Coda: Phoenix Film Festival 2021

Showing posts with label Phoenix Film Festival 2021. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 1

The Stairs Review

Dir: Peter 'Drago' Tiemann
Writers: Jason L. Lowe, Peter 'Drago' Tiemann
Starring: Kathleen Quinlan, John Schneider, Brent Bailey, Stacey Oristano, Adam Korson, Josh Crotty, Tyra Colar
1h 32m

What starts as a weeklong camping adventure with friends quickly turns into a terrifying fight for survival in THE STAIRS.

As the recent winner of Best Horror Feature Film at Phoenix Film Festival/International Horror Sci-Fi Film Festival, I enjoyed sitting in a darkened theater again with fellow horror fans to see this unique tale unfold.

The film starts out in 1997, when a young boy goes out hunting with grandfather. He quickly gets distracted and separated from his grandfather, then stumbles upon a mysterious staircase deep in the woods. As his grandfather hears his cries for help, some “thing” takes them both.

The subsequent disappearance leaves locals baffled as to the fate of the wayward pair and creates many urban legends.

Twenty years later, a group of hikers set off for a long camping trip, deep into the same stretch of wilderness. With each step further away from civilization, they are pulled deeper into the treacherous trap of the same set of ominous stairs.

Without giving away any spoilers, the third act of the film is an intense creature feature where survival is key.

The writers did a fantastic job of shaping their characters with their own quirks and personality so you get to enjoy them more as the story unfolds. Crowd favorite was crass, love-him-or-hate-him, Doug.

At times, the plot can feel a bit jerky as some scenes felt a bit too short and lacked some explanation. There was a lot the writers wanted to tell, and it is a bit obvious that some of the fat was left on the cutting floor. But the meat of the story is prime and enjoyable.

What made this film was the setting. The forest was welcoming yet precarious. The stairs are jarring, out of place and just add to the uneasiness. The creature isn’t too cheesy and is featured just enough so not to kill some of the more intense plot moments.

Like the stairs themselves, it’s a very intriguing story. You will want more after the credits.

While not perfect, for a lower budget horror film, THE STAIRS is one I still contemplate and want to share with others.

Theresa's Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

Sunday, August 22

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Saturday, August 21st

Coda’s ongoing coverage of the 2021 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.

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

12 MONTHS OF KAI – Directed by Matsumi Kameyama

Kyoka purchases a PCH (personal care humanoid) to help stave off her loneliness. She names him Kai and his operating system works to learn how better to suit Kyoka’s needs. But as she becomes more and more emotionally dependent on Kai, it is revealed that there may be something more sinister in the works.

In our modern world, we have invited all sorts of operating systems and algorithms to synthesize human connections for us. Alexa and Siri work as our personal assistants. And our social media platforms use your own activity history to ‘learn’ what type of content to continuously stream into your eyeballs. Our world has gotten smaller and more connected in some ways. But in other ways, and for the same reasons, we have the innate ability to allow these tools to filter out all of those uncomfortable, painful and vulnerable moments that are inherent and vital in actual human interaction. And more so, these synthetic relationships may be keeping you from real connections.

As is the case in any great sci-fi, this film follows this trend to its logical conclusion. It’s for this reason, that sci-fi has always been very precious to me. It is the ability to remove the physical and/or technological boundaries and explore the natural consequences of human tendencies that make this medium special to me. And for this reason, this film hits the nail on the head. I appreciate the quiet and modest performances as well as the film’s deliberate pace. And the third act goes beautifully and unforgettably bonkers.

This was a bit of a surprise hit for me. I hope it gets picked up because it’s definitely something that I would revisit.

SMALL TOWN WISCONSIN – Directed by Niels Mueller

Wayne (David Sullivan), a divorce, alcoholic perpetual man-child has lost custody of his son, Tyler (Cooper J. Friedman). He takes him on a getaway weekend to Milwaukee in a last ditch attempt to form an unforgettable road trip before his ex-wife takes him to live in Phoenix.

