Tag Archives: Rachel Willis

Outtakes

Off the Rails

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Ghost Train

by Rachel Willis

Several strange incidents at a subway station spark the curiosity of a YouTube content creator in director Se-woong Tak’s film Ghost Train.

To understand the real issues surrounding the rash of bizarre occurrences, Horror Queen Da-kyeong (Joo Hyun-young) bribes tales from a station master (Jeon Bae-soo) with fancy spirits (some of which I wouldn’t mind trying).

As the station master spins each yarn, we’re privy to what really happens to each person at the center of the individual tales. At times, what we’re shown during the movie is not what appears on the surveillance tapes the station master shows to Da-kyeong.

There are several unsettling concepts at work to help unnerve the viewer. A woman who repetitively bangs her head against the train door sends passengers scurrying to another car. This is a motif that pops up at different moments, helping to create an atmosphere of dread.

Each of the station master’s stories has a uniqueness that makes the movie flow like an anthology horror. However, the style and atmosphere remain consistent, setting a creepy tone throughout.  

The framing story is the movie’s weak link. The Horror Queen herself isn’t nearly as compelling as the individuals in the station master’s tales. Da-kyeong’s nemesis at work is a stereotypical mean girl, and her work love interest is about as interesting as a blank sheet of paper. It’s with impatience that we wait for the next of the station master’s tales.

However, as the film enters the final act, the framing story picks up steam. As Da-kyeong learns more about the station and its history, her story starts to get its teeth.

Unfortunately, those teeth are never quite sharp enough to explain the overall mystery around the ghost train. While there are a lot of memorable and interesting parts, they never quite come together as single narrative. That said, the movie is creepy enough to remain interesting, and overall, an intriguing series of ghost stories.

New In Theaters

The Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts

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by Rachel Willis

This year’s collection of Oscar-nominated documentary shorts offers a mix of subjects, but each film displays a wealth of passion and talent.

Perfectly a Strangeness

15 minutes. Directed by Alison McAlpine.

As first light breaks on the horizon, three donkeys wander into the frame. These companionate creatures continue to roam as the camera follows them. Additional animals pop up on screen as the donkeys wander. A wary fox contemplates running but ultimately stands its ground. As the donkeys come upon an observatory, the mechanics of human ingenuity are juxtaposed with the donkeys’ simple rambling. This short is a serene, lovely piece of filmmaking.

The Devil Is Busy

31 minutes. Directed by Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir.

At an abortion clinic in Atlanta, GA, the first person to arrive is the head of security. The protestors aren’t far behind. A man with a bullhorn belts out condemnation for abortion seekers before the sun has even risen. The short makes clear from the beginning the dangers the staff at the clinic face every day. It’s an appalling situation that the women seeking care find themselves in, as it is for the men and women who seek to serve them. “This is health care, period.” It’s a powerful testimony to the providers of women’s care.

Armed with Only a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud

37 minutes. Directed by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud.

Brent Renaud and his brother Craig spent their adult lives documenting some of the world’s most dangerous places. From war torn neighborhoods to families hiding from gangs, the brothers captured the stories of people whose lives were upended by violence. The film does not shy away from brutal realities, often choosing to show very graphic and gruesome footage. When Brent is killed covering the war in Ukraine, Craig seeks to tell his brother’s story in the way he thinks Brent would have wanted. While at its heart, the film is a tribute from one brother to another, it’s also a testament to the importance and power of journalists.  

All the Empty Rooms

34 minutes. Directed by Joshua Seftel.

Steve Hartman began reporting on school shootings in the United States in 1997. With each incident, he realized people were moving on more and more quickly. How could he do things differently, to keep people from accepting what’s unacceptable? Hartman refocused his efforts by visiting the bedrooms of the children who were taken too soon. Photographer Lou Bopp assists Hartman by trying to capture the souls of the children whose bedrooms he visits. It’s a profoundly moving effort, and director Joshua Seftel captures the final three visits with tenderness and compassion.

Children No More: Were and Are Gone

36 minutes. Directed by Hilla Medalia.

Every Saturday in Tel Aviv, Israel, a group of activists stand vigil, each displaying the photo of a child killed in the war in Gaza (children killed in Israel and the West Bank are included, too). The demonstrators don’t always agree on the best way forward, but their dedication is undeniable. Watching some of the hate directed their way is almost too hard to bear. But the importance of these quiet vigils is depicted vividly in Medalia’s extraordinary short film.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films are presented in three separate feature-length programs (Live Action, Animated, Documentary) at theaters beginning this weekend.

New In Theaters

Heartbreak and Displacement

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All That’s Left of You

by Rachel Willis

Opening with two teenagers swept up in a demonstration in the West Bank, writer/director Cherien Dabis drops us into a world of strife and sorrow with her film, All That’s Left of You.

