Coda’s ongoing coverage of the 2022 Phoenix Film Festival & International Horror Sci-Fi Film Festival. I'll be using these posts to recap the films I've experienced as part of these festivals.
MAMA BEARS – Directed by Daresha Kyi
This
film begins by setting the background stories of three different families and
how the parents of LGBTQ+ children initially handled these issues. Whether they
attempted to ‘pray the gay away’ or ‘spank the trans out of the child’, they
were eventually faced with the reality that these parts of the children’s
identities were not by choice and cannot be changed. And that rethinking their
interpretation of the scripture was the only thing that could be done to ensure
the love and acceptance that their children need.
Ultimately,
this film seems to attempt to paint a rosy picture of the future of the
conflicts between the LGBTQ+ community and the Christian Conservative movement
in this country. It almost feels like it’s just a stage setting for these women
to pat themselves on the back. I may be a bit cynical, but if the only members
of a church or a Christian family that we can get to accept the sexual identity
of a child are that child’s direct parents, we’re just nowhere near where we
need to be. The women in this film, now championed for their “Free Hugs” tour
of Gay Pride Parades, or Same-Sex Marriage Stand-In Mom could only come to
accept this community after their actual flesh-and-blood was a part of it. I
found this to be an extraordinarily sad truth that the film seems to gloss over
a bit.
If
the film’s purpose is to show an audience of Bible Belt Christian Conservatives
that it’s okay to love and accept their LGBTQ+ family members, then I commend
it for succeeding. Unfortunately, if we’re looking for a film to show an LGBTQ+
audience that the church is a safe place for them, this isn’t it. If anything,
this film shows the opposite.
THE GRAND BOLERO – Directed by Gabriele Fabbro
During
the Covid-19 lockdown, a middle aged pipe organ technician, Roxanne begrudgingly
takes on a new assistant, Lucia a beautiful 20-year-old mute woman. Passions
flare between the two, as do paranoia and suspicions.
What
I was expecting from this film was a feast of sight and sound. And in that
respect, I was not disappointed in the least. If you didn’t think that a
massive pipe organ could be cinematic, you were mistaken. And although other
aspects of this film ended up a bit disappointing, I’m so glad I saw it on the
big screen. This film demands the grandiose and volume found only in a theater.
Unfortunately,
the overall story fell a bit flat for me. The suspense was never really built
up, so the climactic scenes in the final act seemed to just appear out of
nowhere, without proper justification. It made it tough to understand the
motivations behind some of the actions taken by the characters. And I could
just never get fully invested.
RUN WOMAN RUN – Directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins
Beck is a single mom who, after a health scare is forced to make some drastic life changes. In the process, and with some magical help, she relearns how to honor her family, her language and the Earth.
This
is a very sweet and inspiring film. The screenplay is well paced and works to
unfold a motivational story of one woman’s redemption. The dialogue keeps it
light with ‘rom-com’ style laughs of endearment and silliness. This is the
right type of light fare for a Sunday evening date night.
Its
most impressive aspect was the performance of star, Dakota Ray Hebert. She
carries the film and I’ll be interested to see her work in the future.
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