film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: BRWC

  • To The Stars: Review

    To The Stars: Review

    By Nick Boyd.

    “To the Stars,” a coming-of-age film that takes place in 1960s Oklahoma, is a touching, heartbreaking look at female friendship in the high-school years.  Maggie Richmond (Liana Liberato) is the new girl in town who takes it upon herself to immediately stick up for Iris Deerborne (Kara Hayward), who is an outsider because of her appearance and awkwardness.  

    Maggie (who is hiding a secret) lies to the gossipy mean girls by saying that her dad (played by Tony Hale) is a photographer for the magazine “Life,” sometimes taking pictures of Marilyn Monroe, when in fact he works for an agriculture magazine and has moved his family to give his daughter a fresh start.  She and Iris develop a genuine friendship and connect on a deep, emotional level, sometimes taking late night swims in a pond where their friendship flourishes.  Both are nonconformists fighting their own family struggles – Iris with an alcoholic mother and Maggie with a father who beats her.

    A classmate of Iris’ named Jeff Owings (Lucas Jade Zumann) works on Iris’ family farm in his spare time and subtly tries to make it known to Iris that he likes her.  He is another outsider of sorts who does not seem to have any friends but comes across as likeable, genuine, and someone who cares about Iris. 

    An interaction at a school dance where Jeff asks Iris if she wants to dance and she hesitates because of how she would come across on the dance floor perfectly captures the insecurities that those like Iris face.  When Jeff says to Iris that she is the only person in town who is not a phony (which seems like a reference to the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”), he poignantly makes clear how he admires that she stays true to herself.

    Much of the town’s gossip takes place at a beauty salon, run at the home of Hazel Atkins (Adelaide Clemens), a lonely young woman who listens to a lot of what is going on, but we come to learn is a very private person who is trying to conform to the constrained confines of her life.

    The movie is an uncompromising sociological portrait of small town fiercely conservative America and the value systems in place.  It also zeroes in on the cruelty that goes on in high school and the bigotry that takes hold under rigidly held beliefs.  

    While not an easy watch at times, the performances are strong and what the characters are experiencing is movingly depicted.  The power of female friendship and heartbreak and the tentative steps toward first love are subtly portrayed with characters we come to truly care about.

  • Lingua Franca: Review

    Lingua Franca: Review

    Lingua Franca: Review. By Alif Majeed.

    Opposites attracting onscreen has always been excellent cinematic fodder. Especially if they are opposites who are two broken but kindred souls struggling in their lives. Lingua Franca seems to take two characters who have been created by following the fractured soul’s rulebook and injecting as much drama as possible. But somewhere down the line, the director has managed to give them enough personality that you end up caring about what happens to them.

    Lingua Franca’s main USP has to be its lead character. Isabel Sandoval, who is also the director of the movie, portrays Olivia, a local caregiver in a Brooklyn neighborhood of an elderly Russian woman Olivia. As she is looking for companionship while trying to find a suitable person to marry for a green card, she pips the interest of Olivia’s grandson, Alex (Eamon Farren). 

    Things are going well enough between them until Alex realizes that Olivia is a trans woman. How the two of them deal with the realization and if they get together is what drives the movie.

    The struggles of an undocumented immigrant struggling to make ends meet and looking out for a green card are portrayed rather well. What makes it even more poignant is Isabel’s portrayal as the trans woman Olivia who has become so pragmatic about her situation that she would refuse to give love a chance even when staring right at her.

    It almost reminds you of Ramin Bahrani’s brilliant Man Push Cart, another movie that subtlety portrays the struggles of an immigrant who can’t catch a break. It is equally heartbreaking seeing Olivia struggling to silently work towards her dream while silently suffering the heartbreaks she faces getting there.

    Eamon Farren is also perfect as Alex, as his reactions seem perfectly natural as he realizes that the woman he loves is a trans woman and could end up being the butt of jokes among his friends. 

    Lev Gorn (The Americans) makes an impact as Alex’s uncle who gives him work and cares about his nephew enough to hope he doesn’t screw up while begrudgingly spews venom on him whenever he meets Alex. Also excellent is Lynn Cohen as Alex’s grandmother, who is also a mute spectator to Alex and Olivia’s relationship. 

    Sadly the ending feels like a cop-out as the director keeps it predictably ambiguous. The movie takes a while to get going. And when we finally get invested in what happens to them, that ending does feel like a cheat.

    Also, as mentioned, there are moments where the situations seem like it came from a textbook manual where the director makes it feel like the struggles have to seem never-ending rather than just being so. 

