Fans of the Indian activist Vandana Shiva will finish watching a new film about her feeling inspired. Critics will be annoyed, maybe even enraged. And those who came in knowing nothing about her will leave knowing mostly what Shiva and her fans want them to know. The Seeds of Vandana Shiva is one of those […]
Author: Stephen Whitty
Tales of Babylon
When are you simply ripping off someone else’s movie and when are you making your own, respectful homage? It’s a question that’s been around for decades — or at least since someone first noted Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs bore some obvious similarities to Ringo Lam’s City on Fire. So it’s only fair, perhaps, that Tarantino […]
Everything in Between
Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy and girl cry. The bittersweet teen romance is its own mini-genre, powering shelves of sad young-adult novels and soft-focus movies with Ansel Elgort or Mandy Moore, many of them driven by tragic accidents or terminal illnesses. A new entry from Australia adds a few new pleasures, but not […]
Simulant
Imagine everything you love in your partner. Their tenderness, their sense of humor, their deep abiding devotion. Now imagine you could record all that, and save it in an identical robot. Could you love that robot, too? Simulant thinks so. In its near-future scenario, basic humanoid robots – called simulants, or “sims” – now work […]
Project Dorothy
Making a lot out of a little is the low-budget dream. Project Dorothy certainly starts with a little. It has two actors. It has, basically, a single set. And at its core, it has one idea: Two men trapped in an empty building. It’s when it tries to turn that little into a lot that […]
Tonic
Welcome to a life in the night of the city. That’s the idea for some terrific movies, in which a harried man on the run stumbles from danger to danger, eccentric to eccentric. Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out, with its story of a wounded IRA member fleeing the authorities, was one. Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, […]
The Year of the Dog
They are just a couple of strays. One doesn’t have much of a future. The other doesn’t even have a name. But then man meets dog, and each one finds a purpose. That’s a quick sketch of The Year of the Dog, a simple, and often simply powerful movie about addiction and recovery. Except sometimes […]
My Sister’s Wedding
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blah. That’s the not-quite-rhyming recipe for My Sister’s Wedding, a get-me-to-the-altar comedy that never really engages its audience. Its story revolves around put-upon middle child Allison, trying hard to make sure her kid sister’s nuptials run smoothly. It shouldn’t be that hard. The wedding is at the family […]
Discontinued
It’s the end of the world and she’s knows it. And she feels fine. Or, at least, as good as she ever does. Sarah is a constant complainer, a continuous kvetcher, a tireless buzzkill. So when she suddenly discovers that her entire world – everyone’s world – is merely a high-tech simulation that’s about to […]
Unconformity
Unconformity is the story of Alex, a rock-climbing geologist. Too bad the movie never soars too high, or digs too deep. An inoffensive, but not particularly memorable drama, the film begins with Alex, a doctoral student, facing personal and professional crises. A seemingly friendly classmate has stolen her ideas; her advisor is exploiting her work. […]
Mind Leech
Some movies are so bad they’re good. Mind Leech, though, is a pretty good film that’s only pretending to be bad. It’s definitely low-budget – at times it almost looks like it’s no budget. And its cheesy face-sucking monster looks like it crawled out of some old straight-to-VHS horror. But that’s the point and sort […]
How to Rob
There is New York noir, all rainy streets and dark alleys. There’s L.A. noir, where the bright sunshine just makes the shadows deeper. And then there’s Boston noir. How to Rob is the latest entry, in a venerable tradition that ranges from The Friends of Eddie Coyle to The Town. And it shares some of […]
Rickshaw Girl
Naima’s life in rural Bangladesh is nearly impossible. And then it gets worse. Her father becomes gravely ill, and loses his job as a rickshaw driver. Her mother is fired from her work, as well. Her father’s medicine is expensive, and there’s no money coming in. So, young Naima decides, it’s time she went out, […]
Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon
Randy Rhoads was not supposed to die young. The shredding, heavy-metal guitarist barely drank. He really didn’t do drugs (his biggest vice was cigarettes). He loved his Mom, had a longtime girlfriend, and spent his spare time endlessly practicing acoustic guitar. So when he died, at age 25, in a plane crash – trying to […]
Tiger 24
One of the most dangerous beasts in the jungle, it pushes out other creatures, pollutes its own habitat, and often kills for the pure love of it. But no one ever started a campaign to ban human beings from the wild. Instead, animals are the ones often targeted for removal, even when they’re guilty of […]
An American Ballet Story
“She put her money where her heart was.” That line comes about an hour into the documentary An American Ballet Story, but it sums its subject up perfectly. Rebekah Harkness was a fabulously wealthy woman who loved all forms of dance, and wanted to support them. So, starting in the ‘60s, she opened up her […]
Arranged Marriage
Kamali believes in “til death do you part.” So do her parents. Except if she doesn’t marry who they want her to, they’re going to make sure that death comes awfully early. That’s the idea behind Arranged Marriage, a good-looking but uneven film whose script veers crazily between shocks and satire. It’s being pushed as […]
Murder, Anyone?
Murder, Anyone? is a movie about two people trying to write a movie called Murder, Anyone? It’s a tricky, inside-out idea that ends up being more fun than you’d expect. The story, by the late Gordon Bressack, features two aging writers, George and Charlie. They’ve decided to write an “avant-garde, surrealistic, mind-bending, neo-noir thriller.” But […]
Ask Me To Dance
You wanna dance? It’s a question that can make a person’s heart leap – or, if they’ve got two left feet, their pulse begin to pound anxiously. It can be a simply polite invitation — or a way to fill a gap in the conversation or change an awkward subject. Or, in Ask Me to […]
You Resemble Me
Terrorists aren’t born. They’re made. But how? The fascinating drama You Resemble Me has some ideas. Bring a child into a poor, dysfunctional, on-the-fringes family. Have her grow up beaten and bouncing around foster care. Add in sexual abuse, and then a drift into prostitution and drugs. And then let her watch, riveted, as a […]