Movie with Abe: Mayor Pete
Showing posts with label NewFest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NewFest. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Interview with Abe: Isabelle Fuhrman
I was excited to have the opportunity to get to speak to actress Isabelle Fuhrman for Awards Radar about her film “The Novice,” which I saw at Tribeca and is screening this week at Film Fest 919 and NewFest. Watch our conversation in full below!
Monday, October 18, 2021
Interview with Abe: Colby Minifie
I was delighted to be able to speak to actress Colby Minifie for The Film Experience about her new film “Homebody,” which is screening virtually and in-person this week at NewFest. Watch our conversation in full below!
Thursday, June 3, 2021
NewFest Pride: Boy Meets Boy
Directed by Daniel Sanchez Lopez
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There is something about traveling and being in a different place that helps people to lose their inhibitions. Actions don’t seem permanent and decisions aren’t consequential, and there may be a desire to do things that wouldn’t otherwise feel right or recommended since they won’t be remembered or impactful upon returning home. Intentions aren’t everything, however, and the strength of a connection formed under those circumstances may still be momentous and enduring. Not wanting to depart from that feeling is understandable, and, in moments of desperation, those who know they have little time away left may do everything possible to preserve it while they can.
Harry (Matthew James Morrison) is in Berlin and has been enjoying himself over the course of the past two days. Just as he is about to leave to head back home to England, he meets Johannes (Alexis Koutsoulis) at a club. The two begin speaking and quickly learn a good deal about one another, unpacking their experiences as gay men, citizens of the world, and strangers destined never to see each other again once Harry heads to the airport.
This is a revitalizing freshness to this film and its casual nature, one that introduces Harry and Johannes and allows the audience to accompany them on their whirlwind tour of Berlin and each other’s personalities. Their conversations are almost entirely one-on-one, though one early moment in which Harry chats up a missionary who also happens to be British reveals a good deal about their conflicting perspectives and how they perceive themselves. Neither is the clear protagonist, and instead this is equally about how energized they feel by the other’s presence, both for the curious visitor and the more grounded local.
The effectiveness of this film, which runs just seventy-five minutes, is enhanced considerably by the performances from Morrison and Koutsoulis. There’s something inherently natural and accessible about their approach to the characters, which invites those watching in to their worlds, showing both how they present themselves to strangers and how they reveal their inner thoughts through body language and speech patterns. This is in many ways a simple story that is conveyed by its direct title, but this film doesn’t stop at the surface level, allowing its protagonists to discover far more about each other than they expect in this rich and rewarding film that makes a sincere impact even with its brief running time.
B+
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
NewFest Pride Spotlight: See You Then
Directed by Mari Walker
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The end of a relationship is usually very difficult for both parties, even if its dissolution isn’t a mutual decision. In order to readjust to life without a partner, time apart is often necessary. The tremendous closeness and intimacy that existed previously must be replaced by distance so that healing can begin. After a considerable amount of time has passed, it may be possible for two people who used to be together to see each other in a new way. It can be therapeutic or painful, especially if those who were once partners are now entirely different people.
Kris (Pooya Mohseni) has returned to her college town for the first time since transitioning. It has been more than a decade since her relationship with Naomi (Lynn Chen), who is now married with two children. They meet at a restaurant to talk about what they’ve done since they last saw each other and what now fills most of their days. Their conversations begin as pleasant and refreshing and slowly reach a more dramatic point as old wounds are once again opened up and the way their relationship ended threatens to derail any hope of a present-day friendship or even a sincere reconciliation.
This film is a marvelously intriguing two-hander, featuring a few faces that pop up over the course of Kris and Naomi’s night spent together but serve only to support the way in which they interact with each other. Who Kris used to be exists only in her memories and in Naomi’s, and in certain moments it feels like they are interacting as two new people, but it’s impossible for them to fully separate who they are now from who they were then. Naomi is a liberal, forward-thinking artist entirely open to who Kris has become, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t hold her accountable for what she did and how she acted when she was someone else.
Mohseni and Chen convey years of history in the way that they talk to each other, initially guarded and unsure of what to say and then easily able to slip back into old dynamics. What they discuss is both general and highly specific, unpacking the problems that society faces and applying them to what did or didn’t work about their relationship. It’s a riveting and deeply compelling portrait of two people who share many similar values and hold plenty of opinions that complicate who and how they’re able to be with each other.
