film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Trent Neely

  • Young Hearts: Review

    Young Hearts: Review

    Young Hearts: Review. By Trent Neely.

    This film centers on high freshman high school student Harper (Anjini Taneja Azhar) and sophomore Tilly (Quinn Liebling). They have known each other most of their lives as they are neighbors and Tilly is best friends with Harper’s older brother Adam (Alex Jarmon). The two themselves however have never really been very close. That all changes when the two begin dating. The remainder of the film focuses on how the relationship between the two evolves from acquaintances, to friends to romantically involved and how that change not only affects the two of them, but also their relationships with their friends, family, and classmates.

    Writer/Director Sarah Sherman along with co-director Zacharay Ray Sherman smartly differentiate the film from others focused on highschool by setting both characters at the start of their high school years. Countless films have been made about teens dealing with romance while also being concerned with existential questions of which college to go to or what job they wish to pursue. Since Harper and Tilly have been in high school long enough to adjust to the environment but still have time before graduation, the film is able to restrict its focus to how the pair deal with their relationship and balance it with their friendships and other interests.

    This is another strength of the script and direction. While Harper and Tilly’s relationship is obviously significant and impactful for them, the movie takes care to ensure that neither individual is fully defined by their feelings for the other. Harper throughout the film is shown to be thoughtful and passionate about gender equality. When rumors about her promiscuity begin to spread around the school, we the audience see that it not only offends her personally, but also as a woman because of the stigma that such rumors place on women.

    Harper is also shown to be an active participant in the relationship, not purely subject to Tilly’s whims and desires. For his part, Tilly is shown to be conscious of Harper as a person and respectful of her during their courtship. When it comes to Tilly’s other interests, he is shown to be a drama student who loves to perform. In addition, he is torn between his feelings for Harper and the fact that by dating her, his relationship with Adam is frayed as a result.

    The performances by the two leads bring these notions to life. Anjini Taneja Azhar and Quinn Liebling have great on-screen chemistry and bounce off each other well. Additionally, while both actors do a great job of conveying the emotional complexities stated above, they and the script also remember that these characters are teens. At the beginning of their relationship, the conversations are stiff, awkward, and center on things that teenagers actually talk about including what shows they watch and which classes and teachers they like. All of these aspects come through in the performances. Even when discussing the more heavy topics like romance, love and sex, the vocabulary and delivery continue to reflect the age of the characters.

    When it comes to other technical aspects, they all seek to serve the characters and the performances. Martim Vian’s cinematography largely consists of long tracking shots as Harper and Tilly walk and talk. The camera feels like an unobtrusive observer that is purely documenting this relationship. When the camera does come closer, it’s to catch the significance of a particular emotional beat or to capture the nuance of a facial performance.

    The editing by John-Michael Powell does a nice job of maintaining a pace that allows the viewer to get the sense that they are seeing a relationship go through various stages, while at the same time making sure that momentum is always maintained.

    If you are looking for a film centered on highschoolers that features realistic performances and dialogue for that age group, and a romance that feels developed but doesn’t deprive either person involved of their individuality, watch this film if given the opportunity.    

  • Happy Cleaners: The BRWC Review

    Happy Cleaners: The BRWC Review

    Happy Cleaners: The BRWC Review. By Trent Neely.

    Happy Cleaners tells the story of a Korean family living and working in New York. The mom (Hyanghwa Lim) and dad (Charles Ryu) (who are unnamed in the film) have been the owners of a dry-cleaning business for many years, but are facing hard times due to many factors including a slump in customers and machinery breaking. As if that was not enough, the couple also face threats of an increased rent on their lease or worse, no lease renewal after a new landlord takes over the property. Their son Kevin (Yun Jeong) frequently fights with his parents, he has decided to drop out of school in order to go to Los Angeles and work on a food truck.

    This goes against his parents’ wish that he would pursue a more lucrative and respected occupation, like a doctor. By contrast, their daughter Hyunny (Yeena Sung) works in a hospital and helps with the family’s expenses. Yet she too finds herself in conflict with her family, as her mother does not want her to marry her longtime boyfriend Danny Kim (Donald Chang) who is a college dropout. Because of his decision to leave school, Hyunny’s mother feels that Danny would not be able to adequately support her. When the dry cleaning business continues to falter, the film follows the family as they struggle with the clash of American and Korean culture, and the tension between finding one’s own happiness versus doing what is best for the family. 

