The Rule of Jenny Pen: Excellent Acting, Short on Believability

March 12, 2025 / Amyana Bartley

The Rule of Jenny Pen, directed and written by James Ashcroft, is a 70’s era looking, mushroom taking, mind fuck that imagines a quasi nightmare scenario in an assisted living hospital.

With reminiscent shots of Kubrick’s The Shining, and a Stephen King-like story feel, what could’ve been something bracing and unsettling, never plausibly gets off its feet.

Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), is a longtime judge, who seems to have had enough of the people he sees at court. From criminals who commit horrible crimes, but still claim to have “learned their lesson”, to making an example of victim’s families, he is just worn out.

When he has a sudden stroke during a trial, he is sent to an assisted living hospital of sorts. There he has the time to reflect on his life and succumb to the reality of his disabilities.

He spends a lot of time judging the people around him, as if he wasn’t going through some of the same things that put others there to begin with. HIs pharisaic behavior slowly starts to retreat as he begins to learn about what goes on there.

Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), also a resident, spends his days being loud, bullying and down right cantankerous to many of the other residents. His mischief making and disrespect of others annoys Stefan, which leads to a clashing of personalities that Stefan could never have expected.

The bigger the ego, the harder it falls

Dave consistently comes in resident’s rooms at night, playing a series of twisted “games” with his puppet Jenny Pen, meant to terrorize residents into submission and silence.

When Stefan starts to see it, Dave has already been playing these games with Stefan’s roommate Tony (George Henare) for an unknown time, and Stefan begins to question why Tony doesn’t just stick up for himself.

The “games” have made Tony extremely fearful of Dave, so he bows to “Jenny’s” every whim so that nothing worse happens.

Stefan’s situation turns for the worse, when he publicly starts judgmentally “guessing” a few residents life stories, in front of them. He insults his roommate Tony, guessing that he’s just a coward, then shifts to Dave, rightfully attacking his bullying.

Unfortunately, he succeeds in turning Dave’s attention to himself. Stefan, who vows never to fall victim to Dave, overestimates his physical abilities and underestimates his foe.

When Dave then starts messing with Stefan, he attempts to inform the staff about it, but they happen to be the worst, most cynical staff ever. Tony refuses to back him up and lies, so that the staff begins second guessing and gaslighting Stefan.

As expected, things then slowly begin to decline for Stefan as well, to serve as what appears as a humbling of the character, who once believed he knew and had seen it all.

in all honesty…

Lithgow and Rush both give delightful, strong performances of each character. Lithgow is an especially annoying antagonist, portraying the anti-social disordered Dave, with amusing glee and light hearted sadism.

The film itself was shot in wholly unsettling and unpalatable seventies-esque decor, eliciting the depressive feelings of actual buildings from the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Just my summary would have definitely drawn me towards this film as a movie-goer, however, what actually plays out is more silly, incredulous and nowhere near the level of scary it could’ve been.

The screenplay was full of holes, tension build up, and lacks crucial past information. We never get a real backstory on Dave and why he would be doing this to begin with. What is his power over these people and why would the catatonic staff take his side?

This leads to a rather boring antagonist, in action. As clever as Lithgow’s acting is in creating Dave’s personality, Dave wasn’t doing things that were so intimidating, that the entire residence, or just a few, couldn’t have grouped up to fix the problem before the film starts.

Anyone could’ve reported him at any time, but for some reason, they just don’t.

As is the structure of screenplays, there is always a “low point” for the protagonist, where, having fought through half the story, it seems that the protagonist can’t take anymore and gives in to the antagonist, in some way, before the final ascent.

Because of the lack of escalating behaviors by Dave, in action, when Stefan finally succumbs to Dave, Stefan hadn’t, believably, been through near enough to make it practical for him to succumb. It was very strange to witness and I felt like it was much too soon.

The doll itself is very basic and not scary or intimidating at all. Even with the extra creative uses of color, lighting and hazy psychedelic style, that brilliantly sets the emotional tone, there is nothing unsettling or intimidating about it.

It seemed as if Ashcroft and writers wanted these characters and situations to quickly resolve or hurry and get out of the way, rather than using the characters, as they are, to find their own way out.

There are so many spots throughout the script where: characters are silenced uncharacteristically; things brushed under the rug or staff not seeing anything, even with mirrors and cameras everywhere, that make things super easy for Dave to “win”; and, liberally throwing in the disability card only when it’s needed for Dave to continue to win, yet, at other times, we see those characters able to do things.

Literally take three fingers, or the nurse call hand button and jam him in the soft spot of the neck. That doesn’t take brute strength. If the residents can’t do that, there’s zero way the ending could’ve happened.

There’s a point where Dave plants something in Stefan’s room to get him in trouble and make the staff believe that Stefan’s words couldn’t be trusted. Instead of being the loud mouth that we know he’s capable of being, the scene cuts short with Stefan looking stupefied, rather than him just saying “It’s not mine”.

All of the beautiful craft from the actors, cinematography, set dressing, props, make up and effects seemed wasted by this script. I haven’t felt this bamboozled by a film in a long while. To have such high caliber in every other facet of the film, only to throw it away on a shaky at best script?

Jenny, as presented, wouldn’t “rule” a thing in a story that practically worked. Just knock the stupid thing to the floor and start pulling on what’s left of Dave’s hair.

The circumstances needed to be more dire, more frightening with greater stakes and consequences to make the impact it could have.

The film has lots of elements of possibility and brilliance, but the script just wasn’t there for it, which was greatly disappointing.

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categories / Articles, Dramas, Film, Film Reviews, Thrillers
tags / Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, James Ashcroft, IFC Films

Paradise: An Overly Contrived Series Lacking Depth and Heart

February 16, 2025 / Amyana Bartley

Paradise is a new, Hulu SciFi Drama series that explores themes of a possible life beyond apocalyptic, global events, which seemingly allows only a small minority from the United States to an underground world.

With many pertinent themes that could’ve been a great mirror for what is happening in current world affairs, the series scoffs fleshing them out for chronic cliches, generic writing and organization of the series itself, that makes dystopian commonplace, and, pushes the action to the back burner.

What is seen in the trailer is not at all what you get in the series.

Lots of questions

In the opening episodes of the show, Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) is a senior member of the “Secret Service” tasked to keep the President (James Marsden) safe. Xavier seems nothing more than a veritable robot, who is expected to take orders, no questions asked.

The series appears to take place in the United States, but we find that it is a man made version of what used to be America, with a giant lightbulb for the sun, and a computerized sky.

Above ground level is supposedly uninhabitable and the series is very vague about why at first, so we don’t have a lot of information to figure out the plot as it moves forward in shadow.

Xavier’s wife supposedly gets lost in whatever happened, so Xavier is on his own parenting their two kids, while being on call 24/7 for the President.

Xavier gets entangled in an investigation, when he finds the President dead in his room one night.

He ends up finding out that the people he depended on may not be exactly who they represent themselves to be, and his life is thrust into mystery, deceit and betrayal, up through the highest echelons.

What sounds like an intriguing story of cat and mouse woven into apocalyptic SciFi, gets muddled down into the minutia of everyday life underground. By keeping what happened above ground a secret till the very end, the desire to see the show all the way through gets harder and harder each episodes.

Throw in all of the cliches and downright silly nods to other great films, and the entire series falls flat.

IN ALL HONESTY…

Dear Dan Fogleman, WHAT happened?

You created a gorgeous, emotionally abundant, series with all actors having chemistry, wrapped up in beautiful dialogue in This Is Us. What is this?

The filming and CGI was very well done, but with so many flaws within the construct of the series, the money spent doesn’t amount to much of anything.

Xavier is so subdued emotionally, that I barely got to see the range that I know Brown can do. Many of the supporting character actors were devoid of presence and believability as well. All of the relationships, romantic or not, are completely lacking in chemistry and emotional investment.

Perhaps the actors floundered with the absence of fleshed out characters and writing they could really sink their teeth into? I’m a fan of Sterling and Julianne Nicholson, but this was definitely beneath their abilities.

Fogleman’s ambition is there thematically but I think he may have attempted to do way too much at once, without having the urgency or know how to follow through on all of them.

There are plenty of opportunities for the story to latch on to one of the many possible story arcs that “could’ve been”, but barely any get their due in the end. Many of them fizzle out and are never heard from again.

I think had the show started in the past, the disaster would’ve rocketed the series forward, wholly engaging the audience, and the story that follows could’ve used that as its springboard, to create a more focused, high stakes piece that definitively connected a few of the themes together.

As it is, the main plot becomes “what happened to the President'“, which negates needing them to live underground or the apocalyptic events to begin with.

Instead we see a bunch of lackluster scenes that seem to want to start totally different stories, within the overarching ones, that are disjointed, unfulfilled and disconnected.

After such events, any commonplace occurrence not connected to it, trying to be like what life used to be before it, is rendered dull and moot.

Why would the people that survived such devastating consequences, caused at least partially by human greed and ignorance, want to have the governments/systems run just like they used to?

They somehow have agreed with the continuance of the boring, white guy, and an alcoholic “President”, in a cookie cutter “American country'“ that no longer exists.

No one really likes him to begin with, but somehow we’re supposed to be invested in his death, and, the same real life scenario of toxic wealthy elites holding all of the power?

That story wrap up also was unfulfilling and predictable.

The sheer amount of cliches used throughout is astounding. Some 85% of this series, characters are either at the bar “coping” with what is going on, or just drinking at home.

I feel like if these people could make it through apocalyptic events, they could easily cope with all of the other story’s events that pale in comparison.

One major cliche uses a character who “knows stuff” about what’s happened to the President. They tell Xavier one night, that they have to talk to him about it over a casual instance.

For some unknown reason, nothing plausible, they can’t tell him at the moment, when they had time, and, because of that, guess what happens to them next.

There were also multiple times that the main villain could’ve been easily killed throughout the show, given the amount of characters who are ex military/mercenaries. Even when said villain threatens someone’s life, in a one on one scenario, with no one else around, the threatened person just decides to leave.

Further in, something gets “written” on the sky, in an act of rebellion. When no one higher up can remove it for some reason, they want to reboot it. One of the characters, using an awful Disney ride metaphor, warns them that it could cause all kinds of “havoc” from the people because they would “remember” where they were.

From what I could tell, they hadn’t been there for long anyway, and, having lived through what they did, OF COURSE they would know where they are and why the sky might shut off. It’s a computer and they are already practiced in sky and sun shutdowns!

After all of this, they force in some quotes from Die Hard, in such cringe inducing ways, that the series, not the apocalyptic events, is the true disaster. All that is left to say or think is WHY ?

Why was this important to make? What were the story creators going for? What themes did they want to follow? Why was much of the script just filler for the main action pieces, which had no real urgency to begin with? Why did they make something akin to the old 1980’s, night time soaps?

The world may never know.

Now, since Disney readily and willingly shut down their DEI programs, bowing to fascism and bigotry, why would any artist or general laborer want to work for them or their businesses again?

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categories / Action, Articles, Dramas, SciFi, Series, Series Review
tags / Sterling K Brown, Dan Fogelman, James Marsden, Julianne Nicholson

Regarding Us: A Timely, LGBTQ Film That Resonates Today

December 14, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Regarding Us, written and directed by David Beck and Jennifer Bobbi, is a story about trans rights, finding chosen family in places that one wouldn’t expect, and how being misinformed or bigoted creates unnecessary barriers to people trying to connect on a human basis.

no protection

Veronica (Alexandra Grey), is a teacher who works at a Catholic school in NYC. She has worked here for seven years, and somehow the “board” finds out that she is trans. She is fired with no severance for her “lifestyle” and “choice”, immediately.

