Tag: BFI London Film Festival

Review: ‘The Surfer’ (2025), starring Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Nic Cassim, Miranda Tapsell, Alexander Bertrand and Justin Rosniak

May 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

Nicolas Cage in “The Surfer” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“The Surfer” (2025)

Directed by Lorcan Finegan

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Australia, the dramatic film “The Surfer” (a remake of the Telugu-language movie of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An Australian-born, American-raised businessman goes back to the Australian beach area where he spent part of his childhood so that he can go sufing, but he encounters a group of hostile, violent and terroritorial surfers who don’t want him to surf there. 

Culture Audience: “The Surfer” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Nicolas Cage and suspenseful psychological thrillers where everything might not be what it seems.

Nicolas Cage and Julian McMahon in “The Surfer” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“The Surfer” evokes a moody fever dream where the protagonist is an unreliable narrator. This psychological thriller (about a man in conflict with a group of menacing surfers) is suspenseful but might be too weird or confusing for some viewers. It’s the type of movie that has enough to hold viewers’ interest, even if the ending of the film could be considered divisive.

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan and written by Thomas Martin, “The Surfer” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The movie subsequently made the rounds at several other film festivals, including the 2024 BFI London Film Festival and the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. “The Surfer” takes place in an unnamed city in Western Australia and was actually filmed in Yallingup, Australia.

“The Surfer” is a movie inspired by a mix of fact and fiction. In “The Surfer” production notes, Martin says he got inspiration for the screenplay from Australian writer Robert Drewe’s short stories; John Cheever’s 1964 short story “The Swimmer”; and the 1968 “The Swimmer” film adaptation, starring Burt Lancaster. “The Surfer” is also based on the true crime stories about the real-life surfing gang the Bay Boys, who were headquartered in Palos Verdes, California, and caused terror throughout the 1970s.

“The Surfer” begins by showing an unnamed businessman (played by Nicolas Cage) parked in a car with his teenage son Charlie (played by Finn Little) at Luna Bay, a beach area where this father spent the earliest years of his childhood. The man (who is identified only as The Surfer in the movie’s end credits) speaks reverentially about surfing and how it can teach important life lessons. This is the first time that The Surfer has brought Charlie (who is about 15 or 16 and is identified only as The Kid in the movie’s end credits) to Luna Bay, which The Surfer considers to be a very special place.

The Surfer wants to spend some time surfing with Charlie at Luna Bay. Charlie is not so enthusiastic and wonders out loud why his father told him to skip school for this excursion. The Surfer is in the area because the Lunda Bay house where he spent the earliest years of his childhood is now up for sale. The Surfer is obsessed with buying this house because it’s the last connection that he has to his father, who died when The Surfer was a boy.

Observant viewers will immediately notice that The Surfer has an American accent, while his son Charlie has an Australian accent. It’s explained later in the movie that The Surfer was born in Australia, but he and his mother moved to California after his father died. Charlie’s mother Helen (played by Patsy Knapp and voiced by Brenda Meaney) also has an American accent, which implies that The Surfer and Helen met in the United States but have been raising Charlie in Australia.

The Surfer and Helen have been separated for an untold period of time and are headed for a divorce. In a phone conversation shown later in the movie, Helen urgently asks The Surfer to sign the divorce papers because Helen wants to marry her boyfriend Derek, who is not seen or heard in the movie. Helen has another announcement for The Surfer that isn’t surprising because of how she wants this divorce to be final as quickly as possible.

The first indication that Luna Bay is an unfriendly place to strangers is when a man named Pitbull (played by Alexander Bertrand) brushes past The Surfer and snarls, “Fuck off,” even though The Surfer wasn’t bothering anyone. Just as The Surfer and Charlie are about to hit the waves on their surfboards, they are approached by hostile surfer known only as Blondie (played by Rory O’Keeffe), who gruffly says to these two out-of-town strangers: “Don’t live here, don’t surf here.”

It’s eventually revealed that Blondie is part of a Luna Bay all-male surfing gang called the Bay Boys. The gang’s leader is a wealthy heir named Scott” Scally” Callahan (played by Julian McMahon), who comes across as charming but it’s a mask for his true vicious personality. The Bay Boy gang members are extremely territorial about the beach and will instigate violent attacks on anyone who defies their orders to not surf at the beach. Scally runs the gang like a toxic fraternity, including having macho rituals, dangerous hazing initiations, and rowdy parties with plenty of alcohol and drugs.

Someone who’s a lot friendlier to The Surfer is an unnamed elderly homeless man (played by Nic Cassim), who is identified in the end credits only as The Bum. The Surfer and The Bum establish a rapport, partly because The Bum reminds The Surfer of The Surfer’s father. The Surfer also meets a friendly unnamed photographer (played by Miranda Tapsel) on the beach and has a brief conversation with her where he reveals that when he was young, he spent a number of years being as a surfer and travelogue writer

Someone who isn’t helpful at all (and is on the Bay Boys’ side) is an unnamed local cop (played by Justin Rosniak), who is called to the scene when The Surfer phones in a complaint about the Bay Boys assaulting The Surfer and stealing The Surfer’s surfboard. The cop does nothing about these crimes because he says that Scally’s family is too rich and influential. The corrupt cop also confirms Scally’s lie that the Bay Boys have had the surfboard on display at their beach shack for months. It’s also revealed that several local residents enable and excuse the Bay Boys’ reign of terror.

During this conflict with the Bay Boys, The Surfer becomes increasingly stressed-out about the sale of his childhood house. Early in the movie, the estate agent Mike (played by Rahel Romahn) told The Surfer in a phone conversation that a family has offered a better deal buy the house and pay $1.7 million in cash. The Surfer had made an offer to pay $1.6 million for the house and pleads for more time to match the other potential buyer’s offer. Mike gives Ther Surfer an extra two days to come up with the additional $100,000. Meanwhile, his mortgage broker (voiced by Greg McNeill) tells The Surfer that The Surfer’s credit is stretched to the limit.

It’s never stated what The Surfer does for a living, but he’s a businessman who has clients. He also seems to be successful because he drives a Lexus. But there are signs that The Surfer’s mental health has been unraveling, and his job could be in jeopardy. The Surfer has taken a personal day off from work to spend time with Charlie at Luna Bay on a day that The Surfer should have been in business meetings. A phone conversation with an office colleague reveals that The Surfer wasn’t wearing shoes and socks at a recent client meeting.

As the tension and anger start to build and boil over between The Surfer and the Bay Boys, some other things go wrong for The Surfer. In between, he has dream-like memories of his childhood. The movie’s cinematography is excellent at creating a retro idyllic glow to these scenes that seep into the story when The Surfer wants some escapism from his harsh reality. At several points in the movie, viewers might be asking, “Where is this story going?” How much you will enjoy “The Surfer” will depend on your curiosity to see how the movie ends.

Cage is known for playing a long list of eccentric characters. In “The Surfer,” he does an admirable job of not playing this character as too over-the-top (which is a major criticism that Cage has gotten for his recent performances) but as someone who has sides to himself that are not immediately apparent. McMahon also stands out as the villainous Scally, although there’s nothing complex about this evil character.

Looking beyond the obvious crime thriller aspects of the story, “The Surfer” also has subtle commentary about how outward appearances can be deceiving, when it come to who can be trusted as honest and credible. The Bum is often dismissed by people who think he’s mentally ill and worthless because of his physical appearance and his poverty, but he is a truth teller. That’s in contrast to The Surfer, who has the image of being a respectable businessman, but he could be telling lies to himself and to other people. “The Surfer” might disappoint some viewers looking for a straightforward and predictable story, but this film is actually an artistic depiction of how memories (good and bad) can shape someone’s reality in the past and present.

Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate released “The Surfer” in U.S. cinemas on May 2, 2025. The movie will be released in Australia on May 15, 2025.

Review: ‘Misericordia’ (2024), starring Félix Kysyl, Catherine Frot, Jacques Develay, Jean-Baptiste Durand and David Ayala

March 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

Félix Kysyl and Jean-Baptiste Durand in “Misericordia” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow/Janus Films)

“Misericordia” (2024)

Directed by Alain Guiraudie

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023, in Saint-Martial, France, the dramatic film “Misericordia” features an all-white group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An unemployed con artist goes back to visit a bakery family whom he used to work for, and he proceeds to cause chaos in their lives.

Culture Audience: “Misericordia” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in twist-filled psychological dramas about con artists and their victims.

