AFI Diary #4: "Jockey," Audience Award Winners and More

Christopher James wrapping up his 2021 AFI Fest coverage. 

JOCKEY wins the Audience Award

Phew! The AFI Film Festival is done. The weekend was full of lots of great movies from around the world and some high profile premieres, such as Swan Song, Tick, Tick... Boom, and Bruised ! Still, there are a few more reviews to wrap up the festival with including Jockey, starring Clifton Collins Jr, which took the Audience Award for Narrative Feature...

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“King Richard” Serves Up A Real Crowdpleaser

by Christopher James

Everyone has to start somewhere - even Venus and Serena Williams.Early on in King Richard, Will Smith’s Richard Williams drills his daughters - Venus and Serena - on serving. Their goal, to hit a precise spot on the court where a stack of balls lie. Even as pre-teens, they are able to achieve remarkable precision with their shots. This drill is an apt metaphor for Reinaldo Marcus Green’s latest film, King Richard. It always hits the spot on the court, just as you expected it to.

King Richard never subverts the tropes of the inspirational sports movie, it just tries to do them better. This doesn’t make it a daring or interesting film, but the formula does work incredibly well...

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AFI Diary #3: "Parallel Mothers" and "Petite Maman"

Christopher is covering the 2021 AFI Fest Film Festival. Follow along for his reviews.

The hits just keep coming during AFI Fest. Two renowned international filmmakers screened their new films this weekend - Pedro Almodóvar and Celina Sciamma. Check out the latest reviews below:

Parallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar)

Pedro Almodóvar is a genre unto his own. The legendary Spanish director has made dramas, comedies, thrillers and everything in between over his forty-plus year career. No matter the tone of the movie, there are certain colors, beats and stylistic choices that are undeniably Pedro. We don’t look at a bright, dark red color the same thanks to his work in cinema. One of the great joys in watching a Pedro Almodóvar film is watching the plot change from what you expected it to be and what it actually is. Parallel Mothers is top-tier Almodóvar, particularly because it subverts one’s own expectations and becomes a much more emotional, haunting and political picture...

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AFI World Premiere: Halle Berry's "Bruised"

by Eurocheese

Bruised gives us Halle Berry behind and in front of the camera, telling the story of a former MMA fighter who has been down on her luck for some time. When her life is complicated by the return of her son, she is forced to get her priorities in order and address the demons of her past. Berry spoke about revamping the script – originally written with a young white protagonist in mind – to reflect her own vision with the writer’s assistance, and it’s clear this was a passion project for her.

Does that passion translate to the screen? Yes, but this can be both a curse and a blessing...

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AFI Diary #2: "Red Rocket" and "The First Wave"

Christopher is covering the 2021 AFI Fest Film Festival. Follow along for his reviews.

It's hard not to be reminded of COVID as we return to festival season. It's a terrific pleasure to be back in theaters again (even in masks). However, it also makes me recall fighting with virtual platforms last year so I could watch movies alone in my living room. Day Three of the festival brough us two films that, directly and indirectly, were born out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The First Wave obviously covers the harrowing first months of the pandemic in New York. Additionally, Sean Baker's Red Rocket stands as a testament to the nimble, persevering nature of art under lockdown, as the film was shot in August of last year. From searing documentaries to comedies about porn stars, two films could not be more different. So which was the best of the day? Let's dive in!

Red Rocket (Sean Baker)

With the success of Tangerine and The Florida Project, writer/director Sean Baker has found himself in a new echelon of indie filmmakers. What makes him such an interesting director is his ability to naturalistically present subcultures as they are without the artifice that comes from a more stylized director. The location and the people within it are the core of Baker’s projects. Each film represents its own strange ecosystem that we get to study. With Red Rocket, Baker has made his prickliest film yet. Even with that said, the film cares for its subjects, even if the subjects don’t care for one another...

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