Liz Charles (Angela DiMarco) is having trouble dealing with her grief after losing her husband, Jason (Ray Tagavilla) when he was killed on his tour of duty. Deciding to make a fresh start of things, Liz decides to pack up with her daughter, Audrey (Sanae Loutsis) and move to a new town where Audrey can attend a new school.
Both still reeling from the sudden and unexpected death, mother and daughter try to make the best of things and Audrey even starts to mention a boy she met at school. However, when Liz tries to find Audrey’s friend one day, she’s met with the sinister figure of the school janitor and from there things go from bad to worse.
Not only that, but Liz is starting to dream about her husband and her dreams are turning into nightmares.
The Parish is a predictable and cliché horror movie in the same vein as the movies in The Conjuring franchise. It gives its audience little surprises and throws almost every religion-based horror trope at them as it slowly moves along.
A slow burn horror movie, perhaps because of there being little to the plot, The Parish is a horror movie that many would have seen before and will see the plot and the inevitable ending coming from a mile away.
Everything is there from the troubled child to the slightly creepy but friendly priest, Father Felix (Bill Oberst Jr.) and there’s even a ghostly nun thrown in for good measure. Once the audience has got a grasp on the story then they will surely know where it all is going, so by the time Liz is told everything during an exposition heavy scene, the audience will wonder why she didn’t figure it out sooner.
The Parish certainly doesn’t offer up any surprises, but it does give its audience exactly what it thinks they may want. So, if you want to see a supernatural horror that reminds you of better supernatural horrors then go ahead. Otherwise give The Parish a miss and try to find something else more inventive than the bare bones it offers.
Luchadoras begins with a story. A woman is going about her usual day as she gets on the bus. But something is different about today. Instead of going his usual route, he goes a different way. The woman on the bus gets brutally raped to the point where she feels ashamed of telling her family about the experience. This is the introduction not just to the film, but to the city of Ciudad Juárez.
A big part of Luchadoras is how women get by in a place generally known for its high murder rate when it comes to women. Instead of working for low pay in a factory, the subjects of this film take on monikers in the pro wrestling community.
The main character of the story is Candy. Out of all of the people presented, she has the most going on in her life. Aside from wrestling, she has to get back to her kids who are in America. The whole point of her wrestling is to make enough money to buy a visa so she can get to them.
The biggest theme is identity and how that translates into being a woman. As mentioned before, the town of Ciudad Juárez is downright unforgiven to women. It’s said that they basically have to fend for themselves, with no help from authorities.
What writers Paola Calvo, Patrick Jasim, and Phillip Kaminiak struggle with the most is how the information is paced out. Every person who’s shown in the film has facets of their lives that are begging to get uncovered. This may sound like a good thing, but the sheer amount of people make it difficult for there to be a clear point to it all. Every person in the film gets such a small amount of development that it leads to all of them being underutilized.
On a more positive note, the camerawork and music are both effectively executed. There are many free-flowing shots that show the disorganized nature of Ciudad Juárez. The music takes on different percussion and string melodies, making sure it never becomes repetitive. With a better color palette, there Luchadoras could’ve had a unique voice past just camerawork and music.
Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim’s Luchadoras sadly fails at creating an engaging story. The stylistic elements do little to elevate a fractured story that doesn’t have a clear drive. The message of feminism is completely appropriate, but it only comes in at the end.
Naga Munchetty Edition: Bits & Pieces – London, 1974. As Britain prepares for electrical blackouts to sweep across the country, trainee nurse Val (Rose Williams) arrives for her first day at the crumbling East London Royal Infirmary. With most of the patients and staff evacuated to another hospital, Val is forced to work the night shift, finding herself in a dark, near empty building. Within these walls lies a deadly secret, forcing Val to face both her own traumatic past and deepest fears in order to confront the malevolent force that’s intent on destroying everything around her.