Pictured clockwise, from center: Tatiana Spivakova, Salomé Lopes, Sébastien Faglain, Catherine Frot and David Ayala in “Misericordia” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow/Janus Films)

“Misericordia” is a spellbinding psychological thriller about how a con artist fools people into thinking he’s harmless but is actually intent on causing havoc in people’s lives. It’s a superbly acted story about manipulation and murder. Some of the subject matter is intended to be unsettling in showing how victims of con artists can continue to dismiss or ignore indications or evidence that they’ve been conned because it’s easier than facing the truth.

Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie, “Misericordia” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including the Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. “Misericordia” (which takes place in 2023, in the small town of Saint-Martial, France) received seven nominations, including Best Picture, at the 2025 Cesar Awards, the French version of the Oscars.

“Misericordia” (which takes place in 2023) begins by showing Jérémie Pastor (played by Félix Kysyl), a con artist who’s in his 30s, returning to Saint-Martial, after many years spent living somewhere else. He has most recently lived in Toulouse, France. Jérémie used to live in Saint-Martial when he worked for a family-owned bakery. The family’s patriarch Jean-Pierre Rigal (played by Serge Richard, seen in photos and flashbacks), who was the bakery’s manager, has recently died at the age of 62. Jérémie is back in town to attend the funeral.

Jérémie’s presence gets mixed reactions. Jean-Pierre’s widow Martine Rigal (played by Catherine Frot) seems happy to see Jérémie. By contrast, Martine’s son Vincent Rigal (played by Jean-Baptiste Durand), who’s about the same age as Jérémie, isn’t thrilled to see Jérémie and asks him when he’s going back to Toulouse. Jérémie says he’s only visiting for a few days. He ends up staying much longer than that.

Jérémie tells people he is currently unemployed and has no plans on what to do with his life. Martine assumes that Jérémie’s unemployment means that he’s struggling financially, so she generously invites him to stay at her house. She says that Jérémie can sleep in the bedroom that Vincent had when he lived there. Vincent has his own home with his wife Annie Rigal (played by Tatiana Spivakova) and their son Kilian Rigal (played by Elio Lunetta), who’s about 7 or 8 years old.

Vincent is slightly annoyed to see Jérémie sleeping in Vincent’s former bedroom. He’s also suspicious that Jérémie has come back to Saint-Martial to take over the bakery. Now that Jean-Pierre is deceased, Vincent is expected to become the chief manager of the bakery. Jérémie assures Vincent that he has no intentions of working at the bakery again.

In a conversation with Vincent, Jérémie mentions that he recently broke up with a girlfriend whom he had been dating for three years. The movie eventually shows that Jérémie is bisexual, queer or sexually fluid. Jérémie doesn’t put a label on his sexuality. After a while, it’s pretty obvious that he’s sociopath who will have sex with or try to seduce anybody if it’s a way to get what he wants.

And that’s why there’s another reason why Vincent is highly suspicious of Jérémie: He senses that Martine has a weird crush on Jérémie: Martine treats Jérémie like a second son, but she also seems to be sexually attracted to Jérémie. Vincent is concerned that Jérémie will take advantage of widow Martine’s loneliness.

There’s an even more complicated twist to this dynamic, which further explains Vincent’s apprehension and resentment about Jérémie. When Jérémie used to work at the bakery, Jérémie told Jean-Pierre that he was in love with him. It’s unclear if Jean-Pierre did anything sexual with Jérémie, but Jérémie is the type of person who would at least try to sexually seduce someone he wants to target.

Martine and Vincent know about all Jérémie’s “romantic feelings” for Jean-Pierre, which is why Vincent is alarmed that his mother Martine seems so willing to let Jérémie back into their lives, even if it might be for a few days. The tension starts to grow between Jérémie and Vincent when Vincent sees that Martine is treating Jérémie like a son who has permanently come back home to live with the family.

A local elderly priest named Philippe Griseul (played by Jacques Develay) is a friend of the family and frequently stops by the house to visit. Martine lives near a wooded area, where the priest likes to pick mushrooms. One day, Father Griseul is on one of these mushroom-picking walks when he sees Vincent and Jérémie playfully roughhousing in the woods. It’s not a real fight, but there’s some real anger simmering between Vincent and Jérémie.

Another person who affects the dynamics between Jérémie and the Rigal family is Walter Bonchamp (played by David Ayala), a middle-aged bachelor who lives near Martine. Walter is an eccentric loner who doesn’t know Jérémie very well. But when Jérémie sees Walter again, Jérémie pretends that they were good friends during the time that Jérémie worked at the bakery.

The word “misericordia” is a Latin word for having compassion or pity for someone. And that is the reason why Jérémie is a successful con artist. He’s not handsome, nor is he especially charismatic. But he has a “sad sack” way about him that makes people feel sorry for him and want to offer to help him. Vincent can see right through Jérémie, which is one of the reasons why Jérémie and Vincent clash with each other.

As already revealed in the trailer for “Misericordia,” Vincent disappears and is reported missing to the local authorities. Two unnamed police officers (played by Sébastien Faglain and Salomé Lopes) show up and start investigating. Jérémie is the main person of interest because he was the last-known person to see Vincent alive.

Jérémie denies anything to do with Vincent’s disappearance. The cops put Jérémie under surveillance anyway. He becomes paranoid, which starts to affect what he does. About halfway through the “Misericordia,” the movie shows what happened to Vincent, so there’s no real mystery. The only mystery is if whoever is responsible for Vincent’s disappearance will be caught and held accountable.

Kysyl gives a compelling performance as manipulative Jérémie, who is not as “smooth” as he likes to think he is. Although the other cast members give very good performances, “Misericordia” is effective mainly because Kysyl is convincing in his “Misericordia” role as a con artist who pretends to be a “regular, harmless guy” but is actually the opposite. “Misericordia” has an ending that some viewers might dislike, but it’s an ending that is uncomfortably realistic, considering everything that takes place in this memorable story.

Sideshow/Janus Films released “Misericordia” in select U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on March 28, 2025. The movie was released in France on October 16, 2024.

Review: ‘Eephus,’ starring Keith William Richards, Cliff Blake, Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee, Wayne Diamond, Joe Castiglione and the voice of Frederick Wiseman

March 18, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jeff Saint-Dic, David Torres Jr., Theodore Bouloukos, Ethan Ward, John R. Smith Jr. and Brendan “Crash” Burt in “Eephus” (Photo courtesy of Music Box Films)

“Eephus”

Directed by Carson Lund

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1994, in Douglas, Massachusetts, the comedy/drama film “Eephus” features a predominantly white group of people (with few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Amateur baseball teams Adler’s Paint and the Riverdogs face off agant each other in their last game of the season and their last game in a field that will be demolished.

Culture Audience: “Eephus” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of baseball and movies about amateur athletes.

Patrick Garrigan, Chris Woodwin, Peter Minkarah, Stephen Radochia, Ari Brisbon, Ray Hryb and David Pridemore in “Eephus” (Photo courtesy of Music Box Films)

People interested in baseball will find a lot to like about “Eephus,” a leisurely comedy/drama about the last game that an amateur team plays in a soon-to-demolished baseball field. People who don’t like baseball might be bored by the movie’s insider talk. There’s a very specific audience that “Eephus” director Carson Lund wants to appeal to with this movie. “Eephus” is a love letter to that audience, told in a language of baseball that is best understood by people who already know the game and culture of baseball.

Writer/director Richard Linklater’s 1993 movie “Dazed and Confused” became a cult classic for teenage stoner comedies. “Eephus” (written by Lund, Michael Basta and Nate Fisher) might do the same for comedies about amateur baseball players. Both movies make viewers feel like they’re “hanging out” with several people in a clearly defined community, during a period of less than 24 hours. It’s not about having an action-filled plot but about having a storytelling vibe that shows a brief glimpse into the lives of ordinary people seeking social acceptance and pleasure in whatever makes them happy.

“Eephus” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2024, including the New York Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival. The movie was inspired by Lund’s own passion for baseball and his upbringing in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he played baseball in his childhood. “Eephus” is Lund’s feature-film directorial debut.

“Eephus” takes place on a Sunday in October 1994, at Soldiers Field, in suburban Douglas, Massachusetts. The baseball field in the movie was inspired by North Common Baseball Field in Nashua, New Hampshire, but “Eephus” was filmed on location in Douglas. The movie’s title refers to the name of an unnatural curveball pitch that’s intended to confuse the batter because the eephus looks like it’s being pitched in slow motion.

The two teams shown in “Eephus” have been meeting to play games on Sundays at Soldiers Field for years. But the baseball game in this movie is the end of an era. “Eephus” begins with radio announcer Branch Moreland (voiced by Frederick Wiseman, in a cameo role) reporting the news about Soldiers Field being demolished in the near future, so that a new middle school can be built on the site. All of “Eephus” takes place on the field.

