The heartfelt and intoxicating documentary In a Wintry Season starts out looking like a fairy tale, and unpredictably turns decidedly not, as the real world and human behavior intervene.
Writer-director Mary Posatko tells the increasingly unpredictable story of her parents. I generally resist filmmakers profiling their own parents, but In a Wintry Season won me over with its candor, authenticity and surprises. It’s a relatable story of two people and their family and their times, but it brings us into a meditation on what is American Catholicism today. Very sweet ending.
I screened In a Wintry Season for its US premiere at Cinequest, where I predict it will be a crowd-pleaser.
Fred Ross (foreground left) and Cesar Chavez (foreground right) in AMERICAN AGITATORS. Courtesy of Cinequest.
American Agitators is the important story of legendary organizer Fred Ross, the mentor of Cesar Chavez, and essentially a saint of the social justice movement. American Agitators shows Ross being formed by the Great Depression and the left-wing politics, the union movement and the New Deal. As a fully formed organizer, Ross met Chavez; Ross’ organizing resonated with Chavez applied his own imagination to Ross’ tactics and launched his own historically essential movements for farmworker unionization and Chicano Rights.
Director Raymond Telles has sourced the film impeccably. The third act rolls out Ross’ legacy today, not just Chavez the icon and the Farmworkers movement, but the influence of Fred Ross, Jr. and then a more loosely configured compendium of recent and current labor campaigns..
Fred Ross and Dolores Huerta in AMERICAN AGITATORS. Courtesy of Cinequest.
LOCAL SAN JOSE INTEREST: Fred Ross met Chavez at Cesar’s home at 53 Sharff Avenue in San Jose, hired Cesar as his deputy and organized out of McDonnell Hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe on East Antonio Street. Cesar’s son Paul (of San Jose) appears in the film as does Luis Valdes of Teatro Campesino, who has also had a significant presence in San Jose.
I screened American Agitators for its world premiere at Cinequest.
The title character in the affecting dramedy Burt is a an elderly street musician with Parkinson’s Disease. Burt rents a room in the home of his landlord Steve, an ever-suspicious and oppositional guy who is Burt’s age. Nevertheless, Burt is relentlessly upbeat. A young man, Sammy, arrives with a letter from one of Burt’s youthful flames, explaining that Sammy is Burt’s son. Burt jumps into belated fatherhood with both feet, and then discovers that all is not as it seems.
Burt (Burton Berger) may face disappointment and hurt, but he does so with an irrepressible generosity of spirit. This is not a Disease of the Week movie. It’s not about Burt’s Parkinson’s. It’s about Burt, a vital guy who is open about his living with Parkinson’s, but who focuses on what he can still experience.
Oliver Cooper and Burton Berger in BURT. Courtesy of Cinequest.
Oliver Cooper (David Berkowitz in Mindhunter, Levon in Californication) captures the contradictions within Sammy, who’s been incarcerated until recently. Sammy shares a lot of traits with the average criminal – not smart, not strategic, irresponsible and easily led astray. I’m guessing that his impulse control and anger management aren’t great, either. But, somehow, Sammy has a reservoir of empathy that may impede his criminality. Cooper also co-wrote.
A remarkably endearing movie, Burt is just the second feature for director and co-writer Joe Burke. Burke shot Burt in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew. He succeeded in getting fine performances from the non-professional actors playing Burt (Berger) and Steve (Stephen Levy)..
Burt was executive produced by indie stalwart David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow). I screened Burt for its world premiere at Cinequest.
Nicole Betancourt in THE UNFIXING. Courtesy of Cinequest.
The mesmerizing The Unfixing is a self-therapeutic memoir, chronicling the filmmaker’s personal journey through her parents’ divorcee, her own sudden disability from chronic fatigue syndrome, and then shockingly, her daughter’s affliction with the same symptoms via Lyme Disease; mom and daughter experiment with a new therapy that purports to rewire their brains. How will this family story end?
