I’ll review the four films in the order in which I saw them. Luce Luce, directed by Julius Onah from a screenplay he co-adapted from a play with its author, J.C. Lee, is a challenging and provocative story concerning the black experience in America today. But it is a highly specialized experience. The title character […]
British writer-director Christopher Smith knows his noir. He knows that when you watch his film, you will also be reminded of other movies when you see: a cop order the (anti)hero to open the trunk of his car: a hooker who is frantically packing to get out of Vegas before her pimp kills her, when there’s a […]
In The Loner, his first feature, director Daniel Grove follows the story of Behrouz, starting with his forced service as a child soldier – a “Basiji” – fighting for Iran in the war with Iraq. The story then advances to his life as an adult immigrant in the underworld of Los Angeles, specifically the Persian […]
Simon Dixon sees nothing wrong with starting at the top, and he makes a good case for that with his first film as a director, Tiger Raid, which had its world premiere at Tribeca on April 17th. I interviewed him and his producer, Gareth Evans, soon after the premiere, and it was obvious they were […]
It is 1970 and Elvis is in deep funk. He sees the kids losing faith in America, defying the law, race- rioting in the streets. He just knows that drugs are the cause, and the country needs his help bad. He conceives of the idea of going undercover as a Federal Agent-at-Large, appointed by the president, […]
https://filmfestsalon.com/subscribe/ What will surely be one of the strongest contenders in the documentary category is “haveababy”, directed by Amanda Micheli. And, as it happens, it would never have been made if not for the very strong personal connection Amanda had with its subject, IVF, or in vitro fertilization. In our candid interview, she said that she […]
