Category Archives: 2022

Girl Picture

Girl Picture                                         4 suns

We end on a positive note with Girl Picture, a sort of coming of age movie from Finland. It features three teenage girls who exploring their feelings about love and sex. Two of the girls, Mimmi and Emma, form a new romance with each other without the knowledge of their parents, while the third, Ronkko, is checking out the teen parties in search of satisfying sex. I thought it was a positive portrayal of female relationships where the girls do not depend on the approval of males and are not in threatening situations that are common in so many teen movies. The three actresses in the lead roles has admirable performances.

Dos Estaciones

Dos Estaciones                                  2 suns

In Dos Estaciones we go to a rural area of Mexico where a tequila factory is owned and operated by Maria. We see the harvesting of the agave plants and the daily operations done by the plant’s workers. The film is a representation of life in the quiet village and of the beautiful landscape of the area. The story is about the struggles Maria is facing to keep the factory operating in the face of a pest infestation and mounting debts. My problem with the movie is that the points are made in such a subtle fashion that I couldn’t really follow it. In the Q&A we learned that small tequila factories have a hard time competing when the cost of the crops keep rising, a point that would have been good to know in the movie. Instead the actions taken by the lead character left me confused because there seemed to be something that was left out. Besides that this had to be one of the slowest paced films I have seen, which is not something that I usually complain about.

The Janes

The Janes                                            5 suns

We go back to the late sixties and early seventies with The Janes. This impressive documentary tells the story of an underground group of young women in Chicago whose mission it was to allow women to get access to safe abortions at a time when abortions were illegal in nearly every state in the country. It may be hard to remember now, but before abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court in 1973 desperate women who found themselves pregnant went to mob controlled doctors in unsafe settings to have illegal abortions, often with deadly results. This group of about eight women, mostly in their twenties were active in the civil rights movement and other causes, but found that the male dominated activists cared little about women’s causes. Thus, they formed a group they called Jane to aid young women and girls who needed safe abortions. The documentary interviews the women of the group, now in their seventies and eighties, to get their stories and uses archival footage of Chicago and events of the time, giving us a fascinating portrayal of the story. In the Q&A afterwards three of the women show that they are still active and passionate about the causes they are behind. It is also made clear that this issue is still forefront in their minds and the outcome is very much in doubt.

Something In The Dirt

Something In the Dirt                                                     2 suns

In this story about paranormal activity, Levi has just moved to a new apartment in the Hollywood Hills where he strikes up an acquaintance with long time resident John. Then the two witness the impossible in Levi’s apartment as objects seem to float in the air and light emanates into the room with no source. The dives into endless tangents involving numerology, the Pythagorean Brotherhood, alien fruit, a perfect ratio and long dead city planners as this weird pair of random dudes try to solve the mysteries of the universe. They come up with the idea of making a documentary about the experiences, but their own incompetence gets in the way. Flash forward scenes with interviews of others linked to the documentary lead us to believe that the plan went awry at some point. This low budget movie was made mainly by three close friends in the apartment owned by one of them. It’s a fairly long movie that just is forever following the rabbit hole. It is silly and in the Q&A we learn that at one point the movie was three and a half hours long. We also learn that Something in the Dirt is the fifth movie created by this group of friends. I will not be seeking out their earlier works.

A House Made of Splinters

A House Made of Splinters                                           4 suns

In the documentary department we travel to eastern Ukraine for a sad story of children in pain. Many children are forced into orphanages as the courts seek to protect them from broken homes brought on by the plague of widespread alcoholism. This problem has only gotten worse with the 2014 war with Russia and the loss of job opportunities created by it. In this documentary the filmmakers go inside one temporary shelter for these kids where they live and are cared for by the social workers while the courts decide whether they can return to their families or be placed in an orphanage. Despite the circumstances this shelter offers protection and some stability to these children who have been neglected at home. The filmmakers focus on four children, both boys and girls, in particular, following their stories as they try to reconcile matters at home. It is especially heartbreaking to see children whose parents do not even make the effort to call or see them.

