THE FAREWELL
A beautiful, sharp, and funny film that goes beyond the clashing of cultures. It tells a lot of truths about family dynamics and generational divide; though its core is the unshakable love we have for a relative and how much it pains us to have to say goodbye to them. Written and directed by Lulu Wang, she takes us on a very personal, genuine but complicated journey of a Chinese family who have reunited for their precious Grandmother who doesn’t have long to live. However, she doesn’t know that.
The family has decided not to tell her about her sickness, and there’s just as many laughs in that as there are tears. Awkwafina is phenomenal in a career-changing performance as the granddaughter who struggles with the decision of the family lying about the real reason for their visit. It’s a wild, wonderful, well-told story that’s unbelievable yet universal in how each of us face selfhood, guilt, and death differently.
PAGEANT MATERIAL
Hart Morse looks like a natural onscreen in this story about a young boy wanting to break free from his close-minded small town and gay-bashing family to follow in his mother’s beauty queen footsteps. Director Jonothon Mitchell tackles bullying, acceptance, hate, and perseverance – but in all the wrong ways. The tone is all over the place, there’s no saving the script, and most characters are stereotypes instead of individuals the audience can care about. The movie has its heart in the right place, but the execution of it is inexcusable.
SPEED OF LIFE
The death of David Bowie knocks the universe off its track in this delightful yet underdeveloped story about living in the past rather than living in the moment. Ann Dowd shines and does what she can with what she’s been given. Altogether, writer/director Liz Manashil puts a sci-fi spin on the rom-com formula to mixed results. The most frustrating thing being the many fascinating paths this movie could have taken, but chooses none of them.
SUMMER NIGHT
Director Joseph Cross gets the mood right for young love on a hot Georgia night and a talented, familiar-face cast to put it into motion. The problem is the story is a tired one where care-free twenty-something year-olds run around not having a damn clue about what they want to do with their lives. And there’s not enough time in the movie for any of them to figure it out either. As this group of friends move in and out of fractured relationships and fresh romance, there’s nothing unique about any of it. It feels like an older, sweatier version of a 90’s teen movie where mostly everyone’s dream is to drink and rock out and hope to have someone next to them who enjoys the same. As the audience, you should be having just as good of a time as the characters are – except you’re not.
GREENER GRASS
An absolute absurdist comedy that takes place in a fucked-up suburbia you never want to get stuck in. It’s dandy at being demented – and there’s not a chance you won’t laugh with it. Director/co-writer Jocelyn Deboer‘s twisted vision delivers a satirical sting with plenty of hilarity. DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe are terrific as two moms and wives looking for acceptance in the most severe, strangest ways imaginable. In all fairness, you need to be a little nuts to survive a place with bright, matching attire, where killing with kindness is turned up a few notches, and a boy becomes a dog just by falling in a pool. The narrative runs dry before the runtime is over and the laughs don’t last all the way through. Nevertheless, this movie gets its kicks in on the lifestyle being ridiculed – and the right kind of folks who seek this one out will ingest the insanity with great ease and enjoyment.
RECKONING
Danielle Deadwyler injects a good amount of emotion in this otherwise average, lagging revenge tale from directors Ruckus and Layne Skye. Deadwyler plays Lemon, a woman living in an excluded Appalachian farming town whose husband is missing and son is held hostage until a debt is paid for a nasty family matriarch who wants to tear apart a long-standing truce. Enwrapped with gorgeous scenery, this lawless land invokes solitude but not fear, and that goes for the shady characters Lemon encounters as well. This leads to the movie’s biggest weakness, which is not enough time is devoted to developing who these people are and what their community is built on. And when you can’t entirely connect with the heroine and her cause – your interest level stays low and ceases to rise.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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