“Blindspotting”
“Blindspotting” is the type of film that will be talked about years from now, with viewers wondering why they didn’t see it sooner. The film opens with Collin (Daveed Diggs), a convicted felon, close to finishing his probation and working with his childhood friend Miles (Rafael Casal). What follows are timely examinations of topics such as racial identity, friendship, gentrification, and employment barriers for reformed ex-convicts. Despite this heavy subject matter, the film has a strong sense of tone in its ability to blend the sense of despair felt in some scenes with the comfortable laughter you’d have watching good friends spend time together. The strength of the film is its script written by true-life childhood friends Diggs and Casal. Their natural performances based on shared experiences from their past in Oakland keep the film from ever feeling emotionally manipulative, while also giving insight into these themes that have shaped who they’ve become. –Karl Schleider [our review]
“The Tale”
Considering the social and political climate of the past few years, as well as this film’s subject matter, it’s a shame that Jennifer Fox’s narrative feature debut “The Tale” went from such a stunning premiere at Sundance to receiving only a whispered release on HBO in late May. Fox’s film plays as a memoir to herself as she recounts her own experience with sexual abuse from when she was only 13 years old. Laura Dern gives a marvelously harrowing performance as an older Jennifer Fox, who, after discovering a revealing letter written by her 13-year-old self, begins to peel back the layers of her memory of what really happened, subsequently rediscovering the pain she has repressed her whole life. Unlike other stories with a similar subject matter, “The Tale” deals heavily with the ideological themes of memory and identity, and how the two can subconsciously bleed together. This allows Fox to play with the film’s form as well; her script and the film’s editing draw further revelations for both Dern’s Fox and the audience alike. From his review from Sundance, our own Gregory Ellwood applauded Fox’s filmmaking, explaining “her willingness to tell her own story in such graphic detail is a startlingly brave act.” Brave, indeed, it is. — Tyler Casalini [our review]
“Cold War”
Already wowing critics, sweeping the European Film Award nominations (and probably the wins, once announced) and sure to be in the top 5 final picks for Best Foreign Language Oscar, Pawel Pawlikowski’s ravishing black and white historical love story “Cold War” is beloved, yes (Pawel won Best Director at Cannes too), but it has just appeared in theaters and as a colorless Polish foreign film, it’s obviously not well-seen by regular audiences yet. And that should change immediately. Set, in the ruins of post-war Poland, “Cold War” features such a beautiful, sad ache about two obsessive and hard-headed musicians and lovers Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) caught in the tumult and uncertainty of Europe after WWII and able to connect and find their moment in time. Life in “Cold War” for these frustrated paramours is like living on once-wholly-formed ice blocks that occasionally crash into each other, but often suffer years of distance. “Cold War,” is essentially a smoky-eyed, sad jazz ballad in pristine, perfect cinematic form. Self-destructive and bitter, seeing their lives meet for an instant, only to shatter through borders and the banality of politicking, “Cold War” is a heartrending portrait of ill-fated love that feels like the sad sound of a scratchy LP, softly skipping off its grooves in the distance. – RP [our review]
“Burning”
The latest from Lee Chang-dong in nearly a decade, “Burning” is an absorbing beast of a film. Beginning as a something of a dark romance, the film unfolds into something extremely multifaceted and difficult, rattling the cage of the genre conventions left and right. The result is hard to succinctly describe; hypnotic and menacing in equal measure, “Burning” is a singularly challenging study of the male ego’s response to the intersection of desire, creation, and destruction. Clocking in over two and a half hours long, the film demands a patient audience that will allow its ambiguity and pervading sense of anxiety to wash over them. To describe the plot in a short capsule feels like doing it a disservice. The film is anchored by three central characters all performed to the hilt by Yoo-Ah In, Jeon Jong-seo, and “The Walking Dead” star Steven Yeun in a truly unforgettable role. As the story progresses, Chang-dong forces the viewer to reckon with the sense that something is very wrong. It never resolves, leaving the viewer to meditate on what it means to live in a state of perplexing dread. Perhaps the film is a reflection of how we live now. –TS [our review]
“Madeline’s Madeline”
Out of a kaleidoscopic theatre box, Josephine Decker’s “Madeline’s Madeline” absolutely pops with thought-provoking commentary and stunning visuals. Decker’s film ruminates on authorship; who has the authority, access, and knowledge to convey a personal story. When theater and reality begin to intertwine, a young girl, Madeline, sees her worlds collide when the teacher of a prestigious experimental theater group uses the teenager’s personal story to drive the entire plot of her next play. Struggling with her mental health, Madeline’s exhale of theatre begins to constrict her personal life. When her mother becomes involved, creative authority is thrown out the door as Madeline must struggle against all parties and come into her own. Co-starring Miranda July and Molly Parker, Decker and her team craft a narrative that is made unforgettable by the star-making performance of Helena Howard. Using Howard’s tremendous dedication, Madeline’s narrative interweaves the performance and notions of identity, ownership, and authorship. Inquisitive, maddeningly quixotic, playful and a visually stimulating story with rhythm, “Madeline’s Madeline” pulsates with the big beating heartbeat of Howard right at the center. – Julia Teti [our review]