B+
Thursday, October 29, 2020
NewFest Wrap
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: No Hard Feelings
No Hard Feelings
Directed by Faraz Shariat
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People choose what to share of themselves in particular settings based on their comfort level and how accepting they believe their communities will be. Some may choose, for instance, to hide their political beliefs in an environment where they won’t be welcome, and others may allow themselves to be looser around friends than at work. Someone who has two entirely different personas may find it difficult to reconcile those contradictory identities, and that struggle will affect them in some way, either when they try too hard to merge them or remain intent on keeping them forever separate.
Parvis (Benny Radjaipour) is a second-generation Iranian-German assigned to work as a refugee center for community service, serving as a translator despite his only mediocre mastery of Farsi. His hard-partying lifestyle and frequent one-night stands serve as a worthwhile distraction from his traditional family He meets Amon (Eidin Jalali) and his sister Banafshe (Banafshe Hourmazdi) and finds them both fascinating, engaging in a secret romantic relationship with Amon and a close friendship with Banafshe. Parvis’ lackadaisical outlook stands in opposition to the anxiety Amon and Banafshe carry due to the pending status of their refugee applications.
This film begins in a club and features steady, thumping music that pulsates throughout much of its runtime. Parvis has an incredible ability to come alive in social situations, embracing the energy of the room around him. He isn’t always surrounded by the same audience, and therefore the way he acts at the refugee center and in public near Amon strikes others as unexpected and unacceptable. Amon and Banafshe know how tentative their life in Germany is and take care not to feel too exposed in a way that Parvis will never understand because of the experiences he’s had and the way in which he feels he can be his authentic self.
This film, which serves as the Closing Night selection for NewFest, features a protagonist who is unapologetic about who he is and how his identity plays into his life. Radjaipour delivers an accessible performance, putting Parvis out there and enabling him to be both vulnerable and flawed, unprepared to reckon with the different perspectives others have about conclusions he has already made. Hourmazdi and Jalali give equally effective and compelling turns, conveying their passion, fear, and individuality. This film’s pace and focus make it a worthwhile watch, portraying an intriguing intersection of romance and friendship with plenty to say about culture and homogeneity.
B+
NewFest Spotlight: Sublet (Capsule Review)
Sublet
Directed by Eytan Fox
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A person may come into someone else’s life at exactly the right time, or perhaps when they least expect it, and those two may not be mutually exclusive. Fleeting whirlwind romances make for great movie premises, and that’s one way to describe this film, from director Eytan Fox, best known for “Yossi and Jagger” and two films that were particularly influential for me based on when I saw them: “Walk on Water” and “The Bubble.” Michael (John Benjamin Hickey) is an American travel writer who comes to stay for a few days in Tel Aviv only to discover that Tomer (Niv Nissim), the young woman whose apartment he is subletting, hasn’t actually made other sleeping arrangements. Though Michael has a husband back home, he and Tomer begin to form a relationship built on probing questions they ask each other that challenge their notions of what they’ve always known. Fox once again delivers an intriguing exploration of the multiculturalism that exists in Israel and the benefits that can come from it with this simple and entertaining dramedy, set for release sometime in 2021.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: Alice Junior
One of the best films - and performances - I saw at NewFest can be found in “Alice Junior,” which I reviewed for The Film Experience. Head over there to read my review.
NewFest Spotlight: Dating Amber
One of my favorites from NewFest was the delightful Irish comedy “Dating Amber,” which I reviewed for The Film Experience. Head over there to read my review.
Monday, October 26, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: Breaking Fast
Breaking Fast
Directed by Mike Mosallam
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Films about religion tend to find characters struggling with their adherence to faith and eventually running in the other direction. Love is often a complicating factor, one that causes a reevaluation of priorities and may invite a new outlook that involves less fidelity and more exceptions to what before was standard practice. It’s refreshing, therefore, to find a comedy about a gay Muslim that doesn’t take any cheap shots and in fact features a protagonist so firmly committed to tradition that he is blinded to the experiences of others around him who don’t want to change who he is but only how he makes room for them.
Mo (Haaz Sleiman), who has always enjoyed broad support from his mother since he told her he was gay, sees his relationship with Hassan (Patrick Sabongui) end when Hassan refuses to come out to his family. He is unprepared for a new entry into his life in the form of Kal (Michael Cassidy), who, despite not being Muslim or Arab, grew up on an army base in Jordan and has recipes just as delicious as his own family’s for Middle Eastern dishes. Because it is Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, Kal offers to join Mo each night to break fast. As the two become closer, Mo is eager to learn more about the new man in his life who is always warm but rarely talks about himself.
