept the charity modeling gig? I probably would not have been where I am today.
    4. Be kind. People like to work with others that are friendly and have a positive attitude. This has been a key for being called back again for other opportunities.

    You can follow Ruth on Instagram @ruthorevba

  • Alana Monteiro: A Quick Chat

    Alana Monteiro: A Quick Chat

    Alana Monteiro: A Quick Chat. By Eleanor Klein.

    There’s no question that Alana Monterio is currently one of the biggest names in high fashion. Not only has she graced the covers of magazines including Numero, L’Officel and Elle, but she has 780k Instagram followers and counting! Today we had the opportunity to chat with her.

    We would love to learn more about your journey into modeling. How did you get into modeling? 

    During my senior year in high school, I started attending open calls at local Boston modeling agencies because I am from Massachusetts. I worked so much once I signed with a Boston agency, but I wanted to expand my career and go to the # 1 market in the world for modeling which is New York.

    I would continuously take the bus from Massachusetts to New York every few weeks to attend open calls at modeling agencies. I was still in high school at the time, so I was also submitting pictures online to New York agencies. I ended up getting a modeling contract in NYC a few months after graduating high school, and so I deferred my college admission and moved straight to New York.

    What has been your most memorable modeling gig and why?

    I have worked with so many amazing clients, so it’s hard to pick one that stands out the most for me, but I would have say my most memorable gig was shooting a Footlocker campaign. This gig was so memorable because it landed me my first billboard in Times Square. 

    Can you describe to us a typical day for you on set? 

    A typical day of modeling is arriving on set at 9 a.m. I sit in hair and make up for about an hour or two depending on the client. I then start shooting for about 2-3 hours until lunch. They usually have amazing catered food on set, and lunch will last for about 30 minutes. After lunch, we’ll start shooting again for another 3-4 hours, and we usually wrap around 5-6pm.

    What gigs do you hope you secure in the future?

    I never like to announce projects that I want to work on. I feel like keeping your big plans silent is a must.

    What advice do you have for anyone looking to get into modeling? 

    Get an agent at a reputable modeling agency.

    You can keep up with Alana on Instagram @alanamonteiro

  • Under My Skin: Review

    Under My Skin: Review

    By John Battiston.

    The creative hook of Australian director David O’Donnell’s feature debut, Under My Skin, is a unique one, to be sure. In the opening scene, we watch Denny, a biologically female singer-songwriter, freshen up at their bathroom vanity before heading to a gig, but as they duck into the water basin, open the medicine cabinet or otherwise obscure our view of their face in the mirror, only to reemerge a literal different person.

    The ninety-six minutes that ensue follow Denny (primarily portrayed by Liv Hewson) as they begin a relationship with young, successful lawyer Ryan (Alex Russell), all while grappling with gender dysphoria. Between segments of the story, the actor portraying Denny changes from Hewson to Chloe Freeman, Lex Ryan and Bobbi Salvor Menuez, before Hewson takes the role once more for the final act.

    With varying appearances, accents and (arguably) levels of androgyny, the purpose behind casting four different performers in the lead is clear: Denny simply doesn’t feel comfortable in their own body, nor do they yet know what their proper body would be. As Denny (while portrayed by Hewson) puts it outright during an argument with Ryan, they don’t feel they fit in the “box” they’ve been assigned.

    But for freewheeling, artistic Denny, this “box” doesn’t just mean their body — it extends further to their relationship with Ryan and the strait-laced, corporate disingenuousness (and sometimes chauvinism) that comes with his chosen lifestyle and trade. And when Ryan learns just how seriously Denny is taking their transition to a nonbinary person — binding their breasts, cutting their hair, and eventually beginning to take testosterone — he wrestles with whether he can ultimately accept the change.

    While the character dynamic between Denny and Ryan — from their meet-cute in one of Denny’s performance venues to their increasingly fraught domestic situation — is compelling and pushes the viewer to ponder difficult questions about identity, the choice to cast four performers as the lead, while a great idea on paper, results in a disconnect that’s difficult to navigate. Sure, each one does remarkably well portraying the different phases Denny goes through during their transition — denial, confrontation, internalization, aggression, and finally acceptance — yet when the actor filling Denny’s shoes changes (each one beside Hewson gets about twenty minutes onscreen), it’s near impossible to mentally coalesce the separate performances into one.

