Among my most anticipated films at the SXSW Conference was The Field Guide to Evil. The film festival section of SXSW tends to boast stellar horror in their Midnighters slate. But this title, in particular, stood out, packing together filmmakers responsible for some of the most inventive, darkly funny, and deeply twisted debuts in the past decade. Austrian writer/directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala teamed up for the electrifying Goodnight Mommy, a psychological thriller about twin boys who suspect their mother is not what she seems. Polish helmer Agnieszka Smoczynska directed the trippy and feral horror-musical The Lure, which centers on a pair of man-eating mermaids who become a cabaret sensation. And these were just three of the talents asked to make horror shorts for this tantalizing title! [Read more…]
Hereditary Introduces a New Master Of Terror
We are in a glorious moment for horror. Boldly original and deeply terrifying directorial debuts like Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, Julia Ducournau’s Raw, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out have not only had critics cheering, and audiences screaming, but also announced the arrival of daring new visionaries to the genre. Next to join this esteemed company of masterful horror makers is Ari Aster. This ruthlessly talented writer/director makes his feature film debut with the Sundance-heralded Hereditary, which turns family dysfunction into pure, unfiltered nightmare fuel. [Read more…]
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Is A Gentle And Needed Battle Cry
It seems almost impossible. For 33 years, Fred Rogers switched into sneakers and a cozy cardigan, and nestled in to host a children’s show called Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The times changed. TV became flooded with loud and violent cartoons that were basically thinly-veiled toy commercials. But Rogers was a constant, always there to smile and encourage. But what do we–the generations who grew up watching him–really know about Mister Rogers? Through interviews with family and friends and a deep dive into the show’s archive and Rogers’ personal letters, Morgan Neville’s documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? reveals the complexity, doubts, and curiosities of the man behind the beatific grin and cardigan. [Read more…]
Annihilation Is Surely Ambitious Yet Sadly Underwhelming
Annihilation, directed by Alex Garland
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
Alex Garland carved out a reputation as a stellar screenwriter with cerebral sci-fi fare like the zombie thriller 28 Days Later, the space-set adventure Sunshine, and the clone-centered romance Never Let Me Go. Then he shocked and awed critics and audiences alike with his directorial debut, Ex Machina. The high-tech fairy tale showed a crisp visual style that played beautifully with Garland’s heady, philosophizing script, and was roundly proclaimed one of the best films of 2014. So it was with great anticipation that critics awaited his follow-up, Annihilation. And while many have breathlessly sung the praises of Garland’s loose adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, this critic was left cold. [Read more…]
Sally Potter’s The Party Gives a Bang, Then Fizzles
English writer/director Sally Potter has built her reputation on challenging dramas, like the gender-bending Orlando, the revolution-focused Ginger & Rosa, and Yes, a steamy romance with poetic dialogue set to iambic pentameter. Maybe that’s why The Party is so jarring. Though sharply cast and leanly executed, this dark comedy about a band of elitist London liberals feels strangely safe, and ultimately underwhelming. [Read more…]
Beyond Dark, Pity Is Comedy Gone Grim-Black
There’s dark comedy, and then there’s Efthimis Filippou. While the former flirts with death and depravity to score bubbling belly-laughs and cheeky chortles, the latter crafts a humor so macabre it makes audiences itch, their laughs coming out more like alarmed barks or gasps. Teamed with writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek screenwriter wrung comedy out of the repressive, incestuous family in Dogtooth, the passionless matchmaking of The Lobster, and the repulsive revenge of The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Now, he’s teamed with lesser-known director, Babis Makridis, for their co-penned Sundance entry, Pity. And it’s just as twisted–yet uncomfortably funny–as you may have hoped. [Read more…]
Molly’s Game Is An Exhilarating Watch, But Ultimately Fails
After decades of winning praise as a screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin makes his directorial debut with Molly’s Game, a bold biopic about a resilient and notorious poker entrepreneur. Electric with Sorkin’s signature wit and fronted by Jessica Chastain in a powerhouse performance, the film has a sharp and undeniable charm. Then Sorkin gambles away audience good will with a stupid, ham-fisted ice rink sequence. [Read more…]
P.T. Anderson’s Phantom Thread Couldn’t Come At A Worse Time
In the post-Weinstein era, we look around at the carnage of shattered lives and wonder how we got here. What a poor time for the release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, which pushes the narrative that geniuses are on some level allowed to be abusive. If your work is beautiful enough, your soul can be made of scabs and darkness. The world excuses so much if you’re talented and male. [Read more…]
Guillermo del Toro Delivers An Enchanting, Exquisite Fairy Tale With The Shape of Water
Visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has long been enchanted by monsters. From chilling yet tender films like The Devil’s Backbone to Pan’s Labyrinth, and Crimson Peak, he’s offered creatures terrifying, yet uniquely beautiful. In Hellboy he made his monsters unabashed heroes. With his latest, del Toro turns an aquatic “affront” into a swoon-inducing romantic lead. The Shape of Water is a positively enchanting fairy tale that celebrates misfits, and reveals true monsters. [Read more…]