Denny (David Beck) is a newly single father to daughter Isabel (Andrea Rosa Guzman). His husband Adrian (Eliud Garcia) has recently left them, and Denny, who is a struggling actor, is trying to juggle his new life without his partner’s support. Denny does work on the side, as a tour guide and his own business of live Shakespeare telegrams.

When Veronica, who is seriously depressed at home, receives one of his telegrams, she is first annoyed because it was sent by a downstairs neighbor who harasses her daily because she’s trans. What begins between them, is something neither of them expects.

A new friendship

Veronica and Denny’s friendship begins to grow when Denny asks her to be a care taker for Isabel. Veronica talks to Denny about her family and how she is treated in the world, while Denny gets to talk with her about the breakup of his relationship. Their support of one another becomes the grounding that both of them need at this point in their lives.

At school, Isabel makes friends with the new kid Kyle (Hudson Paul). Kyle is struggling with his feelings about his gender, but his family doesn’t approve of it. The two become fast friends and Isabel is very accepting of Kyle, given the openness of her raising.

Isabel encourages Kyle to dress up, wear makeup and to openly be who he is. Kyle’s mother Constance (Abigail Hawke), is a typical, white religious woman, who seems to understand what is happening with Kyle, but keeps it under wraps, discouraging Kyle from embracing who he is using threatening stories of how his life will be should he not hide it.

When Adrian then returns to Denny trying to reconcile, it ends up creating friction between Denny’s relationship with Veronica, and the kids friendship. Constance then reads about Veronica’s firing in the news, and bans Kyle from seeing Isabel. Tensions rise to the extreme, putting everyone at odds.

Will they all be able to come together and reconcile each other’s differences before it’s too late?

in all honesty…

Regarding Us is a moral discussion about how bigotry and church based ignorance fail and harm their own people. It aims to spread the word about anti-Trans rhetoric and challenges the systemic false narratives being spread by misinformed leaders both in the church and government.

It humanizes and normalizes each character to show audiences that Trans and other LGBTQ people aren’t the villains that uneducated priests, pastors and government officials tend to malign them as.

They are normal, everyday, working citizens, who want the same love, acceptance and peace that is only afforded to cis gendered and heteronormative people in our society.

It also shows us how that type of hate and misinformation harms the LGBTQ community and others to separate and divide us more as a people. Like anyone else who is “othered” and treated violently in our communities, depression and suicidal ideation can become forefront for those struggling.

Grey gave a wonderful portrayal of Veronica, and, to my delight, both Guzman and Paul had stand out performances. Guzman’s vivacity and precociousness absolutely stole every scene she was in. Paul’s performance of Kyle, as a child feeling left out, was heart breaking.

Both of them showed up with performances that many adult actors couldn’t duplicate as well.

The film struggles with the script, as many things happen without explanation, leaving us with questions about “how”, “when” and “why”. For example, how would the Catholic school end up finding out about Veronica, and that her transition would be “all over Facebook”? Is she a celebrity? Did she tell someone who told on her?

There are also parts where certain characters are added just to make things happen. These characters just happen to be doing things that end up bringing other characters together, in an overly simplistic way.

For example, Veronica’s downstairs neighbor, who harasses her by sending her pizza and the like, while not paying ahead of time, simply doesn’t work in a believable way. Every service we have is, in general, paid ahead of time, so not paying Denny ahead of time for the telegram simply wouldn’t happen.

Many of the scenes feel forced and several of the actors awkwardly stumble through their roles , which came across as disconnected with their characters and downright silly at times.

Still, the overall message was well plotted out and the “family film” feel made this subject more approachable, showing the LGBTQ community just as they are: Human, fathers, mothers, siblings, children, loving; caring; and even religious.

If the white, cis gendered, heteronormative “lifestyle” can be respected, so can other forms of human love, with the dignity and respect that they deserve.

In a time in America where we are literally destroying ourselves believing in the vitriol and hate that some religious and political people are making up to obscure the truth that they are the real villains, we need to see more messages in all media that align with the truth of this film.

It is most important for us to come together and see that we are not all that different, and that differences are our strength, not weakness. If not, we are doomed to keep repeating history over and over to the detriment of the 99%, and never hold those who are the real problem accountable.

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categories / Activism, Articles, Family, Film, Film Reviews, LGBTQ+
tags / Alexandra Grey, David Beck, Jennifer Bobbi

Breath Of Fire: A Harrowing Story of Yet Another Abuse of Power

October 23, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

TRIGGER WARNING: MILD TALK OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND PEDOPHILIA

Breath of Fire is a riveting new documentary directed by Hayley Pappas and Smiley Stevens, based on a Vanity Fair article written by journalist Hayley Phelan.

In a four part series, it tells the story of how Kundalini Yoga was started by cult leader “Guru” Bahjan, a supposed spiritual leader, and one of his students “Guru” Jagat, aka Katie Griggs.

Like most “spiritual” leaders, who claim to be called by God, The Universe, or whatever title they wish to embody, the documentary is another fervent reminder that these leaders are, almost always, not what they claim to be.

The setup

Yogi Bajhan was a Pakistani man who, apparently, brought to India a supposed “ancient “ form of Yoga called Kundalini. He had set up a very strict set of rules that students were to follow, from physical movements and breath, to how they should eat, toilet, dress, have sex and more.

He brought himself into prominence in the 1960’s, a time of cultural shift and change, and took advantage of a time where spiritual leaders were gaining attention in the United States. Speaking about peace, love and female empowerment, he took it upon himself to hire a group of white people, as he thought they would bring him more influence and prestige.

He also created a system within the community of all young females to be his “secretaries”, using that as a means of showing others what female empowerment looked like. As the film moves on, we see that it is just a front to blind his followers to his true intentions, which was absolute power, deception for personal gain and a deep seated toxic rage.

As his notoriety rose, he was able to fool large communities of people (mostly white) to start to build communities, businesses and wealth. He convinced people that he was the only one who knew what was right, while also separating children from their parents very early on, and sending them to a school in India, where they were subjected to horrific corporeal punishments and sexual abuse.

He met with international dignitaries and presidents, and was considered by those who weren’t aware, as a “Guru” of modern spirituality. He was able to amass a vast fortune on the backs of others, while teaching that, if you also weren’t rich like him, you weren’t doing Kundalini right.

The only way to do it right, he taught, was to submit fully to him and give everything in service to him. He promised, in return, that his followers, were chosen people who would inherit the Earth for the next five thousand years.

Kundalini Katie

The documentary weaves throughout, the story of a young woman named Katie Griggs. She was born in a middle class, suburban family and lived with her mom and stepdad in an artistic and unconventional way to most children of the time.

She carried the pain and burden of being abandoned at a very young age by her birth father, and, by the time she was a young adult, managed to get caught in a cycle of depression, alcohol and drugs. The regular twelve step programs didn’t vibe with her, so she set out on finding a way to heal with more unconventional means and spirituality.

She found Kundalini Yoga online, which promised that their moves and mantras could heal depression and addiction. She learned the teachings and movements from taking classes at the studio built by two of Bahjan’s supposed students, Golden Bridge, and later started private classes of her own.

She was noticed by a prominent Bahjan student, Harijiwan Khalsa, aka Steve Oxenhandler, another white man donned in the turban and beard style of Sikh men, who claimed to have spent years with Bahjan in training. He ultimately helped her open a studio called the Ra Ma Institute, and Kundalini Katie took the name Guru Jagat, as she herself rose to prominence.

The studio and techniques were lauded starting around 2007 and plenty of stars and influencers, the likes of Madonna, Russell Brand, Orlando Bloom and Rachel McAdams, were among Kundalini’s followers.

On the surface, Guru Jagat was the star of a movement of “wellness” and ultimate healing, but as the film speaks to former workers, we find the true story behind it, like Bahjan’s, was much darker and wrought with hypocrisy.

Interwoven, is also the theme of cultural appropriation, with white people taking on the guise of Sikhism, in a way that suited Bahjan’s flawed vision, but was used primarily as a front to gain the tax subsidies that the religions in the United States benefit from.

The series takes great pains to provide a fully detailed and immersive experience in a way that people can easily understand.

in all honesty…

It’s time to rethink buying Yogi Tea! Yogi Tea is just one of Bahjan’s corporate entities umbrellaed within his original company 3HO, which is also discussed in this must see series.

Pappas and Stevens have put together a documentary series that is chock full of information that flows effortlessly and is both entertaining and enthralling.

They have masterfully created a series with a subject that spans decades, into bite-sized, mesmerizing pieces that audiences are sure to lap up.

I want to salute them and Bahjan’s survivors, who bravely stepped up to tell their stories, so we could know the truth about someone who was so prominently praised in the past, and his students who continue to use appropriated culture to scam others while making themselves rich.

Yogi Bahjan was nothing but a con, a brute, and a consummate liar full of greed and avarice, who took advantage of impressionable young people, especially women, looking for personal healing. Predators like him are everywhere in business, where big money can be seized for one’s self, at the expense of other people’s hard work.

We see that in billionaires all over the world who are lost in endless greed that cannot and never will be satisfied. Our capitalistic system takes any ideas from race, religion, culture, or gender and exploits it for profit. This is part of the long history of colonization, “royalty” and a system that glorifies all the wrong people, in places of admiration and devotion.

The people featured were either raised in Bahjan’s system of oppression, or were highly susceptible due to being inexperienced, lost, and confused. This man and his higher level followers took full advantage of them with malicious intent.

Guru Jagat upheld Bajhan’s system, influenced by Harijiwan, another convicted criminal and fraud, but it’s unclear how this all happened as we don’t get access to much of Jagat and Harijiwan’s intimate conversations. She may have also fallen victim to he and other’s manipulation and deception.

What is clear about her, is that she did embrace a false facade to make the studio and herself a lot of money. Several of her assistants and co-workers throughout the series make claims that who she appeared to be and what she taught, was not practiced behind closed doors.

Breath of Fire shows us why we need to be wary of people who call themselves Master’s and Guru’s. In my experience with the spiritual world, those who call themselves either, generally aren’t, because a true devotee to clarity, love and light knows that there is always more to learn.

It is always a gamble entrusting people and businesses, even when they have popular studios, or are an advisor of any sort to the “stars”. It’s smoke and mirrors with people like this and none of them are any better than anyone else.

At the end of the day, those who live through light and love would never charge you for advice or exclude those who couldn’t afford it. True masters know how insignificant and transient Earthly “power” and money is, and understand that deception and ego is what is behind accumulating vast amounts of lucrative anything.

We are born into these systems where the rich have purposefully blinded us so they can gain. If there is insecurity of any kind, there are always going to be “snake oil” salespeople with a “perfect”, fast “cure” for what ails you.

There is nothing you can buy to quickly gain clarity and awakening about anything. The truth is always waiting to be found, but, for the most part, clarity is found through diligence, education, bravery and hard work.

We can also learn from each other by listening to the stories of brave survivors like these, and also people who have personally been through the subjects we talk about, but we also have to do the long and often difficult work to unlearn the manipulation that was piled on us at birth.

As we are all different, not one thing or system is ever going to work for everyone. It is up to us to find what works best for us and create our own paths towards healing. Don’t ever hesitate to ask questions or challenge long standing beliefs on anything that directly affects human rights, health, and peace of mind.

Episode one of Breath of Fire airs on HBO Max October 23, 2024.

