Author: Joel Fisher

In 2015 in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India, a man was found dead, presumably mauled by a tiger. There were of course many suspects, however, forest rangers soon decided that it was a tiger named T24 that was responsible due to his history of violence.

This caused a public outrage though as many activists for the safety and preservation of tigers in the wild believed that there was insufficient evidence that T24 was responsible. However, there are also those who believe that the forest rangers did what they had to do in the circumstances and had no other choice. This led to a debate, not only about T24’s life, but about the safety of all tigers, particularly since the tiger population has diminished so significantly in the past 100 years.

Tiger 24 is a documentary by Warren Pereira which was supposed to be about the way that tigers are cared for in nature reserves. However, it soon turned into something much bigger which is still debated today. Taking both sides of the story, Pereira’s documentary shows the audience everything from governmental policies to T24’s own history of attacks so that it can help them decide for themselves.

Every little thing is explored from government records and the details of every incident involving T24 so that the audience can make up their own minds.

However, by presenting the evidence from both those who oppose and support the forest rangers’ decisions, there’s something that becomes clear in the conditions in which T24 is held captive. Laying out in no uncertain terms exactly what has been taken away from him, Pereira’s documentary still makes his audience feel for the tiger whether he was wrongly imprisoned or not.

Tiger 24 turns out to be a documentary that Warren Pereira may not have intended to make, but it becomes much richer by showing the issues so thoroughly. It manages to show a balanced account of a terrible incident and somehow doesn’t pull on the heartstrings.

In the end there doesn’t seem that there’s anything that can be done, but perhaps highlighting these issues can help towards it not happening again.

Vinny (Venk Potula) is an aspiring rapper who works in his parents’ shop where he sells saris. He’s always coming up with new rhymes, although seeing as he has nowhere to go and nobody to hear them, he feels his life isn’t going anywhere. He has friends such as Zak (Nirvan Patnaik) who dreams of becoming a Bollywood star and his little cousin, Anjali (Sharmita Bhattacharya) who has a wild imagination and is known to spit rhymes of her own, but life is simple and dull.

Then one day Vinny hears about Rina (Summer Bishil) and that she’s about to be engaged to Sanjay (Karan Soni) and he loses his mind. After all, they dated for two and a half years and he thinks that Rina really was his one true love – the one that got away.

So, Vinny hatches a plan to steal the diamond ring that Sanjay plans to give Rina so that their future will never happen. All they must do is break into the safe of the grocery store owned by Rina’s father, Mr. Juneja (Tony Mirrcandani). It’s just a good thing that he doesn’t remember Vinny, right?

Four Samosas is a quirky comedy from writer/director Ravi Kapoor which follows four friends as they try to make Vinny’s dreams come true. However, as with most fast-paced comedies, there’s a lot of things that get in the way between Vinny and his goal, although the journey is what makes it so good.

Perhaps owing a visual nod to Wes Anderson, director Kapoor does lots to keep the film going and there are plenty of laugh out loud moments. Things such as Zak’s fully realised Bollywood dreams, Anjali’s wild plans and an epic rap/dance battle will keep audiences smiling.

All the cast do a great job, particularly Potula as the effortlessly charming Vinny who perhaps bites off more than he can chew. There are also some hilarious performances from Bhattcharya who seems to know no restraint in her on stage person.

Those looking for something to make them smile and remind them of the joys of a simple story well told will surely enjoy what Kapoor and his crew have to offer.

Cassidy Detmer and Joshua Litton are two friends who have something in common. They’re both recovering drug addicts and they both love cinema. They’d often think of stories to write or movies that they wish they could make and thanks to their ongoing recovery, they start to think that they can achieve that dream. Then one day they are given that opportunity to turn their dream into a reality.

Writing about what they know, Detmer and Litton want to inspire people and to try and understand the reality behind drug addiction. They also know that there’s no better way to do that than through cinema. However, making a film is a difficult thing to do and even worse when you have a dependency on drugs that may call to you at any moment.

Clean Slate is a documentary about a couple of friends who use filmmaking to put them on a better path. Having had histories of drug taking, the two friends share a close bond and they both know how cinema likes to show how drugs work.

