PFF 2021: THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, MASS and RED ROCKET
by A. Freedman, Staff Writer
A roundup from the Philadelphia Film Festival 2021.
PFF 2021: MEMORIA, OFFSEASON, LISTENING TO KENNY G. and THE SADNESS
by A. Freedman, Staff Writer
A roundup from the Philadelphia Film Festival 2021.
A. Freedman’s 2021 Philadelphia Film Festival Preview
by A. Freedman, Staff Writer
I am as excited for the 30th annual edition of this festival as anything, and here are five of the titles that made my ears perk up the most.
Gary Kramer’s 2021 Philadelphia Film Festival Preview
by Gary Kramer, Staff Writer
This year’s fest, like last year’s, includes an online component, which is where I will screen most of the films I’ll see.
Sylvie's Love
Written and Directed by Eugene Ashe
Starring Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha and Aja Naomi King
Running time: 1 hour and 54 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13 for smoking and sexual content
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
“Extraordinary.”
I’m not always big on the Hollywood ending. There have been times when I have actively scoffed or batted my hand at the screen when experiencing a picture that ends all packaged up with a pretty bow. However, in 2020 no one will find me complaining about a happy ending. In fact, I find it to be the precise medicine needed for this hellacious year. While Sylvie’s Love doesn’t have a practically perfect in every way closure, the story comes pretty darn close.
Read MoreI'm Your Woman
Written by Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz
Directed by Julia Hart
Starring Rachel Brosnahan, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Arinzé Kane
Running Time: 2 hour
sMPAA Rating: R for language and violence
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
To put it gently, I am not much of a kid person. Nah, not a fan. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but the simplest way to explain it (at least this is what I have gotten out of many therapy sessions) is that never having the opportunity to be much a child myself has created a lack of understanding of what it is like to be a child. Simply put, I don’t know how to play. My experience of being around little ones tends to be difficult and draining. I have no interest in being a mother, except to those of the four legged furry persuasion, like my sweet dear pup, Li’l Foxie. Maybe this makes me some kind of a certain asshole and, well, I’m fine with this. The role of a parent is serious stuff, quite frankly I happen to think it is one of the most important jobs anyone could do on their journey around the sun. I say all this to help understand the sheer horror I felt upon witnessing the opening scene of Julia Hart’s I’m Your Woman, in which the main character, Jean, is gifted a random baby by her husband.
Read MoreAction U.S.A.
Directed by John Stewart
Starring Gregory Scott, Cummins William, Hubbard Knight, Barri Murphy and Ross Hagen
Running time: 1 hour and 29 minutes
by Nikk Nelson
“Just stop at body...” -Inside Joke, Kyle Whitley
I love trash cinema. In my teenage years, I set an alarm every Sunday to make sure I was up by noon to catch Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel. It was church. One time, a friend was combing through my stacks in the basement and was surprised to find a dense collection of Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It seemed to run contrary to what they assumed was my taste. I should have a sea of Criterion Collection and little to nothing else. But they were wrong.
Read MorePhilly Film Festival Preview 2020
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and Jaime Davis, Fixer
The 29th annual Philadelphia Film Festival is just around the corner and with ninety films being showcased from October 23 until November 2, making selections could be cause for anxiety. This year’s fest showcases many award winning and buzz worthy flicks, from earlier festivals and includes some MJ Crew faves such as: Jumbo, Lapsis, The Boy Behind the Door and the action comedy romp, Action USA.
Read MoreSwallow
Written and Directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis
Starring Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell and Denis O’Hare
Running time: 1 hour and 34 minutes
MPAA rating: R for language, some sexuality and disturbing behavior
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
“So what did you do for money before you met my son?”
Carlo Mirabella-Davis’s beautifully and mesmerizingly shot feature debut, Swallow tells the story of a woman that is lost within herself. Like a ghost, she floats through life, almost non-existent. If someone were to peer into her literal glass encased home, it would be logical to surmise that Hunter Conrad (Haley Bennett) is living her best life. From the outside, everything from her magazine ready home down to her trendy threads seems perfect. Unfortunately, everything is a facade for the truth, much like the shell that Hunter lives in.
Read MoreExtra Ordinary
Directed by Mike Ahern and Edna Loughman
Written by Mike Ahern, Edna Loughman with additional writing by Demian Fox and Maeve Higgins
Starring Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Will Forte and Claudia O’Doherty
Running time 1 hour and 34minutes
MPAA rating for language, sexual content and some horror violence
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
“Do ghosts have feelings?”
When it comes to my future life as a ghost, I have a lot of questions.
Read MorePortrait of a Lady on Fire
Written and directed by Céline Sciamma
Starring Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, and Valeria Golina
MPAA rating: R, for depictions of female “friendship”
Running time: 2 hours 1 minute
by Jaime Davis, The Fixer
Past loves have a way of sticking with us, whether we want them to or not. It’s as if there’s a ghost trailing you, taking the shape of the person, or your memories, or what you knew of them, or what was once between you…tugging on you to wonder, or at the very least, remember. In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a dreamy, female-centric vision of two women fatefully falling in love in 18th century France, we watch one character, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), as she’s haunted by the ghost of her love Héloise before, during, and after the inevitable end of their relationship.