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categories / Articles, Documentaries, Female filmmakers, Film Reviews, Cults
tags / Hayley Pappas, Smiley Stevens, Guru Jugat

Look Into My Eyes: A Patchwork Film About Psychics And Collective Trauma

September 10, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Filmmaker Lana Wilson brings a new sort of documentary about psychics living in New York City, that seems to float along without a clear sense of where it’s going, nor what the focused point is.

The people who see the psychics mostly have their own deep seated trauma that they desperately need help with. However, with the state that some of these psychics are in, I wondered if it was actually the blind leading the blind.

the lonely city

The film starts with a few introductions to clients and their questions, along with a scene or two of actual readings that seemed as if they could be truly real.

Wilson brings in more clients and psychics throughout, each having a bit of their own reads and clientele, leaving the audience as witnesses to the “connections” that the psychics have made. There are various types of readers, including one that purports to know the thoughts of animals, both alive and deceased.

The film then pivots the focus on to the psychics themselves, who tell their own stories about their lives and what called them to become psychics. All of the psychics are creatives of one form or another, trying to make their dreams come true in the harsh and often isolating big city.

What most of the psychics seem to have in common is debilitating trauma, and pasts that were extensively painful. Not many tell us about any profound spiritual experience that prompted them to be psychic. One talks about having seen ghosts as a child, while others say they took classes to become a psychic.

The last part of the film, we see the psychics together, as they share their own experiences and ask each other questions. The film continuously zigzags back and forth, from psychic to client and back again, leaving an unsatisfying ending that turns out to be rather odd.

in all honesty…

Look Into My Eyes is a highly ambitious and thought provoking idea that, unfortunately, lacks any precise focus or theme, and meanders to its own demise.

Too many questions were left unanswered, including what exactly Wilson intended us to know. She says that this film is supposed to be about the emotional “connection” between two strangers and how it can impact their lives.

However, the film leaves an uneasy, disorienting feeling that made me wonder if Wilson was actually aware of what she wanted to create.

Is this about psychics and healing, or a stance on the mental health of psychics and their ability, or lack thereof, to help others? Is it a piece about how some psychics may fool us to take money or the agony of artists, rife with trauma, who can’t get work?

Though there were a couple who seemed to connect, I didn’t see much depth here, rather what construed of someone telling their clients what they think they want to hear.

The spirituality that I know is unquestionably real, but, as fallible humans, it can be easily clouded by our egos. Someone who is spiritually “gifted” can gain the most clarity they need to help others, after they gain knowledge of the workings of their egos and heal from past trauma.

I liken it to therapists who aren’t healed themselves, but somehow set out a plan of healing for their clients, when they don’t really know what healed looks like.

Definitions and data can only take one so far. In contrast, those with trauma that has been worked through and healed, prepares them to truly understand the process and what it takes to get clients there themselves.

Those who have healed and are aware of their own shortcomings, generally procure better outcomes with patients. It can become a dangerous situation when a therapist is unaware of their lack of insight, and prescribes biased, unbalanced treatments.

Though I’m sure all of the psychics in the film approach this work with good intentions, those who lack self insight would make channeling more precarious and unclear. While bogged underneath trauma, there isn’t much room for clarity.

It is such an intimate and deeply personal experience for those who come to spiritual people or therapists, with the hopes of putting to rest an experience that has plagued them. It takes courage and vulnerability to trust in someone for that help, and that trust should not be meddled with or taken lightly.

The pain from this damaged human society and its lack of compassion is very real. It’s something we should all think about before sharing our intimate experiences with someone who may not be emotionally secure or trust worthy.

I truly felt a couple of the psychic’s bewildered sadness and thought that, for now, they should be focusing more on self love and creating emotional stability for themselves.

Overall, this film was a bit of a let down. Instead of the inspiring, deeply connected experiences I was hoping see, this is a head scratching hodgepodge, showcasing a lot of confused, flailing souls, both psychic and client, without personal acuity, or anyone safely grounded enough to lead them.

Look Into My Eyes is currently in select US theaters as of September 6, 2024

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categories / Female filmmakers, Film, Film Reviews, Documentaries
tags / Lana Wilson

Smoking Tigers: A Beautifully Filmed Coming of Age Story

August 27, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Smoking Tigers is a Korean-American coming of age story directed and written by the talented Soo Young Shelly Yo.

It follows the smart, teenage girl, Hayoung, portrayed by the wonderful Ji-Young Yoo, who longs to be accepted by her peers and desperately wants to heal her parents crumbling marriage.

Using outstanding imagery, this film softly lulls you into its world in a way that I’ve not seen done before.

the end of innocence

Hayoung lives with her Umma (mother) (Abin Andrews) and her little sister Ara (Erin Choi). Her Umma has just separated from her Appa (father) (Jeong Jun Ho), a carpet salesman, and both Hayoung and Ara are feeling the tension between them.

Umma is very strict and wants Hayoung to get better grades in school, as she is nearing graduation and Umma wants her to get into the best college possible..

Umma signs Hayoung up for a ultra competitive Korean boost school, that promises students that they will up their grades in just a few months. With the high cost of going there, most of the other kids come from very wealthy families.

When she befriends Rose (Erin Yoo), Hayoung becomes part of her group of wealthy friends. Hayoung basks in their easy going, partying lifestyle, wishing she could be that rich. Trying to hide her own shame, she lies to rich kids, claiming that another big house near her friends houses, is her family’s.

Tensions rise between Hayoung and Rose when Hayoung starts helping Rose cheat on her exams. Hayoung begins to learn that certain choices can lead to serious consequences, and that all people that one regards as friends, may not always be.

She also learns, like many children do when a crisis arises between family members, that most things don’t last forever, and that she must embrace change in order to grow.

In all honesty…

Smoking Tigers is a stunningly dreamy and graceful film, that shares a coming of age story from the perspective of a Korean-American teen girl, but would resonate with most American girls who desire to find where they fit, during the uncertain and, often, cruel period of adolescence.

With stunning cinematography by Heyjin Jun and a superb performance by Yoo, who literally embodies a typical, adorable, shy teenage girl, that instantly connects us with Hayoung and her world. Yo shoots this with a quiet intimacy, that allows the audience to feel and clearly understand each character.

Ho and Andrews also shine as a bumbling Appa who is struggling to keep a connection to his children, and an Umma, who bravely bears the weight of her stress and troubles, while trying to stay steadfast for her children.

The nuances of this film are so subtle and, though the plot isn’t terribly dense, Yo stays dutifully focused and true to the elements surrounding the honest and complex emotions of each character. The actor’s use of facial and body expressions, speak more than dialogue ever could.

There is a purity and tenderness that cannot be denied. Yo doesn’t need anything flashy to create an exquisite piece of art.

For me, that is what sets true artistry apart from everything else.

Smoking Tigers is now streaming on Max.

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categories / Korean-American Films, Filmmakers of Color, Film Reviews, Female filmmakers, Dramas, Coming of Age
tags / Soo Young Shelly Yo, Ji-Young Yoo, Abin Andrews, Jeong Jun Ho, Erin Choi

Sorry, Not Sorry: Putting A Spotlight On The Twisted Entertainment Industry's Boys Club

July 21, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Greenwich Entertainment/The New York Times

When I was three, I saw the Original Star Wars in the theater, and it left such an impression on me that I can still remember it to this day. That was the start of my love of film/artistry. The next two sequels cemented it.

As I grew, it became all that I wanted, and I studied a lot of theater, working in various positions for many years. I also was a natural writer, so I began learning screenwriting in my twenties.

I had heard how women were treated in the film industry, well, every entertainment/artistic industry, but I knew that in my soul I wanted to create magic, somehow, some way. After modeling for a bit, I then realized what it actually meant to be a young woman in the industry.

Sorry/Not Sorry, directed by Cara Mones and Caroline Suh, expands on the culture of silence and misogyny that permeates entertainment, where twisted, powerful men get away with almost anything.

“The Greatest Threat To Women Is Men”

The film begins with several male comedians, journalists and business owners discussing comedian Louis CK’s rise to fame. Many of them tote him as a “genius” in comedy and talk about his charisma and ability to draw an audience, as if he was some honey-tongued bard who could do no wrong.

Intertwined are the experiences of comedians Jen Kirkman, Megan Koester and Abby Schachner, along with other female journalists and performers, sharing their experiences with CK, and the fallout that followed his victims when they spoke out about it.

From the few shows of CK’s I’ve seen, he seemed to try to set himself up as a “feminist” of sorts, relaying to audiences that he was a girl dad, touting quotes as seen above, while “comically” warning audiences about the dangers of men.

At the same time, there was a disturbing and depraved dark humor, woven throughout his material, with just enough creep to make me question, does he actually believe in what he’s saying?

Little did we all know at the time, that the depravity and darkness in his shows turned out to be a live confession of who CK really was on the inside.

Cis Male Privilege

Women began the independent studio system around 1912 and flourished in it. Then, in the 1920’s, when men saw what a lucrative business it could be, they essentially stole it, using their existing privilege to push women out of the industry and back into homes. The men set up their own unions, and the system that we know it to be today. They created the misconception that film and business just wasn’t for women.

This culture is still alive today. Men have had so much privilege for so long, that it seems they have never had to evolve into self-awareness. As such, they are blinded to the pain and trauma caused by their, and other fellow men’s disgusting behavior.

This mentality MUST be part of the reasons that so many of the men in this documentary stick up for and are surprised to hear that CK would do stuff like this.

Ask almost any woman, who isn’t also stuck in the delusional toxic masculine, and there would be no shock. We are taught to fear men from day one because of this privilege, and men like CK.

Quotes such as “It’s not a crime.”, “What did he do wrong? Ask for consent for non-contact?”, “Every comedian has their skeletons (do they?), but when it comes to telling the truth about one of our own, suddenly we shut up”.

Does “one of our own” mean from the perspective of all comedians or just male comedians? As it stands, non consensual exposure and masturbation actually is a crime.

But in the entertainment business, men stick with men so often, that much of the disturbing behaviors that do happen are rarely ever told. It becomes less about what the laws say, rather than this “boys will be boys” agenda that ultimately becomes, “you tell anyone what happened and you are ruined”.

When victims do speak up, especially women, there comes this outrageous backlash by their peers and ignorant fans, who use toxic rape culture’s baseless assumptions that she was ”just looking for money”, or was “a climber”.

Hush culture has been a bane to women and minorities in all sorts of business and is systematically keeping them down and silenced. The amount of privilege it takes to maintain a world and industry ruled by this culture, then feign shock about it, is very telling.

After CK admitted that all of what his victims said was true, men still jumped to help him get back his career just nine months later.

Noam Dworman, owner of The Comedy Cellar in NYC, when asked why he secretly invited CK to perform after CK admitted to his deviant behavior, states, “Everybody I know, knows people who’ve done things they should be ashamed of. The idea that you have the right to impose on a private business, who’s employing a free person to perform, in front of people who want to see him…that is where I was really drawing my line”.

Except, from what I understand, many of the people who saw CK that evening were surprised and didn’t want to see him.

This Rolling Stone article from 2018 illustrates Dworman’s evasive presentation, on why he allows people like CK and Aziz Ansari to reappear, after they have shown themselves to be predators.

He seems to shift the focus towards more of a “free speech” issue, rather than taking any responsibility for giving these known perpetrators another platform. He also seems to wash his hands of responsibility with a “what can you do?” attitude.

The writer of the Rolling Stone article, Lily Dancyger, beautifully sums up the dereliction of Dworman’s comments stating: “Customers who don’t want to condone his behavior by watching him perform aren’t objecting to the man’s art or threatening his freedom of expression. They’re objecting to the perpetuance of a culture that leaves it up to women to remove themselves from unsafe environments rather than working to make those environments safer.”

