SXSW Review: "We Were Dangerous"

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s chilling to contemplate how many people have been classified as 'other' or 'undesirable' throughout history. As a result many have been subjected to horrific and dehumanizing treatment. Conditions perceived as abnormal and deplorable have often been used to justify incarceration or forced rehabilitation. We Were Dangerous looks at a group of girls deemed incorrigible and forced to work towards becoming socially acceptable women, and a few who refused to let their personalities be erased by a repressive and backward-thinking society…

Click to read more ...

SXSW Review: "The Queen of My Dreams"

By Abe Friedtanzer

People are never quite as far apart as they seem. While a parent surely changes as a result of having to now put someone else first, a part of their old self still remains, even if it’s hidden. An unexpected death prompts an unusual connection for one young woman and her mother in the insightful, entertaining, and creative The Queen of My Dreams, screening at SXSW…

Click to read more ...

SXSW Review: Dreaming of ‘Malta’

By Abe Friedtanzer

The grass is always greener on the other side, and it’s easy to imagine that things might be better if only something was different. Natalia Santa’s sophomore feature Malta, which makes its world premiere at SXSW, follows a woman named Mariana (Estefanía Piñeres) who is looking to get away from her life in Bogotá, Colombia and has become fixated on the island of Malta as somewhere she could be free from it all. Unfortunately for her, she’s not headed anywhere with any particular urgency…

Click to read more ...

Review: "Dune: Part Two" is more History than Story

by Cláudio Alves

Denis Villeneuve's second Dune movie isn't a sequel, not quite. As the full title implies, it's part two of one madman's attempt at transcribing Frank Herbert's seminal space opera on the big screen. And so, it starts almost at the exact point the 2021 film ended, with Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides seeking refuge among the Fremen after his Great House was dilacerated in a violent coup. The body of Jamis, the man Paul killed in ritual duel, is still fresh and carried by Stilgar's tribesmen as they guide the princeling and his mother, Lady Jessica, to the underground warren of Sietch Tabr. A prophecy is at stake, and enemy troops aren't nearly as deadly as the dangers waiting for them in the planet-sized desert.

Dread is everywhere, overwhelming, sticking in the throat until it feels like you're already being suffocated by the film before its epic imagery can get a chance to crush you. Villeneuve has done it again…

Click to read more ...

Review: "About Dry Grasses" has a Novelistic Scope

by Nick Taylor

Are you, like the rest of us here at The Film Experience, furiously racing to catch up with some of last year’s most celebrated films before March 10th? Depending on where you live, there’s another certified banger making its way across the US and Canada this weekend. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses likely made its biggest headlines out of Cannes for Merve Dizdar’s semi-surprising Best Actress prize against more internationally recognizable competition like the May December gals and newly Oscar-nominated Sandra Hüller. If you can believe it, Dizdar’s win is wholly deserving, and the film itself is remarkable…

Click to read more ...