REVIEW: Birdland [2018]

Crime is nature. Some filmmakers keep their endings ambiguous so the art lingers with the viewer in order to interpret the piece rather than merely consume it. Writer/director Peter Lynch looks to go one step further with his noir Birdland (co-written by Lee Gowan) by rendering the whole a mystery wherein beginnings and ends are both fluid as far as linear coherency is concerned and meticulously structured to amplify the emotional machinations of his lead Sheila Hood (Kathleen Munroe). Lynch intentionally disorients so that mood overshadows action. He focuses on…

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REVIEW: The Void [2017]

“You’d be surprised at the things you find when you go looking” I was recently comparing directorial culture today with that of the 80s and 90s, referencing how new technology has allowed a disintegration of the old school “pay your dues” mentality. Forty years ago you had artists working their way up under the tutelage of established directors through the more niche technical departments. See James Cameron (matte painter on Escape from New York) and Joe Johnston (visual effects on Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark) as examples.…

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