EMILIA PEREZ(2024) NYFF 2024

This is the story of an attorney who is hired by the head of a Mexican drug cartel to help him transition into becoming a woman and what happens after that. It is a musical drama thriller with a strong thread of social commentary. It is also probably unlike anything you have ever seen. It is a glorious filmmaking and a wonderful cinematic experience.

I honestly don't know what I think of this film. It is such an odd mix of styles and forms seemingly tied up in a telenovela form that not everything hits. Yes it's all extremely well done, but the film's one of a kind construction causes some bumps. This isn't the result of it being a musical, its much more complicated than that, rather it's doing so much more that I'm not certain it makes all of the connections it could or should.

That is not a knock, rather statement that I am having to take time to ponder this new form.

The filmmaking is masterful and Jacques Audiard  needs to get a best director nomination at the Oscars and everywhere else. I say this because he has made a film that shouldn't logically work, but instead wows the audience and leaves them feeling alive even if they aren't sure of how they feel about pieces of it.

The cast is great. Everyone sells their roles. It anyone had any doubts about the range of Selena Gomez or Zoe Saldana as actresses this film will put that to rest.

This film is a stunner and my lack of discussion is purely due to the fact that I'm still processing it.

Go see this film.

MISERICORDIA (2024) NYFF 2024

Alain Guiraudie's MISERICORDIA starts off as if wants to be a Hitchcockian thriller,  but it not so quickly descends into bedroom farce where it should have been from the start.

The film begins when a former employee man comes to the home of his former employer for his funeral and he ends up committing murder. Things become complicated as he tries to not let anyone know what happened.

Never getting the tone right MISERICORDIA flounders for much of it's running time. Not much happens. And up to a certain point you will be asking if it is this a comedy or a thriller? It isn't clear until almost the very end. 

Complicating everything is the fact that Guiraudie doesn't tell us anything about any of the characters. Lots of details are not in the film, such as the lead character being a former employee. Everyone has a back story they clearly know but at the same time we are not let in to any of it. What exactly is everyone's relationship? I have no clue because it isn't in the film (it is all revealed the press notes). The characters aren't cipher's they are voids.

It isn't until the murder happens that the questions as toi what is happening stop because we get a sort of narrative thrust. And it isn't until the film falls fully into farce that the film finds it's tone. But by that time the film is a complete mess even if we are laughing at it. (And don't bring the kids since erections are used as punchlines twice)

Yea I kind of liked it but this really should have been better.

Worth a shot

The Soul Eater (2024) Fantasia 2024

In a small town in the middle of nowhere, two cops are brought in to investigate separate cases. One is  looking into the brutal murder of a couple. The other is looking for some missing children. What they initially think is a joke, that the cases are tied to the local boogeyman named the Soul Eater, slowly becomes a reality.

Police procedural mixes with supernatural tale in an off beat thriller that works best if you just go with it. I say that because even though the film largely plays it straight, the overlap with the boogey man elements isn't always as neat as they should be. There's a little too much reality here.

On the other hand once I stopped over thinking things and went with it I had a blast. Say what you will this is a creepy thriller, set in a town where you believe the Soul Eater or some monster lurks. It's a place that seems to be lost from the world.

I had a grand time going to a place where things really do go bump in the night.

Recommended.

Wolf Hiding (2024) NYAFF 2024

Action star Eric Ma's debut debut is a mixed bag. Containing some staggering fight sequences with a plot that is bizarrely over the top and dialog that borders on nonsensical.

In an unnamed country, the head of a criminal organization that specializes in the kidnapping and trafficking of women and children is going to make a play and run for political office. In order to achieve this he has his stooges crush protests.  As he moves toward taking power his daughter is kidnapped and this sets off a cat and mouse game as he tries to get her back-and his minions make other deals.

Great looking film with some truly eye popping fight sequences is a must see for action lovers. The fights and other action sequences kick serious ass to the point you are going to want to replay them over and over again to see how some of it was done. I was in awe.

That the same time the plotting is a real mess with turns making no sense what so ever. Why do somethings happen? Your guess is as good as mine. I just threw up my hands and waited for the knives or fists to come out.

A big part of the problem is that a lot of the dialog doesn't seem to make sense. I would like to hope that it was simply the subtitles but portions of the film are in English and it left me scratching my head.

Then again you aren't going to ever thing about the plot  because the fights are so good.

Highly recommended for action fans for the action.