    Directors and writers Julian Kim Peter S. Lee, along with co-writer Kat Kim take great care to ensure that each of the protagonists feel fully complex. We understand that Kevin’s attitude to go his own way in terms of his life and career is not born purely out of rebellion against parental authority, but also due to the fact that Kevin and his sister were born in the U.S. and therefore do not share the exact same experiences or ideals as their first generation immigrant parents. A distinction that is made clear through language. Kevin and Hyunny use a mix of korean and english, while their parents almost exclusively speak in their native tongue. In fact, we see Kevin become more empathetic to his parents’ struggles after seeing them have a contentious encounter with an irate, even racist customer. Witnessing the level of prejudice and abuse his parents endure motivates Kevin to help at the dry cleaners. In another reveal of complexity, we come to learn that Hyunny’s mother’s concern over her relationship with Danny is not as simple as he is not what she expected or planned. It is implied that her mother has regrets about where some of the decisions in life have led her and she does not wish for her daughter to make the same mistakes. For his part the father is shown to be conflicted, his culture and background dictates that he must solve everything as a male authority in the family, but also that he needs help, even from his own daughter which clearly hurts his sense of pride.

    The layered facets of these characters are brought wonderfully to life by the entire cast especially Hyanghwa Lim as the mother. Who, at first glance comes across somewhat aggressive and domineering. As the film progresses however, Hyanghwa expertly begins to reveal the vulnerability of her character. The fatigue she feels from working virtually non-stop for many years, her sadness at the rebellion of her kids, as well as her regret over the anger she shows to her kids at times. Yun Jeong does a great job of conveying Kevin’s sense of frustration. Kevin wants to be his own man, but also clearly cares family and wishes his parents would adapt more to the changing times and environment, the actor portrays all of these conflicting aspects of his personality well. Yeena Sung is also great as Hyunny. Like her brother, she shares his frustration with their parents’ rigid expectations but Hyunny also encourages Kevin to be more sympathetic and engaged with the family as a whole. This means that Yeena has the task of playing a character who serves as a sort of bridge between many perspectives shown in the film, a challenge she more than meets.

    When it comes to technical aspects, the film particularly shines with its cinematography. Director of Photography Gordon Yu seems to have an intuitive understanding of when the camera needs to be up and close to the actors to highlight a moment or conversation and when to pull the camera back and let the acting and writing speak for itself. Specifically there are many scenes of Korean food being prepared that are highlighted by well-composed close-ups. These scenes of food serve many purposes in the film: highlighting the family’s culture, reminding the audience of Kevin’s ambitions, and the setting for various plot points. The film opens with the family arguing about Kevin’s decision to drop out of school after dinner. Other scenes surrounding meal times serve as quiet moments of reconciliation and peace. The close-ups help to highlight these various aspects.

    If there is one weak aspect to the film it is structure. The first thirty minutes or so quickly jump from one protagonist or another in order to establish necessary information about who these characters are, their wants, needs, and conflicts both as individuals and as a family. After this portion however, the film mainly focuses on the dry-cleaning business’ struggles, while occasionally returning to individual character stories such as Hyunny’s relationship with Danny. This jumping around to the various plot points creates a somewhat uneven pace in the film.

    If you want to see a film that showcases the complexities of family life. Specifically, how some people can be torn between familial duty and individual aspirations, especially when there are cultural expectations, watch this film if given the chance.

  • Son Of Monarchs: Review

    Son Of Monarchs: Review

    Son of Monarchs: Review.  By Trent Neely.

    This film follows Mendel (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), a Mexican biologist living in New York, studying the genetic causes for the colors of butterflies, specifically monarchs. One day, Mendel receives a call from his uncle informing him that his grandmother has passed, requiring him to return home to Michoacán to attend her funeral. It is soon apparent that Mendel has been away for some time due to some painful aspects of his past.

    Specifically,  both his parents were killed in a flood resulting from an accident in a mine, leaving his brother Simón as the only other living member of his immediate family. In addition to the flood’s personal cost, the mine’s practices decimated the local monarch butterfly population. Over the years Mendel and Simón grew apart following their parents’ death as both found their own ways to cope. The film centers on Mendel’s personal journey of self reflection and realization as he meditates on the traumas of his past, his relationships with others and the world around him, and the relationship between man and nature following the funeral.

    Writer and director Alexis Gambis does a tremendous job crafting a fully realized character in Mendel and a fully dimensional story world. Throughout the film, we see Mendel wrestle with his ties to both America and Mexico. Characters from both countries repeatedly discuss the intricacies of U.S./Mexican immigration and relations; Mendel seems keenly aware of the pros and cons of both countries. 

    Mendel also grapeles with the complex realities of industry and its impact on the environment. One of the sources of tension in Mendel and Simón’s relationship is that by necessity, Simón is working at the mine that flooded and resulted in their parents’ death that has since reopened. At his core, Mendel seems to be a man somewhat conflicted between science and a sense of spirituality. Mendel studies the workings of butterflies for a living and is searching for a genetic answer to their beauty. Yet throughout the film, we see flashbacks and hear voiceover on how Mendel’s father and grandmother taught him that the beauty of butterflies were the result of magic. 