Knives Out aka Wills ‘n Thrills
Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas and a slew of other sharp dressed people
Running Time 2 hours, 10 minutes
MPAA Rating PG-13
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
In some families, when a relative kicks the bucket it can be quite thrilling.
Ford v Ferrari, a DAD MOVIE™
Directed by James Mangold
Written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller
Starring Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Jon Bernthal (other white dudes too!)
Running Time 2 hours, 32 minutes (surprisingly it mostly races by… ha!)
MPAA Rating PG-13
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
“I’m not what they call a people person.”
The entire premise of Ford v Ferrari can be summed up as: just a couple of dudes havin’ an old fashioned pissing contest.
Read MoreThe Report
Written and directed by Scott Z. Burns
Starring the Amazing Adam Driver, an Awesome Annette Bening, and a boatload of other recognizable actors you love to see
Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes
MPAA rating: R for graphic depictions of violent torture
by Jaime Davis, The Fixer
“I hope you took your strong pills today.”
These are the warning words of Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening) to her staffer Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver), on their way to battle against CIA brass. You see, Jones was tasked with investigating, objectively and without bias, the reported torture of hundreds of suspected terrorists in the wake of 9/11 at the hands of CIA operatives. On one hand it’s a complicated issue - the CIA was in a serious pressure cooker trying to get answers and protect the nation against additional attacks. Which begs the question: what wouldn’t the CIA do, if they thought it would produce anything of substance?
Read MoreMotherless Brooklyn
Directed by Edward Norton
Written by Jonathan Lethem (novel) and Edward Norton (screenplay)
Starring Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe
Running time Two hours, twenty four minutes (sigh)
MPAA Rating R
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
”I always did enjoy a night drive.”
In regards to my film criticism, Edward Norton is catching me at a very sensitive and compassionate time in my life.
Read MoreWaves
Written and Directed by Trey Edward Shults
Starring Taylor Russell, Kelvin Harrison, Alexa Demie and Sterling K. Brown
Running Time 2 hours, 15 minutes
MPAA Rating R
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
“No second chances, no second place.”
I saw Trey Edward Shults’, Waves at the Toronto Film Festival based solely on the director’s previous work, It Comes at Night (I still need to watch Krisha, I KNOW! but cut me some slack guys. So many movies so little time.) and the buzz it generated from the fest. There was so much chatter about this flick that they made an additional screening available, which is how I was fortunate enough to see it. By not watching the trailer or reading the logline on IMDb, I was not prepared for the emotional roller coaster that I would be taken on. I recommend that viewers do the same for this one, as it may be best to avoid any spoilery plot details to experience the same powerful impact that it had on me.
Read MoreBlow the Man Down
Written and Directed by Bridget Savage and Danielle Krudy
Starring Sophie Lowe, Morgan Saylor and June Squibb
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
It is always the small quaint towns that one has to worry about. Sure they are quiet, but that silence usually signifies secrets.
Read MoreThe Vast of Night
Directed by Andrew Patterson
Written by James Montague and Craig W. Sanger
Starring Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz and Gail Cronauer
Running Time 1 hour, 29 minutes
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport
”Can’t waste tape on a tombstone.”
In the film Vast of Night, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick) are two radio obsessed beatniks that have an admiration for the airwaves. Setting the film in a fictional 1950s sleepy town called Cayuga, New Mexico, it is safe to say that the writers and director are fans of the Twilight Zone. Cayuga being the name of the host and creator of Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s production company.
Read MoreParadise Hills
Directed by Alicia Waddington
Written by Alicia Waddington, Brian DeLeeuw, and Nacho Vigalondo
Starring Emma Roberts, Milla Jovovich, Eiza González, Awkwafina and Danielle McDonald
Rating: TV-14
Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes
by Audrey Callerstrom
Evil vines that wrap around your body and suck your life, turning white flowers a black-red. Pods that are made to look like canopy beds, glowing under a neon-pink hue. A carousel horse that lifts you to the ceiling. Hologram lockets. A bride’s beaded headpiece that can move to cover her face, looking like if Hannibal Lecter shopped at Francesca’s. All of these vivid costumes, beautiful art direction, and a candy-color palette of pinks, purples, and greens almost save Paradise Hills, a dream-like tale about a rehab center for non-conforming girls.
Read MoreVarda by Agnès
Written and directed by Agnès Varda
Starring Agnès Varda, Sandrine Bonnaire and Hervé Chandès
Running time: 1 hour and 55 minutes
by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy
I’d seen clips of this mini-series-turned-film when I wrote my piece on Vagabond for our print issue a while back. I was watching to get some background of her process while making the film but was taken by how the clips were, not only, moving and informational, but also beautiful to look at. I watched the film in its entirety at TIFF this year and, if you’re in the Philly area, you can see it this Sunday, the 20th at 12:15 PM at the Ritz East. I was glad to see that her discussions about the rest of her career were as in depth and artful.
Read More