This film features many humorous references to Mo’s experience as the son of an overbearing mother, including her assertion that she wants him to find a nice man who will somehow give her the perfect grandchildren that she believes his brother’s white American wife hasn’t. Mo’s outlook is starkest when contrasted with his best friend Sam (Amin El Gamal), who hasn’t had the same positive experience with his Muslim family accepting his sexual orientation. Mo’s tendency to “bright-side” everything, as Kal puts it, is what threatens the stability of their relationship, not anything to do with the fact that he is a religious Muslim.
This is a very appealing film, one that avoids immature or reductive jokes and instead presents Mo as a man who is equally devout and awkward, unsure of how to navigate a romance in which his prospective partner is so unambiguously interested in him. Sleiman, a familiar face from “The Visitor,” is wonderful, as is Cassidy, politer in this role than he’s ever been in television series like “People of Earth” and “Hidden Palms.” Gamal is also great, affirming this as a story just as much about friendship as it is romance. It’s great to see a film that doesn’t put characters into forced situations where sex is the only way to define a relationship and that feels true to people who are authentically and, for the most part, unapologetically themselves.
B+
NewFest Spotlight: Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt)
Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt)
Directed by Monica Zanetti
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Many teenagers – and people of all ages – feel that no one can relate to them or what they’re going through, and the notion of having a support system there not to judge but only to empathize and help might be very comforting. It’s rare to find assistance like that with no strings attached or opinions that are not at least partially at odds with a person’s own perspective. Because no two people’s experiences can be exactly the same, there’s bound to be conflict, but it should still feel good to have someone there hoping and even betting on your success.
Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw) is an overachieving high school student in Australia. She’s eager to ask her crush, Abbie (Zoe Terakes), to the formal, but hasn’t found the courage or the words to do so yet. She comes out to her mother (Marta Dusseldorp), and is startled when she is suddenly visited by Tara (Julia Billington), her aunt who died before she was born. Tara claims to be her “Fairy Gaymother” who can now help her wishes come true now that she has spoken aloud that she is gay. Ellie is in disbelief but also in desperate need of a plan to make her feelings known for Abbie in a way that isn’t completely embarrassing.
This film’s concept could come off as a silly stretch, but instead it’s one that works very well. Tara can’t remember how she died and isn’t concerned with that particular detail, and she instead channels her excitement at the idea of being able to guide her niece on the right path, lesbian to lesbian. Ellie isn’t lacking confidence, just organization, a humorous problem given her academic proficiency. The relationship they form is unusual but endearing, especially as it offers Ellie the opportunity to learn more about who her mother and her longtime best friend Patty (Rachel House) used to be.
In her second feature film role, Hawkshaw is a delight, focused and hyper but still all over the place as Ellie. Terakes makes Abbie more than just the objection of Ellie’s affection, giving her attitude and opinions that only serve to render Ellie stunned and speechless. Billington is sweet and wonderful, channeling such positivity for her niece, echoed by House and communicated in a more complicated way by Dusseldorp as her struggling parent. This film is a winning comedy that also smartly and stirringly navigates drama, using its fantastical premise to tell a charming and loveable story.
B+
NewFest Spotlight: The Obituary of Tunde Johnson
The Obituary of Tunde Johnson
Directed by Ali LeRoi
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It is a sad fact that many unarmed and completely innocent Black people in America are killed for absolutely no reason by police. This has been a reality for a long time, and has been increasingly talked about since the murder of George Floyd this past May. Cinematic realizations of this pattern of injustice include the 2013 film “Fruitvale Station” and the recent PBS documentary “Driving While Black.” Tackling this subject from a different angle sheds new light on the systemic roots of the problem and the inability of eventual victims to do anything to avoid their fate.
Tunde Johnson (Steven Silver) is introduced as being born in Nigeria in 2002 and dying on a specific night in Los Angeles in 2020. At the urging of his best friend Marley (Nicola Peltz), Tunde comes out to his parents, Yomi (Tembi Locke) and Ade (Sammi Rotibi), which goes well, and he is excited to share the news with his secret boyfriend, Soren (Spencer Neville). When he is pulled over on his way to meet Soren, Tunde reaches for his phone and is shot multiple times by one of the officers. He awakens again that morning and relives the day, doing things slightly differently and experiencing the same horrific end regardless of where he ends up.
