Girls Always Happy is at once light and breezy, much in the way that Wu (Yang) maneuvers through the alleyways on her scooter, while also being acerbic and gloomy as its lightness is intermittently pulled towards the latter, attaining a certain poignancy therein.
Writer/director Sam Kuhn seems to have an affinity for the forest; seeing it as a miraculous space, beckoning those to enter and explore, enticing any and all with the allure of some fantastical quest or an objective that will reveal one or two illuminating truths or, at the very least, the promise of respite from the day-to-day trivialities life has to offer.
Viewers acquainted with the work of writer/director Ricky D’Ambrose will find themselves in familiar territory with his first toe-dip into feature-length filmmaking with Notes on an Appearance.
directed by HELENA WITTMANN // Germany // 95 minutes
With a gossamer thread, Helena Wittmann fashions a scant narrative with her feature-length debut, Drift; delicate and nearly non-existent, it is the type of
Reis and Guerra’s Djon África is a travelogue, broadly covering the numerous corners of the island nation of Cape Verde while a journey of self-discovery plays out concurrently with Miguel inhabiting the role of main character and an unknowing host, of sorts, treated like a tourist in his own homeland.
Mona (Eleanore Pienta) doesn’t have much outside of a cashier’s job at a local grocery store that pays the rent (it doesn’t actually) for her yellow, floral-print room; which is just that, a room,
Just recently I stated that, when it comes to films featuring cinematography from Sean Price Williams, it would be nearly impossible for me to view the overall project as anything less than worthwhile based on this simple fact alone.
Perhaps, the most hindering aspect of the film would be its structure, which is comprised of six separate storylines, shuffled throughout the film with occasional overlap and interaction, and (to a certain extent) the characters who inhabit that structure.
We sat down with independent filmmaker Zach Fleming to discuss his latest short, Staycation (available to stream). We also go a bit deeper, further discussing his other works, the supernatural, and some of his film's themes.
Here are my top picks of the year, numbers twenty-five through to the top. Numbers fifty to twenty-six can be found here. So, without further ado:
Here is a list of what I believe to be the best films of 2017; or, more specifically, the first half of my list of best films from 2017 along with one honorable mention for a grand total of 51 films. A mix of features and shorts, theatrical and online releases, anywhere from Mubi, Festival Scope, NoBudge, Vimeo, Flix Premiere, Topic, or Refinery29 (including one from our own website). Streaming links provided in some instances.
Yesterday saw the publication of what I believed to be the standout male performances from 2017 while today’s list is a rundown of the most impressive female performances of the year. And, much like yesterday’s list, this overview will also feature a number of omissions for various reasons, mainly my inability to see certain films. Cynthia Nixon in Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion comes to mind and one that I have seen show up on several lists.
As always, I’m sure there are a number of performances missing from my list due to the simple fact that I have yet to see them, performances such as Timothée Chalamet’s role in Call Me by Your Name or Gary Oldham’s portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. I’m sure that these two specific performances, along with others not mentioned here, will be discussed and praised sufficiently that their lack of inclusion will be overlooked.
directed by SOFIA BOHDANOWICZ Canada 62 minutes
Towards the beginning of Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Maison du bonheur, Juliane Sellam (the focus of the documentary) explains the reasoning behind her early morning routine consisting of
With Paul Taylor being a cinematographer, working on recent releases such as The Winds That Scatter and Wake Me When I Leave, it is not surprising that his first foray into directing would focus exclusively on visuals in order to convey his narrative, ridding the film from the constraints of dialogue effectively redirecting all focus onto the movements and body language of the actors in an attempt to present an unadulterated production of visual storytelling, stripped bare of the extraneous proving the power of purified imagery.
Tension abounds in writer/director Theodore Collatos’s latest feature, Tormenting the Hen, as nearly every discussion and/or interaction is laced with potential avenues providing offense and/or judgments, even the more inconspicuous and trivial subjects up for discussion harbor the possibility of illuminating surprising truths and viewpoints. With his script, Collatos has crafted a proverbial minefield for his characters to navigate, one that is laden with opportunities to weaponize any and all words and the hazards of crafting conclusions about others with incomplete information.
