Category Archives: Independent Feature

Foreign Film, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Thriller, Tribeca Film Festival 2021

TRIBECA 2021 REVIEW: “DO NOT HESITATE”

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The Dutch military mission in Afghanistan which had started in 2006 is coming to an end, though a redeployment task force would stay on to oversee the return of vehicles, military hardware and equipment to the Netherlands. This is the lead into one of the better foreign films of the Tribeca, “DO NOT HESITATE”. It is the second feature film by the Dutchman (originally from Venezuela) Sharif Korver, and with it, we find almost a character study of the absolute tricks of mind-play that war can do to you.

Written by Jolein Laarman, ‘Do Not Hesitate’ focuses on a trio of Dutch soldiers Erik (Joes Brauers),Thomas (Tobias Kersloot), and Roy (Spencer Bogaert), whom are separated from their unit when during a reconnaissance mission, their armored vehicle breaks down and they are tasked with staying back and ‘protecting the equipment’ while waiting for help in getting the vehicle and it’s expensive gunnery moved.

The three young soldiers, are not just bored, but you can see written all over them, how nervous and inexperienced they are. Throw in ‘paranoia’ to the mix, as anything can be a potential attack on them and all this leads one of them to ‘hear and see’ something to which it turns out, one accidentally kills a goat, which they in turn bury. Now this goat, well it’s probably the prime source of milk for a whole family, and if killed, would feed that family for a good portion of time. This isn’t at the top of their minds when a young boy, the goat’s owner/herder Khalil (Omar Alwan) shows up looking for his goat and upset by the death of his animal and demands restitution. While Khalil waits for his payment, Erik tries to be polite while Thomas spews racist words at him in Dutch. They are all frustrated by Khalil’s just screaming at the top of his little lungs at them, and though he is a teenager and he’s little, he’s determined to get more than the fifty American dollars they offer as compensation for his dead goat. Erik is the only one of the three to try to make amends and de-escalate the situation.

These three main characters have little in common besides being deployed as it’s apparent not just in the different dialects of Dutch they speak, but we see brief glimpses into who they were before being put in this most precarious of positions. So much mentally happens and it leads into a step by step tense by tense moment after moment, with the music by Juho Nurmela and Ella van der Woude‘s creeping piano and continuing drums throughout, keeps it and you on edge, to the earth shattering final act right before being rescued that can only have ended as it did. The ending, while it might shock you, you also realize it was always going to be this way because these boys are really far too young, and inexperienced in their own right to even be put in this type of predicament. No one should ever be and it’s that story with the ending showing it never ever will not effect them, that makes you think truly ask if the price of war is really worth it.

‘B+’

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Tribeca Virtual screening of ‘’DO NOT HESITATE’ ~ courtesy of MPRM Communications

“DO NOT HESITATE” DEBUTED AT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL // TO BE RELEASED IN NETHERLANDS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Comedy, Drama, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Tribeca Film Festival 2021

Tribeca 2021 Review: “7 DAYS”

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Adding into the mix of films featuring romance during Covid, Tribeca gives us what one is to presume, a fun comedic look at dating, but not regular dating, dating from the point of view of more the traditional arranged marriage ways with “7 DAYS”.

At the start of the film, we meet Ravi (Karan Soni), and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan). The two have been set up by their old-fashioned Indian parents and are on a pre-arranged date right at the start of the pandemic so they do meet in person, although masked etc. They both gave the idea over video chat, of being people whom it seems they really aren’t as the two of them have absolutely nothing in common. The whole afternoon progresses very awkwardly for both as these things get quite comedically revealed. But with the snap of our fingers, the COVID outbreak gets worse and Ravi can’t get home and must spend the next few days at Rita’s place as he can’t get a car or a hotel. We proceed to watch the unlikely bond that forms as the two spend their time together despite being completely different people.

While this debut film from Roshan Sethi is cute, it’s also quite short with a runtime of just 86 minutes. Yet somehow within this ‘7 Days’ and short runtime, they manage to meet, get serious Covid, be hospitalized, become best friends and find out every little factor within each others lives, including befriending each others parents. BUT, and are you ready for the BUT, one is also to be cured of the serious Covid they were taken by ambulance to the hospital for and .. take a deep breath.. walk out of the hospital no less. This isn’t just aggravating, but a slap in the face to all the people who spent months in the hospital, some never walking out. And it’s too bad because before it hits this part, it’s actually a very well acted, quite funny little comedy with fun moments, like when we discover Rita drinking beer and eating leftover chicken for breakfast despite claiming to be a vegetarian.

