-
-
-
-
-
-
The Gentlemen 2019
warm and surprisingly likable but with the most contrived possible narration device and too many predictable plot twists. The characters were all one-dimensional and at times felt like stock characters, but because the film strikes the right pace throughout, everyone feels like a really fleshed-out, richly-struck stock character. They are shallow people but they are real shallow people
-
-
Henrietta Bulkowski 2019
Visually ugly but I disagree with others that the ending is unintentionally ableist — to say so is to take the ending overly literally, a wooden reading that misses the clear (imo insultingly clear) metaphor at work. Disability contains the seeds of a joy only the person with that disability can have
-
Saria 2019
Horrific that Saria is a true story. Reminded me of the short doc winner from last year about empowering young women in India with pads and basic body education. With the gains of over 100 years of feminism in this country, it is easy to hand waive away advocacy for women. But in countries with that heritage, and where capitalist demands make expediency the highest priority, women, especially young, indigenous women, get left behind.
Something was off about the distance…
-
-
Honeyland 2019
Alright, I'm done, I can't do it. I can't finish it. Honeyland is an endurance test and I have failed. My boring tolerance is not high enough. I understand the appeal of visual narrative with minimal trimming as a form of ethnography. (I really loved last year's Hale County, which used the same approach). But Honeyland just makes absolutely no effort at being compelling. I made it to the 45:11 mark in two sittings and just have to stop. I…