Sundance Review: "Brides" is a Compelling Chronicle of Friendship with Terrific Leads

by Abe Friedtanzer

There are many stories of people running away from war zones, struggling to adjust to their new surroundings and longing for memories of home. But that’s not the sentiment everyone has, and it can be precisely the opposite for those who have never felt like they belong. Brides spotlights two best friends so disillusioned and unhappy with their lives in the United Kingdom that they decide to run away together to move to Syria and find a community that can truly appreciate them...

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Indie Spirit Revue: "Good One"

by Nick Taylor

Good One is maybe my favorite film of the seven "Firsts" nominated at the Indie Spirits. India Donaldson's story of high school senior Sam (Lily Collias) going on an annual weekend camping trip in the Catskills with her dad, Chris (James LeGros), and his friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) could not be simpler to summarize. Yet, the wrinkles and intrigue she's put into this premise - both men are in their 50's, Chris is on his second marriage with a new baby at home while Matt is currently working through divorce proceedings - are thoughtfully integrated. We briefly meet friends and family of the soon-to-be-departed, and off we go…

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Indie Spirits Revue: “The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed”

by Nick Taylor

It took me a while to get caught up in this one, lemme tell you. One can argue whether Joanna Arnow's droll tone, disposition towards cringe comedy, and restrictive palettes in color and emoting is a sneakily incisive feat or a weird student-film misfire. For a film about a woman's exploration of various BDSM relationships while navigating a dead-end job and a stilted relationship with her family, The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed possesses no titillation or temperature spikes to make the audience more engaged…

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Indie Spirit Revue: "In the Summers"

by Nick Taylor

As beloved, disgustingly over-productive TFE writer Cláudio Alves phrased it to me, In the Summers would pair well with Janet Planet as studies of girls observing their parents over formative summers. Here, we see sisters Violetta (Lio Mehiel) and Eva (Sasha Calle) making four visits with their dad Vicente (Rene "Residente" Perez Joglar) in Las Cruces, New Mexico over the span of at least a decade. Vicente and their mother are separated, and the girl's trips are part of a regular visitation schedule. Costuming, personal styling, physical changes, and performance notes do a lot of work to suggest how much has changed in Violetta and Eva's lives without ever spelling out exactly what they've been up to, who they are now, or what they might think of their father. The family regularly visits a bar owned by Carmen (Emma Ramos), a wary, longtime friend of Vicente's…

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Indie Spirit Revue: "Janet Planet"

by Nick Taylor

I was pleasantly surprised by Janet Planet after hearing months of ecstatic reviews following its festival premiere before it got wide distribution. So often, when we get films from lauded theatre directors or playwrights, there's usually a built-in leeway for those artists not playing with cinema as fully or successfully as they might. But Annie Baker has no such timidity, and the assurance behind Janet Planet's audiovisual richness would be extraordinary for any director. The fact that she translates her idiosyncrasies with dialogue and character is an added bonus - how often do we get so lucky?...

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