On the one hand there could be a story about a man in recovery who overcomes the odds and triumphs in the face of adversity. On the other there’s a dark and gritty story about the dangers of drugs. Clean Slate manages to sit between the two.

Although that image of a hopeful story of two men taking a dream and overcoming their dark pasts may be a crowd pleaser and something that audiences may flock to see, that’s not anything close to reality. Director Jared Callahan works closely with both men and manages to show very different stories along the way.

While Cassidy is feeling more positive about his recovery, Josh relapses twice even before filming has begun which reminds audiences that it’s a constant battle. A battle which is mirrored by the challenge of filmmaking because the urge to go back to your old ways is as unpredictable as the weather.

However, leaving both men as they are and perhaps with their friendship being the only thing that holds them together, Clean Slate shows that not everything is like the movies.

Meredith (Sarah Lind) has been getting to know Bruce (Josh Ruben) for a little while now and he has invited her out to a cabin in the middle of nowhere so they can spend the weekend together. As any normal person would do, Meredith starts to suspect that there’s something up considering how their relationship has developed seemingly so quickly.

It also turns out that Meredith was right as Bruce has killed before and he’s willing to do it again. However, Meredith seems far more concerned with the spirits that she sees out of the corner of her eye which start to surround the house.

A Wounded Fawn is a Shudder original horror movie directed by Travis Stevens and co-written by Nathan Faudree. A director with quite an eclectic back catalogue already, it seems that Stevens’ foray into the more surreal side of horror may lead to mixed results.

Starting out as something rather unusual for what could have been a tense horror, Bruce’s dark intensions are revealed almost immediately. So, this means that when they are introduced to Meredith, they may think they know where it’s going. However, as mentioned, Meredith is not the typically simple-minded horror victim and as soon as she gets wind of something strange, she wants to get out of there.

This is where A Wounded Fawn pulls the rug right out from under the audience though and their expectations and subverted – but probably not in a way that would seem satisfying. That’s because like Meredith and Bruce who are so enamoured with a Greek diorama of some mythological creatures, unless you know your Greek mythology then you may be left behind.

In fact, Meredith instantly recognising Bruce’s most prized possession may be a warning sign as to what lies ahead. Because they seem as pleased as to what it is and what it represents as much as the movie does, which means if you don’t know then you either pretend that you do or you lose patience entirely.

Director Stevens certainly has a lot of ideas and is starting to show a promising career in indie horror, but in this new venture his pretentions may lose a few fans.

Cathy Madden (Deidre Mullins) is a probations officer with a lot on her plate. On the one hand, she has a son with Cystic Fibrosis who she has to make sure is in the best of health. On the other hand, her work requires her to help rehabilitate a woman known as ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty) who was imprisoned for two decades so that she can re-enter society.

However, during her time with Mary, two children go missing and the police suspect murder and so the hunt goes on, not only for there whereabouts, but for the killer. Although once Cathy lets her guard down with Mary, she starts to realise that murder is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what she’s capable of doing.

Mandrake is an Irish horror movie exclusive to Shudder directed by Lynne Davison and written by Matt Harvey. Part police procedural and part Lovecraftian horror, Mandrake seems to be a movie unfortunately split into two parts.

For the first half, the audience is introduced to Cathy, Mary and Cathy’s son and so there’s part of what’s going on in her personal life and part of what she does at work. This either seems to be a way of increasing tension or lulling the audience into a false sense of confidence as they may not know what Mary is about to do.

The second half consists of something far more supernatural and almost witchlike as Mary goes about doing terrible things to Cathy. The problem is that this build up feels rather unearned and very little is explained as to what Mary can and cannot do and why any of it is possible.

A movie such as Mandrake does show off the director’s potential as Davison seems capable of handling both police drama and extreme horror. It’s just that the script never really blends them together all that well.

There is also the bewildering sense that the audience has either been lied to or misled in some way because it seems to rely on torture porn and weird rituals so that it can appease the horror crowd. Also, less said about the ending the better.