Movie #3015 ........................."Aftersun" (Amazon Prime)

 Movie #3015 "Aftersun" (Amazon Prime)  I am a big fan of Paul Mescal after watching the t.v. series "Normal People" so that made it doubly important that I catch this Oscar nominated portrayal of a depressed father in this film.  As a viewer , you are asked to do a bit more than just watch this film.  Because it has a present time :  the daughter older (probably the age of her dad in the video) is watching a video of her dad periodically through the film.   Mostly, the rest of the film is  a flashback   of her dad and her making this video of their trip (could be the last time they spend together) to Turkey.  You the viewer are asked to piece this story together so I don't want to take that job away from you, but sufficeth it to say the dad appears to be suffering depression for lots of reasons, and the daughter is on the brink of puberty and is full of curiosity, adventure, feelings of breaking away and going on her own, etc.  This could be a bad mix, and parts of the film show that, but mostly they make it work.  This is also a film that shows very little action that isn't typical of a vacation like this --- the daughter tries to get her dad to do karaoke, the dad tries to get the daughter to play games like water polo in the pool, they eat out and converse on a number of subjects,  etc.  The film is just on low simmer through most of it, but the burn has its effects.  I liked this and Paul Mescal's work here, but I don't think it will go past the nomination --- but it's worth a watch if the subject matter sounds relatable to you --- I think it would be for many people, and I'd give it a 4 out of 5, mostly for the artsy way it is presented and Mescal and the little girl's acting!

"THE AFTERSUN"   2022 R      1 hr and 42 mins

Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier.  Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.

Director:  Charlotte Wells

Writer:  Charlotte Wells

Actors:  Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio

Movie #3014 ........................."Causeway" (Apple)

 Movie #3014 "Causeway" (Apple)  I watched this mostly because it has one academy award nomination , for Brian  Tyree Henry for supporting actor, but I'm glad I did anyway because I thought Jennifer Lawrence was equally as amazing, and I wondered why she doesn't have a nomination.  It is a very quiet portrayal of an Afghanistan vet sent home with a brain injury.  The first 20 mins or so in the film  she is rehabilitating, starting from scratch almost, and Jennifer Lawrence gets this look on her that conveys the shock her body and mind are in.  Of course, the film starts to perk up with Brian/s entrance --- well, mostly because SHE starts to perk up because he is funny to her, he's authentic, and he's helpful and accepts her for who she is now.  It's a sad story due to what we put our soldiers through, but it is also inspiring to watch someone start all over again and gain small successes along the way.  But this film is mostly showing the struggle, and that's something we need to see, and it is conveyed well.  This is a quiet film;  don't expect action, but I thought it was well done, and both Jennifer AND Brian  deserve a nomination.  4 out of 5.

"THE CAUSEWAY"        Apple   1 hour and 34 mins     R     2022

A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home --- 

Director:  Lila Neugebauer

Writers:  Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebewl, Elizabeth Sanders

Actors:  Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Edmond  

Movie #3013 ........................."Le pupille" (theatre) this is a Disney movie...hmmm

 Movie #3013 "Le pupil" (theatre)  I can't believe this is a Disney movie --- it is just plain silly to me.  Sometimes I watch these short films and I just shake my head and think:  now why was this one made?  And that's the feeling I had about this one.  I did not like it.  At first, it seemed to have a point --- this adorable pouty-faced little girl was the only one who had straightened her bed in the school dorm while the others were being scolded for not doing so by the nuns --- Attending all catholic schools while in elementary school, I was fully aware of how stern some nuns can be, so I believed that scene.  But then all of a sudden , they break the 4th wall and turn to us and tell us in song what the story is about --- ??? So then I think, well, this is going to be a comedy and a creative "out of the box" kind of film.  But it never got me back to what the point was --- It had what I would consider scattered, silly scenes, and I never put them together --- it probably is my fault -- it was the last one on the bill, and it was Disney so I expected a film with much more quality.  Surprisingly, it ended up at the bottom for me.  So it probably will win because like I said, I probably missed something here.  The little girls were cute, the nuns were stern, there were a couple of cute moments, but that's  it --- 3.   (might  I add it was the longest?)

"LE PUPILLE"       37min      PG       2022

Follow the rebellious girls of a Catholic boarding school before Chriistmas , at a time of war and scarcity (hmmmm I missed that point - it seemed normal to me to be in a Catholic boarding school and they would only give you cake if you deserved it!)