Whether people choose to acknowledge it or not, if they don’t use what power they have to denounce or put a stop to deviant behavior, they are complicit in letting it continue.

IN ALL HONESTY…

Sorry/Not Sorry is an eye opening look at just one example of the environment of toxic fear and intimidation held up by privileged men in the entertainment industry.

I want to commend Megan Koester, Jen Kirkman, Abby Schachner and all of those who had the courage to come forward, knowing what this would mean for their careers, while facing hate mail, death threats and toxic ignorance on social media, to tell the truth. It is people like yourselves who are the reason that all this noxious “hush” culture can, eventually, be changed.

My heart aches for his victims, and the idea that women in entertainment must accept this behavior in order to “fit in”.

Koester talks about getting out of the industry, because she no longer wants to deal with deviants and their protectors, like this. That genuinely resonated with my own hesitancy to join the industry, as an artist in film.

Big entertainment runs on its own rules. There is no accountability yet on pay, racism, sexism, office politics, safety of those employed from assault, rape or other humiliating, violent behaviors of men in power.

What Mones and Suh have done by creating this visual collage of The New York Times report, amplifies its message while giving us real faces of the people who were traumatized by CK, so they aren’t just words on a page.

Make no mistake, what CK did was sexual violence. He was not sorry. He was just sorry he got caught. Regardless of “how bad” the assault was or is, does not exclude him from being a sexual predator, who should be blacklisted from the privilege of a lucrative and rare job in entertainment.

CK knew it was wrong, but decided to keep doing it anyway. That was his choice, and the blame for that belongs to him and all the other enablers who continue to support him, and look the other way.

The real truth is that there are plenty of working and non working artists, in and out of the industry, that wouldn’t do what CK did. The pool of possibilities is virtually endless, so there’s no need to rehire people who deviate from professional, respectful behavior.

This film, is less a documentary, than an open discussion. The ending leaves plenty of room for all of us to think about it, look inside, and decide if we really want to choose the ethical path towards truth, or continue to stay willingly blind for money or celebrity.

As artists, we need to organize, call for more legislation over the beast that these industries have become, or come together to create our own businesses that foster real change for working artists.

As audiences we need to hold these people accountable by not giving money towards the perpetrators and the businesses who choose to look the other way.

The system as it is now, will not sustain itself. It is up to all of us, especially other men, to call this stuff out and quit punishing women for the vulgar acts of powerful men, who outright refuse to respect us and treat us as equals.

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categories / Articles, Documentaries, Female filmmakers, Film, Film Reviews, Women's Rights
tags / Louis CK, #MeToo, Jen Kirkman, Megan Koester

The Vourdalak: An Interesting Gothic Tale of Old

June 25, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

The Vourdalak, written and directed by Adrian Beau, is a curious new vision of the classic novella by Alexsy Tolstoy.

The film takes place in a mysterious countryside of Serbia in 1884, filled with lore and superstition.

When an unassuming envoy to the French King, Marquis Jacque Antoine Saturnin d’Urfe (Kacey Mottet Klien), gets attacked by wayside bandits, he is unaware of the oddities and danger he will be forced to face trying to survive.

Life or death?

While wandering the forest at night, Urfe stumbles upon a small abode. He asks the owner (Erwan Ribard) for a horse to continue his journey. The owner tells him he doesn’t have a horse, so he sends him to the house of Gorcha (Adrien Beau), just down the path.

As he approaches, he sees the beautiful Sdenka (Ariane Labed), singing and doing a strange dance amongst the trees. She runs away when she sees Urfe, so he pursues her into the forest. He stumbles into her brother Piotr (Vassili Schneider) instead, and after explaining his predicament, Piotr takes him to their house.

When they arrive, Urfe meets their strange family. Eldest son Jegor (Gregoire Colin), his wife Anja (Claire Duburcq) and their son Vlad (Gabriel Pavie). They all react quietly anxious towards their guest when he asks to speak to Gorcha.

When Jegor goes to speak with Gorcha about the guest, he finds him missing. Piotr tells Jegor that Gorcha left, taking his gun with him, to go and fight the Turks. Jegor is surprised that he “let him go” in his condition and at his age.

When Jegor asks when he will return, Sdenka informs him that Gorcha told them that if he did not return within six days by six o’clock, they should refuse him entrance as he would then be a vourdalak (vampire). That evening happens to be the sixth day and he has not yet returned.

Piotr cautions that they should consider him dead for all intents and purposes, but Jegor calls him silly and refuses to give up.

Um, is it just me?

When the family joins at the dinner table that evening, Anja spots Gorcha laying at the edge of the forest. Jegor goes to him, picks him up and sets him down at the dinner table.

What they see is a decrepit, emaciated skeleton of the man Gorcha used to be. Though everyone notices how odd he looks, no one says anything, leading to an almost comical scene of banter between Gorcha and the family.

As explained in the story, a vourdalak attaches itself to the ones he cares for, feeding upon them and turning them into vourdalaks as well.

Gorcha amuses his grandson, Vlad (which I cannot figure out why by the look of Gorcha), he becomes the first that Gorcha hones in on. The entire family is now at risk when they take him back in to the house.

Piotr and Sdenka begin to take things in their own hands since Jegor is in complete denial. They enlist help from Urfe to bring down the creature and try to save Vlad and the rest of the family.

Will they be able to kill Gorcha, or, will they themselves fall victim to the monster that Gorcha has become?

in all honesty…

The Vourdalak is a beautifully shot and atmospherically laden film that summons the “ick” factor from scary films of old.

The mood, tone and color of the film is gorgeous, though most of the actors still looked too modern to be believed. Klein’s performance as the bumbling Urfe was on point as a privileged man of court, especially his expectations of women he wants and “peasants”.

The vourdalak puppet Gorcha, who was wonderfully voiced and created by Beau, is highly imaginative, but seeing it in full light left a lack of suspension of disbelief. Though it does bring a sense of humor, I think the puppet would have been better left to the likes of theatrical plays and odd comedies.

It got to a point of folly when this weightless puppet was supposed to be believed to have thrown a grown man, which could clearly be seen as the fluffy, soft alternative to the real actor. I’m not aware if Beau meant for the comedic tones, but if he was going for the full on Gothic scares, it didn’t help.

I can’t praise enough the eclectic, atmospheric colors, tones and effects that cinematographer David Chillzalet and the visual effects crew brought to the story. It is hands down the best part of the film.

I loved the choices of adding the filters of old school filmmaking woven throughout, as they created an unsettling creepiness that encloses the audience in its clutches.

The set decorations, led by Thibault Pinto, created the exquisite glue that anchored all of that gorgeous camera work and lighting, into 17th century perfection. It gave the show its grit and a bone-chilling backdrop to keep audiences unsettled and enveloped in the 17th century.

Overall a stunning to look at film, with just enough creativity to offset the suspension of disbelief issues and the bits of absurdity from its main villain. It’s a pure delight for those who appreciate artistry behind the scenes.

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categories / Creature Features, Film, Film Reviews, Horror, Historical Drama, Period Pieces
tags / Adrian Beau, Kacey Mottet Klien, Ariane Labed, Vassili Schneider

Tiger Stripes: The Spirit of Woman That Refuses To Be Held Down Anymore

June 15, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Tiger Stripes is a coming of age, Malaysian film written and directed by Amanda Nell Eu. It follows protagonist Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal), who becomes the first of her friends to get her period.

When she is harassed, bullied and shamed by multiple family members and friends, Zaffan finds she has to figure out and navigate these changes herself.

into the jungle

Zaffan is an imaginative, headstrong, outgoing Malaysian 12-year-old, going to an all girls school. She and her best friends Miriam (Piqa) and Farah (Deena Ezral), spend their free time hanging out at their favorite water hole swimming, talking and playing.

When Zaffan wakes up one night, having gotten blood on her bed, she calls to her overbearing mother Munah (June Lojong), who comes in to check, and immediately states that Zaffan is “dirty now”. Munah puts her in a shower to clean up.

As Zaffan starts changing, she gets itchy rashes, hears growling and starts seeing a “demon” woman in the trees. She begins feeling angrier and finds herself fully distracted from school and family life.

Miriam and Farah start listening to and perpetuating ignorant rumors about periods, how women go crazy, smell bad and disappear into the jungle. As Zaffan’s “strange” behaviors escalate, Farah begins bullying her, calling her a slut and starts spreading nasty rumors about her around school.

With this transformation, Zaffan becomes more rebellious, not listening to the conservative and toxic patriarchic beliefs about how a woman should act, speak and dress. Instead of fearing it, as she’s conditioned to do, she slowly embraces her inner “wild” and realizes there’s freedom in it.

what is happening here?

Zaffan goes camping with a group of girls from the school, training to be cadets. While camping, in the middle of the night, Zaffan hears the low growl of a tiger, then a scream from one of the other girls.

She finds out that, a girl who went on her own to pee, also saw a “demon” in the trees, and a few of the others hear things that only Zaffan could hear before.

The next day, Farah blames Zaffan for bringing the sounds and demon to the camp, even though she is no longer on her period. When getting ready to go home, the girls realize that someone is missing and head into the jungle together to find her.

Zaffan, with her “tiger demon” heightened senses, strays from the group as they are on the wrong track. When Zaffan finds the lost girl up in a tree, the girl states she is there so the senior girls wouldn’t make fun of her. Zaffan then realizes that it isn’t just her who is starting to change.

As the symptoms start to affect all of the girls, the village begins to question whether or not a true demon is infecting the girls, or, could it be more of a thing that needs to be learned about and celebrated?

in all honesty…

Tiger Stripes is a hypnotic film that brings to life the stigmas against girls and women, put upon us by the poisonous patriarchy. It inspires young women to defy all of the terrible things they have been told about their bodies, and, to become their true authentic selves.

Zairizal shines and delights embodying Zaffan, who authentically represents the battle cry of the spirit of women. In her first movie and at such a tender age, she provides a fierce energy and presence that most performers her age would not be able to imitate.

The most beautiful part of this film was the intricately woven metaphors, subtly lingering throughout. In fact it may take a second glance to pick them all up.

My favorite was when the girls were watching a video of a tiger walking down a road, surrounded by men who eventually killed it. For me, that was a not so subtle reality that women face in the world, should we try to be free and wild amongst men.

As things are, toxic masculinity has done everything possible to keep girls and women as lesser.

From stigmatizing our natural bodies as ugly or dirty; denial of our healthcare and lack of medical studies over the years for women’s bodies; rape; using purity and “appropriate” behavior as a goal for little girls; to making us smaller and silenced, it literally and figuratively kills us everyday.

This sort of film reminds us where women still are today, and what we should be doing to put an end to the stigmas put upon us by toxic masculinity. We were never meant to be “proper”, we were created with divine feminine fire that should be seen and celebrated all over the world.

People with uteruses are the bringers of life, and none should be mistreated or underestimated. We need to see ourselves as the goddesses we are and deny any shred of the toxic masculine to rule us, which includes not putting one another down using the language and stereotypes of our oppressors.

No matter what we were told growing up; no matter the toxic masculine religions forced upon us say, and no matter the rules placed on our bodies, we should continue to fight for our collective freedom and inherent rights, with all of the magnificent ferociousness of tigers in cages aching to be set free.

Bravo to both cast and crew for bringing to light what we still need to change and illustrating through Zaffan, that our collective spirits cannot and will not be silenced any longer.

