film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: BRWC

  • Natalia LaLonde: A Quick Chat

    Natalia LaLonde: A Quick Chat

    Natalia LaLonde is a model, influencer and wellness expert based in Los Angeles, California. By Eleanor Klein.

    Tell us a little about you & your background in wellness.

    I think I inherited my passion in wellness from my great grandmothers. My great grandmother was always interested in wellness – she was making fresh carrot juice for breakfast out in Flint, Michigan before I was born.  My great grandmother on my mother’s side was living off the land and drinking fresh coconuts out in the countryside of the Philippines. 

    When did you realize this could be your profession & career?

    I realized this could be my profession after having modeled for years, and enrolling in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.  The courses there taught me that there is a business in health coaching – and that there is a career in influencing and guiding others in making healthier choices.

    When and why did you decide to make the shift to plant-based? Did you feel better immediately?

    I shifted to plant-based because I took a class at University of Michigan called the sociology of animals – I thought we would study an animal’s role in our family structure, but instead, we studied how animals are objectified in society, and the nature of factory farms.  

    Paul McCartney wasn’t wrong when he stated “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarians”  I couldn’t look at meat the same way after taking that class.

    What does a day of eating look like for you?

    A day of eating for me generally looks like: Wake up – have a glass of water, make a matcha or coffee loaded with superfoods (shilajit, ashwaghanda, Chaga, Dragon Herbs Diamond Mind Tincture) and almond milk, and MCT oil.

    My first meal of the day is around 11/12, and consists of carbs like fruit, oatmeal, or coconut yogurt with some cacao nibs, then I have a large lunch around 2/3 consisting of avocado toast and a salad or a large salad consisting of leftovers from the night before over greens

    Dinner is around 6 PM and I’ll have vegan pizza, or kimchi dumplings I’ve been obsessed with making lately.  This is more of a snack for me, with my largest meal being my first mid-morning meal and mid-afternoon meal

    Your body is banging! What is your favorite workout to tighten up quickly?

    Pilates, pilates, pilates!  I owe all my toning to pilates and working with my trainer, Justin Gelband.  He helps strengthen and lean out the tiniest muscles in your body.  He utilizes a combination of pilates, yoga, martial arts, barre and capoeira to target every micro muscle in the body.

    Favorite restaurant in New York City? In the world?

    Favorite restaurant in New York City would have to be Plant Food and Wine.  Their vegan lasagna and hot fudge sundae is out of this world!  It’s great for plant-based, and to take your non-plant based friends – all eaters are often impressed with the food there.  

    My favorite restaurant in the world used to be Grassroots Pantry in Hong Kong – they have shut down!  they had this incredible lions mane pad thai that I have to learn to make myself since I haven’t eaten there in years and I’m still craving it!

    Favorite cocktail?

    Anything spicy with tequila.  And the earl grey martini at the Pegu Club.  I shake my head with delight every time I have a sip!

    Favorite snack?

    Popcorn!  I recently found a brand called Bjorn Corn that is popcorn from an organic farm popped by solar panels!  I love the spicy version.

    Best kept healthy secret?

    This isn’t exactly a secret, more a hard fact – that the secret to good skin and a healthy body all boils down to diet!  I firmly believe that one can get the priciest face products and have the best trainers in the world, but if that’s not paired with a healthy diet, then they’re at a huge disadvantage! 

    Best advice for someone who is looking to clean up their diet?

    Eat local, eat natural.  If you can’t pick it from tree, pull it from the ground, or for those meat eaters – kill it with a spear – then don’t eat it.  Nothing in a package, avoid sauces and strange ingredients one can’t pronounce.  Stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store, and don’t go down the inward aisles.  This is a great start!

    Where to find you?

    Instagram is @natalialalonde I also have a food and health Instagram called @foodiefitmodel. Please reach out with any questions and concerns – I love talking about this!

  • Boys State: The BRWC Review

    Boys State: The BRWC Review

    By Alif Majeed.

    Right at the beginning of Boys State, there is a scene where a teacher teaches the boys the difference between Brave New World and 1984, two staples of the school system. It is a subtle dig at how things would play out in the movie as Boys State almost portrays the titular convention as a totalitarian government and the camera following the main characters as a Big Brother-like figure. 

    Also interesting is the way they choose to show past Boys State alumni in the opening credits scene. The names that pop up instantly grab your attention and make you sit up and notice. It might seem like an underhanded tactic to grab eyeballs, but what comes after the credits is what truly stays with you long after you finish Boys State.