The movie begins sometime in the mid-afternoon for a game between Adler’s Paint (the home team whose team colors are red and white) and the Riverdogs (the away team whose team colors are blue and gray). Both teams have players ranging in ages from 30s to 60s. Franny (played by Cliff Blake), the diligent scorekeeper/umpire for the game, is inspired by the real Francis “Frannie” Whitford, a baseball enthusiast from Nashua, who died in 2023, at the age of 67. (“Eephus” has an “in memory of” caption to Whitford in the movie’s end credits.)

The game gets off to a bumpy start because the Riverdogs need nine players to qualify, but a ninth team member named Garrett Furnivall (played by Chris Goodwin) is running late and hasn’t shown up yet. Adler’s Point graciously allows the Riverdogs to participate in the game, on the condition that Garrett needs to be there by the second inning, or else the Riverdogs have to forfeit the game. Garrett (who’s the Riverdogs’ catcher) shows up just in time, so the game continues. But when Garrett goes up to bat, he’s immediately hit by the ball.

Although almost everyone on each team is shown talking, some members of the team have more memorable personalities and more screen time than others. The Adler’s Paint team and the Riverdogs team each has a hot-headed, stubborn player: short-haired and clean-shaven Bobby Crompton (played by Brendan Burt) pitches for Adler’s Paint; long-haired and bearded Rich Cole (played by Ray Hryb) plays left field for the Riverdogs. Graham Morris (played by Stephen Radochia) is Riverdogs’ mild-mannered third baseman, who becomes the target of Rich’s wrath during multiple parts of the game.

Preston Red (played by Jeff Saint-Dic) is the Adler’s Paint friendly third baseman/right fielder, who gets a home run during his first time at bat during the game. Adler’s Paint trivia-spouting pitcher Merritt Nettles (played by “Eephus” co-writer Fisher) is based on real-life Major League Baseball pitcher Zack Greinke. Adler’s Paint outfielder Chuck Poleen (played by Theodore Bouloukos) is the unofficial spokesperson for the team and is usually the peacemaker when conflicts happen between team members.

Other players include scruffy Riverdogs pitcher Troy Carnahan (played by David Pridemore); talkative Adler’s Paint catcher John Faiella (played by John R. Smith Jr.); comedic Adler’s Paint second baseman Tim Bassett (played by Ethan Ward); and jaded Adler’s Paint pitcher Ed Mortanian (played by Keith William Richards), who is usually benched and has to observe from the sidelines.

This game has very few spectators (less than 10) at any given moment. Most of the spectators are family members or significant others of some of the players. Riverdogs second baseman Bill Belinda (played by Russell G. Gannon) has his wife Linda Belinda (played by Timber Holmes) and their middle-school-aged daughter Julie (played by Annie Callan Tisdale) cheering him on at this game. Before the game begins, Julie sings an off-key version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” to the teams and the sparse crowd.

Two skateboarders named Reggie (played by Gregory Falatek) and Eddie (played by Luis Vicente) yell at the players to be an annoying distraction. One of the skateboarders yells, “How many touchdowns?” Rich becomes infuriated yells back at them to “fuck off.” Rich, who’s the type of person to hold petty grudges, later goes looking for these two troublemakers in the wooded area because he thinks they deserve to be punished for distracting the players during the game.

Also portraying spectators are former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee (as a character named Lee Henderson) and former Boston Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione, who has the role of Mr. Mallinari, the owner/operator of a Harry’s Pizza food truck that’s parked near the field. It’s the closest place to buy food during the game, so getting pizza to eat is mentioned several times during the movie. In real life, Lee was known for perfecting the eephus. The “Eephus” character of Lee Henderson is the field’s lawn mower, who suggests that the Riverdogs use the eephus strategy, and then he is unexpectedly pulled into the game for reasons that are shown in the movie.

“Eephus” has a lot of droll commentary for the movie’s comedy. When Bobby tries to steal second base and gets called out, Tim muses out loud: “Is there anything more beautiful than the sun setting on a fat man stealing second base?” A running joke in the movie is bitter Ed complaining to a spectator kid named Jack (played Jack DiFonso), who’s about 9 or 10 years old. When Ed asks Jack if he plays baseball, and Jack says yes, Ed tries to crush the kid’s dreams by giving him this one-word piece of advice: “Don’t.”

The game extends into the night because several extra innings end in a tie. Because the field has no lighting, the players improvise and come up with a way to have lighting on the field. A few of the players have to leave because the game runs so late, but the die-hards stay until the very end. “Eephus” shows how some of the players seem kind of glad that the game has gone on this long, like partygoers who don’t want a farewell party to end.

“Eephus” isn’t overly sentimental, but it does offer some emotionally poignant observations about aging athletes who love playing a sport and struggle with deciding when is the right time to retire from the sport. Because most of the cast members are not professional actors, “Eephus” has a naturalistic tone that might be too casual for some viewers, but the tone perfectly captures the patience required for this baseball game that goes on longer than expected. Simply put: “Eephus” is an admirable cinematic celebration of baseball players whose bodies are no longer in the peak of their youth, but their love of the sport never gets old.

Music Box Films released “Eephus” in select U.S cinemas on March 7, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 15, 2025. “Eephus” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 24, 2025.

Review: ‘Chasing Chasing Amy,’ starring Sav Rodgers, Kevin Smith, Joey Lauren Adams, Riley Rodgers, Guinevere Turner and Scott Mosier

December 31, 2024

by Carla Hay

Joey Lauren Adams, Sav Rodgers and Kevin Smith in “Chasing Chasing Amy” (Photo courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment)

“Chasing Chasing Amy”

Directed by Sav Rodgers

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Chasing Chasing Amy” (filmed from 2018 to 2022) features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) discussing the culture and personal impact of the 1997 film “Chasing Chasing Amy” (written and directed by Kevin Smith), a comedy/drama about a heterosexual man who falls in love with a sexually fluid/queer woman.

Culture Clash: “Chasing Chasing Amy” director Sav Rodgers, a “Chasing Amy” superfan went through his own sexual identity journey while making the documentary when he got engaged to a queer cisgender woman and when he came out as a transgender man.

Culture Audience: “Chasing Chasing Amy” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of “Chasing Amy,” filmmaker Kevin Smith and documentaries about the intersections between pop culture and LGBTQ personal stories.

Riley Rodgers and Sav Rodgers in “Chasing Chasing Amy” (Photo courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment)

“Chasing Chasing Amy” is more than just a fan tribute for the 1997 comedy/drama “Chasing Amy.” This charming and insightful documentary has layers of meaningful perspectives of LGBTQ on-screen representation and off-screen dynamics in love and filmmaking. “Chasing Chasing Amy” might take some viewers by surprise by how deeply personal some people are in telling their stories in this documentary.

Directed by Sav Rodgers, “Chasing Chasing Amy” is his feature-film directorial debut. “Chasing Chasing Amy” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and subsequently screened at several other film festivals in 2023, including the Frameline Festival and BFI London Film Festival. “Chasing Chasing Amy” was filmed from 2018 to 2022 in various parts of the United States. Rodgers appears in “Chasing Chasing Amy” and is the movie’s narrator.

“Chasing Chasing Amy” begins by Rodgers explaining that when he was a child growing up in Kansas, he became obsessed with watching “Chasing Amy,” written and directed by Kevin Smith. Rodgers says that at one point, he was watching “Chasing Amy” every day including a period of time when he watched the movie very day for a month. Rodgers was bullied at school for being queer. He says “Chasing Amy” helped him stay alive during dark periods of his life when he was feeling suicidal.

In “Chasing Amy,” a comic book artist named Holden McNeil (played by Ben Affleck) meets aspiring writer Alyssa Jones (played by Joey Lauren Adams), and they begin dating each other and fall in love. What makes their relationship complicated is that at the time Holden and Alyssa met, she identified as a lesbian. In her relationship with Holden, Alyssa isn’t quite so sure she wants to continue to identify as a lesbian, but she knows she’s not heterosexual either. Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in “Chasing Amy.”

Nowadays, Alyssa would probably identify as queer, bisexual or sexually fluid. But in 1997, it was rare to for a mainstream movie to have a main character who was experiencing what Alyssa was feeling. Rodgers says that he connected immensely with “Chasing Amy” because it was the first movie he saw at the time where he saw a character who was neither gay nor straight but defining sexuality on their own terms. It was a something that Rodgers could relate to but he couldn’t express himself about it at the time.

