Thrilled, honoured and excited to be able to cover Nashville Film Festival in it’s 52nd year, which ran from September 30 – October 6 and had some lovely films, sadly a few I didn’t get to, some weren’t available virtually, and a few I might be hesitant to recommend. I always find a gem or two though!

That all being said – this was my first time covering this lovely festival in the vibrant city of Nashville – although yes, I did it virtually – though at times I felt I could taste the great food, and feel the vibrancy of the city itself while watching!  While I’ve had some great films to choose from, I am only human and can only review so much – and I will not be doing my usual ‘grading’ system as honestly, while some of these Independent Films might be better than others, they ALL deserve respect for just getting themselves made and created jobs for those doing so. Giving someone 200 million dollars for a film deserves getting rated, giving someone who made a film on a shoestring budget while barely making rent/bills, just out of the sheer love of wanting to put in their heart and soul – just deserves accolades period. And with that being said… here we go!

PORCUPINE

In this drama from writer/director M. Cahill, we find Audrey (Jena Malone), a seemingly hard working young woman that is just getting fired from her collection agency job. She is also overdue on rent, had her electricity cut off, doesn’t have any friends, and to top it off, a boyfriend who tells her he’s ‘not coming over anymore’. While she doesn’t seem like a screw up, she has lived in 4 different places and had 7 jobs all in a short time period. We aren’t really sure why she doesn’t talk to her parents anymore, but it’s clear this is mutual decision is mostly because as we can see she beats to the sound of her own drum, something we can clearly tell through the one phone call we hear. Basically she went left when they wanted her to go right.

And Audrey does what many end up doing everyday to keep themselves occupied, she watches endless YouTube videos. On one of them she sees an ad for adult adoption and decides to look into it, eventually being matched up with Sunny (Emily Kuroda) and her gruff German husband Otto (Robert Hunger-Bühler) who have their own odd relationship issues already. While the relationship with the three is tentative at first, they do end up warming up to each other.  The way Cahill wrote this story – which is based on a true one – makes it relatable on so many levels and what Malone brings to the character of Audrey makes it feel even more personal.

THE MURDER PODCAST

This decently fun, very campy little horror indie directed by William Bagely is about two guys, Chad (Andrew McDermott), and Eddie (Cooper Bucha), who are wanting to become amateur podcasters. Crazily enough a murder happens in their small hometown and they start investigating it, clearly very badly, and of course become wrapped up in a full on terrifying adventure full of paranormal activity while people keep getting killed. Upon the investigation, we find out this has all happened before.

This movie falls off the rails in parts, but has it’s comical and gory moments and generally, it’s a pretty good watch considering what month we are in.

GREEN SEA

As noted, I always find a few gems and ‘Green Sea’ was just that for me. Set in a small Greek fishing village, we find Anna (Angeliki Papoulia), who has lost her memory completely and finds herself working in a small tavern ran by Roula (Yannis Tsortekis). It seems that Roula has gone through quite a few terrible cooks, and the regulars think it will be more of the same with Anna. But to everyone’s surprise, including her own, she is a fantastic cook and her meals become experiences that bring memories flooding back of lives lived to each of the regulars, making a bond between herself and them become close. Roula and a few of the wives of these men, aren’t liking it much and while she has flashes here and there of memories, and once the wives see Anna and taste the food, things are better.

There is a lot of story in here and it digs deep into each character lives and most especially Roula’s, which as we find out is not always so pleasant. When Anna has a memory flash and it leads her to a book Roula was reading, is where the complete picture of all her amnesia comes into frame. To give this away would be depriving you of not only a great performance by Papoulia, but an excellent ending to this seaside tale – one that I would highly recommend you take the time to see if possible.

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All virtual screenings courtesy of Nashville Film Festival and their affiliates