I was expecting something a lot lighter than what this film ended up being. This film does such a great job with its reverent treatment of alcoholism that the jokes that work in the trailer, hit entirely differently when shown in the course of the whole film. All of those funny moments depicting a drunkard acting a fool are contextualized in a way that should at least make you cringe, but mostly it’s a far sadder film than just cringe worthy. I appreciate this type of depiction. I’ve known people like this. I’ve seen this in real life before. But it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.

The whole cast, led by Sullivan, was great here. The regional accents worked and the ensemble of it all made for a warm and organic atmosphere. I was particularly impressed with Kristin Johnston’s performance as Alicia, Wayne’s estranged sister.

Unfortunately, at 109 minutes, this film does tend to drag a little bit. It picks up most of its steam when it actually becomes a road trip movie but I think that was a bit later than it needed to be. I think a bit of a trim in the first act would have served to engage the audience more quickly.

Overall, this film does a lot quite well and it’s unique and honest depiction of alcoholism is not something that you’re likely to see in most movies, even those that try.

Saturday, August 21

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Friday, August 20th

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

A COMEDY OF HORRORS: VOLUME I – Directed by Ken Arnold, Dan De Luca, Jamie Nash & Matt Servitto

An anthology of horror/comedy films told by a substitute kindergarten teacher. She regales them with tales of a town of clowns, a murderous puppet, an off-the-rails bachelorette party and an actor’s visit to a special effects studio.

This is simply a real fun way to spend 90 minutes in a movie theater. Each segment of this anthology has its own unique mood, blending the silly with violence and gore into a special cocktail that easily makes you forget about the time flying by.

I personally enjoyed the final film, starring “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell” stars Matt Servitto and Henry Zebrowski. It actually seemed like it could have been an episode adjacent to the show itself.

Look, I can’t really wax poetic about anything here. This is just pure escapism as far as I can tell. It was great to be in a theater laughing and cringing with the audience. This movie is just fun.

KEEPING COMPANY – Directed by Josh Wallace

A pair of door to door insurance salesmen are kidnapped and locked in the basement of a house occupied by an old woman and her grandson.

I liked this one quite a bit more than I originally thought I would. I think you would probably file it under horror/comedy however, there are a lot of times here that are quite light on the comedic aspect. The first two acts set the characters up nicely and there is a lot of well written and funny dialogue. But I did feel that there are several long periods in which we were meant to take more seriously than had been previously supported. I didn’t really have a problem with this. This tonal shift was far less drastic than in other films, but it was noticeable.

The acting here sells the film very well. Specifically, in the case of Jacob Grodnik’s Lucas. You can tell that his character’s depth and sensitivity behind his menacing and threatening demeanor. This leads way for a great arc for the only one in this film that gets one.

The main reason I dug this film though was for how well it works as an analogy for the cutthroat nature of ‘dog-eat-dog’ capitalism. It shows just how even those who are most likely to be used grease the death wheels of the system with their own blood, are more than willing to slit the throats of their peers, just for a seat at the table. This film turned out to be a great illustration of this phenomenon, inherent in capitalism and I appreciated it.

Wednesday, August 18

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Tuesday, August 17th

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

SET! – Directed by Scott Gawlik

SET! is a documentary that welcomes its viewers into the cutthroat world of competitive table setting. The film takes place over the course of the six-month period leading up to “The Olympics of Table Setting” (aka The Orange County Fair).

You know that thing that happens when a documentarian shows us a world that most of us never even knew existed and likely would have never even cared about, but to the subjects of the film, it’s the biggest and most important passion in their lives? Yeah, that happens here too. Similar to Seth Gordon’s 2007 film, THE KING OF KONG, this film showcases all of its subject’s traits and eccentricities, warts and all. It’s insanely engrossing and so much fun to watch.