In 2019, Rodgers gave a TED Talk about how “Chasing Chasing Amy” changed his life for the better and helped him come out of the closet as a queer person. Footage from this TED Talk is in the documentary. By this time, Rodgers had already decided to make a documentary about his love of “Chasing Amy.” After the TED Talk, “Chasing Amy” director Smith reached out to Rodgers on social media and arranged for Rodgers to meet and interview Smith at Smith’s Los Angeles home. It was a turning point for Rodgers and this documentary, as Smith eventually became a mentor of sorts to Rodgers.

“Chasing Amy” is a movie where art imitated life in more ways than one. Smith (who is described by colleagues in the documentary as a constant jokester and highly creative) and Adams (who is described by colleagues in the documentary as intelligent and grounded) dated each other from 1995 to 1997. Smith and Adams have both said in many interviews that the characters of Holden and Alyssa were partially based on Smith and Adams, except that Adams did not identify as a lesbian in real life. Adams is one of the people interviewed in “Chasing Chasing Amy,” which was released in April 1997, about six months before she and Smith broke up.

What many people might not know, but which is included in the “Chasing Chasing Amy” documentary, is that the queer aspect of Alyssa and Holden’s romance was based on a real-life relationship that “Chasing Amy” producer Scott Mosier had circa 1994 with filmmaker/actress Guinevere Turner, who identifies as a lesbian. Mosier and Turner, who both had small roles in “Chasing Amy,” are interviewed separately in “Chasing Chasing Amy.” Mosier and Turner both describe their relationship at the time as a “romantic friendship.” Smith decided to write “Chasing Amy” based on that relationship, but he made the Alyssa character have a personality that was a lot like Adams’ real personality.

“Chasing Chasing Amy” admirably acknowledges that although the low-budget independent film “Chasing Amy” was a critically acclaimed hit (“Chasing Amy” had a $250,000 production budget and $12 million in ticket sales), some people consider it problematic that a movie about an unconventional romance with a queer woman was written by a heterosexual man and told from a very hetereosexual male perspective. In “Chasing Chasing Amy,” Smith says that he understands how people have that opinion, but he can’t change who he is and how he made the movie.

The documentary also points out that the issue isn’t just about “cultural appropriation.” It’s also about the hierarchy in the film industry where cisgender men still get the best opportunities as filmmakers, compared to people who aren’t cisgender men. Turner comments that when she and Smith were at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, they were peers starring in separate buzzworthy movies filmed in black and white: Turner was at Sundance for her lesbian comedy/drama “Go Fish” (a movie she co-wrote with “Go Fish” director Rose Troche), while Smith was at Sundance for his feature-film debut “Clerks,” a comedy/drama written by Smith. Looking back at what happened after that fateful 1994 Sundance Film Festival, Turner says bluntly: “What emerged was Kevin got an empire, and we were just some dykes.”

“Chasing Chasing Amy” also peels back the curtain in how making “Chasing Amy” was a very different experience for Smith than it was from Adams. In “Chasing Chasing Amy,” Adams and Smith are interviewed separately and together. The interviews that Smith and Adams do together are jovial, but they get more somber in their separate interviews. Their experiences are reflections of larger issues of gender and power dynamics in filmmaking.

In his interviews for “Chasing Chasing Amy,” Smith seems to be basking in the praise that he gets from Rodgers at how “Chasing Amy” changed Rodgers’ life. However, Smith says he now has mixed feelings about “Chasing Chasing Amy” being distributed by Miramax, the company co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, who later became a disgraced mogul/convicted rapist in the late 2010s. Smith notes in the interview that the Miramax deal for “Chasing Amy” started at the 1997 Sundance Festival, where actress Rose McGowan says Weinstein raped her. Smith says he was “naïve” and the time didn’t know at the time about Weinstein’s criminal acts behind the scenes.

In her separate interview in “Chasing Chasing Amy,” Adams is visibly uncomfortable and gets emotionally tearful a few times. Adams makes it clear that she’s grateful for the opportunity of making “Chasing Amy” and says she’s happy that the movie helped save Rodgers life. However, making the movie brings up bittersweet memories of her that are still painful. Smith says that Adams was his “muse” at the time, but she remembers their relationship falling apart over similar issues that plagued “Chasing Amy” characters Alyssa and Holden: He was insecure that she was more sexually experienced than he was. He also constantly questioned if she loved him less than he loved her.

Adams also says that her filmmaking experiences as an actress who was forced to have meetings with “old men” and getting rejected for roles is different from Smith’s experiences where he can get a laugh out of these types of meetings. Adams doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s obvious that what she means to say that when a man like Smith goes into these types of meetings with predatory people like Weinstein, Smith never had to worry about possibly being sexually harassed or worse. Adams says about the “Chasing Amy” filmmaking experience, “Kevin’s truth is not my truth. It wasn’t a cathartic thing [for me] for me as it was for Kevin.” Adams adds, “I was dating this guy [Smith] who was making me feel bad about myself.”

“Chasing Chasing Amy” also has an “art imitating life” storyline with Rodgers and his love partner Riley, who have been a couple since they were in their late teens, when they met online through Tumblr. The documentary was filmed during the evolution of their romance— from long-distance dating to getting engaged to getting married—all before, during and after Sav came out as a transgender man and later went through his hormonal transition. (The couple’s marriage proposal and wedding are shown in the movie.)

Riley Rodgers, who describes their relationship as being “soul mates,” is interviewed in the documentary and asks Sav some candid questions at the end of the film. Riley mentions that—just like “Chasing Amy” character Alyssa—she identified as a lesbian until she found out that she was in love with a man. It’s briefly mentioned that Sav and Riley’s parents are supportive of their relationship. Sav’s mother Natalie Giannakis is seen toward the end of the film.

Other people interviewed in the documentary are “Chasing Amy” casting director Shana Lory, Outfest executive director Christopher Ractser, writer/lesbian culture critic Trish Bendis, film critic Teo Bugbee, pop culture writer/editor Princess Weekes, “Chasing Amy” associate producer Bob Hawk, filmmaker Andrew Ahn, AFI Festival senior programmer Eric Moore, Film Threat founder Chris Gore, filmmaker Kevin Willmott, “90s Bitch” author Allison Yarrow, writer/filmmaker Carlen May-Mann, filmmaker Dana St. Anand, University of Kansas bisexuality studies professor Dr. Sarah Jen, and “Chasing Amy” co-star Jason Lee. Rodgers also visits some of the New Jersey locations associated with Smith, such as Jack’s Music Shoppe (where Rodgers interviews manager Tim Cronin) and Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, where Rodgers interviews manager Mike Zapcic.

“Chasing Chasing Amy” tends to go off on little tangents when talking about other movies or when Sav geeks out about seeing “Chasing Amy” memorabilia, but the film mostly stays on course. The documentary has a fairly good balance between telling commentaries about “Chasing Amy” and telling Sav’s personal story about what was going on in his own life. In its purest form, “Chasing Chasing Amy”—just like “Chasing Amy”—is a celebration about finding true love wherever you happen to find it and not necessarily being restricted by gender labels.

Level 33 Entertainment released “Chasing Chasing Amy” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024. The movie was released on digital and VOD on December 17, 2024.

Review: ‘2073,’ starring Samantha Morton

December 27, 2024

by Carla Hay

Samantha Morton in “2073” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“2073”

Directed by Asif Kapadia

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2073 in the fictional U.S. city called New San Francisco, the docudrama film “2073” features a racially diverse group of people (white, black, Latin, Asian and Indigenous) who portray apocalypse survivors (in the drama scenes) or who are real-life political activists.

Culture Clash: The politically liberal activists who make comments for the documentary predict that an apocalypse will happen in the 21st century due to environmental, socioeconomic and political issues.

Culture Audience: “2073” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of director Asif Kapadia and “end of the world” movies that place almost all the blame on politically conservative people.

A scene from “2073” of the Golden Gate Bridge in California affected by wildfires (Photo courtesy of Neon)

Pretentious and derivative, “2073” is a doomsday docudrama that combines dreary apocalypse scenes with left-wing political lecturing. There’s too much whining and not enough talk about practical solutions. The “end of the world” warnings in this movie just add up to a lot of annoying hot air. The so-called experts interviewed for this movie just want to blame the world’s problems on people who don’t share their liberal political beliefs.

Directed by Asif Kapadia, “2073” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. The movie made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including the BFI London Film Festival and DOC NYC. Kapadia won an Oscar for the 2015 Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy.” Unfortunately, “2073” is a low point in his filmmography.

Although “2073” is undoubtedly a film that has noble intentions, it has a heavy-handed approach. The movie has an obvious political agenda, but that agenda’s credibility is lowered with the movie using fictional, scripted scenes as examples of the gloom and doom predicted in the movie. Kapadia and Tony Grisoni co-wrote the “2073” screenplay.

