SXSW Review: Stuck on "Desert Road"

By Abe Friedtanzer

Driving on a long road trip alone across the country brings with it its share of risks, especially for a woman. Encountering a few sketchy characters and breaking down somewhere far from help are well within the realm of possibility. But getting trapped somewhere and finding it impossible to leave is considerably less likely, even if it does make for a solid movie premise. That’s the situation in which one woman (Kristine Froseth) finds herself as she tries to head to a home that it seems increasingly like she’s never going to see again…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Berlinale #5: Four bizarre films

by Elisa Giudici

L'EMPIRE © Tessalit Productions

If I think about the typical film competing at Berlin, I imagine something quite dramatic, decidedly political, and sometimes rather heavy. This edition of the Berlinale has added the adjective "bizarre" to this profile of mine. Here are four films seen in these hours that deserve this adjective.

L’EMPIRE by Bruno Dumont
Let me preface this one: Dumont and I just don't see eye to eye. He might be the only French director whose work I can't seem to appreciate, despite my overall fondness for French cinema. Given this history and a rather late screening on a very heavy day, the recipe for disaster was served. However, one positive thing about L’Empire I can say: in hindsight, it made me reassess his previous film, France, which I saw at Cannes and detested...

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