Unlike KONG however, this story never seems to be interested in painting any of its subjects as the clear villain. This is fortunate. There are times that you could apply that moniker to a few of these people but thankfully, the film seems much more interested in an honest human portrayal. You could however, make the case for one of the competitors as the lovable underdog. In a world dominated by the ‘real housewives of Orange County’ spending hundreds or thousands of dollars at Cost Plus and antique shops on their setting, Tim, a broke, unemployed 41-year-old gay man enters a Cosplay contest in an attempt to fund his Dr. Seuss themed table. It seemed only natural to be cheering for him, but in all honesty, I’m here for all of it.

This film was wild, hilarious and a whole lot of fun. It’s not life changing or even challenging in any real way. But I’m confident that you will thoroughly enjoy spending this time with these people.

There’s nothing that I can find about a U.S. release date, but the film had a Discovery Plus logo at the beginning, so look for it there in the coming months.

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING – Directed by Sean King O’Grady

A family of four seeks shelter from a storm in their bathroom but soon become trapped in there. As the storm passes, mysterious occurrences keep the family questioning what is happening. Was this just a storm? Or something far more diabolic?

This movie made me look up Cotard’s syndrome, or “walking corpse disorder”. Now that I know that is in fact real and what it actually is, I can safely say that this knowledge is an entirely unnecessary prerequisite for this film.

This one is a tough one to nail down. I neither loved nor hated it. It wasn’t boring, there are plenty of moments to shock and at times, absolutely disgust you. But there are also quite a few long lulls in the progression so it will take a bit of patience. The performances were well done. Sierra McCormick is a rising star in this world and she definitely has what it takes for longevity. And in this writer’s opinion, Pat Healy has solidified his position as independent horror’s most dependable actor. This isn’t news but his presence is what made me excited to see this one in the first place.

What makes this flick hard to write about is its multiple tonal shifts throughout the runtime. I really have no idea how seriously I was supposed to thinking about this. I won’t get into specifics but it actually reminded me of a 2007 film, THE SIGNAL, which was one continuous story, broken down into three distinct segments, each one by a different director. For better or for worse, that was the feeling I got here. Almost as if I was watching an anthology.

In spite of, or because of all of this, I still recommend the horror-hounds check this one out. If for no other reason, I need someone else to talk about it with. It’s been picked up by IFC Midnight so maybe I’ll revisit it in a few months.

Additional Screenings: Friday, August 20^th @ 10:15 PM

Tuesday, August 17

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Monday, August 16th

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

SURGE – Directed by Aneil Karia

SURGE takes place over a 24-hour period in London when Joseph (Ben Wishaw), a British Airport Security officer takes the audience through the journey of his breakdown and attempt at self-liberation.

I came here for a great Wishaw performance and was treated to exactly that. The film begins with Joseph on the brink of mental collapse. His portrayal of this descent was perfect. Sometimes, great acting comes from the smallest things. Little quirks of the mouth can flesh out a character. Tiny eyebrow movements can give an audience a glimpse into emotional reactions and feelings. Sometimes however, as is the case here, a role calls for more animation and physicality. This is tough because the need for restraint is still present. Without restraint, you risk the disrespect of turning a mental affliction into a cartoon character. I was quite pleased to see that this didn’t happen here.

Impressively, we spend every moment of this film’s runtime with Joseph, up close and personal, shot entirely hand-held. There is no escaping what he’s going through. There are no breathers. At times I got a pretty heavy Travis Bickle vibe from him. But at least Scorsese had the decency to turn away in disgust a few times. This film is uncomfortable by design.

If you can handle this type of a depiction, I highly recommend checking this one out. I won’t likely see a better performance at the festival this year.

Additional Screenings: Wednesday, August 18^th @ 10:10 PM & Thursday, August 19^th @ 9:20 PM

WHEN I’M DONE DYING – Directed by Nisan Dag

Fehmi (Oktay Çubuk) is an aspiring young rapper from the slums of Istanbul but he can’t seem to kick his addiction to the cheap street drug, bonzai. His path to stardom is paved by his relationship with Devin (Hayal Köseoglu), an upper class DJ who’s love his motivation to try to get clean.

