(Photo by Meg Boulden on Unsplash)
There are times, and granted they are few, where I begin to tire of going to the cinema, feeling as if I have watched too many films and gone out too many nights after work and that I should just rest up and forgo the wine and ice cream cones, just for a little while.
And then, I am wandering through YouTube algorithmic suggestions, a digital rabbit hole of often quite rewarding proportions – though it does have it “WTF are you thinking proto-AI sorter of videos?!” – and find trailer and trailer which suggest movies that have stories I cannot miss and which I must make time for.
Maybe it’s just simple unadorned FOMO or maybe, and loving stories and character studies as I do it’s likely this, that I can’t bear to miss narratives that will enthrall and delight, that will get me thinking and feeling and which, in my absence from reality, help to make more sense of it.
Honestly, whatever it is, films nurture the soul, just like good books, and I cannot stay away, especially from these five intriguing prospects …
(courtesy IMP Awards)
SNAPSHOT
Ben (Justin H. Min), a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his free time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with her own serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want. Shortcomings is directed by American comedian / actor / filmmaker Randall Park, making his feature directorial debut after some TV directing gigs previously. The screenplay is written by Adrian Tomine, adapted from Tomine’s own graphic novel of the same name. Produced by Jennifer Berman, Lia Buman, Howard Cohen, Eric d’Arbeloff, Michael Golamco, Margot Hand, Hieu Ho, and Randall Park. (courtesy First Showing)
Shortcomings premieres at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is currently screening in US cinemas.
(courtesy IMDb)
SNAPSHOT
Hector is a widower who owns a corner shop with his young daughter Cleo. With the threat of a new ‘Hypermark’ opening, Hector battles for the store’s survival while Cleo longs for the world beyond. (courtesy IMDb)
A Fluorescent Sky can be bought/rented via Prime Video
(courtesy IMP Awards)
SNAPSHOT
Years into a benevolent alien occupation of Earth, the human race is still adjusting to the new world order and its quirky coffee table-sized overlords called the Vuvv. Their flashy advanced technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs – and steady income – obsolete. When 17-year-old artist Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk) and new girlfriend Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers) discover the Vuvv are particularly fascinated with human love and will pay to view it, they decide to livestream their budding romance to make extra cash for themselves and their families. Life is good, for a while, until the flame of their teenage love fizzles out and they’re forced to make very different, absurdly life-altering sacrifices for their families. Landscape with Invisible Hand is written and directed by American filmmaker Cory Finley, director of the films Thoroughbreds and Bad Education previously, as well as the series WeCrashed. Based on the book of the same name by M.T. Anderson. It’s produced by Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. (courtesy First Showing)
Landscape With Invisible Hand premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is currently screening in US cinemas.
(courtesy IMDb)
SNAPSHOT
When Chloe’s Nan gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she’s forced to become a stay-at-home teenager overnight. (courtesy IMDb)
Grey Matter premiered at the Female Eye Film Festival on 28 July this year.
(courtesy IMDb)
SNAPSHOT
Each morning Donya leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture & people of her new world while processing complicated feelings about her past as a translator for the U.S. in Afghanistan. Unable to sleep, she finagles her way into a regular slot with a therapist (Gregg Turkington) who grasps for prospective role models. When an unexpected promotion at work thrusts Donya into the position to write her own story, she communicates her loneliness & longing through a concise medium: the fortunes inside each cookie. Donya’s koans travel, making a humble social impact and expanding her beyond Fremont and her own turbulent past, including an encounter at a diner with a quiet auto mechanic who could also stand to see his own world expanded.Fremont is directed by the indie editor / producer / filmmaker Babak Jalali, director of the films Frontier Blues, Radio Dreams, and Land previously, plus a few other shorts previously. The screenplay is written by Carolina Cavalli (Amanda) & Babak Jalali. Produced by Marjaneh Moghimi, Sudnya Shroff, Rachael Fung, George Rush, Chris Martin, and Laura Wagner. (courtesy First Showing)
Fremont premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and opens 25 August in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City with wider release to follow.