The clever structure (in yearly segments tied to climate change) and repeated motifs (of photography, the beach and grief) make this an art film inside a memoir. The Unfixing is the first feature for director, writer and subject Nicole Betancourt.
THE UNFIXING. Courtesy of Cinequest.
This unique film may not be for everyone, but it’s that wholly original cinema that people hope to see at a film festival. I screened The Unfixing for its US premiere at Cinequest.
Severin Films founder David Gregory in BOUTIQUE: TO PRESERVE AND COLLECT. Courtesy of Cinequest.
Ry Levey’s infectious documentary Boutique: To Preserve and Collect is about passion – passion that fuels the preservation and rejuvenation of cult cinema. We’re mostly talking about exploitation movies that would otherwise be lost. Much the credit for saving them goes to Severin Films and Vinegar Syndrome, which are essentially the Criterion Collection for grindhouse cinema. Both companies evolved from aficionados making bootleg tapes of their favorite obscure films into legitimate catalogues of preserved films.
You may not think that a certain movie is IMPORTANT, but there is probably someone who finds it absolutely ESSENTIAL. Many movies have been made to be disposable, but have inspired loyal fans. One person’s drive-in may be another’s arthouse. What makes Boutique: To Preserve and Collect fun to watch is the contagious enthusiasm of the devotees.
Boutique: To Preserve and Collect takes us from the Dark Ages, back when, once you had seen it in a theater, a film was forever lost to you. No matter how much you wanted to watch it again or share it with others, your only recourse would be to scour TV Guide for when it might show up on late night television. Then, the introduction of the VCR made it possible to collect movies you love and to evangelize for them. The video store and the DVD opened up the possibilities even more.
Boutique: To Preserve and Collect covers a lot of ground, much of it arcane, so it’s fortunate that the editing keeps the film popping. Canadian filmmaker Ry Levey has been to Cinequest before, most recently with his fine LGBTQ pro wrestling doc, Out in the Ring.
[Severin is now selling House of Psychotic Women: Rarities Collection Volume 2 and a Blu-ray set of Fear in the Philippines: The Complete Blood Island Films. Vinegar Syndrome’s current offerings include DVDs of The Possession of Joel Delaney (4K Ultra HD) and The White Cannibal Queen.]
I screened Boutique To Preserve and Collect for its US premiere at Cinequest.
A. P. Giannini in A LITTLE FELLOW: THE LEGACY OF A.P. GIANNINI. Courtesy of Cinequest.
A Little Fellow: The Legacy of A.P. Giannini: Here’s an underdog story – a boy loses his immigrant father, starts out impoverished and builds the nation’s largest bank, helping to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. This very comprehensive documentary also tells the less well-known story of Giannini as movie financier – backing films like City Lights, Gone with the Wind and Sleeping Beauty.
A Little Fellow is a very by-the-numbers doc and is pretty uncritical of Giannini, but it is impeccably sourced and has a damn interesting subject.
I screened A Little Fellow: The Legacy of A.P. Gianninifor its US premiere at Cinequest. The Cinequest audience will note the local interest. Giannini’s childhood began in San Jose, his father was murdered in Alviso, and his first bank branch building still stands, only 1500 feet from the Cinequest screening at the Hammer Theatre.
Photo caption: Sergio Podeley in GUNMAN. Courtesy of Cinequest.
Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns live and in-person March 11, back in downtown San Jose, with screenings March 11-24 at the California Theatre, the Hammer Theater and 3Below. Selected films from the program then move to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy, from March 23-30. I’m covering Cinequest for the fourteenth straight year.
I’ve already seen over twenty offerings from Cinequest 2025, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. I’ve also included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest”. I’m leading off with two neo-thrillers – one set in Buenos Aired and one in Mombasa Kenya – and a haunting sci fi from Italy.