Director:  Alice Rohrwacher

Writers:  Alice Rohrwacher, Carmela Covino, Shane Gotcher 

Actors:  Alba Rohrwacher, Greta Zuccheri Montanari, Carmen Pommela

Movie #3012 ........................."Ivalu" (theatre)

Movie #3012 "Ivalu" (theatre) Ivalu is this young girl's sister who is all of a sudden missing, and the younger girl, knowing her older sister so well, tries to look for her in all the places she thinks she could be.  There's a creepy undercurrent in this film , and the reason  is finally revealed to us by the end.  Unfortunately, this topic has become quite popular in our film culture, and I have seen better films on the subject, but his is an okay job putting forth a subject that we should be reminded of often so things can be done about it for those suffering from it.  I'd give this a 3.5.  Short, but powerful.

"IVALU"    2023       16 mins

Ivalu is gone.  Her little sister is desperate to find her.  Her father does not care.  The vast Greenlandic nature holds secrets.  The search for Ivalu is on.

Director:  Anders Walter, Pipaluk K. Jergensen

Writers:  Morten Durr (graphic novel) , Anders Walter

Actors:  Mila Heilmann Kreutzmann, Angunnguaq Larsen, Niki Larsen

Movie #3011 ........................."An Irish Goodbye" (theatre)

 Movie #3011 " An Irish Goodbye" (theatre)  -- I also enjoyed this one --- it's a bit longer  but  full of lots of dry humor (but very Irish in the dark humor department)....The main character is a down syndrome young man who has just lost his mom, and his older  brother comes back from the England to sell the farm that his younger  brother lived on with the mom.  Of course, the brother is against leaving the place and convinces his brother that he will agree to leave after they do the 100 things on their mom's bucket list that she put together before she died.  This one was hard to believe --- it's like a story you hear told and you can't quite believe it as it is told to you, but it is told so well, you go along with it.  That's the kind of story here, and the brothers are both memorable in their own ways.  I'd give this a 4 out of 5.

"AN IRISH GOODBYE"      23 mins     2022

In rural Northern Ireland, a pair of estranged brothers reunite following their mother's untimely death.

Directors:  Tom Berkeley, Ross White

Writers:  Tom Berkeley, Ross White

Actors:   James Martin, Seamus O'Hara

Movie #3010 ........................."Nightride " ("Nattrikken") (theatre)

 Movie #3010 "Nightride" (theatre)  This next live-action short is equally as entertaining, and it has some humor along the way (a tad longer than the previous one, and from Norway)  This film has a little person as its star , and she immediately tugs at your heartstrings when she is freezing and is ignored by the tram driver.  All she wants to do is to keep warm until he drives her to her stop --- but what happens when she tries to get in from the cold?  The story escalates from there --- and with every twist and turn of the tram, the story twists its way into your heart.  The film so well puts on display the bullies and the victims of the world and how we'd like these stories to end , but they rarely do.  I'd give this 4.5.

"NIGHT RIDE " ("NATTRIKKEN")      2020       15 mins

A cold night in December.  Ebba waits for the tram to go home after a party, but the ride takes an unexpected turn.

Director:   Eirik Tveiten

Writer:  Eirik Tveiten

Actors:  Sigrid Kandal Husjord, Ola Hoemsnes Sandum, Axel Baro Aasen

Movie #3009 ........................."The Red Suitcase" (theatre)

 Movie #3009 "The Red Suitcase" (theatre) The top three in this category could all be a tie for me because they were all done very well, but I guess if I had to pick the top one, it would be this one because 1) I was most invested in the story --- with it, the entire way, trying to think ahead for her, etc.  2) it had the best cinematic moment of all the shorts I have seen for this year --- the very end.... worth taking time to watch. Once you read what this is about (below), the best thing to do is just to experience it and  know as little as possible.  To me, it is an excellent example of a fantastic live action short :   a short scene that is succinct in the telling, cinematically nice to look at, and by the end can blow your socks off.  I give this a 5 out of 5.

"THE RED SUITCASE"    18 mins       2022

Luxembourg Airport.  Late in the evening.  A veiled 16-year-old Iranian girl is frightened to take her red suitcase on the automatic carpet.  She keeps pushing back the moment to go through the arrival gate and seems more and more terrified.  

Director:  Cyrus Neshvad

Writers:  Cuillaume Levil, Cyrus Neshvad

Actors:  Nacelle Ewan, Sarkaw Gorany, Anne Klein