Time loops are frequently used in film, and one of the most recent examples is “Palm Springs,” which put it to tremendous comedic effect. The better comparison for this film is a season one episode of the new iteration of “The Twilight Zone” in which a Black woman is able to save her son from being killed over and over by a cop by rewinding a video tape. Aside from his birth-death introduction, Tunde never acknowledges to the camera or any characters that he is reliving the same day. Instead, he tries new approaches based on the apparently remembered consequences of his actions, which include navigating the fact that Marley is dating Soren and doesn’t know that he is gay.
Despite this film’s peculiar unwillingness to engage with the unexplained nature of its setup, it works on many levels, including as a tribute to many untold stories and an affirmation of Tunde’s desire to exist. It may well trigger past traumas for many viewers, something that it doesn’t seem to address either. Silver, who recently starred on “Council of Dads,” gives an affecting and genuine lead performance, and both Peltz and Neville offer solid support in the form of loyal friends in a complicated love triangle. Any film featuring a time loop is bound to be divisive in how it resolves or does not resolve it, and this film manages to do the best it can in underlining the strength and power of its story.
B+
Sunday, October 18, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: Cowboys
I wrote about the film “Cowboys,” starring Steve Zahn, for The Film Experience. Head over there to read my review.
NewFest Spotlight: White Lie
White Lie
Directed by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas
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It’s easy to get caught up in the fallout that comes from one simple untruth. Saying or asserting something that isn’t quite correct is often done without much forethought, and certainly without a plan for the implications that it might have should it be taken as more impactful or serious than it was intended to be. Keeping up appearances and maintaining a misperception can be complicated, and a mistake along the way is entirely possible. There comes a point at which going back can no longer be done, and trying to turn something that was never real into history is an arduous and usually insurmountable task.
Katie (Kacey Rohl) is a star at her college, known as a sympathetic student standing up to cancer. She has a great relationship with her girlfriend Jennifer (Amber Anderson), and is warmly accepted by Jennifer’s family. But when Katie needs to come up with medical forms to document her illness for a grant, her confidence begins to falter since she isn’t actually sick. Going to her estranged father (Martin Donovan) for money to pay off an unscrupulous doctor proves to be a grave mistake, as he sees right through her, intent on exposing her façade. Katie scrambles to forge the paperwork she needs before her entire life comes crumbling down around her.
The festival’s description of this film as a “heart-racing lesbian character-study-turned-thriller” piqued my interest and motivated me to watch it. Interestingly, Katie’s identity as a lesbian is the most authentic and unfabricated thing about her. She faces no adversity during the film as a result of her sexual orientation, and Jennifer is entirely supportive of her at every turn. Katie has gotten herself in over her head in large part because she didn’t trust the right people, and therefore she can’t possibly depend on someone who doesn’t actually understand who she is.
It’s precisely that sense of panic and the dread that comes with realizing that she never thought the truth could come out that keeps this film going. Rohl captures her frantic sensibility, keeping herself focused enough not to do anything especially stupid but too committed to the lie to see a way out. Anderson is a great foil, someone who has such passion for her partner that audiences know will eventually erode once she even begins to doubt the veracity of one of the keystone points of their relationship. This film never quite reaches the point of truly becoming a thriller, but it should keep viewers on the edge of their seats, conflicted about whether to root for a protagonist who has dug her own grave.
B+
NewFest Spotlight: Welcome to the USA
Welcome to the USA
Directed by Assel Aushakimova
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Leaving one’s home for a place that is allegedly better is not an easy process. There is no guarantee that things will indeed be quite as formidable as they have been made out to be, and moving also means a departure from what is normal and familiar. Even if what has become standard is painful and problematic, there are still elements that will be absent from a person’s new life and which, no matter how hard they try, they may never be able to get back. Taking that step assumes a risk that the end will not necessarily be worth the means.
Aliya (Saltanat Nauruz) is elated to discover that she has won the Green Card lottery and the chance to move to the fabled United States of America. As a lesbian who is not religious, Aliya must keep much of her lifestyle in Kazakhstan a secret. Yet as she prepares for her likely departure, she realizes that she enjoys a relatively comfortable existence filled with great friends and numerous romantic partners. She also examines her fortunes in comparison to those of her sister, whose husband has found a second wife and fails to recognize – or care about – the impact it has had on her feelings of self-worth and happiness.