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categories / Articles, Dramas, Female filmmakers, feminism, Film, Film Reviews, Filmmakers of Color, Women's Rights
tags / Amanda Nell Eu, Zafreen Zairizal, June Lojong

Solo: An Exemplary Story About Self Love And Rediscovering Yourself

May 30, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Director/Writer Sophie Dupuis brings to life a visionary story of a young up and coming drag performer. With stunning lighting and imagery, we follow a young adult as he navigates new love, old and new trauma, in a true caterpillar to butterfly tale.

At first sight

Simon (Theodore Pellerin) is an up and coming star of the Montreal drag scene. When new man Olivier (Felix Maritaud) starts working at the club, the two are drawn almost instantly to each other. They begin a passionate love affair that brings a lot of happiness to them both.

His family readily embraces Olivier when Simon brings him home for the weekly family brunch, and it looks to be a relationship that could stand the test of time.

Simon and Olivier start to do performances together, and, though everything seems great from the start, Olivier begins to start showing Simon his true self, filled with toxicity and lies. Simon becomes trapped in Olivier’s gaslighting, controlling world, and begins to lose himself in the process.

He begins to isolate himself from his family and friends, as he gets more deeply involved.

Simon’s sister Maude (Alice Moreault), a costume designer who normally helps make Simon’s costumes, tries to talk with him about their relationship, as they are normally very close. Simon denies any problems he’s having with or due to Olivier.

When he hears that his birth mother Claire (Anne-Marie Cadieux), a world famous opera singer, is coming back to Montreal for a visit, he is very excited.

Maude, who wants nothing to do with the woman she claims abandoned them, gets upset and refuses to meet with Claire. Simon stays positive though, wanting to spend time with her and have her see one of his performances.

don’t forget your roots

Things start to unravel after another rejection by Claire. Though she says that she may see his show, she leaves after five minutes of seeing him, even though he expected that they would have dinner.

Olivier starts to get impossible to live with, as his cheating and gaslighting increase, and Simon finally decides that he won’t deal with it anymore. Growing tensions rise between Simon and another performer, who has cheated with Olivier, that explodes into Simon giving up drag and leaving the club.

Deep within the cocoon of darkness that envelopes him, Simon goes inside to recognize and finally feel his past traumas that he hasn’t been able to reckon with before..
Will Simon be able to deal with the loss of his love and take the steps to heal from his childhood, or will he succumb to this darkness, ultimately losing himself and everything he loves?

In all honesty

Solo is one of the most beautiful films I’ve had the pleasure to see all year.

With gorgeous lighting and breathtaking cinematography; unwavering emotional acting and a superbly written script, this film shines with grace and glory.

Pellerin portrays Simon, flowing through his whirlwind of emotions, with such ease and elegance. It allows the audience to experience everything with Simon, instead of just being a simple observer.

He and Maritaud have an effortless, sensual chemistry between them that is so genuine, it sends sparks through the screen, allowing those who know that feeling, to sense it in their own skin.

Cinematographer Mathieu Laverdiere, creates a lush world of artistry, lighting and color that made every scene a lesson in cinematographic genius. It engulfs the audience into the film’s world, making every scene an absolute pleasure to watch.

Dupuis’s passion drips like sweet nectar throughout this film and everything is perfectly set up
to put audiences at ease and lull us into this beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking character study.

I loved that Simon is fully able to be what and who he is, and have his whole family be supporting, without a single reference of homophobia throughout.

However, I wish Dupuis had dumped Simon’s comment about being “fat” though, as it was completely unnecessary and potentially harmful to others.

I’m so tired of hearing blatant fatphobia in all forms, with its toxic white masculine, racist ideologies. It’s old, discriminatory and a lie. Just dump it altogether, filmmakers.

Other than that, I highly recommend this film for its artistry and how it normalizes gay men and drag in our society, showing that those who are generally “othered”, are actually just like everyone else. We all need love, acceptance and a place to safely be, unapologetically who we are.

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categories / Articles, Dramas, Female filmmakers, Film, Film Reviews, LGBTQ+, Mental Health
tags / Sophie Dupuis, Alice Moreault, Theodore Pellerin, Felix Maritaud

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever: A Revisit To Horror And Trauma

May 21, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Serial killer Doctor Wormer (Ulf Pilgaard) is back after a 30 year hiatus from the first release, Nightwatch 1994. Nightwatch: Demon’s Are Forever is a fun and creepy reunion of the original surviving characters, and Wormer is out for revenge on those who stopped him in the first place.

History repeats

The film begins with Emma (Fanny Leander Bornedal), daughter to Martin (Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau), the main character of the original. She is in med school and mourning the untimely suicide of her mother Kalinka (Sofie Grabol), several years past.

Martin has lived with toxic PTSD since surviving Wormer’s first attack, and being more traumatized by the death of his beloved Kalinka, due to her own PTSD. Emma has grown up surrounded by tragedy and trauma, and she struggles to find steady ground to stand on.

Martin is a chronic user of tranquilizers and Emma has felt invisible to him for many years. Needing to take care of money that Martin isn’t currently making, she finds out that, low and behold, the same night watch position in the morgue that Martin once had, is open again.

Emma sees this opportunity as a way to figure out exactly what happened and, hopefully, give Martin and Kalinka the justice they deserve.

Darkness never dies

Meanwhile the local police are tracking, what they believe to be, a copycat of Dr. Wormer’s. Bent (Casper Kjaer Jensen), a local psychiatric patient is their prime suspect. On Emma’s first tour of the facility, she finds out that Wormer is in fact alive and living in the same psychiatric hospital as Bent.

Emma pulls a few strings and gets help from her boyfriend, Fredrick (Alex Hogh Andersen) to get a pass into the hospital and talk to Wormer. She wants to get a video of him to prove to Martin that he has nothing to worry about anymore.

Wormer lives in a dark, dank room, and is supposedly blind and infirm. She confronts him, talking to him about all of the pain he has caused her family, and records for Martin how pathetic he has become.

What she doesn’t realize, is that seeing her, brings Wormer a renewed sense of revenge and purpose, to get back at the family that put a halt to his original, twisted game plan.

in all honesty…

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever is a sharper and decidedly improved sequel to its predecessors.

Though the writing and overall acting quality goes in and out throughout the film, Fanny Leander Bornedal’s exemplary performance is what saves it from being downright silly and falling into total mediocrity. For as young as she is, she pilots like a seasoned pro.

She plays an astute, intelligent and resolute Emma, who never wavers at any point in her performance.

The nostalgia brought on by the many past characters who show up throughout the film, brings an element of fun amidst the background of darkness and death.

Jensen shines as Bent, with a Joker-esque feel the likes of Cameron Monaghan’s Jeremiah Valeska, mixed with Anthony Carrigan’s Victor Zsaz, in the Gotham television series.

It was hard for me, while watching, to tell whether or not I thought it was a solid, scary film, or a thriller one might see on daytime television.

A lot of the writing is silly and sits on the border of contrivance, but the strong performances and coming together of the old characters do help sew the film together with tighter seams.

Though this film is proclaimed to be able to stand on its own without having seen the first, I think the audience would miss a lot of the nuances and character background by not seeing the it.

It isn’t Coster-Waldeau’s most solid performance, but he manages to find areas of painful fear, playing a man who is lost in a traumatized world. I think the way that Martin is written also didn’t leave him a lot to expand upon.

There are a couple decent twists that keep things interesting, and the setup does pretty well preparing us for them, it just felt like there was more to flesh out. Instead, the filmmakers chose a more formulaic approach, rather than attempting to make it truly stand out.

Overall, it’s an entertaining film that horror enthusiasts may like, if they don’t go into it with high expectations. Bornedal’s stand out performance is well worth a look.

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categories / Articles, Crime, Film, Film Reviews, Horror
tags / Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau, Fanny Leander Bornedal, Ole Bornedal

Pure O: A Problematic Film That Does Too Much Talking and Not Enough Showing

May 03, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Pure O, written and directed by Dillon Tucker, is a story of a man who is supposedly suffering from a certain spectrum of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Inspired by Tucker’s own struggles, the film feels like a head patting, feel good show, that doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of the depth of its crippling problems

Quick diagnosis

Cooper (Daniel Dorr), is an addiction counselor who has been in a relationship with his girlfriend Emily (Hope Lauren) for eight years. They have come to the point of getting engaged and are mapping out possibilities for their life.

Cooper gets, what seems like, a one session diagnosis of OCD, a purely obsessional type that tends to present itself mentally only, and is sent to see a specialist (Candice Renee), to start treatment.

She too knows all the answers about Cooper’s situation ahead of time, and what he has without barely even talking to him. She spouts long winded definitions without having tested him whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Cooper’s life starts to slowly fall apart, starting with the loss of a screenwriting job. The OCD doesn’t seem to trouble him much at all, with the one exception of an intrusive thought about causing harm to his girlfriend.

He starts group therapy, with Rodney (Clint James), Liz (Casey Vandeventer) and Jake (Chuck Arjavac), who are dutifully assigned different types of OCD, which they also define for the audience.

No one seems particularly fussed about their issues, and it’s like the actors are there just to embody a diagnosis and nothing else. They jovially joke about their issues and laugh, rather than share any feelings of shame, depression or anxiety.

Life happens

Cooper’s life starts to take a turn for the worse when Emily’s stepfather gets terminal cancer and she gets unexpectedly pregnant.

Neither Emily or Cooper are ready for the pregnancy. Though they try to make it a good thing at first, eventually the discussion of abortion comes up. With any other person, even without OCD, both of these life stressors can become extremely upsetting and change the lives of those going through it.

Not only would you have to help your partner manage the loss of a father figure, but navigating the decision about ending a pregnancy can be traumatizing, especially for the person with the uterus.

Somehow Cooper manages to keep his OCD thoughts and anxieties at a low simmer while handling these problems, AND living with the stress of working with addicts. For most people with OCD, life problems only increase their symptoms and some shut down completely from issues much lighter than these.

in all honesty…

Pure O aspires to be a primer for those who know nothing about OCD, but refuses to show the realities of the disorder. It spends way too much time talking about definitions and focusing on Cooper’s outside problems, without allowing us to see what’s really going on inside.

Definitions don’t connect an audience nor help them get a feel of what OCD is or what it does. Screenwriting is supposed to show, more than tell what any character is going through, so the audience can have perspective and an experience with them.

We see Cooper triggered by a couple of things, like chopping vegetables near his girlfriend, but none of his thoughts or how they are affecting him are explored with more than a couple of words. When Cooper gets upset, there’s no information for us to understand what or why it’s so distressing to him.

As someone who has worked in mental health for decades and lives with a loved one with OCD, this film fails audiences on almost all levels. Though everyone’s experience is different, OCD can be especially disabling, wreck relationships, cause incredible stress on families, interfere with daily activities and make some unable to work a job or function sexually.

The anxiety caused by OCD can get so terrible that it is all consuming. The film states that, unlike the stereotype, not all OCD presents as obsessive cleaning and rituals, which is true. However, it glazes over just how bad the reality can actually get.

In the 5th version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), which trained therapists use to diagnose patients, it is no longer considered an anxiety disorder, rather, it’s in its own category called “Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders”.

Anxiety is just one of the symptoms that presents in OCD, but this kind of anxiety is taken to a severe extreme, that can present with breathtaking fears due to the lack of control people living with this feel. No one really knows yet how it happens, but genetics and past trauma are a couple of theories.

The danger that can happen when an audience isn’t able to connect with a character in this sort of film, is that they can walk away with a skewed perspective of the problems and its repercussions.

The filmmaker’s decision to make this all about Cooper’s outside life, versus spending more time with his inner experiences, sets an irresponsible, ableist view about OCD. It makes it seems like all a person has to do is go get diagnosed and have one or two sessions with facing their fears, and they’re miraculously healed.