I can’t say anything too negative about this film. It is quite well composed as a whole. The acting is phenomenal, the music is great and it is just an overall well told story. I particularly liked the touch of animated sequences sprinkled in throughout. They actually looked like what someone in the throes of a drug-induced haze may be experiencing in the graffiti illustrated streets of his neighborhood.

This film deals with a lot of different themes. Archaic drug laws, homophobia, the classism associated with different addictions and the struggles to make art when you are broke all get a mouthpiece at times here. But the overarching weight of this story is felt simply by the addiction aspect itself. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just a story we’ve seen cinematically quite a few times.

I don’t want to do that thing where I review the film that I wanted it to be instead of what it is because this movie is quite an impressive accomplishment for a host of aforementioned reasons. Rap is the poetry of poverty and struggle and I guess I was wishing to see more redemption and self-discovery from the music angle. I was just hoping for Turkish 8-MILE; this is more like Turkish A STAR IS BORN.

Additional Screenings: Wednesday, August 18^th @ 2:25 PM

THE BETA TEST – Directed by Jim Cummings & PJ McCabe

Jordan (Cummings), an engaged Hollywood agent receives an invitation to an anonymous sexual encounter that leads him down a rabbit hole of infidelity, dishonesty and awkward hilarity.

This was the festival film I was most excited for this year. I’ve kind of been stanning Jim Cummings since his amazing work on 2018’s THUNDER ROAD. I’ve never seen anyone pull off awkwardness like this before and he continues to nail it. The combination of gracelessness and volume is not something you typically see in a film’s emotional peak soliloquy. Cummings does this multiple times and I’m always going to be here for it. At this point, I wish he was writing dialogue for at least one character in pretty much every film and television show. If there were an Oscar specifically for awkward ranting monologues, Cummings would already be receiving his lifetime achievement award.

If comedy is tragedy plus time, what happens when you also add depth and detail? Well… this is what happens. I’m being intentionally opaque. I didn’t really know anything about the story when I went into it and I’m grateful for that. The plot is twisty and swervy and the third act reveals are an absolute delight. I hope this film gets legs upon release. I’ll likely be still talking about it for years to come.

THE BETA TEST opens wide, November 5^th, 2021.

Monday, August 16

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Sunday, August 15th

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

TEENAGE BADASS – Directed by Grant McCord

This is the story of Stylo and the Murder Dogs, a Tempe local band led by Kirk Stylo (Evan Ultra). The film treats us to a look at the quest for stardom as a band in spite of Stylo’s megalomaniacal eccentricities and drug abuse. The film is set in 2006 and was shot in the Phoenix/Tempe area.

This one has a lot going for it. In a lot of ways, it feels like a love letter to the area. It’s written, produced and directed by one of its ensemble stars, Grant McCord and the film’s music was written by Ultra. You can feel the locality here. As someone that’s spent the past four decades in this Valley, I loved things like Welcome Diner and Zia Records. They play their first set at The Rebel Lounge. When I was younger, it was called The Mason Jar but it’s no less iconic today. One of the characters is perpetually wearing a Dirty Drummer t-shirt. My uncle used to take me there for chicken wings about thirty years ago. Even Jimmy Eats World’s Jimmy Atkins’s cameo feels more like scenery than anything else. To be clear, I was here for all of this. As a cinefile that grew up in an area that hasn’t always been that friendly to its local art scene, it was wonderful to see a legit feature film that expressed some of the love I’ve always felt for my home. From my experience, this story almost perfectly epitomized the local rock band scene. Of course, I’ve never heard of an overabundance of drummers in this scene. I think the it’s more typical to find about a 4 to 1 ratio of Tempe bands to Tempe drummers.