Opening with this film with Aliya receiving her good news is an interesting narrative choice, one that finds her struggling to verbalize the life-changing information she has learned to anyone close to her and contemplating whether it’s a step she should really take. As she hears radio pronouncements of the glory of the communist Kazakh president and digests her brother-in-law’s opinion of her as parroted by her niece, Aliya sees the appeal of living in a free country. But she realizes that starting over won’t help to fix her own commitment issues, and that she will be leaving behind people that she loves and who she may need just as much as they need her.
Nauruz seems very comfortable in Aliya’s skin, expressing herself through simple pleasures in her own home or smoking in public. She understands how she must live her life but also refuses to conform to what is expected of her, even by her mother or her sister. This feature film debut from writer-director Assel Aushakimova is a sensitive, engrossing drama that engages with complex concepts and the contradictory elements of the life she leads and the one she might soon have. It feels honest and enlivening at the same time, a narrow window into a foreign country where America truly is a dream may will likely never see.
B+
Saturday, October 17, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: Forgotten Roads
Forgotten Roads
Directed by Nicol Ruiz Benavides
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It’s rare to find a film with an older woman as its protagonist, and it’s even rarer that the story centered around her won’t depend on a younger character and her relationship with them. The notion that a senior citizen could be appealing enough to audiences to anchor a film isn’t widely accepted, and therefore it’s particularly refreshing to find the instances where that’s precisely the case. Unsurprisingly, these atypical projects are especially interesting since they spotlight a segment of the population that is often written off by many as less relevant than younger generations.
Claudina (Rosa Ramirez) is a seventy-year-old woman in Chile who moves from the countryside following the death of her husband to move in with her daughter, Alejandra (Gabriela Arancibia). The rapport she has with Alejandra is less than warm, though she loves seeing her grandson Cristóbal (Cristóbal Ruiz). Her lackluster outlook on life changes when she meets her new neighbor Elsa (Romana Satt). Despite the fact that Elsa is married, the two begin a romantic relationship that makes Claudina feel truly alive. Their romance blossoms in a quiet town that tends toward the traditional aside from its intense preoccupation with UFO sightings.
This film is quite slow despite its brief seventy-one-minute runtime, in no hurry to have Claudina find herself as she adjusts to a new living experience and life without a partner. But it comes alive as Claudina rediscovers the passion that she has not felt for a long time, something that Elsa triggers for her and feeds into with her recognition of Claudina for the person that she is. Since the town is small and hardly anonymous, Claudina’s actions, however private they may seem, are not guaranteed to stay that way, presenting yet another obstacle to her happiness since her daughter does not want to feel judged for the choices Claudina makes for her own life.
Ramirez and Satt deliver tender performances that help to give this film its poignant and accessible feel. The incorporation of the town-wide obsession with extraterrestrial life serves as an odd addition, though the frequent flashes of light that come at unexpected moments each night serve as an opportunity for Claudina to reexamine her reality, suddenly illuminated when she isn’t expecting it and ready to return to normal almost right away with no definitive proof of what may have transpired. This film feels a bit like an extended version of that dreamlike state, an imagined existence for Claudina that has the chance to become real so long after she had ever hoped to forge her own path in life. It’s not always riveting, but it is a decent and worthwhile story.
B
NewFest Spotlight: Cicada
Cicada
Directed by Matthew Fifer and Kieran Mulcare
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A theme that’s been explored in a number of many NewFest selections is the disparate experiences of people involved in romantic relationships regarding the public perception of their sexuality. If one person has come out to family or friends, they may be less reticent to appear intimate while others are around, whereas someone who has not yet done that may be particularly secretive or careful so that there is no risk of anyone finding out before they are comfortable sharing that with others. There is much that goes into the decision to share a personal part of a person’s identity with those closest to them, and such a monumental move shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Ben (Matthew Fifer) is a bisexual man living in New York City. He navigates hookups and relationships during the hot summer, connecting occasionally in a meaningful way with the many people he meets. Things are different when Sam (Sheldon D. Brown) comes along. He is still finding himself and dealing with deep scars from his past and present that involve his sexuality and the color of his skin. Ben falls for him but finds a barrier in their relationship as Sam processes what he needs and feels in a way that Ben can never really understand.
This film is a contemplative, quiet exploration of intimacy. Ben in particular almost fades into the background in every room that he is in, indicating enthusiasm for his company but not matching that with actual energy. Sam, in stark contrast, is much more vibrant and buoyant, but that inviting exterior masks a pain protected by walls that Sam is not eager to let down, even when Ben wants to be let in to truly know his partner. Their shared experiences are limited, and the ways in which their paths diverge make their outlooks on the world and the possibilities it offers distinctly incongruent.
