Tag: Alexia Rasmussen

REVIEW: I Blame Society [2021]

Jared Mobarak

I’m a strong female lead. Fact and fiction blur in Gillian Wallace Horvat‘s I Blame Society thanks to an identical central premise catalyzing the projects her on-screen and real-life personas pursue: an anecdotal retelling of two friends joking that she’d make a really good murderer. Taking the sentiment as a compliment, Horvat sought to figure out if what they said was true by interviewing friends and family who know her best. A couple snippets from that preliminary footage makes it into what’s now become a wholly outlandish embellishment of what…

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REVIEW: The Comedy [2012]

Jared Mobarak

I need you. If a privileged white asshole acts racist and misogynist as a rule because of the emotional pain created by the slow death of a rich father he may not even really like, should we feel empathy for his plight? I think this is the question Rick Alverson is asking with his film The Comedy and yet I want to believe it isn’t because he should know the answer is unequivocally “No.” Maybe Swanson’s (Tim Heidecker) sister-in-law (Liza Kate) can forgive his actions towards her because she knows…

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TFF17 REVIEW: Tilt [2018]

Jared Mobarak

“Can we get away with anything we want?” If only we could go back to the days when mid-life crises happened at fifty-years old and at best meant buying an expensive car (at worst asking for divorce to marry younger). Now this existential breakdown occurs much earlier—let’s say thirty-years old. This is what happens when millennials are born of an era with more time to think about their futures. Rather than needing to buckle down and secure a career straight out of college, your drive for the “best fit” leads…

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REVIEW: Proxy [2014]

Jared Mobarak

“Cause we all need someone to listen” I learned something while watching Zack Parker‘s horror (psychological thriller is a more apt genre label) film Proxy: Richmond, Indiana is a hotbed for crazy. He and cowriter Kevin Donner inject a little Münchausen syndrome, Prenatal Depression, and some run-of-the-mill psychopathy to round out the quartet of main characters. Each seemingly normal on the surface until a chaotic mind or the potential for psychotic break under tragic circumstances is exposed thanks to carefully unfolding revelations, the people populating this tale are regular folk…

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REVIEW: California Solo [2012]

Jared Mobarak

“Oh, you Googled me did you?” In a case of mistaken identity, Marshall Lewy‘s sophomore effort as writer/director is much more than its cliché-riddled trailer shows. A 2012 Sundance Film Festival selection, California Solo is the kind of character study that allows its plot to unfold naturally with minimal contrivances. Every preconception inferring things will turn out alright because star Robert Carlyle smiles in marketing materials with a light, optimistic bent will probably be proven wrong due to ex-rocker Lachlan MacAldonich’s infinite guilt preventing cheery results. On the brink of…

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