Tag: indie film

Review: The Short History of the Long Road

Hannah Gersen3 Comments

short history
The Short History of the Long Road (2020)
Writer & Director: Ani Simon-Kennedy

This gentle indie about a father and a daughter who live on the road had a lot of warmth and many likable performances, but ultimately felt too pat as it shied away from the more painful aspects of its story. The ending, in particular, felt like more of an Instagram moment than a resolution. Still, I enjoyed the journey with its glimpses into the lives of people who exist on the edges of mainstream society.

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Review: The Assistant

Hannah Gersen5 Comments

the assistantThe Assistant (2019) ★★★★
Written & Directed by Kitty Green

When I wrote the heading for this review I thought to myself wow, am I really giving this movie four stars? It’s the unusual instance when using a star rating system is clarifying rather than frustrating, because my reasons for rating it as less than four stars were entirely superficial. In terms of its production, The Assistant it is a “small” movie, but in terms of its themes and emotional impact, it’s huge. It takes place over a short time period — one day — and involves only a handful of people in a few rooms, with its focus on Jane (Julia Garner), a junior assistant to a film producer. Very little happens and there is hardly any dialogue; there’s only one passage in the film in which two characters engage in extended back-and-forth discussion. All other verbal communication is limited to short or one-sided phone conversations, emails, and eavesdropping.

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Review: Leave No Trace

Hannah Gersen1 Comment

leave notrace

In fairy tales, the forest is a dark, dangerous place, populated by wolves and other menacing creatures, but for Thomasin and her father, Will, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the forest is a respite, a place of quiet and calm. More than that, it’s their home. For several years, they’ve been camping in Forest Park, an enormous urban park on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. Although they have gone undetected all this time, they still do practice drills in case they should be discovered. In an early scene, Will critiques his daughter’s hiding place, telling her that her socks give her away. Actually, it’s Thom’s eyes that betray her: you can see her loneliness and her restlessness. As a younger kid, 24-7 camping may have appealed to her, but when we meet Thom, she is a young teen, full of curiosity about the outside world and eager to meet new people. The only thing that keeps her in the woods is her deep love and sympathy for her father.

Thom and Will are inevitably discovered, and Leave No Trace tells the story of what happens after: how they adjust to life in the world outside their forest. . .

(Read the rest at The Common)

Catching Up

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So, we’re almost halfway through the year and, looking back on the past six months,  I haven’t seen quite as many female-directed as I’d hoped, but I’ve seen many more than I saw last year. I’m looking forward to catching up with a lot of movies this summer, especially those available on streaming services since I’m not big on summer blockbuster fare. If, like me, you’re looking for something to watch, please check out my list of 2018 Films Directed or Written by Women because I’ve been doing my best to keep it up to date.

There were a handful of female-directed/written movies that I saw this spring that I didn’t have a chance to review, so I’m going to do a little round-up here of four films: On Body And Soul, Becks, The Party, and The Post.  Continue reading “Catching Up” →

Female Directors at the Tribeca Film Festival

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The Tribeca Film Festival is coming to New York next month, and tickets are on sale now. I perused the listings and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of female-directed films.  Film Daily reported that the total percentage is 46% and that this is the highest in the festival’s history.

Below is a list of the narrative features, directed by women, that will be included in the festival, and which I’ve added to my earlier post of 2018 films directed by women. (There were also a lot of documentaries directed by women, but I didn’t include them here or in previous lists.) Continue reading “Female Directors at the Tribeca Film Festival” →