    Even going as far to say that the butterflies themselves represent the spirits of their ancestors. As a result of this, monarch butterflies are effectively used as a recurring symbol throughout the film, mainly Mendel’s journey to understand himself.  Gambis makes sure that these varying facets receive enough care depth so we understand how they impact the characters and the world of the film, while at the same time not providing easy answers for the viewers or forcing ideas on them.

    These vast thematic ideas are brought to life due to great performances from the entire cast particularly Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Mendel, who very subtly, yet fully portrays a man in conflict with many things: two countries, science and the spiritual, his desire to run from his past and his pain contrasting with the need to confront it. These complexities are rarely expressed with direct rage or sadness, but instead through the way in which the dialogue is delivered and physical posture. Because his performance for the most part is so defined by restraint and suntelty, when more direct expressions of rage and sadness occur, it feels more visceral.

    Another aspect that helps make this film feel fully layered is the marriage of image and sound. For instance, the film opens up with Mendel dissecting and studying a butterfly. The cinematography by Alejandro Mejía is up close, reminiscent of a documentary, clinical and objective. When it comes to the sound design, it is somewhat brutal, we hear tearing as Mendel pulls back layers of the specimen.

    In addition, the music by Cristobal MarYán is composed of somber strings as voiceover plays saying that the butterflies represent ancestors. In a few opening moments, the film introduces the main symbol, part of its significance to the protagonist through voiceover, and uses sound design and music to convey that emotional weight to the viewers. In addition, Gambis and the sound department use sound to provide texture to the film. For most of the scenes in New York, there is traffic noise almost always audible in the film while for scenes in Michoaćan which is more rural, the sound design instead focuses on overlapping dialogue during the funeral, or wilderness sounds when characters are outside.

    If there is one drawback to the film it is that while it offers great depth to a lot of its ideas and characters, that time and attention can cause the pace of the film to lag at some points.

    If you are looking for a story with cinematography that highlights the beauty of nature, uses sound to entrance the audience, all while telling the stories of characters that feel real and complex, check out this film if given the chance.

  • Flinch: Review

    Flinch: Review

    Flinch: Review. By Trent Neely.

    Flinch follows Joey Doyle (Daniel Zovatto) a hitman in the employ of crime boss Lee Vaughn (David Proval) and his son James (Buddy Duress). We soon learn that while Joey is very good at what he does, his services for the Vaughns are not voluntary. Joey’s father was a hitman for the Vaughns as well. However, he made a mistake that landed him in jail, forcing Joey to work off his father’s debt to the crime family. Joey’s mother Gloria (Cathy Moriarty) who Joey lives with, knows of her son’s occupation and simply wishes for him to do whatever is needed for him to stay alive.

    We also learn that Joey has strong religious convictions and as a result feels conflicted about the nature of his work, yet simultaneously trapped by his obligation. Soon after completing a job, Joey is tasked by the Vaughns with killing city councilman Edward Terzian (Thomas Segura). After surveilling Terzian for a couple of days, Joey completes the job. There is one small problem however. Terzian’s assistant Mia Rose (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) sees Joey standing over her boss’ body. This results in Joey kidnapping Mia and taking her back to his house facing a difficult choice.

    On one hand, he feels he has to kill Mia in order to eliminate witnesses and tie up loose ends. On the other, she is an innocent bystander who does not deserve to die, which weighs on Joey’s conscience. The remainder of the film focuses on Joey’s deliberation over what to do as various forces pull him in different directions including: his faith, the Vaughns, who themselves begin searching for Mia along with other criminals, and Mia herself, who Joey grows closer to over time and who is not all that she appears to be.

    There have been many stories of hitmen who are conflicted about their job who become even more so when dealing with a surviving witness. More often than not thoee stories become action heavy and dependent as the protagonist is forced to take down their former bosses and countless assassins in order to protect the witness and escape with their life. While there is certainly nothing wrong with this approach, and there are elements of this known structure in this film, writer/director Cameron Van Hoy deftly focuses the narrative beyond the surface.

    There are action set pieces in the film that are wonderfully shot, choreographed and edited, but the emphasis is always on character. This slight subversion in what audiences come to expect in these types of films may disappoint viewers coming into the film expecting a lot of action.  

    The relationships between Joey, Mia, and Gloria receive particular emphasis as most of the film’s runtime centers on Mia’s forced residency at the Doyle home. We get to see how Gloria is a strong presence in Joey’s life. She wants her son to be safe and have morals, but at the same time wants to make sure he survives in this brutal criminal underworld. If it means she may have to kill Mia herself in order to protect her son, she is willing. However, feelings for Mia become more complex as she gets to know her throughout the film and sees the impact she has on Joey.