All of this is great, but the real star of the film is the screenplay. Co-written by McCord and Matthew Dho, the jokes hit on every beat. The audience I was with was laughing out loud and so was I. This was the film’s most successful aspect and I hope to get the opportunity to revisit it.

TEENAGE BADASS is available for digital purchase and rental from Freestyle Digital Media.

FALLING FOR FIGARO – Directed by Ben Lewin

Millie (Danielle Macdonald) is a rising young star in her career as a fund manager when she decides to give it all up to become an opera singer. She moves into a small village in the Scottish Highlands to study under the tutelage of former star, Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley) where she meets Meghan’s only other pupil, Max, (Hugh Skinner). Eyes meet, sparks fly, but is this the path that’s right for Millie?

I know nothing of the opera. Honestly, it’s an art form that will likely never interest me. I came here to see the progression of Danielle Macdonald’s career. I’ve been interested in her since 2017’s PATTI CAKES in which she plays an aspiring New Jersey rapper, an art form that I can fully support. Her performance here was good, maybe great, but it’s hard to critique considering what she was working with. At times, throughout the second act, it seemed as though the film was working its way towards fully developed and interesting characters. But it ultimately fell short, even with Millie. Other than, she loves opera, I never got a sense of why she was so driven to change her life. The same issue arises, even more apparently with the supporting characters.

The scenery of the film was shot beautifully, although with that setting, I’m not sure how it wouldn’t have. And I found most of the dialogue to be well written. But for a romantic comedy, it was very short on actual laughs. I would also add that I found it to be quite unfortunate that the screenplay felt it necessary to revert back to some old and predictable rom-com tropes that didn’t seem to be supported at all by the characters we had been spending this time with. I found this to be cheap and very disappointing.

Sometimes a movie can appeal to a niche audience when it takes place in a world of a certain subject matter. I don’t know, maybe the opera-heads will love this one. It just wasn’t for me.

FALLING FOR FIGARO opens wide, Friday, October 1^st

Sunday, August 15

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Saturday, August 14th

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

BEANS – Directed by Tracey Deer

This is a coming-of-age story about “Beans” (Kiawentiio), a young Mohawk girl as she tried to navigate all the trials and tribulations of a growing tween in the midst of the Oka Crisis in Quebec, 1990, a land dispute between the Mohawk people and the town of Oka that led to a 78-day standoff.

This film has a whole lot going for it. The cinematography was beautiful and well supported by a nice and familiar stringed score. I appreciated how the story of Beans and her family’s struggles with the conflict were interlaced with a lot of actual footage from news reports of the time. It created a contrast between how communities at large treat these types of clashes and how it effects those at the more personal micro level. On an aside, the townspeople of Oka do not come of looking very good in this film. This struck me considering that this only happened 30 years ago and the vast majority of people shown, in actual footage, carrying racist signs and committing acts of violence to their neighbors, are still alive today. I try to imagine what it might be like for a 55-year-old Quebecois that was there at the time, now watching this film… But I digress…

What I’d like to primarily highlight about the film is the performances, most specifically of our main character. Nominated for the “One to Watch” award by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, Kiawentiio is the epitome of natural here. Overall it was an outstanding ensemble but I have hopes for her career in particular.

My only real critique of the film is that at times it seems to have a few too many themes that it’s attempting to explore. I know that this may just be the natural byproduct of a young girl’s coming-of-age story but it feels a bit unfocused. I’ve read the film described as “semi-autobiographical”. So I’m not sure how many of these themes are from the filmmaker’s own life so I’m hesitant to say anything too negative. But some of the things that Beans goes through here, would deserve their own feature film.

Additional Screening: Tueday, August 17^th @ 2:30 PM & Thursday, August 19^th @ 11:55 AM

THE NIGHT HOUSE – Directed by David Bruckner

Beth (Rebecca Hall), a recently widowed high-school teacher struggles to put the pieces together of her late husband’s secret life. This is a psychological horror about loss, grief and paranoia that lives in the supernatural.

