FRIENDSHIP is a sly rapscallion of a film, part edgy suburban noir, part situation tragedy, part existential comedy, and all a gloss on loneliness and alienation as viewed through the prism of Craig (Tim Robinson), a symphony of well-meaning beige schlubness. Writer/director Andrew DeYoung suffuses this cringe-genre satire with an ironic absurdity that serves all… Read More »
PROBLEMISTA
There is so much to admire about Julio Torres’s PROBLEMISTA, from its magnificent manifestations of metaphor to its tweaking of subjective norms and random exploitation in a provocative satire as dark as night, but as hopeful as a buoyant full moon. The one that reigns supreme, though, is what Torres has done with the desperate,… Read More »
2022 San Francisco Mime Troupe: Back to the Way Things Were — Velina Brown Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. The San Francisco Mime Troupe returns after a two-year hiatus from live performances with the musical satire Back to the Way Things Were. It’s a timely (of course) look at intergenerational worldviews and a pointed examination of where nostalgia fails, It’s directed by Velina Brown, who, like the… Read More »
BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONEY PORN is neither for the intellectually timid nor the prudish. Radu Jude’s romp through cultural hypocrisy and the human penchant for being not just cruel, but also idiots, is designed to confront and confound with savage humor and brutal satire. Lest we have any illusions about the direct approach Jude… Read More »
KEEP AN EYE OUT (Au Poste)
The French title of Quentin Dupieux’s latest film, KEEP AN EYE OUT, relies on a clever bit of wordplay in its two words, AU POSTE. One of the meanings of poste is police station, where the action takes place. Another is post, as in taking up one’s post. There are more, the translation of which… Read More »
I BLAME SOCIETY
I’m not giving anything away to tell you the punch line in Gillian Wallace Horvat’s I BLAME SOCIETY. It’s a perfectly timed, and even more perfectly delivered explanation about the film her character made in the course of this vicious, and viciously funny satire: I’m sorry it didn’t meet your expectations, I didn’t make it… Read More »
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
It’s possible that a working knowledge of Canadian culture and politics might annotate the sheer joy of watching Matthew Rankin’s THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, but a lack of same in no way diminishes it. This rapturously surreal romp through fascism, propaganda, and the perils of love delights in its arch embrace of retro-futuristic artifice and vintage… Read More »
THE HUNT
No one is spared in Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s THE HUNT, nor, as, will be revealed by the end, should they be. Our intrepid filmmakers have eschewed taking sides in the current political morass, instead opting for a more challenging take on the foibles of human nature itself. A bold move guaranteed to raise… Read More »
THE OATH — Ike Barinholtz Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. he family Thanksgiving dinner can be a tricky time as many, and not necessarily, compatible personalities and opinions converge over a table groaning with too much food. In the current, and fraught, political climate, that is even more true. Ike Barniholtz, writer/director/co-star of THE OATH, took that idea… Read More »
DOWNSIZING
DOWNSIZING is a film that cries out to be admired. Pondered. Parsed. Philosophical propositions and social commentary flit by in a mad whirl of arch observation and deadpan dea as we are invited to consider a veritable cornucopia of topics, all eminently worthy of examination. The class struggle and the human propensity for prejudice; the… Read More »