Focus on Film & Television Reviews and writings about these subjects. As well as Pop Culture at times. With a bit of an edge and some color
Written & Directed By: Lukas Moodysson
Cinematography By: Ulf Brantas
Editor: Michael Leszcylowski, Oleg Morgunov & Bernhard Winkler
Cast: Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogutjarskij, Lyubov Agapova, Elina Benenson, Liliya Sjinkarjova, Pavel Ponomatjov
Sixteen-year-old Lilja and her only friend, the young boy Volodja, live in Estonia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej, who is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life.
Directed By: Felix Van Groeningen
Written By: Luke Davies & Felix Van Groeningen
Based On The Books “Beautiful Boy” & “Tweak” By: David Sheff & Nick Sheff
Cinematography By: Ruben Impens ”
Editor: Nico Leunen
Cast: Steve Carell, Timothee Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Aquino, Timothy Hutton, Amy Forsyth, Amy Ryan, Andre Royo, Kaitlyn Dever, Lisagay Hamilton
Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
Written & Directed By: Justin Kelly
Based on an article By: Stacey Miller
Based on the Magazine Article “My Ex-Gay Friend” By: Benoit Denizet Lewis
Cinematography By: Christopher Blauvet
Editor: Aaron I. Butler
Cast: James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Emma Watson, Charlie Carver, Avan Jogia, Daryl Hannah, Lesley Ann Warren, Jefferson Mays, Ahna O’Reilly
Based on the fascinating true-life story of Michael Glatze, a gay activist who becomes a Christian pastor after identifying as a heterosexual.
Directed By: Justin Tipping
Written By: Justin Tipping & Joshia Beirne-Golden
Cinematography By: Michael Ragen
Editor: Dominic LaPerriere & Tomas Vengris
Music By: Brian Reitzell
Cast: Jahking Guillory, Christopher Meyer, Christopher Wallace Jr., Kofi Siriobe, Mahershala Ali, Nessa Ismail
Brandon is a 15 year old whose dream is a pair of fresh Air Jordans. Soon after he gets his hands on them, they’re stolen by a local hood, causing Brandon and his two friends to go on a dangerous mission through Oakland to retrieve them.
Written, Edited & Directed By: David Lowery
Cinematography By: Andrew Droz Palermo
Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Brea Grant, Will Oldham
In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.
Written & Directed By: Eva Husson
Cinematography By: Mattias Troelstrup
Editor: Emilie Orsini
Cast: Finnegan Oldfield, Marilyn Lima, Daisy Broom, Lornezo Leferbvre, Fred Hotier
In a small town of France, life seems to be still and somewhat boring for a group of teenage friends, who day in, day out, are asked to cope not only with the usual issues in the life of a high school student but also with the search for love and sex. How do you blow the steam off, when you are a puzzled, sexually-frustrated youngster? Eventually, a party is thrown on a Saturday night and the solution is about to be found in a very simple idea… A game of truth or dare that will be rapidly transformed into a mandatory, dare only, series of sexy challenges between friends, will provide the means to unfold the true self and hidden potential in everyone present. Beer, drugs, spin the bottle and the “Bang Gang” revolution is born. But what deceptively appeared as a way to deal with boredom, strained family relationships, emancipation and above all liberty, quickly turned into the biggest scandal, a mockery of a modern fairy tale, a story of a child given a toy, not knowing what to do or how to play with it.
Written & Directed By: Michael Winterbottom
Cinematography By: Marcel Zyskind
Editor: Michael Winterbottom & Mat Whitecross
Cast: Kieran O’Brien, Margo Stilley
QMatt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall
London’s Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night’s end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.
Written & Directed By: John Carney
Cinematography By: Yaron Orbach
Editor: Andrew Marcus & Julian Ulrichs
Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Jack Reynor, Ben Carolan, Mark McKenna, Kelly Thornton, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Percy Chamburuka, Ian Kenny, Lydia McGuinness, Karl Rice, Conor Hamilton
A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band and moving to London.
Written & Directed By: Woody Allen
Cinematography By: Darius Khondji
Editor: Alisa Lepselter
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey, Ethan Phillips, Joe Blackely, Robert Petkoff, Sophie Von Haselberg
A new philosophy professor arrives on a small town campus near Newport, Rhode Island. His name, Abe Lucas. His reputation : bad. Abe is said to be a womanizer and an alcoholic. But what people do not know is that he is a disillusioned idealist. Since he has become aware of his inability to change the world, he has indeed been living in a state of deep nihilism and arrogant desperation. In class, he only goes through the motions and outside he drinks too much. But as far as sex is concerned, he is just a shadow of himself now: depression is not synonymous with Viagra! For all that, he can’t help being attracted to one of his students, pretty and bright Jill Pollard. He enters into a relationship with her which remains platonic, even if Jill would not say no to more. The situation remains unchanged for a while until, one day, in a diner, Abe and Jill surprise a conversation that will change the course of their lives dramatically…
Written & Directed By: Rebecca Johnson
Cinematography By: Annemarie Lean-Vercoe
Editor: John Dwelly
Cast: Jessica Sula, Ntonga Mwanza, Lucien Laviscount, Naomi Ryan, Danielle Vitalis, Lauren Johns, Tosin Cole, Savannah Gordon-Liburd
Inspired by true events, it tells a story of fifteen-year-old Layla, who sets up the boy in love with her to be killed. When Troy discards her, Layla is left in ruins. She vows to rebuild herself as a hardened player in order to win him back and Shaun becomes a pawn in her game. Soon the forces she has set in motion are escalating out of control. The first UK urban drama seen from a girl’s point of view, HONEYTRAP is authentically local in its setting but universal in its themes of passion, jealousy and revenge. We have not seen a character like Layla take centre-stage before and it’s time her story to be told.
Cut To The Chase 