Category: Romance

REVIEW: Before Sunset [2004]

Jared Mobarak

“Memory is a wonderful thing if you don’t have to deal with the past” The end of Before Sunrise contains a great sequence of moving snapshots epitomizing the film’s intrinsic romanticism. Every corner of Vienna that Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) visited is reshown in their absence—seemingly ordinary locales now unforgettably resonate pieces of personal history. We see how their unique spot in the park hasn’t only gained an empty wine bottle and glasses but also the priceless memory of a young couple’s love. Whether or not these…

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REVIEW: Before Sunrise [1995]

Jared Mobarak

“How do you speak such good English?” While Slacker put Richard Linklater on the map and Dazed and Confused shot him into mainstream consciousness, Before Sunrise was the film that cemented him as an auteur of note. An intimate portrait of love depicting one assumedly solitary night for two complete strangers that becomes a romantic evening neither expected, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) take a chance on the other after candid conversation evolves into a mutual desire to not say goodbye. His flight from Vienna to America looms…

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REVIEW: Model/Photographer [2009]

Jared Mobarak

“Let’s keep going” Writer/director Zak Forsman appears as though he can do no wrong when it comes to emotional heartbreak and the romantic connections we all form in our lives. Unlike his first short I Fucking Hate You’s glimpse into the impossibility of remaining close with one another post break-up, however, the six-minute Model/Photographer seeks to portray the inherent confusion of trying just that. While some are able to carefully adhere to a foreign delineation of boundaries—removing the romance to otherwise retain what was platonically—not everyone has the strength, desire,…

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REVIEW: Missed Connections [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“When I think about the soft bigotry of low expectations, I think of dating in New York” Sometimes we must look past formulaic cliché and an overreaching desire to transform a less than trustworthy internet dating tool on Craigslist into a phenomenon used with overwhelming success before realizing entertainment can be enjoyed on levels above or below intellectual stimulation. First-time feature director Martin Snyder and co-writer Marnie Hanel may fall victim to glamorizing a gimmick in order to construct the framework underneath their story, but they don’t skimp on catching…

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REVIEW: An Oversimplification of Her Beauty [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“You have an extraordinary amount of faith in the fidelity of your expectations” It’s not hard to view an experimental art film as little more than a pretentious, self-indulgent exercise in futility when you aren’t willing to give it a chance. In a world overpopulated by faux-witty banter between uninteresting caricatures of people engaged in clichéd situations, the mere act of taking the time to watch a personal tale about the meaning of love in a universal context is a victory. Whether or not the viewer likes the piece almost…

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REVIEW: The Great Gatsby [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“Once again I was within and without” Visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann returns with a big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus The Great Gatsby, filmed in the ostentatious aesthetic that made his jukebox musical Moulin Rouge! such a divisively stunning work. Love him or hate him, no one can deny the man has style or the ego necessary to transform iconic literature and historical eras into contemporary art-infused visual epics that overwhelm our senses. No one does excess better—over-cranked and pulsing to music intentionally subverting the subject matter…

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REVIEW: Admission [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“Thank you, sad lady” When your movie depends on its unorthodox relationship between star (Tina Fey‘s Princeton admissions officer, Portia) and central plot device (Nat Wolff‘s soon-to-be high school graduate dreaming of attending said college, Jeremiah) stemming from the very real possibility they’re estranged mother and son, it’s unsurprising to discover the world around them is a laundry list of eccentrically unique parents. Between her former live-in boyfriend leaving to have twins despite hating children (Michael Sheen‘s Mark), her feminist Bohemian mother who spent years trying to break free from…

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REVIEW: How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“It’s not like I’m going to shove you down the stairs or anything” Artistic integrity—is it a dying concept or has the definition simply changed? As a freshman in college I began admitting to anyone who asked my major that pursuing a career in graphic design meant I sold out. Yes, before I had even begun. In hindsight, looking at today’s generation learn about the greats who succumbed to mental illness, poverty, and/or both as they struggled to put their voice/heart/essence/soul onto whatever canvas it was they deemed worthy to…

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REVIEW: Satellite of Love [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“This is about friendship … and drinking” Now this was a surprise. Knowing absolutely nothing about Satellite of Love before sitting down to watch it, an opening carnival scene with the trio of Samuel (Nathan Phillips), Blake (Zachary Knighton), and Catherine (Shannon Lucio) left me in a quizzical state of being. Spindrift‘s “Red Reflection” was playing its slow guitar against the camera’s snaking journey through an amusement park promenade towards the group converged at a One-Shot Wins basketball hoop. High on some form of illicit drugs, Cat hangs off Sam’s…

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REVIEW: Tug [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“I peed? In the bed?” I guess this is what filmmaking becoming easier and cheaper does for all holding the dream and passion to create. It goes back to Kevin Smith‘s Clerks proving that the depiction of the comic and mundane of slacker culture could speak to a new generation feeling the exact same angst. We’ve always had films standing as a testament to an age of rebellion, maturity, and empathetic understanding—The Breakfast Club is probably the most famous—so it’s easy to see why today’s filmmakers yearn to match its…

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REVIEW: More Perfect Union [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“I want extra grits from the kitchen” Sabir (Arish Sahani) says it best towards the end of Matt Porter‘s short film More Perfect Union: “It was just a quarrel.” So often in this day and age we find ourselves reading too much into simple disagreements, unable to look beyond their seemingly trivial catalysts and realize the world has not ended. Whatever argument occurred between Hank (Max Azulay) and his girlfriend Dana (Kate Eastman), it surely wasn’t enough to irreparably tear their love apart. Yes, we may find the need to…

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