PATTAYA HEAT(2024) NYAFF 2024

Possibly the best film at this year's New York Asian Film Fest is a grand crime caper with a smart ass attitude. The NYAFF write up called it Tarantino-esque, but quite frankly this film is operating at a so  much higher level that is totally free of the cinematic referential nonsense that Tarantino traffics in.

Told from the POV of a corrupt cop caught in a web of nonsense and surrounded by various people who are less than savory. How they all connect up is the film-and it's such a thrilling ride I'm not going to say any more.

Sitting down to watch this film I wasn't sure what I was going to get. My trip through the festival slate this year has been a very hit or miss affair.  Sure there have been some good films, but at the same time there have been some rather bland films that made me wonder if the programmers had lost their touch.  That thought disappeared moments into PATTAYA HEAT pulled me, handed me a drink and whispered in my ear "you wanna hear a great story?"

This film works because the film has a great cast operating at the top of their game, a director who tweaks things so that we are charmed by these not very nice people, and script which is perfectly modulated to keep us staring at the screen until the final fade out.

One of the best films of 2024? Oh hell yea. This is pure movie magic. This is the sort of film that will make you fall in love with the movies all over again.

Track this movie down any way you can.

Highly recommended.

Nea (2024) Tribeca 2024

Directed by Emmy®-nominee Nelson G. Navarrete and Alex Ulises, and starring Julian Sanchez Jimenez NEA is one the most glorious discoveries of the year. A wild and crazy film that is so absolutely delightful that I kept mumbling that I want a similar feature made by these filmmakers and starring these actors. This is one of the best films of Tribeca and of 2024 as well.

The plot of the film follows a cartel connected taxi driver over the course of one night. As he tries to get people to the hospital, fix a busted AC and talk a cartel guy from beating his wife because its bad for business, he also gives us a running commentary of everything thats happening. It's absolutely compelling and delightful.  A mix of real and magical realism the the film hooks us from the first minute and makes us groan at the end when we realize that it's all over and there is no more.

This film is a masterpiece.

When I saw this film I had seen around 50 films playing Tribeca and this film jumped to the near the very top of the bunch.

I can not say enough enough about this film. It really is that good and it really will want you to see a feature film by this group of filmmakers.

I won't say more so I don't wreck the story for you.

Highly recommended

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1998)

Vincent D'Onofrio and Edward James Olmos square off in a cracking good TV version of a New York subway hijacked for cash.

Fast moving telling of the tale is much better than expected thanks to a largely winning cast (only Lorraine Bracco seems weak) who put over the seriousness of the situation. Add to that the filmmakers choices to up date the story via motion sensors and to keep the film a gritty attitude you end up with a remake that is just as compelling as the original. (The film also gender flips two characters which actually adds to the tension if you are very familiar with the 1970's original)

If the film as any problems its in the fact it was shot for American TV which means that the film has limits as to the violence and language used. There are a couple of moments when the film can be felt to be pulling back from crossing a TV line.

Highly recommended- especially if you can see it without commercials

ADGIO (2023) Open Roads 2024

Teenage boy is used by a crooked cop in an ugly blackmail scheme that spins off into black places.

Neon infused neo-noir is set largely in a night time Rome that seems to be on fire (there is always an orange glow in the sky) and darker than usual thanks to frequent blackouts. It a film that for all its grittiness has been polished to a high sheen with so much of the film, carnage include looking like something you’d want to hang on your wall.  It’s so good that I’m trying to line up a second pass through the film just so I can see it on the big screen.

While this film isn’t weighty enough to fully stick to my brain as a perfect noir, the film is tense enough that I have been recommending the film to friends and family who are crime film friends that they need to go see this at Open Roads. Good bad or indifferent this is one hell of an entertaining ride and highly recommended.

HIT MAN (2023) Hits theaters May 24 before going to Netflix

This is a repost of my New York FIlm Festival review from last year

HIT MAN is the (kind of true) story of Gary Johnson who was a college professor who was doing electronic work for the New Orleans police. He ended up stepping in and pretending to be a hit man in sting operations.

In this fictionalized version of the story Glenn Powell plays Johnson.  When he goes under cover on one case he talks a confused woman out of not killing her husband. This sets in motion an unexpected series of events.

This is one of my favorite films at NYFF. It was a delightful change of pace from the dark and serious films that seemed to fill this year’s slate. It was the on one to fill the theater with repeated burst of laughter and leave everyone walking out of the screening with wide smiles. Indeed one of the women working in the theater was kind of confused because it was the first time she could hear people reacting to a festival film.