    As a story whose message and success is so heavily dependent on Denny’s and Ryan’s character arcs, Under My Skin hobbles itself by making the former’s journey feel jarringly segmented. When Russell interacts with a new version of Denny, it’s difficult not to feel like we’re being introduced to a whole new relationship than the one in which we’d just been led to invest. To his credit, Russell’s interaction with each performer is seamlessly natural, and whichever acting duo happens to be onscreen manages to pull off genuine chemistry. Russell and all those playing Denny wonderfully flesh out the complex character work they’re tasked with portraying, without exception, captured by splendid camerawork and underscored with subtle, stirring, electronic music compositions.

    However, it’s when the camera ventures into Ryan’s professional life that Under My Skin loses its sense of naturalism and goes to cartoonish lengths to all but condemn his normcore leanings. Between Alexis Denisof’s turn as Ryan’s hilariously, almost moustache-twirlingly loathsome boss (who actually utters the phrase, “Where’s the pussy at?” while in a bar) and purposefully bland set design, the film seems to be suggesting Ryan’s difficulty respecting Denny’s transition is due to an inherent closed-mindedness in his profession, implying that the choice to partake in a suit-and-tie, nine-to-five lifestyle is inherently immoral in and of itself. It’s a plotline whose intellect is limited at best, childish at worst.

    Though surely excellent fodder for a pitch meeting, Under My Skin doesn’t manage to wring the intended effect from its most crucial creative choice. It’s intent is genuine enough to avoid earning the label of a gimmick, but it doesn’t go far enough to be dubbed a well-rounded strategy, either. Perhaps trusting the audience to follow a well-acted character arc with Hewson in the lead at all times would have helped this film to pack a greater punch. Instead, we’re left with four separate stories that can’t quite manage to form a cohesive, satisfying whole.

  • Proxima: Review

    Proxima: Review

    Proxima: Review. By John Battiston.

    Space is no place for a woman … at least, that’s what Sarah Loreau’s mother tried to tell her as a little girl. Proxima, the new film from French writer-director Alice Winocour, opens to find Sarah (Eva Green), now in her thirties, in the middle of a taxing training exercise in a European Space Agency facility.

    From the montage that follows, we infer space travel is something Sarah, against her mother’s advisement, has been working toward for ages, during which time she and her (now-estranged) husband have had a daughter, Stella (Zélie Boulant).

    After learning she’s been chosen as a last-minute addition to a year-long mission to Mars — the first in human history — Sarah can hardly contain her excitement. But going to space means having to hand Stella, for whom Sarah is the primary caregiver, over to her husband, Thomas (Lars Eidinger). And though a lifetime of ambition to rise through the ranks in a largely male-dominant field has prepared her for this moment, Sarah’s separation from Stella leads the great beyond to cast a gradually darker shadow from overhead, and the astronaut-to-be can’t help but question whether her loftiest desires are worth losing irrecoverable time with her dearest love.

    When a filmmaker seeks to push the limits of a genre, their approach is seldom to limit the cinematic scope that genre usually entails. But that’s exactly what Winocour does with Proxima, restricting its narrative almost entirely to subdued yet often wrenching interpersonal conflict. Is it proper to call this a space movie when not a single scene takes place outside Earth’s atmosphere? Perhaps not. But even as a story entirely focused on the lead-up to liftoff, Proxima powerfully communicates the punishing confinement and claustrophobia said mission will inevitably entail, yet does not lose sight of its emotional crux in so doing.

    From the outset, Winocour dons no pretense about the kind of movie Proxima is trying to be. Muted coloration, often vérité-style camerawork, hushed dialogue and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s etherial score betray the film’s small-scale ambitions, and its themes are never stated outright. About as barefaced as the movie gets is with the introduction of the mission’s captain, Mike Shannon (Matt Dillon), who all but wears his chauvinism on his sleeve. Still, conspicuous as Shannon may be, he is still a necessary, even clever construction on Winocour’s part, a foil who further ratifies our heroine’s determination to outperform that which is expected of her yet, in turn, further strains her and Stella’s bond.

    But Proxima would not have nearly as indelible an impact as it does with less capable performances at its core. Green’s ability to incrementally, understatedly, yet excruciatingly convey Sarah’s all-consuming dilemma matches splendidly with Boulant’s internalized, precocious energy, uncannily evoking a dynamic of mutual understanding, frustration and heartbreak that often defines the mother-daughter relationship. They and other cast members are all snug fits for Winocour’s understated vision, with very few instances of heightened enunciation or capital-A Acting to be found. Rather, Winocour excavates profound metaphor from the little, seemingly insignificant interactions, never from over-manufactured imagery, stilted soliloquies or other tools lesser filmmakers might cling to.

