FANTASIA21 REVIEW: What Josiah Saw [2022]

Never seen a boy so lost. Josiah Graham (Robert Patrick) doesn’t believe in God. To look at him and witness his actions is enough to know this truth, but his words have never been afraid to ensure those sentiments prove undeniable anyway. So he smirks when his youngest son dares to say grace before their latest meal. He starts telling a fantastical story about a dancing leprechaun that he saw outside his window that morning. Tommy (Scott Haze) laughs—both because it’s a humorous anecdote told in humorous fashion and because…

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REVIEW: And Then I Go [2018]

Ours is a group of two. The Columbine massacre happened in 1999. It’s crazy to think it’s been over twenty years because we seem to have a new school shooting every month now. And as they grew in prevalence, the conversation surrounding them shifted from tragedy to politicization. Gus Van Sant‘s Elephant arrived in 2003 as a poetic psychological display unconcerned with pretending to know answers. It documented the experience of this tragic event as an emotional confluence between troubled souls on both sides of the gun—the mundane taking on…

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SXSW13 REVIEW: Coldwater [2013]

“Make no mistake—we will readjust you” Whether true or not, hearing writer/director Vincent Grashaw wrote the first draft of his debut feature Coldwater right after graduating high school in 1999 was an intriguing tidbit for my preconceptions to process. A producer on hipster darling Bellflower—a movie I didn’t warm towards—its success may have been the sole push needed to greenlight this more than a decade-long journey from script to screen. Snap judgments started manifesting in my mind to dismiss it as a juvenile work only made possible due to a…

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REVIEW: Bellflower [2011]

“I’ll eat some bugs. What’s the big deal?” When one thinks post-apocalyptic, images of desert wastelands, Wild West lawlessness, and a penchant for violence ring loud. We anticipate the end of the world leaving us in a void without order and the survivors having the ability to do whatever is necessary to survive. But what happens when we juxtapose these concepts onto the volatility inherent with the end of a romantic relationship? As real a ‘world’ to the couple involved—not to mention the friends choosing sides for war in the…

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