REVIEW: Mass [2021]

I don’t think I can say it. First things first: you should go into Fran Kranz‘s directorial debut Mass as blind as possible. Knowing the premise beforehand won’t necessarily ruin anything, but he is hiding the particulars with reason as far as the emotional and narrative impact that comes with one of the characters saying it as plain as day. And that moment should be allowed its full weight. You should know that death binds these two couples—Martha Plimpton‘s Gail and Jason Isaacs‘ Jay opposite Ann Dowd‘s Linda and Reed…

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REVIEW: The Forty-Year-Old Version [2020]

Is it looking for me? Cause I’ve been here. Sometimes you must begin the process of making art for that art’s potential to find its way to the surface. Radha Blank didn’t start with The Forty-Year-Old Version as it is today. She wanted to create something with full autonomy: shoot on an iPhone, release a web-series, and see what happened. But then her mother passed away. Her ability to be the person she had been creatively suddenly disappeared and she filled it with the cathartic power of the music written…

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