IN THE SUMMERS (no distrib): The winner of the Jury Prize in the US Dramatic Competition is a somewhat prototypical Sundance drama. Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s semi-autobiographical story depicts four summers over about a decade spent by Eve and Violeta, children of divorce (played by various actors, culminating with Sasha Calle and Lio Mehiel) with […]
THE OUTRUN (no distrib): Films about alcoholics and addicts in recovery are too numerous to count, and it’s easy to understand why. The stories offer a clear narrative path, usually with an inspirational destination (occasionally with a tragic end, which can be just as cathartic), as well as a ready-made showcase for the star, […]
PRESENCE (Neon – TBD): Steven Soderbergh has always appreciated, and often demanded, a challenge, and in Presence he and screenwriter David Koepp have taken an original approach to the haunted house genre. The point of view character here is the ghost itself, who we’re told has an inchoate consciousness that can’t distinguish between past […]
THELMA (no distrib): In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of what might uncharitably be called Old Lady Cinema, noisy comedies like the Book Club franchise and 80 For Brady that milk gags out of the spectacle of actresses of a certain age talking about (and even engaging in) sex and some light drug […]
WINNER (no distrib): Yes, this sounds familiar. Last year, HBO aired Tina Satter’s Reality, which told the story of the young jailed NSA leaker Reality Winner, and now filmmaker Susanna Fogel has taken the other half of that memorable name for her version of the tale. (The Reality title was more evocative.) Their approaches […]