Category: Film Reviews and Analysis

Amir Motlagh has a knack for making films that leave me feeling moved and raw. They also challenge me to evaluate my connections – or lack thereof – quite keenly. When I sat down to rewatch Motlagh’s film “Three Worlds” so I could write something meaningful and cohesive about it, I had three questions written […]

A Cult Classic That Pairs Well With cannabis. The 70’s were a crazy time, and in 1974, Brian De Palma wasn’t famous yet — but Paul Williams sure was, and the two of them teamed up to create The Phantom of Paradise. I don’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence about what a king Paul Williams […]

How What We Do In The Shadows and enough IFS to be dangerous helped me negotiate a cease-fire with my inner critic. Like countless others, one of the ways that I have dealt with the trauma of my past is writing about it. I have been engaging in a pretty relentless (heh) self-inventory as part […]

Amir Motlagh’s MAN is a beautifully shot, prescient meditation on the nature of the human experience and of connectedness in increasingly disconnected times. The film moves through a mantra of daily activities before accelerating towards an emotionally impactful ending. I’m going to admit I wasn’t expecting to emotionally connect with this film the way I […]

I was privileged to spend part of the pandemic watching the creation of The Secret Society for Slow Romance unfold on social media, and was absolutely thrilled to get a chance to be one of the earliest screeners for the movie. While I was worried about how Sujewa Ekanyake’s movie would handle a comedic romance […]

The scope of Lady Buds is deceptively simple — it is the story of six women entering the legal cannabis market. This thoughtful and beautifully-shot documentary uses that scope to reveal sweeping insights into the challenges, triumphs, and players within the cannabis industry. In her feature debut, director Chris J. Russo offers a compelling film that is […]