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future            4 suns

In this drama from Chile we first see a river that has had a fish kill with hundreds of dead fish on the bank. Then a young woman wearing a motorcycle helmet emerges from the river gasping for air. The shifts as we are introduced to a Chilean family including an older man, Enrique, the owner of a dairy farm who was just admitted to the hospital, his son, Bernardo, daughter, Cecilea and Cecelia’s two children. Details emerge about Enrique’s wife, Magdalena who apparently abandoned the family decades ago and the hurt caused by her absence. The when the young woman from the river arrives without speaking she is recognized as Magdalena returned from a mysterious existence meant to change the lives of her family. Though Magdalena is obviously decades younger than Enrique there is little surprise that she has returned. This movie is my personal winner for the day. The arrival of Magdalena brings the prospect of death and tragedy to this family, but then the promise of hope in the face of environmental catastrophe. And there is really a scene that involves a cow singing!

Piggy

PIGGY                                                   3 suns

Once again we dive into the horror genre, this time to a rural village in Spain with an especially bloody story about a bullied teenager. Sara works in her parent’s butcher shop and happens to be very overweight making her the object of abuse from some of the other girls in the town. After another day of torment, she witnesses a stranger kidnap and beat three of the girls but is frozen in fear as he drives away with them in his van. Instead of saying anything to the police about what she knows she is intrigued by this stranger and tracks him down for reasons she is not sure of. The film is shocking and especially violent with plenty of bloody scenes. It is a cautionary tale of adolescent behavior and the desire to be accepted. This one is not for everybody.

Last Flight Home

Last Flight Home                              4 suns

Last Flight Home is a special documentary from a filmmaker known to Sundance, that wasn’t even supposed to be made for the public. When her 92 year old father, Eli, decides to end his life, Ondi Timoner is determined to preserve the last two weeks of his life, filming the time spent with the family and the legal process of allowing this voluntary termination according to California law. Eli Timoner was the founder and CEO of Florida Airlines, which he saw grow from a tiny operation in the seventies to a major player in the market in a few short years. Sadly, Eli suffered a stroke at age 53 and had three kids to raise with the help of his wife. The closeness of the family we see in the film is moving and joyful. We can be thankful that this daughter was so willing to share this experience of the passing of life with the world.

Alice

Alice                                      4 suns

An imaginative film that I thoroughly enjoyed was Alice. Alice (Keke Palmer) is a house slave on a southern plantation where she is owned by a cruel white man who maintains discipline through pitiless beatings. One day Alice has had all she can take and makes a run for freedom, only to find herself in modern 1973 America where she meets a kind truck driver named Frank (Common). This blending of time periods is not a case of time travel but represents a southern plantation that kept its slavey practice in place for more than 100 years. In this story Alice quickly catches on to the changes made in America transforming herself in the style of Pam Greer of the blaxploitation films of the seventies. What a cultural statement! The film is an excellent portrayal of the struggle of Black Americans against oppression across eras of American history. During the Q&A, the filmmakers talked about how there have been actual cases of people kept in slavery up to the 1960’s but they did not go into details about how this happened. It would be interesting to learn more about it.

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil                      3 suns

Sundance always has its share of imaginative horror films so today I took in Speak No Evil. Here a young European filmmaker has conceived a story that starts with a Danish family on vacation in Italy who meet a Dutch couple that they easily make friends with. When the Dutch couple invites them to their home in the Netherlands, they quickly accept bringing their young daughter with them. Then when the hosts start to behave in some odd and eccentric ways such as disrespecting the wife’s dietary restrictions, the visitors do their best to be accepting and maintain politeness. But then as is always the case in horror movies, certain things happen, choices are made and inevitable consequences result. Things do not turn out well for our visitors. If you liked the movie Midsommar from 2019, then Speak No Evil is for you.