In the Shadows

The best of CINEQUEST 2021

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Aviva Armour-Ostroff (left) in LUNE, world premiere at Cinequest. Photo credit: Samantha Falco.

I’ve already seen over a dozen offerings from Cinequest 2021, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Full reviews are on the way.

MUST SEE

  • Lune: The Must See in this year’s Cinequest is this astonishingly authentic exploration of bipolar disorder. A mother and teen daughter must navigate the impacts of the mom’s illness. Played by writer and co-director Aviva Armour-Ostroff, the mom Miriam is the most singular movie character I’ve seen recently. Miriam’s streams of manic speech have the rhythm of poetry. Don’t miss this Canadian indie. World premiere.

THRILLERS

Michaella Russell in ECHOES OF VIOLENCE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Echoes of Violence: In this well-crafted revenge thriller, a woman enlists an Everyman to help her escape a deadly hit man. Loyalties change and lethal new skills (and a novelty weapon) are revealed as her position pivots from defense to offense. World premiere.
  • Carver: In the wee hours, a guy strides through his gritty urban neighborhood dressed in a ridiculous, homemade superhero costume. He has no super powers except his drive to make things right, vigilante-style. A sexy, stoned woman of uncertain reliability engages his interest. Will she bring him down? World premiere.

DOCUMENTARY

THE BOYS IN RED HATS. Photo courtesy of Shark Dog Films.
  • The Boys in the Red Hats: Remember the Rorschach frenzy when the Kentucky prep school boy at the Lincoln Memorial smirked at the indigenous tribal elder? Documentarian Jonathan Schroder is an alum of that very prep school; his point of view shifts as he peels back the onion on what really happened. It comes down to insights into media, social media and, especially, White privilege. World premiere.
  • Atomic Cover-up: Japanese and American film crews documented the destruction from the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These films were suppressed by the Japanese, and then the US military. The films have now escaped the censors and are seen in Atomic Cover-up with the testimonies of the original Japanese and American cameramen. As told matter-of-factly by the men who captured these images, it’s a great story. World premiere.
  • I’m an Electric Lampshade: We meet the most improbable rock star – a mild-mannered accountant who retires to pursue his dream of performing. The final score: Doug 1, Expectations 0. World premiere.

INDIES

  • End of Everything: Here’s a powerful thinkpiece – the “End” in the title means, literally, the end of the world. Set in a future where climate change has made the human extinction imminent, the story imagines how people would react as the very end nears. More profound than grim, End of Everything takes the sensationalism out of the apocalypse and leaves the humanity. Set in the stark beauty of Iceland, this is a visual stunner.

WORLD CINEMA

IN THE SHADOWS from Turkey: North American premiere at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
  • In the Shadows: The charismatic actor Numan Acar (Homeland) leads us through this gripping dystopian fable. If you admired the 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Apple’s Macintosh, you’ll like this Turkish film. North American premiere.

COMEDY

Justin Kirk and Jennifer Prediger in HOLLYWOOD FRINGE. Photo courtesy of Sleeper Cell Films.
  • Hollywood Fringe: Filmmakers Megan Huber and Wyatt McDill return to Cinequest with a change of pace from last year’s inventively constructed thriller 3 Day Weekend. Hollywood Fringe is about a married couple of hopeful creatives. They have been pitching their projects to Hollywood execs in futility; (she’s turned forty and her mom still helps with their rent). Popular interest in their experimental theater performances has been (ahem) limited. They give themselves one last chance to make it – but when a studio buys their idea for a series, things don’t go as planned…

AND FOUR I HAVEN’T SEEN YET

  • Death of a Ladies’ Man: With a brain tumor starting to cause hallucinations, a professor (Gabriel Byrne) relocates to an Irish village. With Jessica Pare (Mad Man) and Brian Gleeson. US premiere.
  • Six Minutes to Midnight: WWII espionage suspenser with Dame Judy Dench and Eddie Izzard trying to frustrate a Nazi plot.
  • Drunk Bus: Young slacker is stuck driving the shuttle between college town bars and the dorms until he is mentored by a 300-pound Samoan security guy with facial tattoos. This was a hit at the 2020 SXSW.
  • Summertime: Directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada (Blindspotting), this comedy revolves around 25 characters intersecting on one hot Los Angeles day – and making poetry.

Stream these films for as little as $3.99 each at Cinequest’s online Cinejoy.

As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) about thirty Cinequest films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitter for the latest.

CARVER: world premiere at Cinequest, Photo courtesy of Select Films.

Movies to See Right Now

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THE GATEKEEPERS

Three documentaries are dominating this week’s cinematic landscape:

  • The Gatekeepers is a documentary centered around interviews with all six surviving former chiefs of Shin Bet, Israel’s super-secret internal security force.  These are hard ass guys who share a surprising perspective on the efficacy of Israel’s war on terror.
  • Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, now playing on HBO, explores the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover-up of priest abuse from a Wisconsin parish to the top of the Vatican (and I mean the top).
  • 56 Up is the surprisingly mellow next chapter in the greatest documentary series ever.  Starting with Seven Up! in 1964, director Michael Apted has followed the same fourteen British children, filming snapshots of their lives at ages 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49 – and now at 56.

We’re now in the third day of San Jose’s Cinequest Film Festival.  I’ve updated my CINEQUEST 2013 page, which includes comments on The Sapphires, In the Shadows, Lead Us Not Into Temptation, The Almost Man, Panahida, Dose of Reality, White Lie, Aftermath and The Hunt.

Opening this week, the drama Lore is about the innocent children of monstrous people, but its intensity is so unrelenting that it wearies the audience. You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

I admire Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Side Effects, starring Rooney Mara, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Quartet is a pleasant lark of a geezer comedy with four fine performances. The charmingly funny Warm Bodies has made my list of Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies.

You can still catch the Academy Award winning Argo, as well as Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook.  To ride the momentum of director Ang Lee’s surprise Oscar win, Life of Pi is now out again in 3D, which I recommend.  The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Picture,  Amour, is brilliantly made and almost unbearable to watch.

My DVD of the week is another documentary, Undefeated, last year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary.

Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the Oscars with its annual 31 Days of Oscars, filling its broadcast schedule with Academy Award-winning films. This week, the lineup includes Inherit the Wind and Elmer Gantry.

Cinequest: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

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The best movie that I’ve seen so far at Cinequest is the French thriller Lead Us Not Into Temptation.  A middle-aged married man does a good deed for a beautiful young woman and finds himself the pawn in a dangerous game.  Inventively constructed, we see the story from the perspective of the guy, then from the young woman’s point of view and finally through the prism of another character.  Unlike in Rashomon, we don’t see different realities, but, as secrets are revealed, we finally understand the whole picture.  It’s a brilliant screenplay by writer-director-producer Cheyenne Carron.   In the young woman, Carron has created a character who is both predatory and damaged but who can act charming, vulnerable and sexy. The story hinges on actress Agnes Delachair’s ability to play that complex role – and she delivers a captivating performance.   The trailer below is not subtitled.   Lead Us Not Into Temptation plays again on March 1 and March 9.

I’ve updated my CINEQUEST 2013 page, which also includes comments on The Sapphires, In the Shadows, The Almost Man, Panahida, Aftermath and The Hunt.