I had a great time with the film. There was just a certain point where I just put my notebooks down and watched the film. Is it high art? Hell, no, but it is entertaining as all hell and one of the best film that Richard Linklater has made

Recommended

Mars Express (2023)

In 2200 private detectives Aline and Carlos are hired to find and bring home a notorious hacker. The case puts them into the middle of something bigger involving the robots on Mars and Earth.

This is a scifi hard boiled detective noir. Its classic 1940's film noir mashed with modern day science fiction and the look at artificial intelligence. It has the classic rhythms mixed with eye popping visuals and some kick ass action sequences. It's a blast and a half and I loved it.

I know that some of you are going to be scared off because this is animation. Yes I know anime has made it more accepted, but some people still don't want to watch animation, Never mind that if this was live action they would be first on line to see it. Understand that because of what the film is about and because of where its set and who the characters are the film had to be animated. Even if was live action other than a few characters the vast majority of the rest would have been CGI, or more simply photo-realistically animated.

Watching this film I ended up reacting verbally.  Twists and turns had me talking out loud. The same can be said about the action sequences. 

And then there are the themes and ideas running around in the film. The notions of what it means to be alive, about free will and basic human stupidity have haunted me for days after seeing the film. What I love is that the film's ending has improved the more I think about it. I first thought it was unremarkable and a bit been there... and then all of the things that it implied hit me hard. The profound sense of sadness contained in it filled my heart.

I love this movie. I love it to the point that I regret that I missed going to the work in progress screening that Animation First had a couple of years back.

I really do need to make one  note concerning this film and that when you see this you need to realize that this is a detective film and not an action film. There is action and suspense but there are also slow sequences of detecting. In other words there are some slow sequences, or slow at least compared to some of the bat shit crazy fights.

Once more with feeling- I love this film. You need to see it. If possible when it plays at Animation First Tuesday, or down the road when G-Kids releases it.

How good is it? I don't think it's going  of to move off my Best of the Best of 2024.

5 POUNDS OF PRESSURE (2024)

Luke Evans gets out of prison after 16 years. He wants to start over and mend bridges with his son. Lurking around the edges is the brother of the man he killed  is looking for revenge.  At the same time Rory Culkin is having trouble with his  drug lord uncle. Everyone is soon on a collision course.

The great cast is the reason to see this rambling crime drama. Evans, Culkin and the rest of the cast give everything and keep us watching even when we are wondering where all of this is going. 

You will forgive me for not being more detailed with the plot, but my interest drifted. Blame the narrative which is trying to cover too many characters and has them running in too many directions. Kudos for the filmmakers for for trying to give  us wider view of the world the characters are working through but at the same time this gives us a sense that some of the threads don't belong here. This film 110 minute film is probably a half an hour too long. 

That said if you can forgive the meandering you will find some good stuff here,like some great performances. and the pieces of a a very good crime drama.

Hit Man (2023) Sundance 2023

This is a repost of my New York FIlm Festival review from last year

HIT MAN is the (kind of true) story of Gary Johnson who was a college professor who was doing electronic work for the New Orleans police. He ended up stepping in and pretending to be a hit man in sting operations.

In this fictionalized version of the story Glenn Powell plays Johnson.  When he goes under cover on one case he talks a confused woman out of not killing her husband. This sets in motion an unexpected series of events.

This is one of my favorite films at NYFF. It was a delightful change of pace from the dark and serious films that seemed to fill this year’s slate. It was the on one to fill the theater with repeated burst of laughter and leave everyone walking out of the screening with wide smiles. Indeed one of the women working in the theater was kind of confused because it was the first time she could hear people reacting to a festival film.

I had a great time with the film. There was just a certain point where I just put my notebooks down and watched the film. Is it high art? Hell, no, but it is entertaining as all hell and one of the best film that Richard Linklater has made

Recommended

Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961) THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Snoozer mix of science fiction and gangster movies Gangster being transported to jail escapes when the transport crashes. Staggering through the desert he ends up being nuked. He survived but is slowly developing a metallic skin. He goes on the run.

A long 80 minutes as we get a mix of gangster wanting to get him, the cops wanting to get him, he wants revenge, and the scientists want to study him. There is no real attempt at showing the change other than a torn shirt with a loose tie.

Yea it's a mess.

Worse it's not very good.

Take a pass.