The reality is a nightmare. OCD looks a lot like many other types of disorders, and it takes time and in depth neurologic and psychiatric testing to diagnose. Absolutely no competent therapist would ever diagnose it after one or two sessions, nor would they allow a client to put a real knife to someone’s throat, within the confines of treatment.

Cooper probably wouldn’t have the capacity to care for people with addictions. Addicts have a whole host of different problems and needs that require a level of stability by their caretakers and counselors, that most people living with OCD wouldn’t be able to meet. The idea that an addict would have a life altering breakthrough moment from one of Cooper’s insights about himself, is ludicrous.

I really wanted to support the idea of the film, but its reality is far too limited in scope and depicts OCD as an alarmingly easy to deal with disorder. It felt like a Lifetime Television version of a mental health issue, where everything is tidily fixed, and is wrapped up with a smiley sticker at the end.

That sort of depiction is seriously disrespectful to the many others who suffer with these devastating conditions, and misinforms with its toxically naive, light hearted portrayal.

People living with this condition deserve much better.

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categories / Articles, Dramas, Film, Film Reviews, Mental Health
tags / Dillon Tucker, Daniel Dorr, Hope Lauren

American Delivery: A Much Needed Look Into the Heroes Making A Difference

May 01, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

American Delivery, directed by Carolyn Jones, is a timely documentary focusing on the women at the forefront of labor and delivery, who work tirelessly to help improve the lives of women, and put an end to the preventable high maternal mortality rate that plagues the United States.

From nurses, especially midwives, to the hospitals and clinics that care, the film highlights these she-roes protecting women’s health, who also fight the systemic racism that is complicit in the high percentage of black women who die in this country, giving birth every year.

Fighting the good fight

The statistics of maternal mortality in America are bleak, but there are those in the trenches who are working, across the nation, to make the stats get better. These special souls and more are highlighted throughout the film.

In Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Airica Steed, a registered nurse, has become the first black and female CEO in MetroHealth hospital’s 200 year history. She is a staunch advocate for women of color in the area, and her mission is to create a health system that is fair and equal for everyone, including the staff that works there.

According to the film, Cleveland ranks lowest in the nation in livability for black women. Dr. Steed, and many of the nurses at MetroHealth work together, both in and out of the hospital, educating through outreach and taking steps to ensure the safety of a woman’s right to choose how they give birth.

Their midwives offer at home services both before and after the baby is delivered, educating new moms on all that they need to know about this new transition and, to help them find better outcomes for their own health, the baby’s health, nursing and mental health.

The film states that 1/3 of American cities fall under areas called “maternity care deserts”, where access to healthcare, food and other basic necessities don’t exist. These ghost towns house people, mostly people of color, that are all but forgotten.

Dayton, Ohio is one of these deserts, and the Five Rivers Health Center is a federally funded center, where women can get access to all stages of maternity care, regardless of ability to pay. This clinic, also led by a black, female CEO, Gina McFarlane-El, envisions it to be a “one stop” place for all things maternity and child care.

They service a wide variety of women that are homeless, in jail, and those who suffer with mental illnesses, with the quality of care so desperately needed there.

One of their midwives, Toni Tipton, is the only black midwife in all of southern Ohio. She heads a black women’s nursing group, while seeing patients, to help lower the number of infant mortalities, as black babies here are four times more likely to die than white babies.

With systemic racism, low education, food and housing insecurity, and widespread poverty among the people of color who live here, this clinic is a literal lifesaver in the midst of the crisis.

Most of the focus of the film is centered on the importance of midwives in labor and delivery, who are able to take a lot of the burden off of the hospital system. Midwives provide one to one care, both before and after birth, that is generally not available to mothers who take the traditional hospital route. They also provide more birthing options, allowing women more control.

These nurses provide lifesaving treatment, education, outreach and baby supplies to those who normally don’t have access to any of it.

In all honesty…

American Delivery is an essential film, not just because of its enlightening information, but because it sheds a positive perspective amidst the normalized media frenzy of the grim and disastrous.

Many documentaries I’ve seen tell us what the problems are, but don’t always offer solutions, or show us those who are already making the change happen. The negative perspectives can leave audiences baffled, with no way to know what they can do to help.

Many of the nurses and midwives featured have a history with subpar care from doctors and hospitals during their own pregnancies, that could have been avoided if this country would get their healthcare system together. They took their own trauma, and turned them into hope for other women.

Racism, of course, is the at the core of US society, that leaves way too many people of color without basic human needs and services. The noxious judgments about those in need, steeped in white supremacy and capitalism, is a brutal system that has plagued this country from the very beginning.

People of color are purposefully blocked from access to a good education, well paying work, and kept in poverty so they never reach true equity.

Women are still second class citizens, so we do not benefit from a toxic masculine society based on power and greed. Women of color, especially black women, suffer the most from the lack of care by affluent white ideology and pay with their lives in many respects.

The fact that they are three times more likely to die in childbirth compared to any other race is a blatant disregard of their lives stemming from hateful structures like slavery and Jim Crowe, that continue to poison our society today.

The essential work that these midwives and nurses do, is on the forefront of dismantling the nefarious structures of power that harm and kill black people at alarming rates.

Tanzania, which, according to the film, had the worst maternal mortality rate in the world, has cut their crisis in half by the hard work of nurses and midwives there. Why would one of the richest countries in the world even have this issue? Just take a look at our history to see how much it hates women and people of color.

Jones’s choice to allow these women a platform for their personal stories, trauma, joys and tears, gives a voice to those who might not otherwise have one, and also shows the audience a perspective not seen in other documentaries of its like. It is positivity, dedication and love in motion.

At such a crucial time in America, when women’s rights are being cruelly eliminated, this is the type of film we need when looking for hope. There are so many unsung heroes and she-roes, bringing light to the dark on Earth, that we never hear about.

Filmmakers like Jones pave a way for these lightworkers to be seen, and help bring us the promise that, working together, maybe we can solve the systemic poisons woven into our society, and let love and light prevail.

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categories / Activism, Black Lives Matter, Documentaries, Female filmmakers, Film, Film Reviews, Human Rights, Women's Rights
tags / Carolyn Jones, Dr. Airica Steed, Toni Tipton, Gina McFarlane-El

East Bay: A Very Odd, But Delightful Comedy

April 26, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

East Bay is a new comedy written, directed and starring Daniel Yoon as the main character Jack Lee. Jack is an exceedingly awkward, “middle aged” (at 39?) man, who is feeling the pressure of his ancestry that demands that he live up to societal standards of success in order to make his family proud.

When his unstable girlfriend Beth (Melissa Pond) announces that she is pregnant by another man and breaks up with him, Jack finds his life spiraling into a crisis.

burnout

Jack works in Systems Administration, a downsized job from once working as a Programmer. Jack got burned out from the programming job, but is hating the drab job he’s now found himself in.

He fancies himself an artist and has made several very low budget, short films, which are hilariously terrible, and he is working towards his hopeful big break. His most recent film is accepted to a small film festival, where his friend Sara (Constance Wu) is the program director.

After the breakup, he is forced to move in with his friends and work colleagues Tim (Edmund Sim) and Stuart (Destry Miller), two geeky, and also messed up people with a host of their own problems. They spend most of their time at home, Tim doing pot 24/7 and Stuart, a cynic who is dying to be proven wrong, who spends most of his down time on computer games.

Jack starts a new, short documentary of sorts, questioning God, trying to find himself and the meaning of love and life.

Looking without rather than within

Jack finds out about a “medical healer” on tv, who seems to know a lot about spirituality, so he sets up an interview with her. When he meets Vivanti (Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier), she seems to know so much about spirituality, a lot of which is very true.

He asks her to be his spiritual guide but, unfortunately, ends up sleeping with her. He finds out later that she too is horrifyingly unstable, with a serious people pleasing affliction.

The film seems to push Jack more in the direction of Sara, but she too is distressingly unstable. Like attracts like, or, does it bring up greater questions about our struggles as humans? Either way, our truths cannot be found, nor can we ever find true inner peace and healing from an outside source.

in all honesty…

East Bay, is a relatively lighthearted, comical film that seems to explore how deeply wounded humans are by societal hierarchies and old traditions, that are far too difficult for the average person to live up to.

Humans are burdened from day one with expectations that are virtually impossible for most people to meet. We are also taught to value and uphold extremely toxic notions from generations past, instead of allowing individualism, and for people to be who they are and what they were made to be.

We see Jack trying to find answers about life with some of the most disturbed people, who are blind to their own unique, inner beauty and importance. Spending life in the capitalistic grind will never bring fulfillment or self realization.

It brings a sense that maybe we’re all messed up and that there is never one answer that is suitable to all. Looking for answers from other people becomes the blind leading the blind.

Both Sara and Vivanti are the most beautiful looking women ever, but still struggle to love and accept themselves, There is a lot of real truth to be found in that.

No matter how “together” everyone seems to be, the truth is that we are all struggling to understand a life trapped in serving the 1% and figuring out what we were really meant to be.

Like Sara and Vivanti, I believe that we are all parts of the vast multiverse and that the overarching energy of the multiverse is love. The clarity that we seek isn’t always easy to find, and we must be willing to traverse through our darkness to learn to love who we truly are and integrate it into a solid balance.

That is no easy feat and takes an abundance of strength, courage and desire to keep moving forward. All of the confusion that each character represents is nothing unexpected given the toxic societies we live in.

The film leaves us with the thought that, though we don’t have all the answers, there is always hope, no matter how small of an amount we can see. It is naively innocent, yet unintentionally brilliant and beautifully human.

There is no one way to finding ourselves or moving toward the path of enlightenment and love. Putting a greater emphasis on how we are alike and how we are all connected, rather than fearing our differences, is a great start.

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categories / Comedy, Film, Film Reviews, Filmmakers of Color, Mental Health, Relationships
tags / Daniel Yoon, Constance Wu, Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier

The Coffee Table: Be Careful What You Wish For

April 22, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

The Coffee Table, directed by Caye Casas and written by Casas and Cristina Borobia, is a lesson of sorts for when ego gets the best of us and the consequences of having to be right.

Jesus (David Pareja) and Maria (Estefania de los Santos) are a couple on the edge of a break up, who incessantly argue and take toxic swipes at each other. While they are out shopping for a coffee table for their apartment, the fighting escalates and each of them spend the whole time seeing who can be nastiest.

The egos that they both live in become a centerpiece of the film, that causes a horrifying event that neither can take back.

Is It really worth it?

Jesus and Maria stand before a coffee table, gilded in faux gold with a glass top. It’s really a cheesy, cheap looking table that looks like it belongs in Trump Tower and simply isn’t worth the price.

The salesman (Eduardo Antuna), is the picturesque representation of the comedic extreme, giving a wholly false presentation of the table that the company who made it would praise him for. He sustains a rigorous amount of pressure, challenging Juan’s toxic masculine side, encouraging him to stand up for what he wants, no matter what his partner says.

Maria is equally toxic and super controlling. She says anything she wants to him, no matter how hurtful it is and Jesus takes corresponding nips at her, even to the likes of telling her that their newborn son was, essentially her fault and that he didn’t really want kids.

Jesus, fed up with her domination, man spreads his way into buying the table, and, in his eyes, settling the score between them.

His stubbornness manifests a nightmare that no one sees coming.

Pride Goeth before a literal fall

When they return home with the table, Maria heads to the grocery store alone to prepare for a dinner with Jesus’s brother Carlos (Josep Maria Riera) and his new girlfriend Cristina (Claudia Riera), later that evening.

