By: Trevor Chartrand See For Me, directed by Randall Okita (The Lockpicker), is an engaging thriller that’s sort-of a reverse Don’t Breathe. In both films, a blind person fends off would-be home invaders – but in Okita’s movie, our visually-impaired lead character is not a sadistic sociopath – she’s (mostly) a good person.
Lowell High School is the top-ranked public high school in San Francisco. In a world where everyone is a straight-A student, Lowell seniors are stressed out, scrambling to secure places in the country’s top universities and balancing overwhelming pressure from their families and communities.
Not very often do audiences receive a biopic as pointless and embarrassing as Creation Stories. Then again, the filmmaker could still benefit from a turkey like this. If they believe their biopic holds valuable nostalgia or fan service, ham-fisted qualities can be forgiven by movie goers, allowing the movie to even win Oscars. It worked for Bohemian Rhapsody.
Senior Moment is an unflattering example of what producers and filmmakers believe will connect with an older demographic. It’s twee and fairly clean, stars familiar and likeable faces, and the plot uses a failsafe story of a has-been getting back on the saddle. While this formula can hit its stride (Book Club, starring Diane Keaton, being a recent favourite), it can also shamelessly pander towards its audience (And So It Goes, another Keaton vehicle). Perhaps if…
Strong performances and intimate cinematography elevate an otherwise so-so drama in writer/director Kerem Sanga’s The Violent Heart.
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Wendy Morgan has made an interesting and thought-provoking film with her drama Sugar Daddy. The movie features the story of Darren, an aspiring musician who joins a paid dating service to make ends meet until her music career takes off. While acting as arm candy for wealthy older guys at high society functions is by no means prostitution, Darren struggles with her own self-worth and the moral implications of selling herself…
At a time when drag has made its way into mainstream media (thanks, in no small part, to the Emmy winning reality television show Ru Paul’s Drag Race), Jump, Darling stands as a much-needed antidote to the commodification of an art form that was created by and for queer and trans people. It isn’t a bad thing that straight folks these days know what a death drop is, but at times it does feel as…
The World to Come, the second feature from Norwegian filmmaker Mona Fastvold (The Sleepwalker), is a plodding meditation on love and grief that is salvaged from mediocrity by the palpable chemistry between its lead actors. Still, the film doesn’t offer much that is fresh of exciting and rehashes some tired lesbian period piece tropes.
Claire Oakley’s Make Up tells the story of a young woman named Ruth (Molly Windsor) who goes to a trailer park in Cornwall to be with her boyfriend, where she learns that he may be cheating on her. As she attempts to come to terms with this realization, she begins to come to terms with the fact that she may be gay, as she finds herself obsessed with another woman. This is a story that…
By: Trevor Chartrand Informative and eye-opening, The Dissident is a haunting documentary that’s shockingly timely and relevant, especially considering last week’s siege in Washington. Among other things, this film demonstrates the dangerous potential of social media when used in the wrong way.