Director and Writer Marcellus Cox’s “Mickey Hardaway” took me back to a lot of other great character studies like “Antwone Fisher” and “Ordinary People.” Director and writer Cox really builds a compelling and interesting drama about a young man who is ultimately his own worst enemy. Director and writer Cox has a lot of story to tell, dealing in themes about being an artist, the frustrations of impostor syndrome, and learning to overcome past demons. While the film suffers a bit from some on the nose dialogue, it doesn’t hinder what is a richly developed character drama that I was engaged with from the very beginning.
Tag Archives: Arthouse
Suitable Flesh (2023) [Tribeca 2023]
A young man with what seems to be multiple personalities shows up unexpectedly in a psychiatrist’s office triggering an obsession in her that leads her into a world of madness in this H.P. Lovecraft adaptation.
Querelle (1982) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]
Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s adaptation of “Querelle” is a divisive movie and has been for a long time. It’s a movie that originally split some critics and journalists, as it’s a movie that’s been explained as a film you’d have to be almost exclusively gay to watch. That’s not a criticism or chastising, but the popular opinion I’ve read seems to indicate that it’s mostly clicked with gay audiences. “Querelle” is very much tailored to gay audiences, as it’s a movie about self discovery and main character Querelle searching for a sense of identity.
Bone Cold (2023)
A sniper duo sent to the edge of a war zone to kill the head of a dangerous organization end up wandering the woods followed by something, before killing the incorrect target from bad intel and needing to stick around until they can eliminate the correct target. Something is definitely following them and getting closer.
You Have to See This! Shiva Baby (2020)
Streaming on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max
It’s unreal that Emma Seligman is a newcomer director when watching “Shiva Baby.” She manages to build and introduce us to what is easily one of the most chaotic and absolutely uncomfortable movies I’ve ever seen. “Shiva Baby” is a master class in making its viewer absolutely uneasy and anxious as Seligman just revels in amping up the anxiety to every single bit of her narrative every minute. Seligman, despite making “Shiva Baby” her work of absolute love, is not one who ever lets her characters off the hook. Despite focusing the entirety of “Shiva Baby” on her central protagonist Danielle, Seligman has a great time making her squirm, panic, and just about heave in sheer horror as she twists the screws on her throughout “Shiva Baby.”
Pleasure (2021) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]
Many times in our lives we spend it eating our meals, but never really knowing how the meal is prepared. We never know how the sausage is stuffed, we never see the cow butchered, and “Pleasure” is, in a way, a look at how the cow is butchered for our entertainment. “Pleasure” isn’t so much an indictment of the porn industry, it’s more so a look at the rough and shoddy experience that is the porn industry and how much it can destroy someone that isn’t quite prepared for it. Our main protagonist Bella Cherry is a woman who will do anything to be a famous porn star, but the question lingers is how far is she willing to go to achieve that stardom?
Going Nowhere (2022)
One of the things that being a filmmaker does is it grants you the ability to know the true hardships of really making a film. For an indie filmmaker, simply getting your work out there is not just a labor of love, but it is laborious in and of itself. “Going Nowhere” is thankfully one of the many very good indie productions about making movies. Izzy Shill’s feature film debut is a meta-mock documentary about the struggles that come with getting a movie finished. Along the way she also tackles ideas about human relationships, getting the perfect message across with your film, and the impostor syndrome.