Shaken (2023) DOC NYC 2023

Nigel and Dayna are a coupled who were plunged into a nightmare. When their infant daughter Emily had a seizure, the doctor in charge insisted that the only thing that could have caused it was shaken baby syndrome.  Despite the parents insistence that wasn't the case Nigel was arrested and charged with the crime. What resulted was a long battle to clear his name and the discovery that many people are charged with the crime despite being innocent.

Truly frightening tale is something that any parent could end up in the middle of. While I completely understand the need to protect the children the insistence that the parents are in the wrong with zero investigation is frightening. Decades ago, my uncle was accused of throwing my cousin from their moving car when the toddler managed to open the door and step out. This was well before the mandatory child car seat laws, and it took a while to sort it out - and my cousin telling authorities that he indeed do that. Of course, a baby can't do that which makes things worse.

SHAKEN is a wakeup call. It is a film that should act as warning that what things appear to be isn't always the case and that there is other reason for a child to have a seizure. The film ends with a frightening line to the effect that while every year over a thousand children are diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome, they don't know how many false positives are.

I was rattled by the film because I'm left to wonder how many parents are in jail that shouldn't be. More damning is how many relationships and families are destroyed by false accusations? 

Recommended.

Kane (2023)

Who said you need a long run time to make a kick ass film? Running a compact 80 plus minutes this fast moving crime thriller grabs you by the throat and drags you along.

The plot of the film has  Benny trying to navigate an escalating gang war. Things are complicated by the fact that his boss has 23 personalities the worst of which is the titled Kane.

To be honest I’m not certain that the personality thing is really necessary to the story, since the film is so well done on every level, that it ends up being more a selling point to get people to look at the film, rather than something just vital to the story. As it is this is a super little crime tale with bad people doing bad things.

Moving at the the speed of the wind KANE grabs us thanks to a great script full of great characters and great dialog. We are hooked before things get tense because the script by director Blair Moore is so well written we have to see what is going happen next. I started the film figuring that I’d watch the screener I was given for a little bit before going to bed, and instead ended up watching the film from start to finish, not taking any notes because I was too involved with what I was seeing on the screen.

The lack of details in this piece is the result of not taking notes, and not wanting to over think this small gem. I just enjoyed the hell out of the film and I don’t want to ruin it by over thinking it. This is the best kind of movie, one that entertains you and makes you want to see it again with friends and family.

This is a great film that you need to see.

Recommended.

The Delinquents (2023) NYFF 2023

Bank teller decides to rob his bank. Taking just over twice what he would have earned if he had worked 25 years Moran steals the money and and has co-worker Roman hide hide it. Moran turns himself in figuring he will get three and a half years and then be free. However complications occur.

This meandering crime drama/comedy is either going to thrill you or make you get up and walk out. Running 189 minutes the film takes it's time telling its story. Wandering here and there as it does pins out. Very much about life and how things don't always go as we planned the film expands roughly an hour of plot into three plus.  The result is an interesting story in puffed up packaging.

This is a film you either love or loath. While extremely well done, the pacing can seem glacial.  Things happen but often in slower than real time. Moments feel stretched. Director Rodrigo Moreno is doing so to upset our expectations, but that isn't a good thing since I found I was looking at the clock much too often. In reading on the film, I found reaction split everyone agreeing it's a good story but disagreeing with the pacing.

Personally, I could have lived with the pacing if the payoff was something more moving, but it wasn't, and the result is a film I liked but didn't love and was left to wonder if I ever will watch it again.

Worth a look for fans of slow cinema, all others are advised to research it before you go in.

Limbo (2023) hits theaters and VOD Friday

Two cops in Hong Kong chase down a serial killer killing women and collecting left hands.

This is a great film. Bleak, black and dripping with mood, it’s a film that echoes the darkest moments of films like SEVEN, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and ZODIAC, but without any hint of levity. Watching LIMBO you have descended into the lowest depth of hell and you can’t escape.

The first thing you notice with the cinematography. The monochromatic images of light and shadow pop. They aren’t really Black and white, but black and muted silver. It’s so stark and arresting it influences everything in the film. It is as big a character as the ones portrayed by the actors. It’s so key to the film that if this had been shot in color LIMBO would not have been even half as good. (Honestly this film should be put into the Oscar mix because I don’t think any film I’ve seen this year not only looks this good or had images that are this important to the success of the film.)

This film will depress you in the best sort of a way. It’s a film where you can feel the goodness sucked from the souls of the people on screen. We are in the realm of broken people and it hurts. The classic film noir films have nothing on this film.

