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Interview: Spencer McCall and Jeff Hull of The Institute
(Source: Getty Images) In The Institute, the new documentary directed by Spencer McCall, we’re given a glimpse into the world of “The Games of Nonchalance”, an urban-exploratory alternate reality game that took place back in 2008 throughout the hilly...
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Ride with Larry
Larry Smith was forced to retire early after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after serving 26 years as a police officer. He and his family moved to South Dakota so that his wife could teach at a state university...
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We Are What We Are
Jim Mickle loosely remakes Jorge Michel Grau’s 2010 horror flick, Somos lo Que Hay, with We Are What We Are, an American Gothic mutation of Grau’s well-received tale about a family of cannibals. More family drama than gore fest,...
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Concussion
A moody, sexy drama with bursts of black comedy sprinkled throughout, Concussion takes familiar themes–infidelity, complacency, mid-life anxiety–and explores them from the fresh perspective of a fascinating (if a little unsympathetic) protagonist, a lesbian suburban housewife named Abby (Robin...
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South Dakota Film Festival: Ride with Larry and 6 short films
Sweet Crude Man Camp By far the most visual striking film of the festival was the short documentary Sweet Crude Man Camp. The film is about the effects of the oil boom in the small town of Williston, North...
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Interview: Jim Mickle of We Are What We Are
After directing Stakeland and Mulberry Street, two indie horror films that are slowly building cult followings, director Jim Mickle is back with his third film, We Are What We Are (a remake of Jorge Michel Grau’s 2010 film of...
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Computer Chess
Mumblecore extraordinaire Andrew Bujalski’s (director of Funny Ha Ha and Beeswax) latest effort expands upon his mumblecore roots by wrapping it around a mockumentary format of storytelling that is lensed with aesthetically accurate 80’s technology. The largest achievement the...
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South Dakota Film Festival: Dust of War and 7 short films
Looking Past You An elderly woman, whose husband has just passed, is getting sick and tired of people ignoring her and her feelings. I kept thinking about that scene at the end of Network where the main character spouts,...
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Interview: Stacie Passon of Concussion
In Concussion, first-time writer-director Stacie Passon gives us a glimpse into the doldrums of lesbian suburbia and how a bored housewife (Robin Weigert), awakened to her unfulfilling malaise by her son (who conks her in the head with a...
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Interview: Robin Weigert and Jonathan Tchaikovsky of Concussion
With Concussion, first-time writer-director Stacie Passon gives us a glimpse into the doldrums of lesbian suburbia and how a bored housewife (Robin Weigert), awakened to her unfulfilling malaise by her son (who conks her in the head with a...
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South Dakota Film Festival: Noah and 7 other short films
Noah Not only did Noah easily stand out as the most unique film that I saw at the festival, but it is one of the better short films that I have seen in a long time. Filmed entirely from...
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Best Man Down
Everyone has that friend. The guy that’s always too loud, too drunk, makes fun situations better, makes serious ones unbearable, and is strangely predictable in their obnoxious behavior. Lumpy (Tyler Labine) is that guy. After causing a sad, drunken...
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Interview: Erik Matti of On the Job
Filipino director Erik Matti’s new crime thriller On the Job (my review) is based on a real-life Filipino scandal in which government officials used prisoners as hitmen, convincing prison wardens to release them for a day to carry out political...
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On the Job
It’s genius in a wicked kind of way, really. Hire a hitman who’s already in prison. Get him outside the prison walls for a day (corrupt prison guards come in handy here). He’ll make the hit, return to the...
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