    When it comes to Mia herself, in spite of her natural fear for her safety, she is shown to be a woman of strength, determination, and resourcefulness. In a way Mia serves as a mirror to Joey. At first, Mia seems like a bystander or victim but is then shown to be strong and resilient. Similarly, Joey is first shown as a force of reluctant yet brutal violence, but as we the audience and Mia get to know him, his conflict over his job and more empathetic nature comes through. These factors and more combine to lend believability to a growing bond between the pair.

    The performances are a particular standout point  in the film. Daniel Zovatto’s portrayal of Joey is one defined by subtlety and stoicism. Joey is a man who must maintain some degree of emotional distance in order to do what he does for a living. At the same time, we do see his caring nature for his mother and his deepening feelings for Mia emerge as the film progresses. Zovatto rarely communicates these notions through big speeches or extravagant gestures. Meaning every small gesture, line delivery, and look contains loads of subtext. Zovatto seems keenly aware of this in his performance and uses it effectively.

    Tilda Cobham-Hervey is captivating as Mia, oscillating between fear, anger, defiance, and  empathy at various points throughout the film. While her role is at times tasked with a greater need for vulnerability than Zovatto’s, Cobham-Hervey never comes across as weak. The chemistry between the pair is palpable and the relationship consequently feels very organic. Similarly, Daniel Zovatto and Cathy Moriarty do a great job of converting the layered history and complexity of a mother-son relationship. Moriarty in particular is the source of a lot of the film’s dark humor as her sweet maternal nature is contrasted with her instructions for Joey regarding how to survive his predicament, including the need to kill people.

    At the same time this is a woman who says there should be no cursing at the dinner table. David Proval and Buddy Duress serve as effective antagonists as the Vaughns, especially Duress’ aggressive and impulsive James. Although there is not a lot of depth given to either character.

  • Cocoon: Review

    Cocoon: Review

    Cocoon: Review. By Trent Neely.

    This German film follows Nora (Lena Urzendowsky) a young teen during the record hot summer of 2018. Nora spends most of her time with her older sister Jule (Lena Klenke) going to the pool and hanging out with Jule’s friends. While Jule does not love having her younger sister hanging out with her and her friends, as it leads to some embarrassing moments from time to time, we soon learn that they depend on each other.

    Their mother struggles with alcoholism and is often not around or attentive. In addition, Nora is beginning to go through puberty and must adapt to her changing body as well as emerging romantic and sexual feelings, particularly for fellow schoolmate Romy (Jella Haase). The film follows Nora during this summer of change as she grows, navigates relationships with those around her, and begins to realize who she is and what she wants in life.

    Writer and director Leonie Krippendorff crafts a strong and intimate character study. This film is Nora’s story through and through. Krippendorff does not shy away from all the realities of adolescence. The awkward and frightening, such as when Nora gets her first period during school. This moment is shown without any sense of sugarcoating, it is simply a necessary milestone of maturing, humiliating as it can be. By contrast, the euphoria falling in love and growing more confident in your own skin is highlighted just as much. This commitment to showing things as they really are and avoiding many cliches and stereotypes, helps to ensure this film stands out among other entries in the coming-of-age genre. 

    Krippendorff also makes great use of symbolism in the film by having Nora be a student and collector of caterpillars. At various points throughout the film, Nora makes reference to the life cycle and metamorphosis a caterpillar undergoes. Not only does this serve as the source of the film’s title, it mirrors Nora’s own story of growth and change.

    While great direction and writing are needed for a character-driven story, the performances here are what truly serves as the film’s anchor. Particularly noteworthy is Urzendowsky who perfectly captures every nuance of Nora’s journey as she goes from a shy girl somewhat  trapped in her older sister’s shadow, timid in voice and physical presence, to a young woman who begins to express herself and open herself up to new people and experiences as she grows more confident. Urzendowsky’s chemistry with Klenke is a highlight. The pair expertly display the dynamic of sisters who bicker, annoy, and mess with each other, but when one of them truly has a moment of need for the other, the bond and love is shown to be true. 

    The relationship between Nora and Romy is another strong point of the film. Contrasting Urzendowsky’s initial timidness as Nora, Haase’s Romy is a character who already possesses a level of excitement and confidence that she brings into Nora’s world, resulting in some of the film’s best scenes.

    The cinematography by Martin Neumeyer is another standout. The camera is frequently handheld and mobile, allowing the audience to feel like they are on Nora’s journey with her, even during her most intimate moments. This is not done in a way that is objectifying, but serves as to bring the viewer into her headspace and experience. The cinematography also helps in selling the environment of the story. As the film is set during a record heat, scenes taking place outdoors highlight the saturation of the sun, tempting the viewer to squint and look away.

    If you are looking for a film that features a realistic portrayal of the highs and lows of adolescence with strong writing, characters, performances, and cinematography watch this film if given the chance.