MUST SEE
Gunman (Gatillero): This hyper-kinetic Argentine neo-noir kicks off when the small time gunsel Galgo returns from prison and learns that the neighborhood drug gangs find him expendable. He immediately finds himself framed for a gangland assassination and goes on the run in a 75-minute, real-time thrill ride. As the prey in a midnight man hunt, Galgo’s dash for survival is captured by a handheld camera in shots of very long duration. If you liked Run, Lola, Run or Victoria, you’ll love Gunman. Gunman is an amazing first feature for director and co-writer, Cris Tapia Marchiori, and an unforgettable achievement for Marchiori and his veteran cinematographer Martin Sapia. Based on a true story and shot in its actual setting, the drug-plagued Buenos Aires neighborhood of Isla Maciel, Gunman is brimming with verisimilitude. US premiere.
The Dog: The electrifying thriller The Dog follows a classic neo-noir premise. A low level hood is assigned to drive a call girl, and he falls for her – against the explicit instructions of their employer and advice from the call girl herself. To stake a new start in a faraway land, he reaches for the big score. Desperation results. What’s unusual about The Dog is that it’s exceptionally exciting and that it’s set in Mombasa, Kenya. There’s a wonderful low-speed tuk tuk chase (on three-wheel taxis) through Mombasa’s open air markets, street performers and herds of goats. And there’s another unforgettable scene that will be particularly uncomfortable for male audience members.
The Complex Forms: This visually striking atmospheric is set in a centuries-old Italian villa, where Christian and other down-on-their-luck middle-aged men sell their bodies for a period of days to be “possessed”. Possessed how? By who or by what? As the dread builds, Christian resolves to pry the answers from the secretive masters of the villa. Director Fabio D’Orta unspools the story with remarkably crisp black-and-white cinematography, a brooding soundtrack and impeccable editing. In his astonishingly impressive filmmaking debut, D’Orta wrote, directed, shot and edited The Complex Form.
MORE INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
Alien: This mysterious Russian sci fi tale is set in the unfamiliar, remote Ural hinterlands. Lyosha, the local oddball, has a hearing disability, lives in his grandmother’s cabin on the edge of the settlement, and has built an impressive tower out of trash that he has collected. He has also jerrybuilt a radio system and made giant circles in the fields, all attempts to contact space aliens He is teased pitilessly by the village japesters. We later learn that the long ago disappearance of his mother has affected his psyche. A newcomer suddenly appears at his cabin – most certainly not looking like any space alien that Lyosha has imagined. Is this visitor just a runaway from another village, an emissary from deep in the universe, or a supernatural messenger from his mother? It’s all up in air as hostile villagers close in, all thew way to an unpredictable ending. US premiere.
Silent Sparks: In this Taiwanese neo-noir, small time hood Pua is released from prison and checks in with the swaggering, exuberant local crime lord. The boss assigns him to a lieutenant, Mi-Ji, who happens to be Pua’s former cell-mate. But when Pua and Mi-Ji meet again, the encounter is a study in social awkwardness. Pua just wants to start earning money and working his way up in the syndicate, but Mi-Ji is surprisingly unhelpful. What explains Mi-Ji’s behavior toward Pua? As Silent Sparks smolders on, the risks escalate. Promising first feature for writer-director Ping Chu. US premiere.
DOCUMENTARIES
The Unfixing: This mesmerizing film is a self-therapeutic memoir, chronicling the filmmaker’s personal journey through her parents’ divorcee, her own sudden disability from chronic fatigue syndrome, and then shockingly, her daughter’s affliction with the same symptoms via Lyme Disease; mom and daughter experiment with a new therapy that purports to rewire their brains. The clever structured (in yearly segments tied to climate change) and repeated motifs (of photography, the beach and grief) make this an art film inside a memoir. How will this family story end? This unique film may not be for everyone, but it’s that wholly original cinema that people hope to see at a film festival. US Premiere.