Dee Rees Delivers A Must-See Drama with Mudbound
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
Writer-director Dee Rees earned buzz out the gate in 2011, with the compelling coming-of-age drama Pariah. She followed this up with the bawdy and bold Bessie, a made-for-TV biopic that starred Queen Latifah as legendary blues siren Bessie Smith. Now, after months of touring film festivals, winning praise, and sparking Oscar speculation, Rees’ latest, Mudbound, is coming to select theaters and Netflix to offer a bittersweet period piece that’s ripe with political undertones. [Read more…]
Greta Gerwig’s Must-See Coming-Of-Age Tale: Lady Bird
There’s a haunting clarity that hits women when they look back at their reckless youth and reflect on how we treated our mothers. When we were teens, they seemed petty tyrants hungry to criticize everything from our grades and clothes to our posture and friends. But as we grow and encounter the oft-merciless world for which our mothers strove to prepare us, we come to understand their perspective. Looking toward our futures, they sometimes sacrificed our affections for our good. But neither were they flawless in this. It’s a hard to accept your parents want what’s best for you, yet are flawed. That is the lesson at the heart of Greta Gerwig’s stupendous coming-of-age dramedy Lady Bird. [Read more…]
Incoherent From The Go,The Snowman Is All Sickly Melt
The Snowman had all the makings of a great horror crime-thriller in the vein of Silence of the Lambs. It too was based on a provocative mystery novel, Jo Nesbø’s acclaimed international bestseller. It was helmed by an esteemed director, Tomas Alfredson. The Swedish filmmaker chiseled a reputation for crafting compelling adaptations of tricky novels with his celebrated vampire tale Let the Right One In, and the Oscar-nominated espionage drama Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. With a cast that boasts such critically heralded stars as Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and J.K. Simmons, Alfredson seemed destined for a three-peat success with his latest. So perhaps the greatest mystery of The Snowman is not the identity of its merciless murderer, but just how all this promise came together in an incoherent and tone-deaf mess. [Read more…]
Sean Baker Stuns NYFF With His Grimy And Gorgeous Coming-Of-Age Drama, The Florida Project
Writer/director Sean Baker does not make flashy films, but slowly unfolding, naturalistic narratives that’s revelations bloom for hours and days after you’ve first seen them. In 2015, he had critics raving over Tangerine, his heartwarming and at times hilarious breakout about a pair of trans sex workers. For his follow-up, Baker awes with his frank yet beautiful portrait of poverty-stricken Americans living in the shadow of The Happiest Place On Earth. [Read more…]
Beautiful, Bittersweet Body Horror: Blue My Mind
Becoming a woman can be a traumatizing experience. Your body transforms. It bleeds. Your hormones swing wildly, subjecting you to fits of rage, sadness, lust, and self-doubt. You may look in the mirror and see someone you don’t recognize. You might rebel against this lack of control by acting out with booze, sex, and drugs. In these regards, the 15-year-old heroine of Blue My Mind (2017) is pretty common. But where this Fantastic Fest entry takes a dramatic and sensationally strange turn is that she is not becoming a woman. She’s becoming a mermaid. Far from a fantastical and glamorous experience, it’s one swimming in trauma and body horror. [Read more…]
Intellectually Ambitious Yet Ultimately Inept: 78/52 Fails Hitchcock’s Psycho
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
The shower scene in Psycho is easily one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. Even those who’ve never seen Alfred Hitchcock’s notorious 1960 thriller know its shrieking strings score, and have surely seen it mimicked in a bevy of film and TV shows. Beyond that blood-splashed shower curtain, there’s a whole world to be explored. Documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe dives in with 78/52 [Read more…]
Traumatizing, Tragic, Grimly Comedic: Yorgos Lanthimos Unnerves Fantastic Fest
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has raised eyebrows and sunk hearts with his heralded drama Dogtooth and his Colin Farrell-fronted dark comedy The Lobster. Now he reteams with Farrell for The Killing of A Sacred Deer, an enigmatic bit of slow burn horror that boasts a streak of pitch-black humor. Not nearly as accessible or silly as The Lobster, it’s nonetheless breathlessly daring and unnerving. [Read more…]
Enigmatic and Unnerving, Mother! Might Be a Modern Horror Masterpiece
Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! is his Mona Lisa. Maybe a masterpiece, but most definitely crafted to capture the public with its mystery. Following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, the art-horror offering has ignited furious debate over its meaning, and even basic plot points. Sure, the trailer suggests this is a creepy cult thriller about a married couple whose happy home is unsettled by some unexpected–and sexy–guests. But the truth is something more complicated and far trickier to define. [Read more…]
A Ballet of Slaughter! The Exhilarating, Regrettably Garish, The Villainess
A New Film By Jung Byung-gil Reviewed by Kristy Puchko
Thanks to such dazzling and deeply dark films as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Mother, and I Saw The Devil, South Korean thrillers make cinephiles worldwide drool in anticipation of stories as twisted and electrifying as they are gut-wrenching. It’s an intimidatingly high bar, but writer/director Jung Byung-gil deftly clears it with The Villainess, a revenge thriller that chases a fascinating female assassin through fragile love and shattering heartbreaks. [Read more…]