    Without losing itself to spectacle or pedantry of any kind, Proxima ultimately triumphs as a quietly bruising, yet ultimately life-affirming look at the inner war often waged between ambition and love. Though not the visually dazzling glimpse of the cosmos one might expect it to be, its emotional depth and shrewd grip on humanity will leave an impact no less than astronomical.

  • Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: The BRWC Review

    Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: The BRWC Review

    Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.

    Preconceived notions are a hard thing to get rid of when you sometimes begin to watch a movie. Especially a film which comes with as much baggage as Borat 2. Or rather, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: The rest of the title is still quite a mouthful. Before you start watching Borat 2, you couldn’t help but think, why the hell do we need a sequel after all these years? What was the point? Yes, the first movie was a sensation when it came out and still has plenty of people quoting it after all these years. The series of films he subsequently made with diminishing returns also made the first movie lose its sheen. 

    But what we tend to forget about the first movie is that it was immensely quotable and super funny. And exactly how brave it was when it initially came out and how Sacha Baron Cohen was willing to give life and limb to provoke reactions out of people and for the sake of comedy. 

    So you can’t help but wonder if he can do the same thing again after all these years, or did lightning indeed strike just once in his case.

    The answer to that question is a resounding yes! There are times when the jokes might miss its mark, but overall this is a sequel that works surprisingly well and has its large heart in the right place.

    Borat, now set in present times (and boy does Sacha cut things as current as possible), and as a character, he has aged in real-time. He is in trouble in his home country for portraying them lousy manner despite becoming a celebrity after the first movie’s events. Banished by his countrymen and his family for shaming them, his only recourse to not get murdered is to go back to America and give present Vice President Mike Pence a gift. When his stowaway daughter eats the chosen gift, Kazakh Minister of Culture Johnny the Monkey (it gets as absurd as it sounds), he has no other option but to give his daughter away as a bride (having misinterpreted the word bribe). So begins his epic journey across America again to tutor his daughter in the ways of America while learning a few new things himself.

    The best thing about Borat 2 is the significant heart it shows. Right off the bat, he acknowledges how difficult it is to go undercover as Borat, as he has become synonymous with the role for better or worse. So he decides to hide in plain sight using several other disguises. 

    The first movie made Borat look pretty dickish, and it didn’t help matters when his lines became immensely quotable by people who often tend to miss the statement he is making. There is no doubt what statement he is making here as the movie is just as timely as any can ever be. 

    What also works is how he managed to somehow beat the odds and film this movie right under everyone’s noses, even creating a couple of incidents which did receive coverage for entirely different reasons at the time of filming. It is too good to spoil here, but you can’t help but be surprised and amazed at how he pulled it off.

    Sacha Baron Cohen has always been a person who has been pretty ballsy as an artist, which sometimes works against his favor. Like his ousting from Bohemian Rhapsody, part of which might have come about because of his persona and reputation. But it has been a good year for him with the one-two punch of Borat 2 and The Trial of Chicago 7. Both of which combine to show how much of an underrated talent he has always been. It’s easy to take for granted how easy he makes it looks despite leaving many people in the lurch baying for his blood—all for the sake of his movies.

    You initially miss Kenneth Davitian a bit, but you quickly realize the movie’s need to have Maria Bakalova as the daughter’s character as a replacement and surrogate. Being an unknown entity (both as a character and an actress), she inadvertently becomes his equal partner in crime. She is dead center in some of the movie’s best gags, which works because she was there matching Sacha Baron beat for beat.  

    The movie is as much about her as it is about Borat, and you appreciate how Sacha lets her gracefully take center stage when required. The gut splittingly shocking scene staged at a debutante ball or their meeting with a pro-life pastor is a testimony of it. They are as glorious and stunning as any among Borat’s best scenes. The heartwarming nature of their see-sawing relationship also stays with you as much as its most controversial or funny scenes.

    After the movie is over, you realize that though you came in with your preconceived notions about a sequel you believed had no reason to exist, you had the rug pulled right from underneath you, like many of Borat’s unsuspecting victims. What you get is a pretty funny movie, which was also a beautiful tale of a father and daughter’s journey across America for some sexy time.. Not!!