Drama

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
  • IMDb: link

While I quite enjoyed the movie, I have a strong suspicion that a documentary of the story behind the making of The Seed of the Sacred Fig would far more fascinating. Shot in Iran by director Mohammad Rasoulof while being sentenced to prison, the film was smuggled out of the country with the director to follow just hours before he would have been forced to surrender to authorities. Cut together with Internet footage of the Iranian government’s harsh crackdown on protestors, the thriller takes us into the lives of a single Iranian family which dissolves in front of eyes due to fear, paranoia, and oppression.

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Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Chinatown
  • IMDb: link

I don’t know if 1974’s Chinatown is without doubt the best film for everyone involved, both in front and behind the camera, but one could certainly make the case. Director Roman Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne come together with a neo-noir staple which provided Jack Nicholson one of his most famous roles as private investigator J. J. Gittes who struggles to find the truth surrounding the death of chief engineer at the Department of Water and Power (Darrell Zwerling), who Gittes was hired to surveil by a woman (Diane Ladd) pretending to be his wife (Faye Dunaway), and uncover how that death plays into a larger conspiracy of the Los Angeles draught and a land scheme which allows 30s Los Angeles to become a major character in the film.

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September 5

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: September 5
  • IMDb: link

At only 94 minutes, September 5 is a surprisingly short and concise look back at the events of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics through the lens of the ABC Sports team who were on the ground and on the air when the incident occurred putting them at the forefront of the coverage. Director Tim Fehlbaum‘s film stays with our newsmen covering their actions and perspectives as events unfold in real time, fighting to stay on the air and keep the coverage, and not providing the audience any information not uncovered by the team.

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A Real Pain

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Real Pain
  • IMDb: link

Most notable for Kieran Culkin‘s performance, A Real Pain stars Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg (who also wrote and directed) in and odd couple pairing as cousins visiting Poland after their grandmother’s death hoping to reconnect with their Jewish heritage and feel closer to her one last time. Starting out with a Holocaust tour group the pair find themselves shown around Poland landmarks ranging from restaurants to a concentration camp with an eclectic group who include Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes, and Kurt Egyiawan, before moving off on their own to find their grandmother’s home.

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Nickel Boys

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Nickel Boys
  • IMDb: link

Presented from a first-person perspective with the camera acting as the eyes of our protagonist, Nickel Boys is a hard film to review both in terms of subject matter and in how the story is framed for the audience. The technique certainly allows the film to stick out, even when the person whose perspective unexpectedly shifts between our main character Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) who finds himself in a reform school after being in the wrong place at the wrong time and Turner (Brandon Wilson) who he meets at Nickel Academy. 

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