Director/Writer Rob Jabbaz’s “The Sadness” is easily the starkest and most depressing commentary on humanity that’s been produced in the last ten years. Humanity during the COVID era (?) has revealed a lot about itself during a pandemic that’s almost proven apocalyptic, and Jabbaz jumps on true events to deliver a message to his audience. Sadly, the message isn’t hopeful. Or optimistic. And no, it’s not at all cynical. It’s truth. It’s a clear cut exploration of civilization, and how easy it is (and can be) for everyone within to turn on each other, and descend in to absolute chaos, sadism, and delirium.
Tag Archives: Drama
Dreams on Fire (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
Yume has a passion for dance. She leaves for Tokyo where she takes dance classes, joins contests, gets hired as a dancer, and generally lives the life of a dancer with all its ups and its downs.
The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
Two young women find themselves at the center of unwanted attention after they are accused to evil doings. As they only love each other and are under scrutiny, the family’s matriarch dies under mysterious circumstances and everything comes falling onto the two young women.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) [4K UHD/Blu-Ray/Digital]
“The Conjuring” cinematic universe/series has been a horror ride of varying degrees. It’s had its great highs and its depressing lows (Ahem—“Annabelle”), and in spite of delivering two genuine horror classics, the mainline movie series can’t quite escape the dreaded curse of the third film. While “The Devil Made Me Do It” is not at all a bad movie per se, it’s not high in scares or tension as the first two films. The first two movies relied on mounting tension and absolute terror, while “The Devil Made Me Do It” feels a lot more like if they took the series and tried to turn it in to a crime procedural.
Viva (2007)
Will screen on August 27th at the Los Feliz 3 theater in Los Angeles, California as part of the American Cinematheque’s new ETHERIA screening series. More information about the screening can be found on the American Cinematheque’s official website.
Your mileage with “Viva” may vary depending on how much you’re willing to play along with the film’s very subtle satire. About twenty minutes in to the movie is when I finally caught on to the gag, as “Viva” is as much a satire of sixties sexual dynamics as it is a tribute to the aesthetic of the sixties and seventies. “Viva” is a film in the tradition of Andy Warhol, and Russ Meyer, and exploitation gems like “Maid in Sweden” and “Score” where people open up (literally and figuratively) to sex and sexual exploration.
Holy Beasts (2019)
After the passing of her close friend who was a film director, actress Vera decides to finish his final film for him by stepping in front and behind the camera. The process of doing this is an emotional one that leads her to question many things in her life and within herself.
Glasshouse (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
In this post-apocalyptic take on The Beguiled, a toxin called The Shred gets in the air and erases parts of people’s memories, giving them symptoms resembling dementia. In the midst of this, a family lives in a glasshouse, doing everything the mother believes necessary to survives. That is until a stranger comes into their lives and between the two sisters.