The concept of “2073” isn’t very original. According to the movie’s synopsis, “2073” is inspired by Chris Marker’s “iconic 1962 featurette ‘La Jetée,’ about a time traveler who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity.” As explained in the beginning of “2073,” the scripted portions of the movie take place in 2073—37 years after “the event,” which obviously means an apocalypse. In other words, this apocalypse happened in 2036, which is just 12 years after the release of this movie.

The scripted drama scenes in “2073” are in a fictional city called New San Francisco, which is described as the capital of the Americas. In this bombed-out city, there’s an electronic billboard showing news reports about Chairwoman Ivanka Trump. What entity has Ivanka Trump as a chairwoman? Don’t expect this ridiculous movie to answer that question. The “2073” filmmakers’ obvious intention is to provoke viewers who would get upset at the thought of Ivanka Trump being chairwoman of anything.

The movie’s drama scenes follows the depressing and solitary life of an apocalypse survivor (played by Samantha Morton), whose name is listed in the end credits as Ghost. Ghost, who is a voiceover narrator for these drama scenes, is seen living in a dark and destroyed building while avoiding being seen by other people as much as possible. According to Ghost, her memory was “slipping through [her] fingers, like sand.”

Ghost also says she’s in hiding because one day “they” came for her. “I ran. I’m still running. My life is turning into one of those sci-fi comics I used to read. There are others here—survivors, renegades.” Other scenes in the movie show that the Americas—or at least New San Francisco—is being run by an oppressive government that rounds up “renegades” and tortures them.

Ghost is trying to avoid detection from an artificial intelligence being called Jack. “He listens and watches everything,” Ghost says about Jack. “You can’t trust anyone anymore. People thought the world would end, but the world goes on. It’s us who’ll end.”

It’s all so tedious to watch this watered-down ripoff of Big Brother from George Orwell’s doomsday “1984” novel, which was published in 1949 and predicted a dystopian future. In “2073,” Naomi Ackie has a small and ultimately inconsequential role as a professor character. Morton’s acting as Ghost is adequate by can’t overcome the weak screenplay.

As for the “talking heads” interviews in the documentary sections of “2073,” these comments are presented as voiceovers, presumably not to distract from the movie’s dramatic images of Ghost suffering in a decrepit place where food and water are scarce. In the documentary parts of the movie, the people commenting are politically liberal activists from Europe, North America, and Asia. The documentary doesn’t explain why, in a movie about the “end of the world,” there is no commentator representation from other largely populated continents, such as Africa and Australia.

Almost all of the activist commentators are also journalists and/or writers, such as Maria Ressa, Carole Cadwalladr, Rana Ayyub Ben Rhodes, Rahima Mahmut, Silkie Carlo, Cori Crider, George Monbiot, Nina Schick, Douglas Rushkof, Carmody Grey, James O’Brien, Anne Applebaum and Antony Lowenstein. The other commentators are Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls, computer scientist Tristan Harris and environmental activist Alessandra Korap.

The problem with “2073” is that the documentary parts of the movie are just soundbite compilations that recycle whatever rants these people have already said or written in other movies or media reports. Want to know about Ressa’s crusade for freedom of the press in her native Philippines? There was already an excellent documentary about it: 2020’s “A Thousand Cuts,” directed by Ramona S. Díaz. Labor union leader Smalls is the star of the 2024 documentary “Union,” (directed by Stephen Maing and Brett Story), which chronicles Amazon Labor Union becoming the first union at corporate giant Amazon.

The “2073” doomsday warnings about the environment are very “been there, done that” and were already well-presented by Al Gore in the Oscar-winning 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (directed by Davis Guggenheim), as well as in many other documentaries and news reports about climate change. And that why it’s so boring and basic to hear political strategist/security expert Sherri Goodman say in “2073” commentary: “We are truly in a climate emergency.”

Other concerns brought forth in the documentary parts of “2073” have to do with government surveillance, civil rights and the erosion of democracy. The essential messaging of “2073” is that (1) anyone who’s involved in conservative politics is contributing to the end of the world; (2) only progressive political liberals are smart enough to tell you that; and (3) if you don’t believe the commentators in the movie, then you must be an idiot. It’s a very condescending tone that can be an absolute turn-off to people (even liberals) who are open-minded and intelligent enough to make up their own minds about how they feel about world issues.

It’s appalling that so many journalists are interviewed for “2073” but their comments in the movie are not really about investigative journalism but are just soundbite rants that say nothing new. By not presenting anything substantial to prove that opposing viewpoints are wrong, “2073” fails at being balanced and is actually quite didactic in its “political liberals are always right” messaging. For a more informative look at the world’s problems and effective ways to deal with these problems, progressive liberals can watch MSNBC or read Mother Jones and don’t need to watch “2073,” a misguided movie that is unrelenting in its paranoia and political divisiveness that don’t give any logical and hopeful solutions.

Neon released “2073” in select U.S. cinemas on December 27, 2024.

Review: ‘Dahomey’ (2024), an absorbing documentary about the return of stolen African artifacts and the long-term effects of colonial oppression

November 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

A worker looking at a statue of King Béhanzin in “Dahomey” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)

“Dahomey”

Directed by Mati Diop

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Dahomey,” filmed in 2021 and 2022, features a predominantly African group of people (with some white people) in Africa’s Republic of Benin (formerly known as Dahomey) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: The documentary follows the journey of artifacts that were stolen from Dahomey by French colonials in the 1890s and returned from France to the artifacts’ native homeland n 2021.

Culture Audience: “Dahomey” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in documentaries that take an unusual artistic approach to historical stories affected by colonialism.

A student speaking at the University of Abomey-Calavi in “Dahomey” (Photo courtesy of MUBI)

“Dahomey” gives a narration voice to African artifacts that were taken by France and returned to their African homeland in 2021. This highly unique and artistic documentary invites viewers to contemplate how the artifacts represent stolen histories and oppressed cultures. It’s the type of documentary that is best appreciated by viewers who are open to watching non-fiction films that don’t follow traditional formats. “Dahomey” is only 68 minutes long, but its slow pacing might make some viewers feel like the movie is much longer than 68 minutes.

Directed by Mati Diop, “Dahomey” had its world premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear (the festival’s top prize), which is a rare accomplishment for a documentary. “Dahomey” has since screened at numerous other film festivals in 2024, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. “Dahomey” is Senegal’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2025 Academy Awards. “Dahomey” is the first documentary feature directed by Diop, who is known for being a director and actress in fictional feature films.

The African kingdom of Dahomey was under French rule from 1895 to 1960, when Dahomey regained its independence. Dahomey was renamed Benin in 1975. Benin has undergone numerous coups and political upheavals, with constant division over whether or not Benin’s government should be socialist. There are lingering effects of the country’s colonial rule by France: French is Benin’s official language, and Catholicism is the majority religion in Benin.

The beginning of “Dahomey” shows this caption superimposed over footage of a boat in the water: “November 9, 2021: Twenty-six royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey are due to leave Paris, returning to their land of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. These artifacts were among the thousands looted by French colonial troops during the invasion of 1892. For them, 130 years of captivity are coming to an end.”

“Dahomey” is mostly a cinéma vérité documentary, with no interviews, no animation and no re-enactments with actors. What makes “Dahomey” so unusual is that the collective “voice” of these 26 artifacts is the narration in several parts of the documentary. Diop and Malkenzy Orcel (a Haitian writer who is the narration’s haunting voice) wrote the narration for “Dahomey” as speculation of what these artifacts would say if they could speak during this journey from France to Benin.

The narration expresses an array of emotions, including curiosity, fear, sadness, joy, pride and defiance. An early thought expressed in the narration says during the trip, “I journeyed so long in my mind, but it was so dark in this foreign place that I lost myself in my dreams, becoming one with these walls, cut off from the land of my birth, as if I were dead. There are thousands of us on this night. We all bear the same scars.”

The voice then laments, “They have named me 26. Not 24. Not 30. Just 26. Why don’t they call me by my real name? Don’t they know it?” Later, when boxes of the artifacts are being loaded on an airplane, the narration voice says: “I’m torn between the fear of not being recognized by anyone and not recognizing everything.”

All the people who appear in the documentary are not identified by their names when they appear on screen. Anonymous workers unload the artifacts and inspect the artifacts when they arrive in Benin. An unnamed supervisor clinically lists the physical characteristics of the artifacts during an inspection. Unfortunately, “Dahomey” gives detailed information about only a select number—not all—of the 26 artifacts.