The fourth feature from South African director Oliver Hermanus, MOFFIEexplores the life of a closeted young boy serving his mandatory military service during Apartheid in 1980s South Africa.
A Star-Studded Cast Assembles for the Party of the Year. A Boy Becomes a Man, Secrets Come Out, Lives are Lost & Nobody Will Ever Be the Same after Donny’s Bar Mitzvah. Opens in New York at the Film Noir Cinema March 26th. Available on iTunes and Prime Video March 23rd.
Apple TV+ released the trailer for the new genre-bending thriller “Calls,” which will premiere globally with all nine episodes of the first season on Friday, March 19, 2021. Based on the buzzy CANAL+ French series of the same name created by Timothée Hochet, “Calls” is a groundbreaking, immersive television experience that masterfully uses audio and minimal abstract visuals to tell nine bone-chilling, short-form stories. Directed by Fede Álvarez (“Don’t Breathe”), each episode follows a darkly dramatic mystery that unfolds through a series of seemingly average, unconnected phone calls that quickly become surreal as the characters face growingly unsettling experiences.
Kevin and his girlfriend Evelyn are camping in the woods when she is abducted and impregnated by otherworldly beings. As the entity inside her begins to grow at a rapid rate, Evelyn’s cravings can only be satiated by the taste of human flesh. When she brutally attacks a doctor, they go on the run to the big city where they can find help to remove the embryo that is slowly taking over Evelyn’s body.
Dublin 2003. Aimless teenager Matthew (Chapman) and his disaffected friends leave school into a social vacuum of drink, drugs and thrill-seeking in one last Summer of adolescence. Matthew romantically yearns after his free-spirited friend Jen (Taylor-Joy) and struggles to maintain his increasingly disturbing relationship with the magnetic but sadistic Kearney (Cole). Whilst their precocious friend Rez (Walsh Peelo) has started to succumb to paranoia and depression. Matthew and the group are soon led by the deranged Kearney into a world of nihilistic violence, falling into shocking acts of transgression that will irrevocably change their lives.
THE FATHER stars Anthony Hopkins who plays the eponymous role of a mischievous and highly independent man who, as he ages, refuses all assistance from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). Yet, such help has become essential following Anne’s decision to move to Paris with her partner. As Anne’s father tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.
In the not too distant future, Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) discovers Viola (Daisy Ridley), a mysterious girl who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by “the Noise” – a force that puts all their thoughts on display. In this dangerous landscape, Viola’s life is threatened – and as Todd vows to protect her, he will have to discover his own inner power and unlock the planet’s dark secrets.
Peanuts Worldwide’s newest global initiative“Take Care with Peanuts,” draws inspiration directly from Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strips featuring favourite characters such as “Snoopy” and “Charlie Brown,” the initiative reminds all of us to be good global citizens, especially in these tumultuous times. In honour of Women’s History Month, Peanuts is debuting “Take Care of Yourself: Find your Voice” today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKZGNB-SzU
GUNDA recently screened at the Glasgow Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival, receiving rave reviews from critics and public alike. GUNDA won the jury award for best cinematography (Egil Haskjold Larsen and Victor Kosakovsky) in Dublin. Ahead of the UK release GUNDA will also screen digitally nationwide from the Borderlines Film Festival from 11-14 April.
Jane (Alexandra Loreth) and her husband John (Joe Mullins) are going away to a house where everything is peaceful and John thinks the change in location can help Jane’s condition. Jane suffers from something they used to call a ‘social disease’ and what with it being the 19th century, very little is known about mental health.
However, John is assured that in his position as a doctor he knows what’s best for his wife, so while he’s away at work he leaves her to wander around the house and garden. At first Jane seems to be at ease with the world and enjoys the tranquillity of it all. Unfortunately, after her frustration starts to gain momentum once again, she becomes transfixed, almost obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom.
John and the housemaid, Mary (Clara Harte) seem totally unaware of this new diversion in Jane’s life, but as the hold of the yellow wallpaper slowly takes over, Jane’s mind starts to slip away.
