Junta Yamaguchi saw time travel films and said “I can do that, and I can do it in one take” then proceeded to do exactly that with his debut feature Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. The story follows Kato, the owner of a small Japanese cafe, who after closing up shop late one night and heading to his apartment upstairs […]
Movies centered around dinner parties are always interesting to behold because they can go in so many different directions, and Charles Dorfman’s debut feature Barbarians is certainly no exception. Here the filmmakers opted to go in multiple ways instead of just one, which works surprisingly great at keeping the viewer on their toes. The film is split into chapters, the […]
Uniquely set in the fictional Iranian village where the film derives it’s title, Arsalan Amiri’s Zalava is a masterfully crafted example of how to effectively build powerful on-screen tension using the absolute minimum required ingredients from a production standpoint. Following an increasingly skeptical military officer who’s growing tired of the locals’ extremist beliefs regarding the existence of demonic entities which […]
Have you ever found yourself wondering what Steven Spielberg’s Duel would’ve been like if it took place entirely on the Detroit River, featuring an epic battle between a recently dumped, emotionally lost young man in a kayak and a psychopathic, middle-aged alcoholic driving a fishing boat? Well I have good news, because that’s exactly what Isaac Rathé’s upcoming debut feature […]
There are an estimated 500,000 online predators active every single day, so odds are you or someone you know has encountered one. If you haven’t, odds are you’ve probably tried online dating before, and discovered how equally strange and dangerous those encounters can become. In other words, the internet can be a sketchy place, and we’re all very aware of […]
Timothy Covell’s “Blood Conscious” is a brilliantly executed, cerebral exercise in managing paranoia that within the first few minutes has the characters juggling with who they can trust, what’s actually going on, and deciphering how they’re going to get out of this situation without being killed or suffering an even worse fate. It’s a film that submerges the viewer in […]
Presenting the viewer with a mesmerizingly layered narrative that’s brought to life by great performances, Jacob Gentry’s “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” is a deeply unsettling and highly engaging thriller that’ll have you completely engrossed in it’s mystery by the end of the first act. The story unfolds rather slow as it begins, but quickly picks up pace it never loses as […]
This movie is budget filmmaking at it’s finest: it’s rough, violent, cheesy at times, and just plain fun to watch! Isaac Rathé’s “Duel on the River” is an aptly titled love letter to Steven Spielberg’s debut classic “Duel” that, as you’d expect, takes the stress-inducing chase from the open road to the open water. Made entirely during the pandemic as a […]
There’s nothing wrong with a film that ambiguously meanders a bit more than it needs to if it adds something to the characterization or overall experience the filmmakers are trying to sell. After rolling credits on Sasha Voronov’s “Mom, I Befriended Ghosts” though, it’s clear that it doesn’t always work when that ambiguous meandering is really all there was to […]
Meghan Leon and Brad Baruh’s “Night Drive” is a darkly humorous thriller that draws you in with it’s characters along with presenting some interesting questions before bringing it all together in an absurd final act with a creative and unsuspecting twist. There’s some solid cinematography, especially in the driving shots, and great performances elevated by the excellent chemistry between the […]