Viewers see that a brown statue of King Ghezo has arrived in “average” condition and is made of painted wood, metal and fibers. The statue weighs about 220 kilograms or 485 pounds. Another striking-looking artifact is a red statue of King Glele, which shows him with a horse’s upper body and a human lower body. This statue is also declared as being in “average condition.” A worker begins to sing when he is tasked with inspecting an ebony statue of King Béhanzin, who was the rule of Dahomey from 1890 to 1894.

The artifacts get a hero’s welcome from bystanders on the streets as the artifacts are transported in vehicles before they are put on display. (The artifacts have been on display at the Benin presidential palace and have gone on an exhibition tour across Benin.) The crowds are clearly not cheering about the real or perceived monetary value of these treasures. They are cheering because the return of these artifacts are about an acknowledgement that French colonials stole a lot of historical culture from this nation, which is now getting some of it back through these artifacts.

But not everyone in Benin is happy about the return of these artifacts. The last half of the documentary shows a civil discussion among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi, where they gather in an assembly room and express differing opinions on the arrival of these artifacts. Some students think that out of the approximately 7,000 known artifacts that were stolen by France, returning only 26 is just a token gesture. Other students think that the 26 artifacts beng returned is a good start to healing some of the damage caused by colonialism.

A female student says that she cried for 15 minutes straight after seeing the artifacts for the first time and is one of the people who think that it’s insulting that only 26 artifacts were returned. Another female student comments that the return of the artifacts has more to do with politics than history. A male student says of France president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to return the artifacts: “Macron didn’t do it because we asked. He did it to boost his brand.”

Later, an African American woman who sees the artifacts on display says that there’s a parallel between the return of these artifacts and the possibility that descendants of enslaved Africans can get reparations. She gives a monologue that has a tone of hope that progress will be made.

“Dahomey” is not interested in taking sides on any political issues. In its own thoughtful and observant ways, “Dahomey” is a documentary that shows how the return of these artifacts have opened up discussions about how national pride and colonialism can affect people in the past, present and future. “Dahomey” is not a story about inanimate objects. It’s a story about living history.

MUBI released “Dahomey” in select U.S. cinemas on October 25, 2024.

Review: ‘The Gutter’ (2024), starring Shameik Moore, D’Arcy Carden, Paul Reiser and Susan Sarandon

November 24, 2024

by Carla Hay

Shameik Moore and D’Arcy Carden in “The Gutter” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“The Gutter” (2024)

Directed by Isaiah Lester and Yassir Lester

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the United States, the comedy film “The Gutter” features a racially diverse cast of characters (African American, white, Latin and Asian) representing the working-class and the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A down-on-his-luck man with extraordinary bowling skills teams up with an ex-champion bowler as his coach to enter bowling tournaments so they can raise enough money to save the bowling alley where he works, but he comes up against a formidable longtime bowling champion who has recently come out of retirement.

Culture Audience: “The Gutter” will appeal primarily to fans of the movie’s headliners and tacky and mindless comedies where almost all of the main characters are irritating.

Susan Sarandon in “The Gutter” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“The Gutter” is an apt way to describe this trashy and stupid comedy about obnoxious people involved in bowling tournaments. The racist jokes aren’t funny at all and shouldn’t be excused just because African American filmmakers put these jokes in the movie. This is the type of garbage movie that thinks it’s hilarious that the black protagonist gives himself the nickname Nygga Time when he enters bowling tournaments, with “Nygga” pronounced exactly like you think it’s pronounced.

Isaiah Lester and Yassir Lester (who are brothers) directed this moronic film, which was written by Yassir Lester. “The Gutter” had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival and later screened at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival. There’s no explanation for why this bottom-of-the-barrel crappy movie ended up at these two major film festivals except that the filmmakers have great connections.

“The Gutter” is not only filled with idiotic dialogue but it’s also very boring and repetitive. The movie is an onslaught of terrible writing, with the cast members not doing much to elevate the material. “The Gutter” begins with main character Walt (played by Shameik Moore), who is an unlikable dolt, applying for a job at AlleyCatz Bowling Alley, which is in an unnamed U.S. city. This loathsome movie has a weird fixation on calling Walt the “n” word, because a caption in the beginning of the movie describes him as “That Ni*ga.”

Walt is interviewed by AlleyCatz Bowling Alley owner Mozell Lester (played by Jackée Harry), who takes one look at Walt’s résumé and tells him: “Let me be honest with you. Your résumé is trash. You really shouldn’t list on here why you got fired from these jobs.” The movie then shows an unfunny flashback montage to Walt’s previous jobs where he got fired.

As a line cook at an Italian restaurant, Walt described bread sticks as “dildos.” As a sales associate at an electronics store, he insulted two lesbian spouses and their son, who were customers, by calling the boy a “lesbian kid.” Walt proves that he’s still an insipid creep by sexually harassing Mozell during the interview. Because this movie is a dumpster train wreck, Mozell hires him anyway to be a bartender at AlleyCatz Bowling Alley.

“The Gutter” gets worse. There’s a running gag that Walt doesn’t like to wear shirts on the job because it will save him money from doing laundry. And so, there are several scenes of shirtless Walt looking like a “Magic Mike” reject.

How “poor” is Walt? There’s an awful scene showing Walt arriving at his home, where he lives with his mother Vicki (played by Kim Fields), who plays a prank on him by pretending they got their electricity cut off for not paying their ulility bills. When she reveals it’s all a prank, Vicki cackles, “Being poor is fun.”

A customer who is constantly at the AlleyCatz Bowling Alley bar is a former professional bowler named Skunk (played by D’Arcy Carden), an admitted alcoholic, who “gets drunk here every day,” according to Mozell. Skunk is a whiny and sarcastic pessimist, who talks in a deadpan voice. Walt and Skunk immediately clash with each other, which means they’re going to be stuck with each other for most of this terrible and unimaginative movie.

“The Gutter” has poorly written scenes that serve no purpose but to have someone say something vapid and aggravating, but the filmmakers probably think it’s clever and edgy. For example, an employee who works at the bowling alley named Brotha Candy (played by Rell Battle) is shown standing outside the bowling alley with a megaphone shouting: “White people come from monkeys! That’s why their nipples are pink!” If you think this is hilarious, then “The Gutter” is the movie for you.

One day, an unnamed city building inspector (played by Adam Brody) shows up and delivers some bad news to Mozell: The AlleyCatz Bowling Alley has all types of building code violations. It will cost about $200,000 to clear up all of these violations. And she has a limited time to get the money, or else AlleyCatz Bowling Alley will be shut down.

Mozell doesn’t have the money, of course. And what a coincidence: Around this time, Walt finds out that he has extraordinary talent in bowling. He then comes up with an idea to enter bowling tournaments so that he can win enough money to save AlleyCatz Bowling Alley. Walt enlists a reluctant Skunk to be his bowling coach.

And so, Walt and Skunk go on a cross-country tour of bowling tournaments. Most of their stops are in the Midwest and South (in cities such as Indianapolis, Tulsa, and Houston), only so “The Gutter” can have ridiculous caricatures of backwards “redneck” people who are shocked that someone who looks like Walt is so good at bowling. The movie over-uses a not-funny-at-all gag that when Walt wins a tournament, he throws a hissy fit if he doesn’t get an oversized cardboard check.

Another unfunny gag that goes nowhere: Pornhub becomes a sponsor to Walt during these tournaments, so Walt plasters Pornhub stickers all over his shirtless chest and back. A TV journalist named Angelo (played by Paul Reiser) notices Walt’s bowling skills and tags along on this tour to report on this potential new bowling star. And a weird and arrogant bowler named Crantley Jr. (played by Paul Scheer) becomes Walt’s rival.

However, Walt’s biggest competition ends up being ruthless Linda Curson (played by Susan Sarandon), a former world champion bowler, who comes out of retirement when she hears how well Walt is doing on the bowling circuit. Linda is the type of bowler who chain smokes while she’s bowling, which is supposed to be the movie’s way of showing that she can do whatever she wants in places where indoor smoking is not allowed. It’s eventually revealed that Skunk has a huge grudge against Linda and a secret connection to Linda.

You know where all of this is going, of course. It’s excruciating to get there because “The Gutter” has so many scenes that are just irksome because of all the horrible dialogue and repellant characters. The bowling scenes have no suspense or real excitement.

Sarandon looks like she’s trying to have as much fun as she can with her role as mean-spirited and vengeful Linda. Carden’s understated approach to her jaded Skunk character is so off-kilter in comparison to Moore’s try-hard approach to over-the-top Walt, it’s almost painful to watch these two characters in scenes together. The other characters in the movie don’t have enough screen time to have any real meaning to this limp story.