    The Apple TV film by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss focuses on the yearly convention, which has been in existence since the 1930s. A legion of schoolboys gets together at the conference taking place in their respective states, the one in focus here is the 2018 Texas Boys State. However, it looks like a comic con for governance aimed at teenagers with a single uniformed costume. It manages to successfully bring out the emotions at play where the kids get to be part of opposing parties, namely the Nationalists and the Federalists and hypothetically play out the inner workings of the political system.

    To streamline the film’s focus, the makers wisely train their attention on four students. Ben Feinstein, a double amputee whose knack at playing the political game with effortless ease, might feel horrifying or praiseworthy to others depending on your personal views. He realizes immediately where his strength lies and adapts accordingly, sometimes even single-handily turning the course of the events around if you believe the documentary’s timeline. (“I think he will be a fantastic politician. But don’t think it is a compliment,” one character says about him at one point.)

    Steven Garza, a son of Mexican immigrants who has a powerful notion about what is right and wrong, and this would at various points of the documentary, hold him in good stead and drag him down. It is the battle for territory between the two that drives a good portion of the movie even though they rarely interact directly throughout the film. 

    It is telling though that Ben’s disability comes up as a clutch throughout the movie only occasionally, and the focus is mainly on his political stance. At the same time, his actions set him up as a villain of the piece, whereas Steven’s immigration status comes up multiple times to set him as the underdog.

    René Otero, a skillful campaigner, is the third character given prominence here. However, a lot of his screen time is devoted to being one of the few black people around.

    But my personal favorite is Robert MacDougal. His instant likability comes from his honest admissions (“My stance on abortion won’t sell so I choose a bigger easier topic”) mixed with his inability to cross the line, which Ben comfortably does. 

    There is a scene right before he debates with Steven where he gets some dirt on the latter.  His attempt at a last-minute manipulation of Steven before the debate reminds you of Arnold’s takedown of Louis Ferrigno in Pumping Iron.

    He knows who is the better person but decides just this last-ditch attempt at manipulating Steve. Even then, what endures is the fair warning he gives Steve about it. He almost looks relieved when he realizes that he might end up losing and now go back to having fun.

    The trajectory and journey of these four protagonists are so compelling that you almost want to take a time capsule and go to the future to see how they ended up. Right before the end credits, the makers do show a small glimpse of where their future is.

    The best thing about Boys State is seeing how the participants behave and react to their situations. Now it might not be a parable of what these kids should be, but it is a mirror into what they believe they should do. Many of them come in thinking personal attacks are the way to go, having already been hit with us or them syndrome long before they even started.

    As you can see, a lot of them are here to have fun and are just excited to be there due to the history of the event. Some of the kids know manipulation is inevitable given what they associate politics with and the nature of Boys State. To see if they follow up on that very instinct or not is why this is a movie that is a must-watch.

  • She Dies Tomorrow: The BRWC Review

    She Dies Tomorrow: The BRWC Review

    By Alex Purnell. A beautifully profound film, She Dies Tomorrow takes enormous pleasure in its solemn approach to mortality.

    The anxiety which one gets before delivering an important speech is the kind of energy this slow-burning film exudes, an hour and a half thriller delving deep into mental health, its terrifyingly dark subject feels comfortably at home during today’s social and political climate. 

    She Dies Tomorrow is mesmerising, with its occasional psychedelic colours and obsession with Mozarts Lacrimosa, it tells the story of a contagious panic, in which everyone who comes into contact with a carrier becomes convinced that they will die tomorrow.

    This bizarre but highly frightening premise is only heightened by the acting abilities of Jane Adams and Kate Lyn Sheil (playing the parts of Jane and Amy respectively). Completely and irreversibly convinced of their premature demise, their manic and depressive state seems to be ignored or shrugged off by others, playing off of today’s mental health epidemic. It’s not until hours later, those who have interacted with a ‘carrier’ also become irrationally convinced of their untimely fate. It seems She Dies Tomorrow’s release was timed frighteningly perfectly with current world events.

    Going in blind to this film is initially jarring, with its arthouse infused imagery and sound coupled with its nihilistic themes it’s pretty easy to quickly dismiss. Those who fight through the first half-hour are met with its sombre and slow storytelling, but pushing past this barrier and trying to delve deep into its themes is necessary to fully enjoy the feature.