What ensues in the apartment while she is away, is a nightmare of epic proportions, sending Jesus into a downward spiral of shock, shame and unbearable guilt.

He spends the rest of the film trying to keep the devastating secret to himself, that, inevitably rocks him and the people around him to the core.

in all honesty…

The Coffee Table is one of the best psychological horrors that I’ve seen in a very long time.

The inciting incident that happens early on in the film literally made me gasp and cover my mouth in utter surprise. Though the incident is full of devastation, it also creates a lot space for the film to explore the human psyche and leaves audiences to draw upon its powerful metaphors.

The particular harshness of this incident, when looked at as a consequence of ego, is most extreme, but works within the confines of a brutal tale. Though there is no fantasy involved, it still harkened memories of old, dark fairy tales and stories of the macabre I read as a child.

With Poe-esque madness, the tension in the film is a masterclass of story building that won’t let you go even after the end of the film. It stands among the best films of all time for its unrelenting grip. The audience is wrapped up with Jesus and we feel all of the film’s tragic mercilessness with him, whether we want to or not.

I can understand my critic colleagues when they recoil from recommending this, as it has the potential to trigger a very specific group of people, but as a horror fan, I really think that not recommending it is also a tragedy.

It has the power to teach us how horrifyingly dark our egos can get, when we try to selfishly overpower one another and don’t allow a truce in order to heal our wounds, and truly see each other.

So simplistic, so surreal and yet violently authentic, it is a breathtaking, all consuming ride into just how far darkness can consume us, both literally and figuratively. It is an unrelenting nightmare that viewers won’t be able forget.

2 Likes

categories / Articles, Dramas, Film, Film Reviews, Horror, Relationships
tags / Caye Casas, Cristina Borobia, David Pareja, Estefania de los Santos

Under The Bridge: Not A Good Choice to Make Into A Series

April 20, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Hulu’s new drama series Under The Bridge is a based on the book from Rebecca Godfrey, and is a true crime story, of sorts.

It follows a group of lost, throw away, bully teens with serious mental health issues, who are often left to their own devices. When they are drunk one night, they mercilessly target and beat up the newest member of their group Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta).

When Reena goes missing, the kids become prime suspects in a dragged out series that overly protects its answers to a painful fault.

Whodunit?

Riley Keough plays Rebecca Godfrey, who is a writer living in New York. In the fall of 1997, Rebecca returns to her hometown, a small island community called Victoria in British Columbia.

She is writing a new book based on the troubled teens of the area, and just happens to get there, right as the investigation starts, when the police bring in the teens for questioning.

Josephine (Chloe Guidry), the toxic “queen bee” of the gang and the spitting image of a young Theresa Russell, is a teen from a broken family, who lives in a girls group home with another of the primary “gang” members, Dusty (Aiyanna Goodfellow).

Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.), is a rich girl, full of narcissistic psychopathy, and is Josephine’s “best friend”, who basically does anything she wants and her family protects her.

When they ask Reena, a lonely, naive girl of strict Jehovah Witness background, referred with bigotry by multiple characters as a “big girl”, Reena jumps at the chance to belong.

She is wholly influenced and seduced into a group that is hellbent on being “Crips”, who cause trouble to emulate and gain the attention of notorious NYC gangster John Gotti.

When Josephine excludes Reena from a party, just because she can, Reena steals her private phone contacts and recklessly starts calling everyone in the book, tearing Josephine down, and spreading vicious rumors.

When Josephine finds out, she invites Reena to the party, having set up the group and a few others to beat her up.

The search

When Reena doesn’t return home, her father Manjit (Ezra Faroque Kahn) and Uncle Raj (Anoop Desai) report her missing to Detective Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone). At first glance she brushes it off as something that teen runaways do all the time, but seeing their earnest sincerity, she starts to investigate.

Cam doesn’t have much to start with except a couple of names, but it leads her down an excruciatingly long and twisted search among the townsfolk, that takes her places she never thought she’d go.

She learns that her old friend Rebecca is back home, also investigating this for her new book. Hoping to cooperate with her, Cam attempts to get Rebecca to help her with what she knows, but Rebecca basically refuses.

Rebecca tries to set up a camaraderie with the teens, including bonding with one of the boys, Warren (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton), another suspect, who apparently reminds her of her brother Gabriel, who died when she was young.

Rebecca too comes from a jaded past, and does her best to help the teens, but mostly for selfish reasons.

When Reena’s body shows up in the river, the town scrambles to figure out what happened and who exactly is responsible.

In all Honesty…

Under The Bridge simply doesn’t have enough intrigue or surprises to be pulled off well as a series. What is set up in the first two episodes is about as interesting as it gets.

The length of each episode, logging in at 45-50 minutes, is wholly unnecessary given the lack of material it has. There simply wasn’t enough to carry each episode in an engaging way, so it seemed loaded with unnecessary fillers that were either boring or frustratingly dragged out.

Rebecca’s character seemed utterly useless to the story overall, and added nothing to it except more depression and a tiny bit of information useful to the case. She spends her time sulking, struck by a past that isn’t redeemable by her involvement in the case.

She also blocks the investigation by lying to the police, for reasons not fully fleshed out, and, Warren, whom she supposedly “bonds” with, has nothing to do with her past tragedy, so we are left wondering why she engaged with him, or even what drew her to write this book in the first place.

What was it that got her attention? Just because other teens on the island were messed up like she used to be? Rebecca didn’t do the things that these teens do, as far as what is presented to us, so what are we missing?

The series takes way too much time trying to conceal the evidence and the perpetrator(s) using mumbly teens and Rebecca saying “I don’t know”, looking and acting sheepish, hemming and hawing and avoiding questions.

I understand that, of course, no one wants to confess, but the degree to which Rebecca doesn’t help the cops, without us knowing what her motive is, is just silly. The kids are also given such a toxic degree of indifference that literally nothing shakes them, which is utterly unlikely.

Near the last 3-4 episodes, we already know who is responsible, so the ending isn’t shocking at all. There was simply no need to go that long, painfully trying to conceal the answers, and the story needed a rework to add more excitement and a sense of realism not portrayed here.

Then, the ending itself was so unsatisfying it made me wonder why this particular investigation was chosen to make into a series. They claim that it was based on a true story, and that there were things added for “dramatic purposes”, but other than the murder there isn’t much drama.

The reason used by the show to explain the fantastical amount apathy the teens feel about their acts is the trauma cliche, but some of the kids don’t have any trauma and are still rotten.

And, as most of us who have worked with kids in mental health know, plenty of traumatized kids don’t ever go to such destructive lengths to keep up what essentially is a glorified facade.

The series does emphasize the ongoing struggle in the world that we all face daily, in that those with privilege have more resources available to them when the proverbial shit hits the fan, and others get the short end of the stick.

Even with that, the series fails to weave it in as a pernicious undertone, instead it just shrugs and throws it out there like an afterthought, at the end. This gives it more of a feeling that “it is what it is” and we just have to accept it, rather than anything really being worked out.

This may have been a better choice for a film so we could just get to the action, rather than meandering ad nauseum, and forcefully withholding tiny bits of truth only to finish with an ending that fizzles like a dud firework. When the main character is basically unessential, why do it at all?

The value of this story, if there was one, completely alluded me, so that even the strong acting couldn’t save it from its lack of energy and unsurprising circumstances.

Of all of the characters in this series, only Cam’s character had something surprising revealed to her, but literally no one else seemed any different when it’s finally wrapped up, with exception of their location.

Overall, this series isn’t worth the nearly eight hour commitment it took to get through it. I recommend skipping it for a series that is.

1 Likes

categories / Crime, Dramas, Series, Series Review, True Crime
tags / Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone, Quinn Shephard

The Three Musketeers Part Deux: Milady: Every Bit As Good As The First

April 18, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

The Musketeers are back in the second installment of director Martin Bourboulon’s The Three Musketeers saga.

As tensions between the French Protestants and Catholics rise to the point of war, d’Artagnan (Francois Civil), Athos (Vincent Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmai) race against the clock to find those responsible for King Louis XIII’s (Louis Garrel) assassination attempt.

Meanwhile the story of Milady de Winter (Eva Green) is explored more deeply, as we get to find out about her past and how her story is woven into the fabric of this intricate tale.

all for love

The story picks up where it ended last, when Constance (Lyna Khoudri), Queen Anne’s (Vicky Krieps) most trusted companion and d’Artagnan’s love, is kidnapped after seeing who was involved in the plot to kill the King.

D’Artagnan, who was also abducted, makes his way free, threatening traitor Le Comte de Chalais’s (Patrick Mille) life if he doesn’t take him to the jail that d’Artagnan believes holds Constance. When they arrive at the cell, the only one he finds is Milady.

D’Artagnan frees Milady and is forced to flee for fear of getting caught, still lacking the information he needs to find Constance, but Milady picks up some coded letters off the desk of de Chalais, which includes the name of the leader responsible for the coup upon King Louis.

Meanwhile, the other Musketeers join the rest of the soldiers at an encampment outside the Protestant city of La Rochelle, awaiting orders to help complete their plan of war.

There they also learn more pieces of the extensive puzzle, and fall to more hidden treachery, while figuring out how Milady and Richelieu (Eric Ruf) are involved, as d’Artagnan believes that they too are possible traitors.

in all honesty…

Bourboulon’s second installment of The Three Musketeers stands proudly equal to his first.

This time, though there may not have been so many plot points as the first, writers Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, start tying together almost everything that was left hanging from the first.

The film itself is darker, so the colors have been tampered down to cold grays and blues, creating a perfect atmosphere for an enclosed, dank, fearful time.

Cinematographer Nicolas Bulduc spends just as much time on creating the most beautiful, masterful shots that wow with picturesque perfection, drawing us closer in to the feeling and sites of the time.

He renders some of the most breathtaking war shots that I’ve ever seen to date. How one renders beauty to war is beyond me. Truly an artistic triumph.

The production design, costumes and sets are pure excellence, adding to the richness of the film and further enveloping us into the world.

The acting is also enjoyable, though we don’t get to see enough of the three Musketeers, and there is very little new in the development for Porthos and Aramis. Both of them were absolutely delightful in the first and I wish that we had a bit more time with them.

Surprisingly, the story ends on another cliffhanger. Perhaps a third may be afoot?

Overall, you can’t go wrong seeing this, especially on the big screen. Prepare to be delighted and titillated by the newest addition to this wonderful epic.

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categories / Action, Dramas, Film, Film Reviews, Historical Drama, Period Pieces
tags / Vincent Cassel, Francois Civil, Romain Duris, Pio Marmai, Louis Garrel, Eva Green, Martin Bourboulon

Arcadian: A Good Idea That Leaves Us With Too Many Questions.

April 11, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Arcadian is one of Nicholas Cage’s new films, about a father and two sons who are living in a post apocalyptic era, where monsters roam free during the night. Directed by Benjamin Brewer, this film focuses on the survivors of a war of sorts from 15 years ago, where much of the population was wiped out for unclear reasons.

just a creature feature?

The film takes place in rural America, though I could tell it was actually filmed in the UK, where Paul (Nicholas Cage) is a single dad of two teenage boys, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins).

Paul has taught both of his sons how to live within the constraints of a broken down system, where killer monsters come out every night in search of humans. There isn’t a lot of information given in the story about when, where or why these creatures came to be, nor how they arrived.

Other than the creatures, the area they live is relatively safe, but very sparsely populated and supplies aren’t very plentiful. Joseph is the quiet, brainy son, while Thomas is the more outgoing one, doing what he can to help a family close by, because their daughter Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) has caught his eye.

