A young woman is thought to handle dead bodies and see them as normal as well as operating on them. After her mother is killed in their house, she slowly unravels and assumes things to be normal as she learns to live her new life. Written and directed by Nicolas Pesce, the entirety of the film revolves around one young woman and her descent into possible madness as she adapts to her surroundings from childhood and handles death in a particular manner into adulthood and life changes. The lead character Pesce builds here is a disturbed young woman who does not know any better. The way she goes through life, constantly referring to her death mother and trying to make her proud while doing things that most would consider twisted or wrong.
Deer Flower (2016)
When you consider the cultural context behind “Deer Flower,” director Kangmin Kim’s short animated film is an interesting if horrific look at remedies from the East. Told through what essentially looks like origami, “Deer Flower” is a stark and pretty unusual tale about a family seeking a cure for their son’s ailment. Traveling a long distance and paying a lot of money, they take their son behind a farm, where a reindeer is held down by a machine and has its antler cut.
The Shorts of Blood in the Snow 2016 – Part Two
The Fight (Canada) (2016)
In this super short film, a couple fights each in their own scene, or perhaps each in their own timeline. Their fight escalates and a surprise is in store for each of them and the viewer. This grim short, short for an estimated $50CAD (yes you read that right), is written Clint D’Souza, Neil Tavares and directed by D’Souza. Stars Asoya Hall and Steve Kasan sell the fight and its emotions well while escalating at a nice pace. This short is a visceral one for anyone who has ever reach a breaking point with a significant other.
3 Dead Trick or Treaters (2016)
An author writes stories for the 3 dead trick or treaters he killed and buried. These stories are about teens going murderous, a human sacrifice, hungry homeless people, and a special delivery. Writer/director Torin Langen takes the anthology sub-genre and gives it an extra twist by having no dialog. The film is not actually silent, there are noises and the characters make the occasional sound, but no one actually talks to anyone. This twist or different way to do things forces the film to develop its stories without the strength of the spoken word, giving more importance to the actions and the music to pass information and emotions. This shift is interesting and leads to the viewer having to pay more attention to what is on the screen.
Jackie (2016)
Viewing Chilean director’s Pablo Larrain’s first English-language feature is not unlike viewing a political skit on the current edition of Saturday Night Live: a none-too-stellar ensemble surrounds an A-list star, with everyone made-up and costumed to suggest notable figures despite the fact no one on screen is capable of a satisfactory imitation of the people they are imitating. And while SNL keeps the viewer waiting for deep laughs to flow, viewers watching this film will be baffled at this rather curious retelling of a very familiar story.
Burden of Peace (2015)
Dutch filmmakers Joey Boink and Sander Wirken helmed this documentary on the efforts of Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz to bring justice to her country during her 2010-2014 term. Some of the problems that she faced were cultural – Guatemalan prosecutors were traditionally unenthusiastic about challenging narco-crime gangs, the nation’s notorious human rights abuses and even domestic violence cases – and other were the result of plain stupidity, most notably the proliferation of misspellings in the national crime database.
Los Sures (1984)
Filmed thirty two years ago, Diego Echeverria’s documentary “Los Sures” is a striking and mesmerizing look at living in poverty in Brooklyn New York in 1984. Finally restored and given a long overdue theatrical release in 2016 to a wide release, “Los Sures” is a still very relevant look at impoverished and how those without opportunities are frozen in place in a neighborhood becoming more and more foreign to them. Diego Echeverria offers almost no narration and absolutely no soundtrack, instead painting the film with the sounds and sights of Williamsburg Brooklyn. The neighborhood dominated with a heavy Puerto Rican and Dominican population, Echeverria offers up a brief look in to the lives of four subjects, all of whom have no exit from their environment.