    It almost feels like the characters are struggling, not because of what they are going through. But because of what the makers willed it to and to wring out the last bit of emotion from us.

    Thankfully, Isabel does not choose to show unnecessary backstories to create sympathy for the characters. Apart from the phone calls she makes to her family in the Philippines, we know very little about her back story. Her conversations with her best friend about their childhood also feels heartwarming while delivering a gut punch at the same time.

    In Olivia, Isabel Sandoval manages to bring out a wholly original character that came only come out because you know there was a real person who lived out that life. Watching it play out on screen and how she chooses to portray it is why you should Lingua Franca be seen.

  • Ladies And Gentlemen: Review

    Ladies And Gentlemen: Review

    By Rowan Malyon.

    This unique little film says a lot with very few words. A finalist in the Best Editing category at the 2020 Oregon Short Film Festival, Ladies And Gentlemen is an endearing film about finding your people and not changing yourself to fit in.

    This short follows Nan, an amateur comedian determined to succeed despite getting knocked back again and again. She deals with some of the worst obstacles anyone putting themselves out there can face: an apathetic audience, friends that don’t understand her humour, and her own self-doubt. Nan must decide whether to give the people what they want and stick to the status quo, or stay true to her own unique sense of humour, hoping someone will eventually understand.

    Directed by Gabriel Oliva and written by Torrey Richardson, Ladies And Gentlemen is visually stunning, and a treat to watch. The jumps between the real world and Nan’s happy place where she can be herself are seamless, and highlight just how much can be going on behind a person’s eyes when outwardly, they appear awkward and out of place. 

    Richardson also stars in the movie and turns Nan into an incredibly sympathetic and delightfully unusual character. She won the Best Actress award at the Austin Comedy Film Festival in 2019, and anyone can see why. From her delivery to her body language, Richardson oozes comedy. In fact, all the actors in this film, from the unfortunate audience members, to Nan’s supportive, yet weary friends make the film a joy to watch.

    Packing a ton of visuals into a short space, Ladies And Gentlemen encapsulates the ever-relatable fears we all face when dealing with major career crises, and the terrifying prospect of just being ourselves. The sharp, quirky humour of this award-winning short may leave you blinking in surprise before you start to laugh, but you will be won over by its earnest message about staying true to your own voice. 

  • Unhinged: Another Review

    Unhinged: Another Review

    Unhinged: Another Review. By Alif Majeed.

    Every once in a while, you have an A-lister who would do something that borders on a B-movie. Nicolas Cage might be a perineal punching bag in this regard, and once that point is crossed, it boils right into self-parody. It might always not necessarily be a bad thing, but sometimes you realize that the guy has got to the point where he is coasting along parodying himself. And when you see the movie, you finally know what the actor would look like in a second rung movie. 

    Russell Crowe is an actor who HAS chewed the scenery before. Rather spectacularly, in fact. And one of the best things about him is he is pretty comfortable playing second fiddle to others. There might be times when he does this without drawing any attention to himself like in Proof, one of his earlier movies where he gracefully lets Hugo Weaving do all the heavy lifting. And even when he was going over the top, it was usually in the company of other A-listers like Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise in Virtuosity and The Mummy, respectively. 

    Sadly, Unhinged is where all his trademark ticks and quirks take center stage, and he goes full insane in the esteemed company of well, himself. It is a movie that feels like a cross between The Hitcher, its sequel, and Falling down, and what came out is The Hitcher 2.5: This time, I Brought My Car.

    It is an easy movie to rage and rant on, but the movie’s problems go way beyond toxic masculinity or the allegories it tries to depict about the current state of the world. It seeks to say too many things in a self-righteous way that feels almost tiring. That is its main problem. Take out all that, and what you get is a movie that is just too damn slow and boring. 

    When all the depravity and craziness feel like it is going to give you a hangover, you think of watching Unhinged ironically. It doesn’t even succeed in that respect, as just when you think you are going to find something ironic to like in the movie, it gets stuck again, making you try to shift your attention elsewhere. It also doesn’t help that every other scene; it suddenly just decides to shifts gear by throwing everything on the screen. 

    For a while, it does look like a Rear Window scenario where only the protagonist, Rachel (Caren Pistorius), would know Russell Crowe is doing. That makes it almost disappointing when many people realize mighty fast that a deranged killer is on the prowl. Maybe its a play at how technology makes it impossible to hide something like that (the opening credits depicts people in different stages of public rage caught on camera) but again feels like a major bummer.