I absolutely loved this film. I really wish I had seen it on a truly huge screen where I could get lost in the images. As it is this is one of the best crime thrillers of seen in the last few years.

A must see.

Streetwise (2023)

I post this with apologies.

This is more or less the sketch I wrote immediately after seeing STREETWISE. Its a film full of the passion one feels after seeing a truly special film and it filled me with lots of thoughts. 

 I wasn't planning on covering the film (I'm doing 3 fests at once)  but because my friend Ed Douglas was so high on the film I asked for a screener and received it and the proceeded to watch it at lunch at work and a bit ( more really) past the end of my break. I couldn't stop, I had to see it to the conclusion.

Blown away I scribbled some notes ---and I ended up using the draft notes as this review because things happen and the hours I would need to really write this film up as it needs to be written up disappeared.

What follows are my real raw and in the moment thoughts on a truly great film. All you need do is just go see it any you'll know that Ed and myself are right.

Na Jiazuo’s STREETWISE is one of the absolute must see films of this year.

Before I saw it I made the mistake of not thinking it was. But then I was kicked in the knees when Ed Douglas started proselytizing about the film on social media. He was complaining that it was leaving the Metrograph in New York before he could bring his friends to the theater to show him what was one of the top two films of the year... and perhaps its most unheralded.  Reading his online conversations about the film I knew I had to see it and I then arranged to do so.

Ed is absolutely right this is one of the best films you will see all year.

It's so good that I’m almost willing to give it the annual Unseen Film Award as the Best Unseen Film of the year right now.

STREETWISE is the bittersweet tale of  Dong Zi, a young debt collector living as best he can. Working within the criminal world he is trying to make enough money to not only live but also pay for his father’s medical bills. We watch as he goes through his days in the small city he calls home.

I made it sound simple but the film is far from that. This is a bittersweet slice of life that invades your soul and gets under your skin. Dong Zi and the people he meets not only become sort of friends, but they all so reflect back the people we know. Sure these are people living on the downside of a province in China, but they are also friends and family we know.

The press material for the film charts director Na Jiazuo’s course from fine art student to film director and while it seems to chart a course of missed opportunities, the truth of the matter is fate was on our side in that it put him into the perfect place to make  stunning first feature. STREETWISE may be a first feature but the truth of the matter is it is an assured piece of filmmaking that is the calling card of a force to be reckoned  with.  This is one of the great cinematic treasures of 2023. It’s a film that is going to make you wonder what he is going to do next?(And three films on, and twenty....)

I was moved both emotionally and intellectually both for the story we are told and the technical virtuosity of the filmmaking.

I am so moved that I am not watching the film a second time so that I can get word out  to you so you can see it.

You need to see this film. You need to see it as soon as you can.

This is the sort of film that I started Unseen Films to highlight- small under the radar gems that need to find an audience

One of the great films of 2023 and as such is highly recommended.

It plays again at Metrograph August 7 at 915, but I suspect it will be back.

GIRL IN THE BACK SEAT (2023)Dances With Films 2023

Beautiful woman is drugged by a semi blind date and hauled off to a life being human trafficked.

While the film is supposed to be based on a true story the story plays out in a similar way to any number of other films. We’ve been here before... 

On the other hand,  that’s not a fatal thing here because the film had enough small details to keep things interesting. I wanted to see how it played out and who lived and died.

Worth a look.

The Black Guelph (2022) Dances With Films 2023

Canto is a not so young  man in a lower class part of Dublin is looking to get out but it doesn’t seem to be possible. He’s been thrown out of his house by his girlfriend who doesn’t want him near his kid. His dad is just out of jail and is squatting in an abandoned orphanage. The past is haunting everyone, as is a local kingpin who is trolling the neighborhood looking to get paid back – and Canto owes more than he can come up with.

This is a bleak examination of life on the downside of Dublin. Everyone is hamstrung by toxic traditions, bad choices and dark secrets in the past. It’s the story of a group of people who can’t get out of their own way even though they desperate to do so.

One of the best films I’ve seen for this year’s Dances With Films THE BLACK GUELPH is the feel sad film of the festival. It’s film that feels more like real life than a drama and as such it hits hard. I didn’t want to watch the lives imploding and wanted to look away, but I liked them so much I couldn’t not see what happened to them. It’s such  a good film that I can’t believe it’s director John Connors‘ first feature.

I really liked the film, but the downbeat edge to it makes it a film I may not revisit.

My reservation about revisiting it aside, this is definitely one you’ll want to see at least once.