The Yellow Wallpaper is an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic short story, directed and adapted for the screen by Kevin Pontuti. Considered to be a story way ahead of its time, The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a woman overwhelmed by mental health problems and the slow decline of her mind as those around her don’t understand.
Beautifully shot, Pontuti’s adaptation stays faithful to the original story and with its increasingly intrusive score and its claustrophobic framing, The Yellow Wallpaper helps the audience to feel what Jane is really feeling.
Alexandra Loreth gives a great performance of a woman who may very well be one of the best written women in American literature. Her changing moods throughout show a range which fully encapsulates the role and keeps the audience captivated by her.
For those who haven’t read or even heard of the original short story, then they may not fully understand the influence and the way that it resonates with people even today. So, perhaps a little more could have been done in order to show its audience how closely it resembles what many are going through today. However, hopefully this adaptation will encourage others to seek out Gilman’s short story and appreciate a well told story in an era which misunderstood the difficulties of mental health.
The Courier Synopsis: The true story of British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), who was unwittingly recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. Forming an unlikely partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky(Merab Ninidze), the two men work together to provide the crucial intelligence used to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Arriving into theaters long after its 2020 Sundance debut (originally titled Ironbark, the film was one of many affected by COVID-19), Dominic Cooke’s latest The Courier displays a shameless adoration for old-school, cloak-and-dagger espionage features. While somewhat mannered in its final form, Cooke’s nonpartisan exploration of a historical footnote delivers within its subdued frequency.
Cooke and screenwriter Tom O’Conner parse through stuffy historical conventions to find a genuine camaraderie at the film’s center. Rather than forcing a truncated recap down audiences’ throats, the two wisely zero their focus towards the shared sacrifices partaken by Greville and Oleg. The kinship between the two radiates throughout the runtime, with both wrestling with their world-saving duties while somehow trying to keep their enigmatic lives afloat (their duplicitous existence forces them to lie to their loved ones). O’Conner’s screenplay thoughtfully distributes dimensions to both figures, ignoring overly-politicized trappings to convey the humanity behind their sacrifices.
The material’s poignant center allows both stars to show off their capabilities. Benedict Cumberbatch has certainly had more publicized performances, but the British stalwart offers some of his finest work to date as the reluctant Greville. Cumberbatch unleashes Greville’s sharp comedic tongue with bubbly charm while still keeping the figure’s internal strifes as the central focus. His partner-in-crime Merab Ninidze is easily the film’s breakout story as Oleg. After a career as an overlooked background player, Ninidze’s subdued disclosures of Oleg’s mounting circumstances strike a powerful chord. Both actors also share palpable chemistry within their mirrored roles, often relaying the character’s caring sentiments without much in terms of dialogue.
As the characters are trapped in a state of constant paranoia, Dominic Cooke’s exuberant direction finds visceral pulses to magnify their subconscious unease. Cooke packs a bevy of formal techniques (the score plays like a low-rent version of John Williams’ soaringly Spielbergian efforts), but he and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt subvert the traditionalist format with their own visual edge. The duo skillfully range between swift camera movements and intimately-framed reveals, baking a sense of distrust within every shadowy figure lurking around the corners.
The Courier works as a refreshing revival of the espionage genre, but I can’t ignore the deeper potentially left untapped. Cooke and O’Conner occasionally lose their narrative amidst their fixation on spinning an engaging yarn, leaving aside interesting thematic wrinkles in favor of straight-forward entertainment. I wish the duo were able to ruminate deeper with the character’s internal strifes, particularly within the ways patriotic obligations go deeper than a country’s care for an individual.
For what it attempts, The Courier delivers on its promises of refined crowd-pleasing fare. I am glad this title is getting a spotlight after spending a year on the shelf, and I hope it finds an agreeable audience during its theatrical run.
