REVIEW: White Earth [2014]

“I don’t have any idea where it’s supposed to go” From the mouths of babes: Christian Jensen‘s White Earth is The Overnighters from the perspective of those uprooted along with the men heading to the North Dakotan oil fields. One boy remains in his trailer by himself rather than go to school while his father works. A young girl who traveled with her family from California so her dad could get a job makes new friends. And another girl—this one born and raised in the titular town—watches as strangers overrun…

Read More

REVIEW: La Parka [The Reaper] [2013]

“It’s your turn now” With thought provoking musings on life and death, La Parka [The Reaper] provides a unique look at Mexican slaughterhouse employee Efraín Jiménez García. A husband and father who walked by the business one day to see a “Now Hiring” sign, Efraín has worked his way up from waste sweeper to killer during a twenty-five year career. He understands what it is he does—the difference between animal and man as well as the similarities inherent to watching a bull shot with tears in its eyes. He’s lived…

Read More

REVIEW: Nasza klatwa [Our Curse] [2014]

“Except that for him everything is just a beginning” After culling together home videos documenting the early days of his son Leo Hueckel-Sliwinski‘s life along with brief one-shots of cathartic conversations had between he and wife Magda Hueckel into a seven-minute short three years ago, Tomasz Sliwinski expands their harrowing tale via the half hour long Nasza klatwa [Our Curse]. Aptly named for the affliction suffered by Leo known as Ondine’s Curse (Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, CCHS), the film takes us on the emotional roller coaster experienced once a young…

Read More

REVIEW: Joanna [2014]

“I may be lying but I’m still dancing” If I was diagnosed with terminal cancer and told I had three months to live, I’m not sure I’d think to blog about it. But that’s exactly what Joanna Sałyga decided to do, putting her thoughts on life, death, love, and loss out into the world so others sharing in her grief could stop feeling alone and so she could have a venue with which to tell her husband Piotr and son Jan Wenda everything she could ever think to say. She’s…

Read More

REVIEW: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 [2014]

“You’re getting a hug whether you want it or not” Let’s just say it isn’t shocking to learn the federal government has only one Veterans’ Crisis Line office. America has a long history of soldiers coming home to a lower levels of support than deserved, so the reality that every call—and the numbers are staggering with the statistical probability of suicide being one vet per hour—is routed to Canandaigua, NY sounds about par for the course. Luckily for those strong enough to seek assistance, the men and women working tirelessly…

Read More

REVIEW: Dinosaur 13 [2014]

“Any tampering with this scene is a federal violation and will be prosecuted” It’s crazy how something so genuine in its scientific potential to find answers about our world and fiscal assistance to a small South Dakotan town can be warped and twisted into a sideshow of legal folly. Director Todd Douglas Miller has taken the wonder of what the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research did in unearthing the most complete skeletal remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found and the flabbergasting fallout courtesy of ownership claims and the…

Read More

REVIEW: Aya [2012]

“Never follow your heart” It’s nice to take the road less traveled for adventure no matter how wild or tame the unknown journey becomes. That goes for those jumping headfirst and those unwittingly brought along. Because even if you didn’t intend for the unplanned sojourn, you cannot deny its allure once it’s begun. We take stock of the situation, weighing good against bad before ultimately deciding whether the risk is worth any potential gain. For Aya (Sarah Adler), kidnapping a tourist could end in criminal charges if the victim does…

Read More

REVIEW: Parvaneh [2012]

“Sorry, can you help send money?” The human condition is on display in Talkhon Hamzavi‘s Parvaneh. Or at least a very optimistic view of what it could and should be whether it takes a little while to get there or not. We like to think there is a universal concept of goodness in us all, but the truth skews closer to selfishness and greed despite the hardships of those we’re willing to take advantage of in pursuit of helping them achieve their own goals. Sometimes, however, our hope for reward…

Read More

REVIEW: Song of the Sea [2014]

“You’re going to be the best big brother in the world” Writer/director Tomm Moore received the okay to contemporize his peoples’ folklore from the seanachai he listened to while growing up in Ireland, Eddie Lenihan. A traditional storyteller known for modernizing these same archetypes, Lenihan explained to Moore that adapting them to our time might be the only way for us to keep them alive now that new technology has forced the oral custom of passing down history moot. He’s right too as the two films Moore has thus crafted…

Read More

REVIEW: La lampe au beurre de yak [Butter Lamp] [2014]

“Go and look at yourself on the photos” The butter lamp is a traditional feature of Tibetan temples and monasteries as a representation of wisdom’s illumination. The light removes the darkness of the mind to focus it and aid meditation. As Buddhists ignite a number of these lamps for funerals and pilgrimages as a way to help the nomads and visitors approach God and the deceased, writer/director Wei Hu utilizes a photographer’s myriad backdrops to allow the world to approach them. These “posters” run the gamut between one of the…

Read More

REVIEW: The Phone Call [2013]

“Can I help at all?” It’s nice to see an artist who’s unafraid to play with tragedy and find a way to make it transform into a bittersweet glimmer of hope. There’s a fine line in doing so, one that can easily consume the goal into a trite abyss trying too hard to stay afloat within the melodrama. I can see Mat Kirkby and James Lucas‘ The Phone Call proving just as unsuccessful to some as it was touching to me. I wouldn’t say it’s a resounding triumph considering its…

Read More