But such as it is, at least try and maybe have made it 17 Days or 27 Days, anything to have made it work on all levels without just blatantly being ridiculous.

“C-“

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1980's, Biography, Crime, Drama, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Tribeca Film Festival 2021

Tribeca 2021 Review: “No Man of God”

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It’s hard to like a film about a serial killer as ‘like’ might just be too inappropriate a word to use. With that being said, “NO MAN OF GOD” is a familiar, yet still an intriguing look at the psychological tug-of-war so to speak, that went on between Ted Bundy (Luke Kirby) and FBI Agent Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood).

The film starts us in 1985, shortly after Bundy’s capture and conviction. The story told here is from a bit of a different perspective as the numerous others we have seen in the past, this one being from the view of analyst Agent Hagmaier, who is in the early days of what is now known as being a criminal profiler. Being an analyst in the early days meant going in and listening to hours upon hours of what Bundy did and how, in an attempt to learn more about the psyche of those who commit these heinous crimes. Most of what takes place is one on one, in an interrogation room with the religious Hagmaier being one of the few the Bundy will speak to.

This is essentially a movie about two people, and each gets almost equal focus. Wood plays Bill as the newbie who doesn’t really want to be there, but feels duty prone. Bundy, who was known for intensely disliking anyone in law enforcement or government, has turned down a TV special for $50,000, but Bill is convinced that he can be the one to get Bundy to open up. Bundy thinks the cops are all “liars in cheap suits.” and is playing them all hard at the end saying he has tantalizing tidbits to reveal about some unknown victims to avoid the death penalty. Despite numerous warnings like “when you get too close to a guy like this, you could lose your way,” Bill talks with Bundy year after year as his revolting in-detail, tales begin to overshadow into Bill’s home life. On the other hand, Kirby portrays Ted with a cool calculated indifference, an almost unnerving calm, that feels as though it reaches through the screen at you and carries a whole lot of intimidation along with it. As Bundy’s ‘friendship’ with Bill morphs into more, you begin to feel a layer of the almost filmy slime forming on your skin, the kind that makes you feel you need a shower. While I might be baffled a bit by the casting of Kirby though, as the impression was that Bundy had these beautiful blue eyes that made him so irresistible and helped lure in the women to him, it’s fair to also point out he could make his eyes almost black because yes, he was a very dark human being. Whichever it is, both acting portrayals here are top of the line, including the small supporting cast of Robert Patrick as Roger Depue, Bill’s boss, and Aleska Palladino as Carolyn Lieberman, Bundy’s death penalty lawyer who was rumoured to have been having a prison affair with him, though the film does clear this up once and for all.

Director Amber Sealy doesn’t take us into any new or unknown territory in ‘No Man of God’, it does give us probably the best acted and darkest Bundy to date. Oddly, I hope this is the last one as the obsession of serial killers being ‘all the rage’ of our society and the fame they achieve doing it, is not really something to be celebrated.

C+

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Tribeca Virtual screening ~ courtesy of KWPR

“NO MAN OF GOD” OPENS IN THEATERS AUGUST 27,2021

Comedy, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “The Get Together” (2021) Vertical Entertainment

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Expanding on his initial 2016 short, director Will Bakke widens the circle from what was more high school kids to college grads with “THE GET TOGETHER”. What starts off to look like a college frat party gone bad, is actually a pretty well thought out process of interconnected stories involving the main characters, and how their actions of the evening actually intertwine with each other. It makes it much different than the opening-thought-to-be frat party impression that is first presented.

Story number one features August (Courtney Parchman), who along with her roommate McCall (Luxy Banner), have not only a rodent problem, but somewhat of a ‘roommate problem’ as well. August wants to be McCall’s best and only friend, while McCall, has become part of the ‘popular’ crowd since they moved to Austen, TX, and heads out to the party of the night without August. Low and behold, as an Uber driver August lands up with Caleb (Alejandro Rose-Garcia), as her ride and guess where he is going – well to a party of course – where as happenstance occurs, he leaves his phone in the car and she goes inside to return it. August causes chaos wherever she goes, this party being no exception, with not only drink throwing issues, but literally ‘pulling the plug’ on the party, and landing party people in swimming pool.