    Although the dead-pan acting and the plateaued story did run thin at points, the entire piece was thoroughly enjoyable, particularly the visuals are exciting, at times being beautiful and others disturbing with its flashing lights and melancholic outlook. This is most prominent when a character who has been ‘infected’, a dizzying array of colourful strobe lights as a haunting voice speaks through what sounds like a radio device, the individual becomes distressed as they cope with their new reality. 

    Bringing us a story about facing our own destruction, director Amy Seimetz manages to scare us with this millennial thriller, and although at points it grows tiresome, its premise hits a certain societal nerve. A serious social critique or a black comedy? It’s difficult to defuse sometimes as it jumps around its cast of tortured characters. But at the end of it, She Dies Tomorrow radiates with style and aesthetically pleasing cinematography whilst planting a brutally real and current worldwide problem. 


    She Dies Tomorrow     is on Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player and Digital Download 28 August

  • S.A.M – Review

    S.A.M – Review

    S.A.M – Review. By Heidi Sharpley.

    “I have a crush on him,” Sam played by George Webster, unabashedly proclaims to his friends in the park at the very start of this short film. If you don’t listen carefully, it just slips on by. Unheard and unacknowledged by his friends, they are too busy taking the piss out of the lone kid on the swings, also named Sam and played by Sam Retford.

    Yet, this is perhaps the most powerful line of S.A.M and the whole point it was made. You see, our first Sam has Down’s Syndrome and it seems his friends and perhaps a lot of the audience, don’t expect him to have a romantic or sexual aspect to his life.

    During the rest of this short film we are privileged to be part of the intimate interactions of the two Sams as they pass time on the swings developing a mutually respectful relationship. Acted beautifully by Webster and Retford, the themes of love, self acceptance, dysfunctional families, all unpacked so movingly as the boys sway back and forth.

    Retford plays the teenage angst faultlessly. Webster delivers his Sam’s acceptance of his natural instincts with ease. Inclusion and diversity come at us from different perspectives. There is a beautiful moment when Sam played by Webster turns around in his swing to face the same way as Retford’s Sam. The symbolic act of unity and acceptance, not lost on me.

    The writing and directing team Eyre & Ely have given a voice, face and identity to part of the LGBTIQA+ community with learning disabilities who more often than not move through the broader community with an unacknowledged sexual identity. Perhaps even viewed as asexual.

    More than the message, this story is so beautifully and realistically told. It left me wanting more. I’d love to see this short film developed into a full length feature but only under the care and nurturing of the custodians of Eyre and Ely whose casting, script and direction were faultless.

    And finally, there’s nothing I love more than a love story with a great sound track. Ali Ingram’s, songs Tornado and Your’s Alone are perfectly placed in this movie.

  • The Northman: Full Cast Revealed, Filming Resumes

    The Northman: Full Cast Revealed, Filming Resumes

    The Northman: Full Cast Revealed, Filming Resumes. By Erin Brady.

    One of the numerous productions that have had their filmings delayed was American horror auteur Robert Eggers’ third film, ‘The Northman.’ However, filming has now officially resumed in Ireland after its production was shut down in March.

    Although much of the plot is still under wraps, ‘The Northman’ is being described as a Viking revenge thriller set in 10th Century Iceland.

    On August 19th, it was confirmed that ‘The Northman’ has resumed production, along with a somewhat-official cast reveal. Eric Higgins, best known for his role on History Channel’s famous show ‘Vikings,’ not only revealed his involvement in the film via an Instagram Stories post, but he also revealed some of the famous names confirmed to star in the historical epic.

    Among the actor headshots featured in Higgins’ Instagram post are Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård, who were previously confirmed to star in the film this past October. However, a number of new actors were also confirmed to star in Eggers’ film.

    One of these is actress Kate Dickie, reuniting with Eggers after portraying the doomed mother Katherine in his directorial debut ‘The Witch.’ The film will also have her share the screen with her ‘Witch’ character’s daughter Anya Taylor Joy, who among Kidman and Skarsgård was confirmed to star in the film in October.

    However, arguably the most intriguing development is arguably Icelandic singer Björk’s newly-confirmed casting. Set to be her first theatrical acting role in nearly 20 years, she was rumored to be in talks in October, but now her involvement is officially confirmed. The acclaimed singer-songwriter will be playing a witch in the film.

    As filming resumes on ‘The Northman,’ expect more surprises and developments to arise.