Rebecca Hall is a fantastic actor and this is still abundantly clear here. Her mannerisms and expressions as the grief-stricken and clearly troubled widow are perfect. And I don’t think I’ve seen her deal with this level of physicality in a performance prior to this film. This is the type of performance that is too often overlooked because of its genre but it shouldn’t be. Great professionals do great work.

I would also add that we don’t often talk enough about the amazing work that cinematographers do in horror. So much of this film takes place in the shadows and moonlight. This can often lead to a dull visual palette and/or dimly lit, hard to follow sequences. Director of Photography, Elisha Christian deserves a ton of credit for the hauntingly beautiful look of this film. This is not surprising from the man that also shot 2017’s COLUMBUS.

Unfortunately, for all that THE NIGHT HOUSE has going for it, I just couldn’t get behind its pacing. Meaning, I was consistently ahead of each plot point, by about 20 minutes or so. This is why it’s tough to pull off the slow-burn horror. For a genre as visceral as this, audience engagement is key. And it tends to wane for me in films that seem satisfied with repeatedly tugging on the strings of inevitability without actually moving the plot forward. Ultimately, I was disappointed. I’ve seen far worse but rarely in a film with this much technical potential.

THE NIGHT HOUSE opens wide, Friday, August 20^th

Saturday, August 14

2021 PFF & IHSFF Festival Recap – Friday, August 13th

Coda’s ongoing coverage of the 2021 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.

By Emery Snyder - @leeroy711

THE IMMORTAL JELLYFISH – Directed by Dusty Bias

Denny (Whitmer Thomas), a Southern ‘dirt bag’ artist is trying to make ends meet, living in his trailer on his Alabama riverfront property when a man, dying of gunshot wounds washes up on his shore. As one would expect, hilarity soon follows. With the help he enlists from Linda (Rosalyn Coleman), the woman at the other end of a ‘1-800’ Nurse’s hotline, the unlikely pair attempt to save the injured man whilst solving the mystery.

This was a great way to start this year’s festival for me. This film was smart, breezy and hilarious for the most part. The performances were quite well done. Although, I’m not sure if was just his voice, but I caught more than a few glimpses in which Thomas seemed to be heavily channeling Jack Nicholson.

The music in the film was fantastic. It felt regional and when combined with the scenery and cinematography, it gave the impression that I was being introduced to a slice of Americana that the filmmakers were already quite familiar with.

I would only say that I think the film could have used a slight trim. I’m not opposed to a great monologue, but there are moments in here that didn’t quite work with the rest of the story’s momentum. It was as if the film was trying to give us an unnecessary breather. But overall, I enjoyed this flick a great deal and highly suggest it.

Additional Screening: Sunday, August 15^th @ 5:10 PM

BLOOD CONSCIOUS – Directed by Timothy Covell

Two siblings, Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje) and Brittney (DeShawn White) travel with Brittney’s husband (Lenny Thomas) to join their parents on their lake cabin. When they arrive however, they find their parents, as well as everyone else on the lake murdered by a mass shooter who claims that he was fighting off demons.

This film was shot in 4:3 and the title sequence gave it a nice throwback feel at first. But it didn’t take long to realize how modern and unique this movie is. I’m not going to go too far into any specifics because this is one that would be hard not to spoil. But this is a story about fear itself as much as it is about anything. Fear manifests itself in many ways, and all are on display here. Suspicion, fear of others, fear of the unknown all sink their teeth into the characters navigating this tragic story. It’s a timely story that I found entirely engrossing.

On technical levels, this film succeeds. The performances were spot on, the score was haunting and the overall pacing did a great job of quietly building tension. I found this film to be extraordinarily interesting and I’m very hopeful that it will find its audience.

Additional Screening: Sunday, August 15^th @ 8:00 PM