Story two gives us the couple of the night, Damien (Jacob Artist) and Betsy (Johanna Brady), who are meant to be celebrating their upcoming engagement, except he’s to scared to pop the question. With their dinner interrupted by Lucas (Chad Werner), the crazy guy from high school whom no one really remembers, and he pushes them to attend, you guessed it, the same house party. This puts Betsy back in contact with old high school friends she stopped talking to after moving to New York City. And unintentionally her ex-boyfriend, Caleb as well. Through the incident in the pool, the engagement ring is lost, leaving Damien’s plans in ruins.

Lastly, we meet August’s ride, Caleb (Rose-Garcia), and we follow him on his tortuous route through not only losing his phone, which is the conduit to everything in this whole film even happening, but watching him go through the painful realization that his band is never going to be successful, and his ex-girlfriend was the one true love of his life. Though all of this does lead to some kind of redemption, and not just for him, but for all the attendees of the party.

A few beefs on the film would be: why does the more frumpy-type girl always have to be the one who is shown as the failure or the desperate one? it’s so stereotypical of these films, and it’s not done just once, but twice. And while it’s a very decent independent production, it’s a little almost, well there is no other way, as dare I say it, over-acted in parts. By this I mean, some over the top points of performance by a few that didn’t need to be. But that’s probably the only let down as it does give some great insight into what it means to ‘adult’ after college, and at a nice 73 minute run-time, it gets a lot done and told.

While not a perfect film, it’s charming from start to finish, and probably a party you wouldn’t want to miss.

C+

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Review Screening: Courtesy of ~ Newhouse PR/Vertical Entertainment

“THE GET TOGETHER” IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 (Click link here to purchase http://bit.ly/TheGetTogetherMovie )

Drama, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “The Killing of Two Lovers” (2021) Neon

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Love stories are usually told through an emotional point of view where we transport ourselves to happy places, and the ending is usually where the romance triumphs, Usually the traumas, pain, jealousy and disappointments are part of a different world and don’t interfere with our ‘ideas’ of how romance is supposed to be. In case that’s what you’re looking for, “THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS” from writer/director Robert Machoian, is not that movie. Instead it’s a shoutout to what the pain that a break up of a relationship where the two main people involved, still possibly love each other, but have realized that no matter how good their intentions are, or no matter how many promises have been made, they might just be better apart.

The story takes place in small town, middle America. David (Clayne Crawford), and Nikki (Sepideh Moafi), are a couple in crisis. They were high school sweethearts who married young and now have four children, a teenage daughter Jess (Avery Pizzuto) and her three much younger siblings. They are on a trial separation and David has moved literally a few hundreds yards away, to his Dad’s house. As the opening scene unfolds in front of us, we realize it’s David holding a gun pointing it directly at his wife and her new partner Derek (Chris Coy), while they sleep, seeming to imply that, and referring to the title, there may be more than just two lovers who could die here. Needless to say, the mere fact that Nikki is dating another man and he’s sleeping in the same house as his kids, is not something David deals with well. He wants things to return to ‘normal’ because he truly doesn’t understand that the issue at hand here, might just be him. Nikki wants things to change because as they’ve basically grown up together as a couple, as with all things turning adult, people change as well, and yet David’s temperament or lack of emotional temperament, does seem to get the best of him at times.

But it’s truly director Machoain and his drawing here of the average American man facing the deterioration of a something he treasures so very much, his wife and his family, and essentially his way of life. Crawford is truly splendid in this role in which he gives us an emotional rawness to his performance — of a type of internal struggle that escapes the usual theme that a film explores. Even the kids here, especially his teen daughter played by Pizzuto, just gives so much to how they feel about what is happening to their world. It is also beautifully filmed with backdrops and shots of perfection based on light and shadows, that just adds to the feelings you experience while watching. The only flaw is perhaps not fleshing out how the crisis of David and Nikki evolved before making the decision to separate temporarily, how they came to this solution, and what exactly happened to open the Pandora’s box of problems presented in the film. There seems to be a bit of an imbalance in the relationship between the two as shown on the screen, and it is perhaps due to the fact that David’s character is much better defined than that of Nikki, as not only does she have way less screen time, but we barely get to know her to see why her attitudes and decisions are made the way they are, making them seem less justified.