“The Gutter” isn’t one of those movies where it’s amusing or entertaining to watch mismatched characters thrown together in circumstances they could not predict. It’s just a parade of sloppy filmmaking, cringeworthy dialogue and a very lazy ending. By the end of “The Gutter,” you won’t care to see any of these repulsive characters ever again.

Magnolia Pictures released “The Gutter” in select U.S. cinemas and on digital and VOD on November 1, 2024.

Review: ‘Starve Acre,’ starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark

August 18, 2024

by Carla Hay

Matt Smith in “Starve Acre” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“Starve Acre”

Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in England, the horror film “Starve Acre” (based on the 2019 novel of the same name) features an all-white group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A married couple, who live with their 5-year-old son on the husband’s inherted estate property, experience terror that has to do with a wood sprite character named Jack Grey, who was written about by the husband’s now-deceased father.

Culture Audience: “Starve Acre” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movies headliners and the book on which the movie is based, but this is a horror movie that has more style than substance.

Morfydd Clark in “Starve Acre” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

The overrated horror flick “Starve Acre” is a hollow, pretentious and boring adaptation of its namesake novel. By the end of the movie, nothing of substance is revealed about the main characters or the evil that wreaks havoc on those characters. If you want to watch a movie where the majority of scenes are of a married couple looking confused and/or mopey, then “Starve Acre” is the movie for you.

Written and directed by Daniel Kokotajlo, “Starve Acre” is based on Andrew Michael Hurley’s 2019 novel of the same name. “Starve Acre” takes place in an unnamed city in England but was actually filmed in Yorkshire, England. The movie had its world premiere at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival.

“Starve Acre” moves at such a sluggish pace, a period of time that is supposed to take place over a few days feels like much longer. The movie has many unanswered questions that were answered in the book. There’s no other reason for the movie’s voids of information except lazy and sloppy filmmaking.

In the “Starve Acre” movie, married couple Richard Willoughby (played by Matt Smith) and Juliette Willoughby (played by Morfydd Clark) live with their 5-year-old son Owen Willoughby (played by Arthur Shaw) in a remote rural area, on a vast estate property that Richard inherited from his father, who was a successful novelist. (In the “Starve Acre” book, the son’s name is Ewan.) Richard’s mother is also deceased, but she’s barely mentioned in the movie. Richard works as an anthropologist. Juliette is a homemaker.

Richard’s father Neil Willoughby wrote a book called “Starve Acre” that has a character called Jack Grey, a wood sprite that inflicts evil and lives in a certain tree. Richard says that Neil’s intention in creating the Jack Grey character was to scare children. About two-thirds into the movie, Richard has an emotional breakdown and reveals to Juliette that his father was very abusive to Richard when Richard was a child. Richard says his father would often make Richard strip to Richard’s underwear and stand outside in the freezing cold for hours.

On the property, there’s a patch of land where a massive tree used to be. In a scene that takes place early on in the movie, Richard and Owen are walking in this area, and Richard tells Owen that the tree was probably cut down “to make way for farming.” Of course, as soon as Richard says this, you just know that the reason why this tree was cut down was because of a nefarious secret that is revealed toward the end of the film. The secret is exactly what you think it is.

In the meantime, “Starve Acre” plods along with dull scene after monotonous scene of Richard and Juliette becoming aware that strange things are happening to Owen, inside and outside their household. One day, when the family is at a community festival fair, Owen inexplicably uses a long stick to poke out the right eye of an innocent pony. The violence in “Starve Acre” is never explicitly shown on camera. The aftermath of the violence is shown on screen instead.

The rest of “Starve Acre” shows how this family starts to go downhill as something sinister seems to infiltrate their lives. An elderly neighbor named Gordon (played by Sean Gilder) is very superstitious and has been telling Owen some stories, so Richard eventually bans Gordon from coming over to the Willoughby property, but Gordon comes back anyway. On one of Gordon’s return visits, after he’s been supposedly banned, he brings an elderly friend with him named Mrs. Forde (played by Melanie Kilburn), who says she’s a healer through yoga and meditation.

Not long afterward, Richard finds the skeletal, rotting corpse of a wild rabbit on the property. He brings this corpse to work to shows a co-worker named Steven (played by Robert Emms), who is baffled over why Richard would bring this rabbit cadaver to their workplace. Richard begins to act strangely and becomes obsessed with digging in the area where the fallen tree used to be.

Something life-changing happens to the family. And that’s when Juliette’s sister Harrie (played by Erin Richards), with her pet Shih Tzu named Corey in tow, comes to visit the family. Harrie witnesses a lot of the increased strangeness happening in this family. Harrie’s reaction is just to stand around and ask Richard and Juliette what’s going on, but Richard and Juliette won’t tell her. The movie reveals nothing about Harrie and her life except for a brief mention that she lives with a guy named Tommy, who is never seen in the movie.

Except for one part of the movie involving a major plot development for one of the characters, there are no real surprises in “Starve Acre.” Don’t expect to get much insight into any of these characters or even an interesting origin tale of the evil in the story. Smith and Clark give adequate performances, considering that the characters of Richard and Juliette are very opaque and there’s almost no meaningful information about them. Forget about Juliette having a backstory, because she doesn’t have one in this movie.

The best production qualities of “Starve Acre” are its cinematography and production design. There are some scenes that are mildly creepy and somewhat unsettling, but nothing that comes close to being terrifying. The very last scene in “Starve Acre” is almost laughable because of how silly it looks. It’s supposed to be shocking but it’s actually quite underwhelming. Ultimately, “Starve Acre” is a horror movie that over-relies on atmosphere but doesn’t bring enough to the film that is truly scary or can make viewers really care about the main characters.

Brainstorm Media released “Starve Acre” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and on VOD.

Review: ‘Tuesday’ (2024), starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew, Leah Harvey and Arinzé Kene

June 29, 2024

by Carla Hay

Lola Petticrew and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Tuesday” (Photo by Kevin Baker/A24)

“Tuesday” (2024)

Directed by Daina O. Pusić

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in England, the dramatic film “Tuesday” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A 15-year-old girl (who has an unnamed terminal illness) and her worried mother have interactions with death, which manifests itself as a talking macaw that can willingly change the size of its body. 

Culture Audience: “Tuesday” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and offbeat movies about confronting mortality.

Lola Petticrew and Death (voiced by Arinzé Kene) in “Tuesday” (Photo by Kevin Baker/A24)

The morbid drama “Tuesday” is best appreciated by viewers who can tolerate surrealistic movies about death. It’s a unique story about a mother and daughter interacting with death, which is embodied as a talking macaw. The concept is creative but alienating. The people who will dislike this movie will really hate it, while others will either like or love this movie. It’s a flawed but interesting film. The cast members’ performances might keep viewer interest if people still want to watch the movie after seeing how death is portrayed in the story.

“Tuesday” is the feature-film directorial debut of writer/director Daina O. Pusić, also known as Daina Oniunas-Pusić. The movie had its world premiere at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival and then made the rounds at other film festivals, such as the 2023 BFI London Film Festival and the 2024 Miami Film Festival. Before writing and directing “Tuesday,” Pusić wrote and directed short films.

The opening sequence in “Tuesday” shows Death (an orange macaw) taking the lives of several people in various locations. (“Tuesday” takes place in an unnamed city in England, where the movie was filmed on location.) Death can change its size by choice. In the movie, Death’s sizes range from being as small as a thimble to as large as a tall building. The character of Death is a combination of computer-generated imagery and visual effects for a live actor performance. In the scenes where Death is human-sized or larger, Death is portrayed by actor Arinzé Kene.

Death has a deep, gravelly voice that can be off-putting to some viewers. When Death is ready to take someone’s life, Death gives that someone a very tight embrace. Some of the dying people welcome death, while others don’t want death anywhere near them. Some are shocked and frightened by seeing Death, while others are not surprised and are much more accepting.

These contrasting attitudes toward Death can be seen in the mother and daughter who are the people at the center of the story. Zora (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is an American single mother, who lives with her 15-year-old daughter Tuesday (played by Lola Petticrew), who has an unnamed terminal illness. Tuesday’s father is not seen or mentioned in the movie. It’s also never explained why Zora is living in England, but it can be presumed she’s lived in England for several years because Tuesday has an English accent.

Tuesday uses an oxygen tank and a wheelchair. She also has a compassionate home care nurse named Billie (played by Leah Harvey), who visits the household on a regular basis. An early scene in the movie takes place in a taxidermy shop, where Zora is selling some unusual taxidermy figures: rats dressed as Catholic bishops. Zora says these items are her daughter’s but Zora is selling them without her daughter’s knowledge. It’s later revealed that Zora has been secretly selling things in the household because she lost her job and doesn’t want to tell Tuesday.

