BIFF20 REVIEW: Paper Spiders [2020]

All we have left is each other. Mental illness isn’t an easy topic to adapt for the big screen since doing so oftentimes forces a writer into making the choice between pain and hope. Not everyone survives an affliction like delusional disorder and not everyone who suffers from it is able to hold onto a support system with the strength to help. For every story you hear about a person giving up his/her dream to be with someone they love as a constant tethered to reality comes another where the…

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REVIEW: The Beach Bum [2019]

Chase the moon. It’s as though writer/director Harmony Korine breathed life into a Jimmy Buffett song with his latest film The Beach Bum considering how effortlessly it allows its lead character Moondog (Matthew McConaughey) to skate by in the moment with a laissez-faire attitude balanced atop the simple desire to have fun. The musician even cameos as himself, lounging around R&B singer Rie’s (Snoop Dogg) yacht while surrounded by naked women. But even though the script is bare bones and devoid of narrative drive beyond allowing Moondog to move from…

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REVIEW: Coming Through the Rye [2016]

“Everyone loves Mercutio” Emmy-winning director James Steven Sadwith makes his feature theatrical debut with a story close to his heart. Coming Through the Rye fictionalizes his experiences as a 1969 boarding school teen and his adventure finding reclusive author J.D. Salinger. We assume liberties were taken considering the opening caption loquaciously elongates the usual “inspired by” to “a lot of this is inspired by real events if you want to know the truth,” but that’s okay since this sort of chatty flourish aligns perfectly with the character created as his…

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