Mexico City in the nineties was a place where the harshest crimes went unpunished due to money and a corrupt police force. Aida (an excellent and tortured performance from Diana Lein, an actress to watch!) serves up revenge for young women who have been raped and maltreated and weren’t able to find resolution on their own. Working out of the back of a nightclub, the women come to her with ... more >
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“Tattoo of revenge,” tipping the scales of justice down in Murderville
"Rencor tatuado" in the original Spanish
Diana Lein, Irving Peña and César Romero Medrano
Directed by Julián Hernández
Viveik Kalra gives star-making performance in “Blinded by the light”
A film inspired by the words and music of Bruce Springsteen
Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir and Nell Williams
Directed by Gurinder Chadha
Whether you like Bruce Springsteen or not, I dare any viewer of this movie not to be completely swept away by the pure joy of the infectious “Blinded by the Light.” Inspired by Sarfraz Manzoor’s 2007 memoir “Greetings from Bury Park,” the film “is inspired by the words and music of Bruce Springsteen.” Set in 1987 Luton (a working-class town in southeast England) we are introduced to Javed, ... more >
“I like me,” a hilarious comedy about the self-help craze
Sue Schaffel, Anna Fagan and Chris Kozlowski
Directed by Joshua Land
In the eighties and nineties independent film was in its heyday. Many great “human” comedies came out of this era. Before giant Hollywood romcoms, little films filled with relationship-related comedy were plentiful, with many of them being highly entertaining. Writer/director Joshua Land’s new Maryland-set film “I Like Me” (co-written by Abby Sussman) has a mid-nineties indie feel to its ... more >
LGBTQ shenanigans in the Brazilian-made “Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots”
Welcome to the Castro
Izzy Palazzini and Oscar Mansky
Directed by Thales Corrêa
San Francisco’s Castro District is known for its historical importance in the LGBTQ community, most famously for the election of Harvey Milk as the first openly gay elected official in California’s history. The Castro is used quite differently in the new independent comedy “Bathrooms Stalls & Parking Lots.” Coming from Brazil, Leo (the film’s writer/director Thales Correa) arrives in San ... more >
“Mike Wallace is Here”
A compelling and smart documentary about one of America's toughest interviewers
Produced by Avi Belkin, John Battsek and Christopher Leggett
Directed by Avi Belkin
A talking head archival documentary to be sure, but with a subject such as Mike Wallace (who spent his career as a so-called talking head) there was no other way to film it. Wallace is, perhaps, the one man who defined television journalism. His demeanor was stern and his questions were sometimes strikingly blunt and he didn’t suffer fools gladly nor take BS answers to direct questions. Even ... more >
From Brazil “Socrates” a bittersweet story about willpower and what it is you can do when the deck’s stacked against you
"Socrates" was executive-produced by Fernando Meirelles
Christian Malheiros, Tales Ordakji and Caio Martinez Pacheco
Directed by Alexandre Moratto
Brazilian-American filmmaker Alexandre Moratto’s “Socrates” is his first feature length film. It was produced by the Querô Institute of Brazil, co-written, produced, and acted by people ranging in age from sixteen to twenty. These young film makers come from low-income communities and they received support from UNICEF. This story revolves around a fifteen year-old named Socrates who finds ... more >
Marc Maron excellent as Mel in “SWORD OF TRUST”
He currently appears in "GLOW" on Netflix
Marc Maron, Jon Bass and Michaela Watkins
Directed by Lynn Shelton
Low-key independent character pieces are director Lynn Shelton’s specialty. With films such as “Humpday," “Your Sister’s Sister," “Touchy Feely," “Laggies," and the undervalued “Outside In," Shelton creates projects that seem gimmicky on a surface level and infuses them with deeply personal meditations on the human condition. Her uniquely easygoing writing style has proven Shelton to be one of the ... more >