Potato Dreams of America Review: Queer Coming-of-Age Tale Is a Film of Two Very Different Halves Potato Dreams of America Review: Queer Coming-of-Age Tale Is a Film of Two Very Different Halves
Russian-American director Wes Hurley expands his SXSW-winning short into an autobiographical feature that mixes structural surprises with more hackneyed conventions.
Guy Lodge, provided by
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Director: Wes Hurley
With: Marya Sea Kaminksi, Tyler Bocock, Sera Barbieri, Hersh Powers, Dan Lauria, Lea DeLaria, Jonathan Bennett, Sophia Mitri Schloss.
Running time: Running time: 96 MIN.
Courtesy of SXSW
The question of how to convey characters speaking a language other than English in a fully English-language production is one that many a director of an exotically-set Hollywood production or lumpy Europudding has faced over the years. For those who simply cannot resort to subtitles, the artifice of heavily accented English dialogue is a stilted standby. “Potato Dream
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched Review: A Diverting Survey of Folk-Horror Cinema and TV Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched Review: A Diverting Survey of Folk-Horror Cinema and TV
Kier-La Janisse s documentary provides an alluring international overview of macabre genre films drawn from folklore and superstition.
Dennis Harvey, provided by
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Director: Kier-La Janisse
With: Piers Haggard, Lawrence Gordon Clark, Alice Lowe, Robert Eggers, Jonathan Rigby, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Mitch Horowitz, Maisha Wester, Mattie Do, Mariano Baino, Robin Hardy. (English, Portuguese dialogue)
Running time: Running time: 194 MIN.
Courtesy of SXSW
“Folk horror” is a term of relatively recent vintage or at least popularity that only grows more broad as “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched” spends three and a quarter hours trying to define it. Still, a slippery thesis doesn’t detract from the pleasures of this documentary from genre scholar and programmer Ki
Broadcast Signal Intrusion Review: Down A Rabbit s Hole of Paranoia, Hacking and Obfuscation
Harry Shum Jr. searches for his missing wife in this atmospheric but finally frustrating narrative labyrinth.
Dennis Harvey, provided by
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Director: Jacob Gentry
With: Harry Shum Jr., Kelley Mack, Justin Welborn, Chris Sullivan, Jennifer Jelsema, Steven Pringle, Michael B. Woods, Arif Yampolsky, Madrid St. Angelo, Richard Cotovsky, Preston Tate Jr.
Running time: Running time: 104 MIN.
Courtesy of SXSW
It’s tricky to pull off the kind of cryptic mystery labyrinth that “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” attempts, and Jacob Gentry’s film only works to a point whatever point at which the viewer decides this thriller’s elusive menace is just too vague to generate sufficient urgency or suspense. As long as the promise outweighs the frustrating lack of payoff, however, it’s an intriguing and atmospheric puzzle, with “Glee” star Harry Shum Jr. chasing down a