American Agitators: This is the important story of legendary organizer Fred Ross, the mentor of Cesar Chavez, and essentially a saint of the social justice movement. American Agitators shows Ross being formed by the Great Depression and the left-wing politics, the union movement and the New Deal. This extraordinarily well-sourced doc rolls out Ross’ legacy today, not just Chavez the icon and the Farmworkers movement, but the influence of Fred Ross, Jr. and organizing campaigns in 2025. LOCAL INTEREST: Fred Ross met Chavez at Cesar’s home at 53 Sharff Avenue in San Jose, hired Cesar as his deputy and organized out of McDonnell Hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe on East Antonio Street. Cesar’s son Paul (of San Jose) appears in the film as does Luis Valdes of Teatro Campesino, who has also had a significant presence in San Jose. World premiere.
In a Wintry Season: This heartfelt and intoxicating documentary starts out looking like a fairy tale, and unpredictably turns decidedly not, as the real world and human behavior intervene. I generally resist filmmakers profiling their own parents, but In a Wintry Season won me over with its candor, authenticity and surprises. It’s a relatable story of two people and their family and their times, but it brings us into a meditation on what is American Catholicism today. With its very sweet ending, In a Winrty Season wil be a crowd=pleaser at Cinequest. US Premiere.
INDIE
Burt: The title character in this affecting dramedy is a an elderly street musician with Parkinson’s. Burt rents a room in the home of his landlord Steve, an ever-suspicious and oppositional guy who is Burt’s age. Nevertheless, Burt is relentlessly upbeat. A young man, Sammy, arrives with a letter from one of Burt’s youthful flames, explaining that Sammy is Burt’s son. Burt jumps into belated fatherhood with both feet, and then discovers that all is not what it seems. Director and co-writer Joe Burke, in his second feature, succeeds in getting fine performances from non-professional actors playing Burt and Steve. Executive produced by indie stalwart David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow). World premiere.
COMEDY
Time Travel Is Dangerous: In this deadpan British comedy, two ditzy gals who run a vintage shop discover a discarded gizmo from the early VCR era; it turns out to be an operational time machine, which they use to pilfer objects in the past that they can merchandise in the present. “You can’t put a price on nostalgia. Well, we do.” The two are tracked down by a consortium of inventors, and Time Travel Is Dangerous brilliantly sends up organizational behavior and other human foibles (one becomes stuck in her insufferable teenage years. When they carelessly unlock a dangerous vortex, we’re off to another dimension. The filmmakers don’t take themselves too seriously, and the special effects are the best you can find at the Dollar Store If you like Portlandia and Best In Show, but wish they were wackier, you’ll enjoy Time Travel Is Dangerous. Bay Area premiere.
HACKING CINEQUEST
Cinequest resumes its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California, the 550-seat Hammer and the more intimate 3Below – all within 1600 feet of each other (and the VIP lounge at the Continental ).
At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. Take a look at the entire program, theschedule and the passes and tickets.
As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) twenty to thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2025 page page, with links to all my coverage.
Megan Stevenson and Ruth Syratt in TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS. Courtesy of Cinequest.
In the deadpan British comedy Time Travel Is Dangerous, Megan (Megan Stevenson) and Ruth (Ruth Syratt), two ditzy gals who run a vintage shop discover a discarded gizmo from the early VCR era. Looking suspiciously like a carnival bumper car, it turns out to be an operational time machine, which they use to pilfer objects in the past that they can merchandise in the present. “You can’t put a price on nostalgia. Well, we do.”
It never occurs to them to 1) go back and change history, 2) go back and reveal the answer to a historical mystery or 3) go back and get something crazy valuable, like the Holy Grail, or 4) sneak a peek at the future – they’re just getting stuff for their junk store. “We’re not scientifically-minded“. they’re not ANYTHING-minded,
The two are tracked down by a consortium of inventors, and Time Travel Is Dangerous brilliantly sends up organizational behavior and other human foibles (one becomes stuck in her insufferable teenage years. When they carelessly unlock a dangerous vortex, we’re off to another dimension. The filmmakers don’t take themselves too seriously, and the special effects are the best you can find at the Dollar Store
Jane Horrocks (Little Voice) appears, as does the esteemed Brian Blessed, in his most unrecognizable role. The narrator is Stephen Fry.
