Authors: Cody Kirkland
Sundance Film Review: Locke
I can’t believe I watched 85 minutes of a man driving a car, at night, by himself, without getting bored. Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises)—the sole visible actor in the film—begins driving home from a construction site the night before the biggest job of his career as a successful construction foreman. If I had known this film was just a guy in a car, I wouldn’t have seen it. The writing, directing and acting were all spot-on. I could have ridden around with Hardy and listened to him talk for another half-hour, at least. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Alive Inside: A Story of Music &...
In Alive Inside, Michael Rossato-Bennett follows social worker Dan Cohen, who uses the connective power of music to reach otherwise unreachable people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. With first-hand footage, we see the music of Louis Armstrong, The Beatles and others bring people essentially back from the dead—their loved ones and fellow patients marvel as the subjects recall memories and emotions that have been blacked out for years … read more
Sundance Film Review: R100
Gradually, the campy thriller turns from weird to bizarre as the protagonist finds himself over his head in the world of S&M. When a dominatrix called Queen of Saliva spits gallons of smoothie-flavored phlegm on our bound and gagged protagonist while dancing to disco music, you’ll think the film has reached its peak of insanity. You’d be wrong, though—just wait till the Queen of Gobbling shows up. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Camp X-Ray
Kristen Stewart plays Amy Cole, a small-town girl who joins the Army to do something important with her life and is assigned to Guantanamo Bay. Despite orders not to treat the prisoners, er, detainees as humans, Cole forms a kind of friendship with Ali (Payman Maadi), one of the imprisoned Jihadists. Camp X-Ray is worth seeing, if not for its criticism of US military practices, then for the only film performance by Stewart that I think doesn’t suck—although she still bites her bottom lip about a hundred times. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Concerning Violence
Lauryn Hill’s powerful narration forms text over images of African shantytowns, white colonists’ immaculate bocce greens, African workers abandoned on a roadside for striking, white missionaries admitting to forcing their ideals on the natives. In a plea for a new mode of living after decolonization, Olsson/Fanon/Hill begs, “Let us try not to imitate Europe.” After viewing this compelling Malcolm X-meets-Adbusters film, that’s the last thing I want to do. … read more
Sundance Film Review: We Come as Friends
A young Sudanese girl wonders why she is beaten at school when she wears her native clothing; Texas evangelists set up a colony on Sudanese land to save the souls of the naked, godless locals and build a “New Texas.” We Come as Friends is a powerful, troubling and possibly life-changing look into the real people involved in this monumental disaster, and the real consequences of economic and cultural imperialism. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Drunktown’s Finest
In Gallup, New Mexico, aka Drunktown USA, three Navajo protagonists battle alcoholism, peer rejection and the whitewashing of their Native roots. Although Drunktown’s Finest has moments of believability, most of the acting falls flat, and the direction feels clunky and forced. This is a film with heart and it tells a sympathetic story, but it lacks the quality that separates an engrossing film from a valiant attempt. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Listen Up Phillip
I haven’t laughed as consistently through an entire film as I did with Listen Up Philip. Alex Ross Perry uses a fast-paced vérité approach, narration, a cool jazz soundtrack and super-witty, literary dialogue to examine the meaninglessness of a cliché young, misunderstood writer’s life. Every line from every character is perfect and the acting is flawlessly believable—this is one of the best narrative features I’ve seen at Sundance, or anywhere, for that matter. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Land Ho!
Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson), a crass, lovable retired surgeon from New Orleans surprises his former brother-in-law Colin (Paul Eenhoorn) with an all-expenses-paid trip to Iceland to help him get over his recent divorce. Mitch’s frequent “doobification” and non-stop sexual references in his booming Southern drawl contrasts with Colin’s serious, uptight Aussie voice of reason—the two varied personalities make a wildly entertaining, comedic dynamic on screen. … read more
Sundance Film Review: No No: A Dockumentary
I didn’t know who Dock Ellis was until last year, when I read about him in Mike Brown’s SLUG Magazine article about athlete drug use—Ellis was famous for pitching a no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates while high on acid in 1970. Ellis, along with the rest of the Pirates, broke barriers and set precedents for black American athletes and developed a reputation for the Pirates as one of the wildest teams in the major leagues. … read more