Reviews for November 29th, 2024
In Heavier Trip, Turo (Johannes Holopainen), Xytrax (Max Ovaska), Lotvenan (Samuli Jaskio), members of the band Impaled Rektum, break out of prison and embark on a road trip to perform at music festival in Germany. The screenplay by co-writers/directors Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio is a subversively funny and irreverent blend of dark humor and satire. It's most entertaining when it doesn't take itself too seriously which, fortunately, occurs for the vast majority of the plot. The brief attempts to ground the film with heartfelt moments don't quite land as effectively, though. If you're into heavy metal music, you'll probably appreciate the satirical elements even more. Either way, it would be best to watch Heavier Trip with a large crowd while drinking a beer or two and/or getting high. This isn't the kind of film that you'd want to experience while clean and sober because it does go bonkers like too many films do these days. Is it too much to ask for sanity? Even Queer ends up going bonkers. At 1 hour and 36 minutes, Heavier Trip opens in select theaters and on VOD via Doppelgänger Releasing.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Tiemei (Song Jia), a single mother, moves with her young daughter, Moli (Isabella Zeng), into a new apartment where she befriends her timid neighbor, Xiaoye (Zhong Chuxi), despite that their personalities often clash in Her Story. Writer/director Yihui Shao has made an empowering, genuinely heartfelt and honest story brimming with warmth, tenderness and humor. Although both Tiemei and Xiaoye pursue romantic interests, those subplots aren't the main focus; Tiemei and Xiaoye friendship with each other and their own emotional journeys toward self discovery are primary focal points. So, yes, this wonderful and wise film passes the Bechdel test much like Barbie and Shirley Valentine which it would pair well with. It's much like a Chinese version of an Eric Rohmer film with just the right balance of wit and perceptive observations about relationships and gender roles in modern society. At 1 hour and 32 minutes, it opens at AMC Empire 25 via Tiger Pictures Entertainment.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
My Sweet Land is a powerful and moving documentary about the Nagorno-Karabakh from the perspective of Vrej, an 11-year-old boy. Director Sareen Hairabedian follows Vrej as he spends time in his village in the former Republic of Artsakh in Armenia before war breaks out with Azerbaijan. He dreams and hopes of becoming a dentist when he grows up. Soon enough, he and his family are forced to flee from their home to safety while his father goes off to fight in the war. With the ongoing war, his future looks uncertain while he yearns to return home to his "sweet land." Life won't be the same when he returns, though. My Sweet Land remains focused on Vrej and how the war has affected him and his family. This isn't a political film per se, but it does put on a human face on the consequences of war on innocent lives, so, in a way, it's a protest against war. It would be an interesting double feature with Porcelain War and Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza. At 1 hour and 26 minutes, My Sweet Land opens for a one-week Oscar-qualifying run at Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Placebo: The Search for Meaning is a mildly engaging, but often dull and ultimately forgettable documentary about a British rock band known as Placebo. Director Oscar Sansom interviews bandmates Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal while incorporating archival footage. As a reader's digest version of the band's rise to fame and their significance, this doc is a decent albeit conventional and often hagiographic introduction to Placebo. There's very little depth or insightful revelations. Moreover, it never manages to transcend as a documentary. A truly great doc finds the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectially. Unfortunately, Placebo: The Search for Meaning fails to find that balance and leaves the audience at an emotionally cold distance from its subjects. At 1 hour and 32 minutes, it opens at Quad Cinema via Abramorama.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Elena (Jimena Lindo) plans to move from Peru to the US with her daughters, Aurora (Luana Vega) and Lucia (Abril Gjurinovic), for a better future during a time of political unrest in Reinas. Before they can leave, she needs their estranged father, Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), to sign important documents, but when they reunite, he uses that as an opportunity to reconnect with his daughters instead. The screenplay by writer/director Klaudia Reynicke and co-writer Diego Vega Vidal is a mildly engaging and quietly moving, but undercooked, underwhelming and sugar-coated portrait of a dysfunctional family coming together during a time of adversity. Set in 1992, Reinas opts for an understated "slice of life" snapshot of the family rather than an unflinching and emotionally resonating one. There are not nearly enough chances to get to know any of the family members with much depth because the screenplay just seems to be going through the motions without a large enough window into anyone's heart, mind or soul. Despite the initially intriguing premise, there's no suspense or dramatic tension, although Carlos does string his wife along after giving her an empty promise that he'll sign the documents. The performances are decent, but none of them manages to breathe life into the shallow screenplay. At 1 hour and 44 minutes, which feels like like 2 horus, Reinas opens at Cinema Village via Outsider Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