This film is a personal project based on the lives of both Fifer and Brown, which adds a level of involvement and investment that shows through in their heartfelt and authentic performances. There is no showboating for the camera or over-dramatization of scenes or moments, and instead this film feels like a series of conversations in which the audience is merely present rather than watching. A supporting turn from Cobie Smulders as a wholly inappropriate therapist give this film a dark comic edge also felt in some of its lighter and more awkward moments. Ultimately, however, this is a drama about two people trying to forge a connection who may just not be fated to be together the passion they feel for each other.
B+
Friday, October 16, 2020
NewFest Spotlight: Three Very Jewish Movies
I’m delighted to be covering a number of selections from the 32nd Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, NewFest. The festival runs October 16th-27th, 2020, and films are available to watch anywhere in the United States during that time.
Many of the films at NewFest highlight minority groups other than the LGBTQ+ community, which offer informative portraits about diverse experiences. As a Jewish film critic, I’m always on the lookout for projects that feature Jewish characters that are more than just broad stereotypes and invoke casual knowledge that isn’t entirely accurate. I was pleased therefore to find three films at this year’s festival that all feature a Hebrew word in their titles and coincidentally all deal with rituals related to death. Each is intriguing and bizarre in its own way, but it felt appropriate to tackle them together.
“Minyan” is set in 1980s Brooklyn and follows David (Samuel H. Levine), an unenthusiastic yeshiva student who agrees to be one of the ten men for a minyan so that his grandfather (Ron Rifkin) can move into a prime apartment that has just become available. His grandfather is aware of his lack of passion for religion, and David has a completely separately existence from the one dominated by his Russian parents when he goes to bars and parties to meet men, including a bartender (Alex Hurt).
“Shiva Baby” finds Danielle (also Sennott) attending a shiva with her parents (Polly Draper and Fred Melamed) and unexpectedly running into the sugar daddy (Danny Deferrari) she just slept with that morning, who is both married and has a baby. As she fends off comments about her weight and her career from other shiva attendees and runs into her high school girlfriend (Molly Gordon), Danielle quickly starts to panic as two distinctly separate parts of her life collide in an irreversible way.
“Tahara” and “Shiva Baby,” on the other hand, both run closer to eighty minutes, remaining in or right outside one building for the entire time. “Tahara” makes use of social media imagery, Claymation, and subtitles during silent conversations conducted only with expressions and head movements to enliven Hannah’s droning experience and Carrie’s unexpected awakening. “Shiva Baby” has a score that sounds most like a horror movie, bringing to life Danielle’s sense of being trapped in an inescapable situation between the bagels and being outed as someone’s mistress. Both are creative in their approaches to stories that feel far more vivid and engaging because audiences are stuck in this synagogue and shiva house with these characters.
None of these films are particularly recommended for viewing by the whole family (or in a synagogue), due mainly to explicit content expressed both visually and in language. Part of the purpose of NewFest is to give voice to diverse storytellers and normalize their experiences, and their representation in film to make them less objectionable or startling. As a film, “Minyan” is probably the most standard of these three, while “Tahara” and “Shiva Baby” are decidedly more experimental and strange. They each offer something interesting and deserve to be seen, likely by an audience completely unprepared for what to expect.
Friday, July 22, 2011
NewFest: Mary Marie
Mary Marie
Directed by Alexandra Roxo
Screening at NewFest July 22 at 8pm
“Mary Marie” is the story of two different girls, both so flirtatious and alternately social and anti-social in their own ways. The blonde, Mary (Alana Kearns-Green) is the more reserved, uncertain one, while the brunette, Marie (Alexandra Roxo), is considerably more self-assured and confident, aware of her attractiveness. The two sisters display a fraternity that suggests they are more comfortable and intimate with each other than sisters might normally be, without divulging in any unnecessary pictorials or images to illustrate their unusual bond. The romance feels real, and the arrival of handyman Peter (Tim Linden) feels like an intrusion, as the sisters begin to fight over him, mainly because he pulls each away from the other. The depiction of love and intimacy in “Mary Marie” is honest and realistic, and there is one particularly gorgeous, breathtaking shot on a Ferris wheel that serves well to sum up the beauty in this film. Other scenes are equally hypnotic, with music playing softly over muted conversations. Kearns-Green and Roxo, who also co-wrote the film, which Roxo directed, both turn in alluring and captivating performances in this small, sweet, enchanting film.
B+
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