Taking away all that, the films is a stark look at love. Beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, told in an style that makes us all take a good look and think. It truly deserves a watch.

“B”

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Review Screening: Courtesy of ~ Ginsberg/Libby PR

“THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS” is out in theaters and on demand on Friday, May 14, 2021

Drama, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, SXSW Film Festival

REVIEW: “THE FALLOUT” (2021) SXSW FILM FESTIVAL

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Finishing up my last review of SXSW Film Festival with “THE FALLOUT”, which was hands down one of the best films of the festival. Rather than being just a film on gun control, instead the films takes us through the various reactions and interactions that each person affected by it has after such an horrific event as a school shooting.

Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega) is a 16 year old high school student who find herself in the school restroom when she hears gunfire starting up. We never see the shooter or the actual shooting itself, instead writer/director Megan Park starts the story from the point of view of Vada and Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler), as they find themselves hiding in the bathroom stall together in sheer terror of what’s happening outside of the bathroom. While in the stall, a battered young student Quinton (Niles Fitch), runs in to escape the gunfire as well and joins them. It’s important to note that none of them are friends with one another, as it happens to be in most schools, they are in very different friendship circles. Mia is the ‘popular’ girl, and one that Vada and her best friend Will (Nick Ropp), would probably never be friends with, and would also be the ones to make snarky comments about behind her back – most likely something done vise versa with Mia and her friends as well.

Vada, Mia & Quinton form an unlikely bond after the shooting, as Vada’s and Will are having a hard time connecting afterwards. He has channeled what happened to him in a completely different manner than the other three and becomes an anti-gun activist and spokesperson. Vada’s parents, Carlos (John Ortiz) and Patricia (Julie Bowen), are at a loss of how to help their daughter deal with something that no parent should ever have to. Taking the brunt of Vada’s complete change of life is her younger sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack), with whom she was very close to and now has no idea how to even talk about the most basic things of daily life with. Vada and Mia both struggle with their emotions, and start to depend on each other, while Quinton has some serious fallout to deal with as his brother was a victim of the shooting. Not only does he have grief to deal with, but the impact and toll it has taken on him as well, though eventually he and Vada get closer, though not in the way she tries to be. Unable to talk to her parents or deal with her younger sister, Vada does end up seeing a Anna (Shailene Woodley), a therapist with whom she finds it hard to open up to as her life has been forever altered by this tragic event.

With these type of shootings happening weekly here before the pandemic and now once again as things slowly ‘return to normal’, it’s beyond painful to see what anyone has to deal with during such a horrific event, but it’s so much worse when it’s kids. Kids who simply went to school that morning and never make it home and those that survive, aren’t equipped yet to deal with such trauma. It’s no wonder that the films portrays coping mechanisms such as alcohol, sex, and smoking some joints in attempts at self-healing by Vada and her friends. The film also doesn’t shy away from the difficulties they face in returning to school – or returning to anything resembling normalcy after attending the numerous memorial services for their classmates. Again, the writing and direction that Park shows, allows us the audience, to experience every aspect of Vada’s recovery, the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. And then, when we are least expecting it, throws us a gut-punch of an ending that stuns you to the core of your being.

Performances are key here and keep a strong eye on Jenna Ortega as you won’t forget this performance anytime soon and are sure to be seeing a lot of her in the future. Add in the strong writing and direction from Grace Park, and this film is sure to be one to stick with you for a long time to come.

Grade: A+

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Review screening: Courtesy of Prodigy Public Relations

“THE FALLOUT” PREMIERED AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL – FULL RELEASE DATE TBA

Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Thriller

REVIEW: “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” (2021) Hysteria Pictures

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Billed as being as a gothic feminist horror and thriller, “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” by director Kevin Pontuti, is anything but any of those things listed. Based on the short story of the same name by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the film shows us a long drawn out story of a woman, Jane (Alexandra Loreth) who is the victim of ignorant and sexist medical ‘treatment,’ and is confined by her husband in a room with yellow wallpaper. What should be a creepy study of madness and oppression, takes a different turn in this full feature version.

