Author: BRWC

Beer & Seed is a dark comedy that tells the story of a Navy veteran who gives his life another shot by going back to college, but his plan derails and he is faced with some unexpected problems, including possible expulsion as he realises that things have changed a lot since he left school! The award-winning indie stoner movie by Bill Cox is definitely not one of the worst stoner movies ever made by any means, although it has its lows as well.

Pros

Quite simply put, Beer & Seed is a good watch that showcases the kind of college life which has become a part of the US education system in a lot of institutions nowadays, but with enough comic relief to keep things jovial. In addition to the movie’s healthy dose of smoking pot, it’s actually quite interesting to see how Beer aka Bill Cook and Seed use manipulation and other real-world tactics to deal with their problems at college. There’s a nice on-screen chemistry between the old and the new here and the shoestring budget and low-production values common to all indie movies are not allowed to affect the movie in any significant way. Camerawork by Seth Conway is very good, as he keeps everything from movements and angles to frame composition on point throughout the length of the film.

Cons

When it comes to indie movies, one has to have a liberal mindset because they just don’t have the financial backup or the resources that are usually available to big-budget Hollywood films. That being said, perhaps where Beer & Seed lacks the most is in the casting. Make no mistake, Bill Cox is very good in his role and so are a few of the other actors. Nevertheless, not every actor was given a role that they managed to adopt ideally and some of the characters themselves felt incomplete.

The editing leaves some room for improvement, as a few scenes should have been cut short because they dragged on and it tampers with the general pace of the movie. The sound is another department which could have used some improvement in quality, but that is almost always the case with low-budget titles, so it would be unfair to call this a “con.” Aside from the technical aspects and casting, if we were to pick out any other fault in Beer & Seed, it would have to be the confusing sequence of events, which mostly gave us little to no clue to where the characters are in the timeline of the movie.

Conclusion

If you like stoner movies, there is no doubt that you will like Beer & Seed. While watching it, we felt bad for Bill and the treatment he was given by the authorities, solely on account of his age. It isn’t without its own set of faults, but those faults do not take away from the fact that it’s a good, indie stoner movie, which niche fans should not skip.

By Marti Dols Roca.

If you check its Facebook page you’ll lose count on the amount of awards it has won. Don’t let the cover photo fool you, those are just a few. Amongst the many prizes collected, surely the most remarkable is the Best Film at the Student Academy Awards; considering it only started its festival run on March this year, things are looking pretty good for WATU WOTE (All Of Us), Katja Benrath short film set on the Kenya and Somalia border and based on a true story of solidarity and love despite religious conflict.

Watu Wote follows the bus journey of a Christian Kenyan woman who has recently lost her husband and child in a Muslim extremist terrorist attack. The tension between Christians and Muslims is constant and often deadly in the border region of the mentioned countries; and so this character needs to make it through on a bus populated by people of both religions. Her initial belligerence and suspicion towards a young Muslim teacher will soon become eternal gratitude. When a terrorist group stops the bus and threats to kill everyone if the Muslim passengers don’t point out the Christians, the former stand their ground and remain silent. The arrival of the police doesn’t avoid the bus driver getting killed and the teacher, who courageously confronted the terrorists, seriously wounded.

He will die weeks after the incident, leaving five kids behind; she will make it to her destination safe and sound. Watu Wote’s story is as simple and as old as it gets.

That doesn’t make it one ounce worse than any other super-original-full-of-surprising-twists’ short film. In the humble opinion of the writer of this article, it makes it better; for the simple reason that it tells a story about individuals who, under the most extreme circumstances, think as a race (the human race) and not as whatever identity-bias-denomination convenient at the time. Not to mention the superb filmmaking, sound design and success in creating the oppressive and gripping atmosphere this movie calls for.

I surely won’t miss the director feature debut should she keep on with her already promising career.

By Marti Dols Roca.

Surely Andrey Zvyagintsev is not a name that would appear in a conversation about the top directors nowadays; however one would seriously wonder why on earth not after coming across any of his movies. Especially considering he has won the Jury Prize at Cannes twice (Leviathan, 2014; and Loveless, 2017), the Grand Jury Prize at Venice (The Return, 2003) as well as having a movie nominated for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards (The Return, 2003). Not to mention his latest film Loveless has already been selected as the representative for Russia at the Oscar’s once again.

As mentioned, Loveless has not only won the Jury Prize at Cannes, but also BFI London Film Festival 2017 under the Best Film category. Its UK and Ireland release will be on February 9^th 2018 and it can’t feel more adequate as it’s a bloody cold and tough story (in the best of senses).

Loveless portrays the lives of a young couple, Zhenya and Boris, who are trying to make their separation as smooth as possible considering they hate each other’s guts. Boris tries for his ultra catholic boss not to find out about his divorce before he formalises his upcoming new marriage and fatherhood; Zhenya, on the other side, doesn’t look up from her cell phone except when she is with her new and charming companion, as if she didn’t want to see what’s around. This would be a relatively easy though exasperating period if it didn’t have a third party involved: their 12 years old son Alyosha.

It looks like the kid will be staying with Zhenya who as she says to her current boyfriend: I didn’t know what love was until I met you. She never knew such a thing with her mother and was unable to experience it after giving birth to a not really expected baby, which led to a marriage and soon to be miserable life. After the umpteenth argument with Boris, Zhenya speaks her mind about Alyosha’s near future: “he loves summer camp, he will like boarding school; and after that the army”. Adults can say certain things in certain situations that may not be completely true or they may not really believe. However, if you son has been in the toilet all along and has heard what you are going to do with him he may take a childish but understandable decision: run away. If this happens during the cold Russian winter with the only help of a group of volunteers to look for him given the uber bureaucratic and not that reliable police system, drama is served indeed.

Loveless is a brutally honest film in both visual and conceptual senses. Especially by treating upfront the most common of realities: young parents that realised too late that wasn’t the live they wanted and now there’s a third party involved who’s rarely guilty and often a victim.

A movie that, amongst other things, comes to say: love your kids or just don’t have them (which when it comes to statements, it’s hard to find a more reasonable one). The soviet architecture, hostile weather and brusqueness of its dwellers serve as the perfect wrapper for this crude story.

So, it’s a kick in the guts but a very good one. As it was The Return; as it was Leviathan. Do check Andrey Zvyagintsev’s work. You won’t regret it. Don’t do it one of these days you’re feeling blue though. You then may regret it.