    The makers probably felt they got lucky when they got Russell Crowe for the movie. Who wouldn’t want an Oscar-winning A-lister in what is essentially a play on B-movie archetypes? But what could have ended up as one of Unhinge’s highlights is what makes its wheels come right off the car he chases Rachel in. Russell Crowe’s presence almost comes off as too in your face, almost to the point of distraction. You know it’s not enough for the villain to beat the crap out of a guy to death. For that final starry flourish, as Russell Crowe plays the villain, he also has to stab the guy in the neck and jeer at the audience to remind you that it is “RUSSELL CROWE” who is playing the villain.

    Caren Pistorius (Slow West) is saddled with the thankless role of a victim caught on Russell Crowe’s deranged warpath due to a traffic light incident. Given the circumstances, it is surprising how much better she comes across. However, getting the short end of the stick is Jimmi Simpson, in a mandatory best friend who you know won’t get make it out well. What is amusing, though, is how quickly he becomes dispensable.

    Calling it the worst movie of the summer might be pushing it too far, considering the unprecedented situation that we had this year where the summer season is almost nonexistent in the first place. Also, though the movie virtually screams out, saying, “Relax guys, it is just a brainless movie which should not be taken seriously.” The problem is that the makers shoot themselves in the foot by trying to make too many statements about issues that deserved a better movie.

    Unhinged is probably best viewed in the confines of your house when you are doing other stuff and watching the movie as a distraction. The kind of movie that you wait it out instead of rushing to the theatre because you know you can stream it online soon after.

  • Rag Doll: Review

    Rag Doll: Review

    By Alex Purnell. Director Bailey Kobe brings us a woman power drama about a young MMA fighter training for an upcoming fight. Unfortunately, Rag Doll doesn’t deliver much of a punch and goes slack in its effort to grapple attention.

    Boasting a mostly female cast, Rag Doll’s premise is nothing new. Infested with bad writing, clunky technical difficulties and painful editing, the first half carries itself kicking and screaming. A frustrating watch, it’s biggest positive laying in some great performances from lead Shannon Murray playing the reserved yet powerful Nora, as well as some brilliant casting decisions with Coach Rosheen (Dot-Marie Jones) and Aisha (Roxana Sanchez), with all three carrying the weight of this film, particularly in the second half.

    Rag Doll follows Nora, a young woman who is training to be an MMA fighter whilst also juggling looking after her mother who suffers from cancer and a cleaning job at a motel. She grows close with sparring partner Aisha, who is training to fight in an upcoming tournament. To try and improve her and her mothers quality of life, the inexperienced Nora enters the competition in a bid to snag the $100,000 prize. From intense sexual pressure between her and Aisha too her unpleasant side hustle as a prostitute, there’s a lot of untapped potential to Nora’s character which just wasn’t touched upon, with frustrating un-finished or un-developed narratives putting a strain on the film as a whole.

    The two biggest crimes committed are the messy plot and the unnatural and ungainly dialogue. Most evident within the first hour, some conversations are nearly unwatchable, the first scene in which this is largely noticeable is Pharmacy store, introducing the side-character and love interest of the film Jason (Dante Basco). After Nora finds out that her mother’s cancer medication is no longer fully covered by her healthcare plan, good-guy Jason steps in to pay the $70 bill needed. This develops into an incredibly awkward and strange dialogue sequence between the two and the pharmacist. For the most part, the scene is ruined by bad delivery and jagged editing, in which it feels like the direction they were going for was a natural conversation but felt more so like it was written by an alien attempting to mimic human interaction. The entire romantic plot between Jason and Nora is a complete write-off with no chemistry, build-up or payoff.

    Despite this, Rag Doll vastly improves in the second half, breaking through into the much stronger MMA-training and fighting side of the story. Although the majorly undeveloped relationships make what could be some of the intensely emotional scenes seem rather half-baked, it’s fighting sequences are engaging and at points tense.

    In fact, the build-up to the competition was an overall highlight, creating great moments for the lead, and in the ring, a mix of good sound design and claustrophobic shots generated some compelling and exciting moments. Because of this, It feels like the film would have greatly benefited from concentrating more so on the MMA narrative, but instead attempts to take on too many idea’s, failing to satisfyingly conclude any of them. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M19qJPhEpiE

    In short, a disappointing first half fails to build momentum for the second. Although its brilliant to see a female-centric sports film centred around what is considered to be a male-dominated sport, it feels like Rag Doll tapped out in the first round.