Thomas tends to run back and forth to their house on a daily basis and has, at times, been late for the evening curfew. One night, while running back home, Thomas falls into a fissure in the ground that he is usually able to jump.

As dark closes in, Paul is forced to leave Joseph to go out and find Thomas. When Paul gets seriously wounded rescuing Thomas, the kids have to band together to figure things out and learn how to keep him safe and survive without his help.

in all honesty…

Arcadian, though full of creative creatures and action, sorely lacks too much information and script development to be considered well rounded.

I was very impressed with the creative creatures that looked like a mash up of a sloth, dinosaur and werewolf. With their sped up chompy chomps and rolly rolls, they add excellent tension and jump scares that are likely to hit well with audiences.

The film quality is also well done, but the lighting overall was much too dark. It was difficult for me to see much of the early creature activity, or grasp what they looked like due to so many scenes that were poorly lit. I wasn’t always sure what I was looking at.

Jaeden Martell, the sweetheart of the most recent It films, continues to wow with his acting that is so incredibly focused and intuitive. He hardly had a chance to expound on his talents though with the script that was so lacking.

There simply wasn’t enough time or development put into this script. There were so many questions left unanswered, such as what made the world desolate to begin with; where the creatures came from or how; why they only eat humans; how Paul and his family survived and found decent housing within the parameters of the disaster; what happened to mom and the general sense of who each character is individually.

Instead, everything just “is” and I think that choice cheated us out of so much that it simply couldn’t suspend our disbelief in the world to be fully immersive, which was so disappointing.

For a disaster film to really work, it requires time, space, highly necessary and developed characters, and a sense of urgency to be absorbed into the world. There weren’t any high stakes in the film other than survival and no relief to be had in the end.

The ending itself was very abrupt and wholly incomplete. It was as if Brewer just wanted to focus on creatures only, which left a lot to be desired. The failures in the script become failures of character, story, plot, a ticking clock, general direction and a point.

What was it that Brewer wanted to tell us? Why was this particular story something that he thought was necessary to be seen?

Though I’m sure that audiences may like the tension, creatures and excitement they cause, the rest of it is just one big enigma that left me completely unsatisfied.

3 Likes

categories / Action, Fantasy, Film, Film Reviews, Horror, Thrillers, Creature Features
tags / Nicholas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Benjamin Brewer, Maxwell Jenkins

Against All Enemies: A Battle Cry For Help

April 09, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

Against All Enemies is a new documentary directed by Charlie Sadoff that explores the origins of hate groups in America, and why so many veterans become parts of them. With a plethora of information and across the political spectrum insights, this is a documentary that should be paid close attention to as it shows us much that needs to be healed in this country.

why are we so far from uniity?

The film focuses on the rise of extremist, right wing political groups the likes of The Proud Boys and Q Anon, and those who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

With the aid of former veterans both in the political arena and out, Sadoff explores these extremist groups from their leaders, their recruiting sites, their grooming of lost veterans and the misinformation that they spread.

These groups hail from a long history of white supremacy, racism, and other white nationalist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, in an intricate web of lies and deception. They feed off of fear, insecurity, low education and conspiracy theories.

Using these fears and insecurities, others who want power see opportunities for success in the political arena, and create platforms that feed into them. Trump, of course, is the biggest con artist of the myriad of politicians, who spread misinformation in order to incite violent action, to realize his own dream of fascism and dictatorship, which isn’t surprising, as his own father was in the KKK.

Trump’s followers in the senate and other government positions continue to do whatever they can to push the white, cis, hetero normative, including banning books, not allowing LGBTQ+ to be seen, heard or protected, abolishing the right to choose, gerrymandering and suppression of voting for black and brown communities.

With the unbelievable amount of poisonous lies, these people continue to have strong platforms to keep spreading their malcontent because no one is taking them to task.

why recruit veterans?

According to the film, these sorts of extremist groups purposely focus on our vets. They need people who are armed/know how to use weapons, have an undeniably twisted sense of patriotism and who are most susceptible to radicalization, for a sense of purpose, belonging and “family”.

The leaders tend to all be white men, educated at white, bought-in, “elite” schools, who know the law, but are generally amoral and use it to their advantages.

As I’ve seen, with a hearty history of mental health education and counseling experience, US Veterans are not taken care of. Most of the men going into the military are young and inexperienced, who come home from political wars with PTSD and all kinds of other mental health needs, only to be shutdown and not cared for by our government for their service.

Take a group of people who have been traumatized; initiated by violence and war, then left to their own devices and not slowly reintegrated back to normal society coming home; add guns to the mixture and you’ve got an explosive concoction of vitriol, misdirected pain and the need for relevance.

It’s become astonishingly difficult to know who we can trust in politics and our daily lives and many inadvertently fall victim to those who con.

in all honesty…

Sadoff has given us such an abundance of information packed into one film that it’s hard to know where to start.

We have had a crisis of military mental health since the beginning of military history. As a supporter of our troops, I have seen the toll that war takes on them. I’ve also seen a lot of people who get denied treatment from the government programs, such as the VA, that have promised to take care of them and their families.

What makes me most angry about this subject are the rich people who continue to use and exploit them as pawns, knowing full well that they would never do the job themselves nor expect their children to go to war.

The indoctrination involved, also explained in the movie, is sickening. More laws against disinformation and the online presence of these extremist predators need to be made before anything. There’s nothing “constitutional” about conning others and creating violence against other groups of people through hatred. We have laws against hate speech so why not online?

Sadoff also has a section comparing Isis with the domestic US extremist groups. Though they have many similarities, the US doesn’t crack down on the groups here like overseas, most likely because our perps are white.

The biggest threat to our democracy are cons like Trump and those who support him. I don’t know what hold he has over his supporters, but I do know that all he cares about is becoming an all powerful dictator. He has literally said it before and praised dictators across the world.

He is using Hitler’s words and tactics in his speeches trying to convince his supporters that dictators aren’t
”so bad”, and many of his political pawns are now in jail. Trump himself has almost 100 charges against him for fraud, sexual assault and mishandling of classified government documents. What else will it take to convince his supporters? It’s so blatant it’s frightening.

Absolutely zero legitimate presidents have ever had so many lawsuits against them in US history. Is racism so powerful that many citizens would vote for someone who is showing you who they are? It’s all “Fake News” unless Trump agrees with it.

The battle of “wokeness” is also being manipulated by the same MAGA politicians to mean something ugly, when it’s literally just being awakened to all of the injustices of our world. When we are able to see with more clarity, we are better able to fix the problems around us. Why would anyone want to stay “asleep”?

Our political system on both sides is rigged for the super wealthy only and needs to be overhauled, no question. Replacing this with fascist, hate filled politicians and rhetoric would be epically worse than what we have now, and there is a real possibility that the US could be walking itself ignorantly and apathetically into it.

Against All Enemies brings us a multifaceted buffet of the problems at hand, asking its audience to come up with answers that most of us don’t have the knowledge or power to answer. There is little here to keep us hopeful.

Trump’s presidency has left America with multiple questions regarding legality and how to handle a corrupt president. We need to come together and demand from our elected officials that laws to protect our democracy are vitally needed now.

The rise of authoritarianism is a real threat that needs real answers and effective measures taken against it. I personally am less afraid of a second Civil War, as mentioned in the film, than Trump getting the chance to change more of the government to his liking than he already has.

We’ve been there historically in the 1940’s and fought against it. Where is that same enthusiasm now? Why haven’t we learned?

Those of us who are awakened have an obligation to fight the rise of fascism with our votes and help those who can’t see clearly to wake up and find the clarity they need.

Fighting each other will only keep us divided without the ability to break from our self created gridlock and allow fascists to slip in in the meantime.

Do we continue to support and uphold the rubbish sold to us by the 1% and toxic capitalism, or will we have the courage to do the tough work of our own healing, and demand in large numbers that this non-sustainable society, hatred and malfeasance be banished for good?

The choice is ours. Vote like your lives depend on it, because they very well may.

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categories / Activism, American History, Articles, Black Lives Matter, Documentaries, Film, Film Reviews, gun violence, Human Rights, Mental Health
tags / Charlie Sadoff, Government, hate groups, Trump

The Crime Is Mine: A Delightful Comedy Harkening Melodrama Nostalgia

April 01, 2024 / Amyana Bartley

The Crime is Mine, directed and written by Francois Ozon, loosely based on the 1934 play Mon Crime, is a lively and entertaining film with the feel of a stylized melodramatic play. With excellent acting, timing and flow, this film is sure to charm viewers into its light-hearted grasp.

Caught in desperation

Madeleine Verdier (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) is an up and coming actress in 1930’s Paris. She and her roommate Pauline Mauleon (Rebecca Marder), a young up and coming lawyer, share a tiny, broken down flat. With rent that is months overdue, and Madeleine’s career at a standstill they are both desperate for prospects.

Madeleine is invited to seedy producer Montferrand’s (Jean Christophe Bouvet) mansion to “discuss” a possible role for her. While she is there she finds, like many young actresses, that he is only interested in having her as a sexual mistress.

After fighting her assailant off, she returns home to more bad news about past due bills only to have her boyfriend Andre (Edouard Sulpice), stop by to tell her that his wealthy father M. Bonnard (Andre Doussolier) is insisting that he marry into another wealthy family. He also discusses having her as a mistress so they can still stay together.

Frustrated that she doesn’t have any other prospects to help her, she overdramatically muses taking her own life with her pistol. Pauline talks her out of it believing there is a less permanent way to proceed.

When they are visited by M. Brun (Regis Laspales), a local detective, and told that Montferrand has been murdered, Madeleine becomes a suspect.

Murder is a good thing?

The story takes a twisted turn when Madeleine finds out that she cannot be put in jail for killing someone in self defense. With Pauline representing her in court Madeleine makes a desperate plea, accepting responsibility for Montferrand’s death.

When she is acquitted, she becomes a shooting star, seen by others as representing purity and a model of a woman who refuses to put up with attacks by sleazy men. Her fame soars and she and Pauline finally enjoy the life they were hoping for.

When Odette Chaumette (Isabelle Huppert), an out of work older actress comes to them claiming that she was the actual killer and wants compensation from Madeleine’s fame, Madeleine faces another unexpected challenge.

What is the truth? Will Madeleine’s fame be stolen by a blackmailer or will she have to confess to a story that may or may not be true?

in all honesty…

The Crime Is Mine is a funny, beautifully charismatic film, full of brilliant characters, gorgeous costumes and captivating production design.

Everything, from the acting, writing, costuming, pacing, editing and scenic design, seemed absolutely effortless. It never drags, bores or overcompensates. Because of the harmonically orchestrated craft and collaboration by the artists involved, there is not a single frame that doesn’t belong.

The protagonist Odette Chaumette has such a hilarious stint that she doesn’t even feel like a true “villain”, and Dany Boon plays an absolutely charming Fernand Palmarede, who becomes a mentor and father figure for Madeleine.

Also want to shout out Pascaline Chavanne, Constance Allain and their entire crew for such superb, impeccable costume designs and wardrobe, and also the artists behind the sets and set dressing. Their combined efforts really brought to life the times in such a sumptuous, romantic way.

This exquisite film that you’re sure to relish is available on BluRay, and streaming on most major platforms in the U.S. It is such a pleasure and rarity to come across films such as this in my profession. I hope you like and support it.

Enjoy!

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categories / Comedy, Film, Film Reviews, Period Pieces, Crime
tags / Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder, Francois Ozon, Isabelle Huppert