Though it has been adapted several times before, the story is a difficult one to capture as much of it takes place within Jane’s mind and with her relationship with the wallpaper in the room where she is kept. In this instance Alexandra Loreth, who wrote this adaptation, (which should give it something of an edge), seemingly looses track of what the story is actually about as it meanders along. The film opens with a shocking incident which may or may not be real and from there we follow as Jane is nothing of the norm that society of the time, tells her she should be. When her doctor husband John (Joe Mullins), orders that she be confined for the sake of her mental health as she is considered by him to be suffering from a nervous disorder. The ‘cure’ prescribed is just to rest, rest, rest – all the time. From the beginning, Jane feels that something about the room with the yellow wallpaper is off, but she has no control over her own paths in life, and there is always the lingering threat of being institutionalized being held over her. She is oddly forbidden from reading or writing, she has nothing to do with herself except diagnose the pattern on the wallpaper, which she finds herself at odds with. All the while, she ignores more and more not only every day things of life, but her newborn baby as well.

The story unfolds slowly and requires more than just a little patience from it’s audience to get through. With it’s beginning alluding to the early stages of a mystery, we continue to wait to see what could possibly be unfolding between this odd couple. Why they have come to this place and why she is made to stay in this room that disturbs her so much? Sadly, we never really come to find out what it is that does just this as the film plods along instead watching a woman who clearly has post-partum depression, something completely unknown at the time, but slow descent of her mental state without any ‘gothic horror’ is also certainly is not anything remotely ‘feminist’. We do however get treated to some beautiful cinematography and that will just have to do for the time being.

Grade: C-

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Review screening: Courtesy of KO-PR

“THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” PREMIERED AT CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL – FULL RELEASE DATE TBA

Drama, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, SXSW Film Festival

REVIEW: “THE DROVERS WIFE” (2021) SXSW FILM FESTIVAL

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While having not read the short story on which the film is based, being a fan of Leah Purcell was enough to entice me to find out what a Drovers Wife was exactly. A NSW/Australian project, “THE DROVER’S WIFE”, is the full feature version based on Henry Lawson’s short story of the same name, and Purcell not only directs, but plays the lead Molly Johnson aka the Drovers Wife, as well.

Our story is beautifully set in the bleak harshness of the Australian outback and we see Molly give early aid to the new lawman come to town, Sergeant Klintoff (Sam Reid) and his London-born wife Louisa (Jessica De Gouw). Louisa’s goal is to publish a newspaper for women trying to empower them, her husband is set on not having this happen due to wanting to keep up the appearance of being a strong lawman. The film turns out to be somewhat of a message movie for women in mid 19th century Australia, and the world, to be free of fear of abuse from their husbands. We watch and we suffer with and through Molly’s marriage to a abusive alcoholic and unfaithful husband along with her struggles to raise her four children alone.

Director: Leah Purcell as Molly Johnson

It is also a strong statement about racial acceptance as the movie progresses, as we learn from an Aborgine man whom she aids that that Molly herself, might be the child of an mixed marriage. It is especially rough when we see there is a legal effort from neighbors to take the children away from Molly, because they are “octaroons” and is heart-wrenching to watch is when her young son Danny (Malachi Dover-Robbins), overhearing the conversation, and asks his mom what an “octaroon” is. He also witnesses so much more that happens to his mother that no child should ever see.

Molly is among the toughest women portrayed in any western— Australian or otherwise, as she is a crack shot with a rifle and, in the course of the film, dispatches at least 5 people for various justifiable reasons. And the acting throughout is decent, it’s just almost sad that it just starts slow, jumps around a bit too much and you lose the sense of the story at times as some of it just isn’t clear due to those jumps, turning it on it’s dull side. Purcell though, is a remarkably strong female lead in this otherwise bleak tale. It is a tough watch at times but demonstrates the power of one woman’s voice to make changes.

