Film
Slamdance Film Review: Strad Style
Danny Houck is a 32-year-old eccentric. He wears a long scarf around his head at almost all times, and he has a mania for violins. In particular, he’s obsessed with the two greatest violinmakers in musical history, the Masters of Cremona: Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu. Director Stefan Avalos’ “Strad Style” has us cheering for Danny from beginning to end. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Aerotropolis
“Aerotropolis” follows Allen, a young, middle-class man who invested everything he owned into a beautiful apartment and unused aerotropolis land. Lulled in by the aerotropolis’ “promised land,” Allen is instead ensnared by the pitfall of financial pressures and an existence stripped of meaning. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Supergirl
Naomi Kutin is a fairly normal, Orthodox Jewish, preteen girl growing in New Jersey. The only catch: She is also a world-record-breaking powerlifter, who, at one point in the movie Supergirl, deadlifts almost three times her body weight. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Plastic China
Plastic China features foreman Kun’s plastic-recycling facility. They reside among knolls of plastic waste and veritable mountains of work. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Killing Ground
Taking a cue from fellow Aussie survival flick Wolf Creek, Killing Ground capitalizes on the beautiful yet foreboding landscape of his film’s setting. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Little Hours
Jeff Baena’s debauched film The Little Hours makes us appreciate the fact that sex comedies have been funny for hundreds of years. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Who is Arthur Chu?
Yu Gu and Scott Drucker’s aptly titled documentary, Who is Arthur Chu?, chronologically follows Chu’s rise to fame, using Chu’s number of Twitter followers at any given time to mark different chapters of Chu’s life during and after Jeopardy! … read more
Sundance Film Review: Family Life
Directors Alicia Scherson and Cristián Jiménez present Family Life as an anxious film: We watch Martín spin his lie to Paz while we become enamored of her. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Wexford Plaza
Toronto-based Joyce Wong’s first feature film, Wexford Plaza, is an at-times painfully real-life comedy about suburbia, isolation and ennui. The film follows the lives of 19-year-old, late-night security guard, Betty (Reid Asselstine) and the well-meaning, deadbeat bartender, Danny (Darrel Gamotin), as they find their lives unraveling. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Beat Beat Heart
Slamdance Film Festival’s “Beat Beat Heart,” directed by Luise Brinkmann, creatively portrays how a person heals from a heartbreak—especially in a closed-off, small-town setting. … read more