Film Reviews
Koreeda Hirokazu’s intimate family drama After the Storm captures a side of Tokyo rarely seen in cinema, as well as beautifully depicting a turbulent familial relationship with glimmering hope.
Despite strong leads and commendable technique, The Lullaby falls short of being a solid horror film due to its dull setting, convoluted story, and some unnecessary twists.
First Reformed had its U.S. premiere at SXSW, with Paul Schrader and Ethan Hawke in attendance. First Reformed brings Paul Schrader’s career to a full circle, with both strong Bressonian and Taxi Driver influences.
Despite a hopeful change of pace for Jim Carrey, Dark Crimes doesn’t deliver, suffering from choppy editing, a lack of dynamic characters, and a generic murder mystery story.
![Were you familiar with Mary Magdalene before you read the script? Garth Davis: Not in a deep, detailed way, but in the movies I have seen before and in the way everyone kind of understands. When I read this it was a completely different version, so that got me curious. I started to investigate it in a deeper way and found it astonishing it has taken us so long to put that story out there in a more popular light. Extraordinary really. It was definitely different than the story I grew up reading in the bible. I remember when the Passion of the Christ came out, an actor got struck by lightening during shooting. Anything like that happen on set for you? Garth Davis: There were a couple of pretty amazing moments. When we were shooting the scene of the exorcism, where the family was exorcising Mary in the Sea of Galilee, just before we were about to walk into the water the wind just completely stopped. Completely still, almost on cue, right? Then suddenly lightening appeared all over the ocean. It was unbelievable! So much so, that when shooting the scene I had to paint it out. It just felt like a trope, you know? People would have thought it was a visual effect. [laughs] Wow!Garth Davis: The other one was during a scene on the beach of Magdala. I did a drawing of the location and I wanted to add some smoke in the background. So we went down to the Recee, and as I was standing there, smoke emerged exactly where I was drawing it (laughs). It was one of those moments where you have to ask if something was guiding us in some way.](https://www.filminquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MV5BNDc5ODE4OTQxNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODEzOTcyNDM_V1_SY1000_CR0014991000_AL_.jpg)
Garth Davis proves once again his skills behind the camera can help uplift middlebrow material, but only to a certain extent, Mary Magdalene significantly undercut by the increased familiarity and conventional storytelling.
Shawn Glinis reviews the two films he saw on the Monday of SXSW: Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade and Bart Layton’s American Animals.
A Wrinkle in Time has many touching and beautiful moments, in large part due to the incredible and relatable performance of its young star. However, the heavy-handed direction and sugary-sweet story may wear on adults used to more nuanced fare.
You can’t fault EVERY DAY for a lack of ambition – however, the film feels watered down by a breezy running time that doesn’t allow for a deeper exploration of the body swap conceit.
Demon House has a crawling sense of escalating paranoia, with witness accounts and medical testimonials, Zak Bagans presents a documentary that will have you believing this just might have happened.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson is a rewarding experience and a tragic story filled with heartbreaking real-life characters, but their own humor and joy helps to balance out the very grim tidings.
On Sunday, Shawn Glinis attended Barry Jenkins’ keynote speech, a conversation between Richard Linklater and french auteur Olivier Assayas and saw several films.
Amy Adrion’s must-see documentary HALF THE PICTURE features many prominent women filmmakers who open up about their experiences with discrimination in Hollywood.
Disguised simply as a small-scale action horror film, Mohawk becomes a good focal point for something much larger than itself, which enables its flaws to be more readily overlooked.
Shawn Glinis attended the Westworld panel which was a complete whirlwind, and saw Spike Lee’s new joint at the Alamo Drafthouse. This is a report from SXSW 2018.
Death Wish is a victim of poor timing due to current public sentiment in regards to guns and violence, but its generic revenge story and wasted cast don’t much help matters either.