Grade: C+

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Review Screening: Courtesy of k2 Publicity and SXSW Film Festival

Drama, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, SXSW Film Festival

REVIEW: “THE END OF US” SXSW Film Festival (2021)

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Ali Vingiano is Leah and Ben Coleman is Nick in co-writer & directors Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner‘s “THE END OF US”. This is a fun jaunty little look at what happens when a four year relationship ends abruptly just as the pandemic is setting in and because of the stay-at-home orders that are kicking in everywhere, we get to go on a very different journey of what would usually happen at the end of a relationship. What happens? You end up being forced to continue to live together. Why the breakup? Well, it seems Leah is the grounded one who holds a real, actual paying job and is just done with carrying the load of the relationship in regards to basic things like rent, food, and bills. While Nick, well Nick lives in a dream world of wanting to writing a screenplay and trying to get the few acting auditions that might be available. So it’s easy to connect the dots when Leah says ‘enough’.

The whole situation is unusual, yet the film makes it all work focusing on the issues the two still had to deal with while living under the same roof as it presented its own challenges. With Nick taking a turn sleeping on the couch as the two come to terms with the fact that they are together more now than…well..when they were actually together. The tension and stress is as prevalent as they confide in Zoom meetings with friends Tim (Derrick Joseph DeBlasis), Lois (Kate Peterman) and Hector (Gadiel Del Orbe), that are sometimes overheard by one another and factors in some of the petty emotions that come into play, as do the real ones as well. Apologies and half-apologies are constant, but we see both Leah and Nick change and grow despite the all the challenges presented to them. The ‘will they’ or ‘won’t they’ of getting back together is freshly done and keeps it compelling enough to watch.

Both lead actors are solid and made it work as their chemistry was great throughout and kept it fun. Along with that, the script is fresh and spot on and made the film work as a whole. There are some ‘moments’ but relatability is the key here. Nice work from all involved here as this one would work whether in a pandemic or not.

Grade: B

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Review Screening: Courtesy of 42West and SXSW Film Festival

Fun note: The End of Us sent me this!!

Fantasy, Female Director, Horror, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, SXSW Film Festival, Thriller

REVIEW: “WITCH HUNT” (2021) SXSW Film Festival

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There isn’t anything better than a good modern day witch story — the kind where you contemplate not only how you would react if they do exist, but if they just randomly turned up in society. Questions would arise to be sure. How would we treat them? How would we make or shift laws for example, to accommodate these ‘magic beings’ and their powers. Luckily we have “WITCH HUNT” from director Elle Callahan to guide us through what those challenges entail.

The film centers on Claire (Gideon Adlon), a young woman whose mother Martha (Elizabeth Mitchell), offers a way station of sorts in Southern California for fugitive witches on the run. It’s essentially a safe haven for witches as they wait to be smuggled out of the country by an Underground Railroad network of sympathizers lead by Jacob (Treva Etienne). With an opening scene of men with rifles presiding over a pale, young red-haired woman being burned at the stake that continually flashes throughout the film as it’s part of the nightmares Claire deals with nightly. We quickly learn from this that witchcraft has been outlawed in the US and a ‘Bureau of Witchcraft Investigations’ not only exists, but it’s agents are officially charged with rounding up offenders and shipping them off to detainment camps. And one such agent of this bureau is Hawthorne (Christian Camargo), and he has no qualms about handling things in the old Salem way. Having witches constantly in and out of her home bends Claire the wrong way and she starts to despise the process. It’s not until Fiona (Abigail Cowen) and her younger sister Shae (Echo Campbell) arrive, Claire reconsiders her prejudice of ideas, and discovers a big secret about herself in the process.

While at times a bit clunky, Callahan still manages to not only give us a good story, good acting, she also incorporates many well-known superstitions about witchcraft. The most pertinent includes the “sink test,” where a woman suspected of practicing witchcraft is bound to a chair, thrown into a body of water and if she surfaces rather than sinking, well then she’s definitely a witch. That Witch Hunt shows this ‘test’ being given by government agents to a group of teenage girls feels especially disturbing. It’s effectively comparing the singling out of one group of people, in this case, white, red-haired woman, in a sneaky and very effective way of noting modern day immigration realities that many are experiencing at this moment — being shown through one of the best modes of political storytelling – the horror movie.

Grade: B-

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Review screening : Courtesy of Falco Ink. PR and SXSW Film Festival