If you like Portlandia and Best In Show, but wish they were wackier, you’ll enjoy Time Travel Is Dangerous. I screened Time Travel Is Dangerous for its Bay Area premiere at Cinequest.
Alexander Karim in THE DOG. Courtesy of Cinequest.
The electrifying thriller The Dog follows a classic neo-noir premise. MZ (Alexander Karim), a low level hood, is assigned to drive the call girl, Kadzo (Catherine Muthoni), and he falls for her – against the explicit instructions of their employer and advice from Kadzo herself. To stake a new start for them in a faraway land, he reaches for the big score. Desperation results. What’s unusual about The Dog is that it’s exceptionally exciting and that it’s set in Mombasa, Kenya.
In his quest to make a quick fortune, MZ tries to cash in on a tip about a drug deal. When that goes awry, he finds himself owing a huge debt to Saddam (Caroline Midimo), one of Mombasa’s crime matriarchs. He then tries working with Saddam’s rival Ainea (Veronica Mwaura). MZ takes more and more risks as he get more deeply entangled with the two godmothers. All the way, he’s just one double cross away from disappointing the last people he’ll ever disappoint.
There’s a wonderful low-speed tuk tuk chase (on three-wheel taxis) through Mombasa’s open air markets, street performers and herds of goats. And there’s another unforgettable scene that will be particularly uncomfortable for male audience members.
The Dog matches up well to Howard Hawks’ definition of a great movie – three great scenes and no bad ones“. My FOUR nominations for the three great scenes:
a big spender who owes MZ money brings him to his home;
Kadzo has MZ film her latest video ad, and he watches her at her sexiest through her cellphone camera.
Kadzo explains that she is not asking anyone to save her;
MZ faces his reckoning,
The Swedish-born Alexander Karim is superb as MZ. MZ works out to maintain a physicality that intimidates johns and debtors, but he knows his place in the crime hierarchy and grovels before the godmothers; when he screws up, he knows the consequences and moves directly into desperate terror. Alexander Karim has worked in lots of Scandanavian films (so he must be familiar with Nordic Noir) and appeared in Gladiator II.
Catherine Muthoni in THE DOG. Courtesy of Cinequest.
Catherine Muthoni is very good as Kadzo. This may be a neo-noir, but Kadzo isn’t a manipulative femme fatale – it’s only MZ who drives himself to his fate. Midimo and Mwaura are wonderful as the two crime bosses. Watch for how matter-of-factly Midimo dons Saddam’s eyeglasses in the most extreme scene.
The Dog is brilliantly directed, and edited. The director is Alexander’s Ugandan-born brother Baker Karim, who is also based in Sweden. That makes The Dog a Swedish movie, although it has every appearance of a Kenyan film.
David Allen White in Fabio D’Orta’s THE COMPLEX FORMS. Courtesy of Slamdance.
The visually striking atmospheric The Complex Forms is set in a centuries-old Italian villa, where Christian (David Allen White) and other down-on-their-luck middle-aged men sell their bodies for a period of days to be “possessed”. Possessed how? By who or by what? As the dread builds, Christian resolves to pry the answers from the secretive masters of the villa.
Director Fabio D’Orta unspools the story with remarkably crisp black-and-white cinematography, a brooding soundtrack and impeccable editing. In his astonishingly impressive filmmaking debut, D’Orta wrote, directed, shot and edited The Complex Form.
David Allen White is excellent as Christian, who begins resigned to endure whatever process that he has committed to, but becomes increasingly uneasy as his probing questions are deflected. So are Michael Venni as Christian’s talkative roommate Luh and Cesare Bonomelli as the impassive roommate simply called The Giant.
Like his countrymen Fellini and Leona, D’Orta has a gift for using faces to heighten interest and tell the story. He makes especially effective use of Bonomelli’s Mt. Rushmore-like countenance.
I screened The Complex Forms for its United States premiere at Slamdance. The Complex Forms was my favorite Slamdance film and won the festival’s Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature. The Complex Forms is playing Cinequest on March 12 and 13.