Tuesday is the first person in the household to see Death. Instead of being alarmed, Tuesday tells Death a story. Death laughs and shrinks to the size of a thimble. It’s the beginning of an unusual acquaintance that develops between Tuesday and Death. Tuesday is lonely (at one point, she mentions later that her friends abandoned her because of her illness), so she enjoys talking to Death.

When it comes to Tuesday’s terminal illness, Zora is much less accepting of it than Tuesday. Whereas Tuesday seems to be quietly peparing to die, Zora is angrily defiant and doesn’t want to consider that Tuesday is running out of time to be alive. The movie does not mention how long Tuesday has had this terminal illness or the medical diagnosis for Tuesday’s life expectancy. Zora believes that she and Tuesday can successfully fight this disease together.

Needless to say, Zora’s first encounters with Death are very hostile. It leads to some disturbing scenes where Zora tries to get rid of Death. (Sensitive viewers, be warned: These scenes show some animal cruelty.) And then, Zora does something truly bizarre that will either further alienate viewers of this movie or will make viewers curious to see what will result from Zora’s extreme actions.

“Tuesday” might have been better as a short film, since much of the movie gets repetitive, with pacing that drags. The movie’s marketing is somewhat misleading because Zora is not in the film as much as the movie’s trailer and poster suggests. There’s a huge chunk of the movie where Zora is not seen at all. Most of the conversations that Death has are with Tuesday.

Billie is an underdeveloped character. Don’t expect to learn much about her or anyone else in the movie who isn’t Zora, Tuesday or Death. Billie is the supporting character who gets the most screen time. All the other supporting characters pass through the story in cameo roles.

“Tuesday” has flashes of droll comedy, but the movie’s overall tone is gloomy and weird. Tuesday is an intelligent teenager who’s a little eccentric. Her personality is at the heart of the film. There are times that Tuesday wants to die, which is very unsettling to Zora, who says out loud that it’s unnatural for a parent to outlive a child.

“Tuesday” takes a bold risk of not following the usual movie stereotype of making Zora a saintly mother of an ailing child. Zora is often impatient and rude. As the story goes on, it becomes clearer that Zora’s bad attitude has a lot to do with being under financial pressure to take care of Tuesday while Zora is unemployed and dreading a future without Tuesday.

What saves “Tuesday” from being too abstract and too enamored with its fantastical elements is the fact that the film’s story is grounded in an authentic depiction of a mother-daughter relationship. The movie is a unique portrayal of stages of grief when it comes to death. “Tuesday” is memorable for its talking bird, but what will stay with viewers the most is what the movie has to say about humanity.

A24 released “Tuesday” in select U.S. cinemas on June 7, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on July 14, 2024.

Review: ‘Shayda,’ starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Mojean Aria, Jillian Nguyen, Rina Mousavi, Selina Zahednia and Leah Purcell

March 17, 2024

by Carla Hay

Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Selina Zahednia in “Shayda” (Photo by Jane Zhang/Sony Pictures Classics)

“Shayda”

Directed by Noora Niasari

Some language in Farsi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Australia in the late 1990s, in the dramatic film “Shayda” features a white and Arabic/Asian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: While living in Australia, an Iranian immigrant and her 6-year-old daughter stay at a shelter for domestic abuse survivors, as the mother worries for their safety and how her impending divorce from her estranged Iranian husband will affect her immigration visa issues.

Culture Audience: “Shayda” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of are interested in watching movies about issues related to immigration and domestic abuse.

Bev Killick in “Shayda” (Photo by Sarah Enticknap/Sony Pictures Classics)

“Shayda” tells a nuanced and meaningful story of an Iranian immigrant woman raising her 6-year-old daughter, as they live in an Australian shelter for domestic violence survivors. The film shows in heart-wrenching details what coping with trauma looks like. There have been many movies about women and children seeking safety from domestic violence, but they are rarely told from the perspectives of immigrants living in a nation where they are not citizens.

Written and directed by Noora Niasari, “Shayda” is inspired by Niasari’s own childhood experiences in Australia of temporarily staying at a domestic violence shelter with her mother. “Shayda” had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2023, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. “Shayda” was Australia’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2024 Academy Awards but didn’t make it on the Oscar shortlist to be nominated.

In “Shayda” (which takes place in Australia in the late 1990s), a woman named Shayda (played by Zar Amir Ebrahimi) is seeking shelter from her abusive, estranged husband Hossein (played by Osamah Sami), who is also an Iranian immigrant. Hossein and Shadya moved to Australia because Hossein is a graduate student at an unnamed university. Shayda and Hossein’s 6-year-old daughter is Mona (played by Selina Zahednia), who is an inquisitive and obedient child who is a big fan of “The Lion King” movie.

Shayda wants to divorce Hossein, but the matter is complicated because the divorce has to be in Iran. Shayda wants to keep living in Australia after the divorce. Hossein wants to move back to Iran after he graduates from his university program. He also threatens Shayda by saying that she will be killed if she goes through with the divorce.

The movie has some scenes showing Shayda’s frustrations of doing depositions by phone for these divorce proceedings. (Remember, this story take place the late 1990s, when video streaming over the Internet was still very uncommon and not accessible to the average person.) She often has the sinking feeling that the attorneys and judge involved in the divorce are biased against her, because it’s considered to be scandalous in patriarchal Iran for a wife to divorce her husband.

The shelter is operated by a no-nonsense manager named Cathy (played by Bev Killick), who often has to instruct the frightened women at the shelter on what to do, in case their abusers come looking for them or try to violate child custody arrangements. There’s a scene where an unidentified person in a car is parked across the street from the shelter and seems to have the place under surveillance. Cathy goes outside to confront the driver, who quickly drives off. It’s implied that one of the women in the shelter is being stalked.

There are no flashback scenes in the movie of Shayda being abused, nor does she tell anyone the specifics of what Hossein did it her. It’s left up to viewers’ speculation how bad the abuse was. Throughout the movie, Shayda shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. She has trouble sleeping. And she’s very paranoid that Hossein is out to get her, to the point where she sometimes hallucinates that he is in the same room, when he isn’t even in the building.

Shayda also has a dilemma of how much she should shield Mona from the truth. There are hints that Mona doesn’t know exactly what’s going on with the divorce, because Mona sometimes complains to Shayda that she wants to go home. Shayda doesn’t want Mona to hate Hossein, but she doesn’t want Mona to completely trust hm either.

Hossein’s visitations with Mona are fraught with tension. Shayda doesn’t say it out loud, but she’s worried that Hossein will go somewhere with Mona and never come back. Understandably, Shayda gets very upset when Hossein in late in bringing back Monda during a visitation. Shayda doesn’t want to get too upset with Hossein because she doesn’t want to make their divorce proceedings worse. Shayda sees indications that Hossein has been spying on her, either by himself or by getting other people to do the spying for him

Shayda keeps mostly to herself and isn’t very sociable with the other women at the shelter. The other shelter residents include shy Lara (played by Eve Morey), extrovert Vi (played by Jillian Nguyen) and racist “wild child” Renee (played by Lucinda Armstrong Hall), a young single mother who expects Shayda to look after Renee’s toddler, as if Shayda is a servant. Shayda’s closest friend is another Iranian immigrant named Elly (played by Rina Mousavi), who is very concerned about how Shayda’s horrible domestic problems are affecting Shayda’s mental health.

Elly encourages a reluctant Shayda to go to nightclubs and parties with her to meet new people, have some fun, and take Shayda’s mind off of her troubles. It’s at one of these nightclubs that Shayda meets Farhad (played by Mojean Aria), an attractive cousin of Elly’s, who has recently arrived from Canada. Farhad and Shayda are immediately attracted to each other. But if Farhad and Shayda start dating each other, what will happen if jealous and possessive Hossein finds out?

“Shayda” shows in unflinching ways how even though Shayda is a very attentive mother to Mona, the stress and paranoia that Shayda is experiencing can negatively affect her parenting skills. There’s also the valid fear that any decision that Shayda makes regarding the new life that Shayda wants away from Hossein could make Shayda vulnerable to even more abuse from him and possibly murder. “Shayda” doesn’t try to oversimplify these very complicated issues.

The admirable performances of Ebrahimi and Zahednia as Shayda and Mona are at the heart of this tension-filled movie. The other cast members also play their roles quite well. The story takes place during Nowruz, the two-week celebration of the Persian New Year. However, the end of the movie shows in no uncertain terms that what Shayda and Mona experience in these two weeks will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Sony Pictures Classics released in select U.S. cinemas on December 1, 2023, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on March 1, 2024. “Shayda” was released in Australia on October 5, 2023.

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