After the tense opening, the film moves backward in time to 1948, Jaffa, Palestine. From here, we follow Sharif (Adam Bakri) as he struggles to hold onto his land and home amid ever worsening strikes in the region. His wife is less concerned with his ideals than she is with keeping her family safe.

As we follow Sharif and his family, and the decisions they have to make as Zionist troops close-in, we get a sense of the hopelessness of the situation. Whether or not you know the history, there is a sense of impending doom as the men in the region discuss their options—stay and resist or leave in hopes of a safer future.

The 1948 segment of the film is the shortest, but it gives a sense of what was lost for the people of Jaffa.

Jumping ahead 30 years to the occupied West Bank, Sharif is now an old man who lives with his son Salim (Saleh Bakri) and his family. Each moment we spend with this family shows how deeply the film cares about its subject matter.

One scene during the 1978 segment is so intense it’s nearly impossible to watch. As soldiers torture and humiliate Salim in front of his son, Noor (Sanad Alkabareti), their laughter only underscores the cruelty present when we dehumanize each other. Noor’s reaction to the event is heartbreaking, yet honest.

The film jumps ahead another ten years as we follow an angry, teenage Noor (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) in an increasingly charged West Bank. The scene that opens the film comes full circle as the third section begins.   

This family’s trauma across generations is our gateway into this world. Events unfold around them that are almost incomprehensible. Protestors are gunned down in the street. Treatment for a medical emergency is delayed over bureaucratic red tape and a misplaced ID. All That’s Left of You is an impassioned portrayal of one family’s experiences of displacement and heartbreak in Palestine.

Outtakes

Ticking Away the Moments

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No More Time

by Rachel Willis

What writer/director Dalila Droege does really well with her pandemic thriller, No More Time, is capture the fear, paranoia, and rage that comes with a viral outbreak.

Hilarie (Jennifer Harlow) and her husband, Steve (Mark Reeb), flee Texas for Colorado in hopes of finding some kind of escape. They seek to disappear, leaving everyone they know behind and hiding in a vacation town in the mountains.

A radio announcer (voiced by Jim Beaver) embodies the rage that can breed from the conflicting information that comes with a viral pandemic. Beaver’s broadcaster falls into the trap of thinking that if information changes on daily basis, that makes it suspect. The vocal performance captures the blind anger that comes from a place of deep fear and distrust.

However, that doesn’t mean that, within this world, the radio is entirely wrong. There is something very disturbing about the virus.

Droege effectively captures the ways in which our society can easily fall apart when faced with an external, existential threat. The idea of mean-world syndrome permeates nearly every moment that Steve and Hilarie interact with the people around them.

To juxtapose the deep schisms growing among the human population, Droege peppers peaceful scenes of the ecosystem throughout. The environment glows in opposition to the violence brewing in the human world.

Droege’s instinct for dialog is not as strong. At times the lines are so heavy handed as to be unbelievable.

But the overall effect of the film is deeply unsettling and familiar. Though the virus at the heart of No More Time is vastly different than the one we endured, the emotions are the same. We can learn from past mistakes, or fall into the same fear, paranoia, and anger that crippled us in the past and permeates the world of No More Time.

Outtakes

Eye in the Sky

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Visions

by Rachel Willis

Unsettling close-ups of eyes and haunting music opens director Yann Gozlan’s thriller, Visions.

Estelle (Diane Kruger) is a successful commercial pilot who lives a seemingly idyllic life with her husband, Guillaume (Mathieu Kassovitz). However, it’s clear early on that Estelle keeps herself under strict control. Small details show how tightly wound she is.

Her ordered life is upended when she is reunited with an old friend, Ana (Marta Nieto). As Estelle’s opposite, Ana’s disorder is a little too on the nose. In one scene, Estelle is as rigid in her stance as Ana is fluid. Because of how heavy-handed they’re presented as foils, the two characters feel hollow.

As many women coiled too tightly, Estelle unravels rapidly. Violent dreams leave marks on her body. She begins to see eyes peeping in on her in various situations. There are several tense moments between Estelle and her husband, as well as between Estelle and Ana.

Kruger is impeccable, carrying the bulk of the film’s emotional weight. It’s unfortunate that the story can’t match her intensity. The film is often frustratingly opaque, leaving the audience with little to try to unravel as Estelle’s visions haunt her. Too many pieces seem smashed together with little narrative cohesion.

The overall effect is tedious. It’s hard to care about characters that are never fully realized. Each person in Estelle’s orbit is mere shadow. And the mystery at the heart of Estelle’s “visions” is less interesting than certain extreme moments she spends in the cockpit of a plane.

The focus on eyes is one of the more compelling features of Visions, but on the whole, it doesn’t succeed in keeping our eyes glued to the screen.

Outtakes

Stop Your Sobbing

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The Wailing

by Rachel Willis

For as many horror films as I watch, it’s rare for one to truly unnerve or scare me. The ones that do tend to hit a deeply held fear or anxiety. Director Pedro Martín-Calero’s film The Wailing hits one of those fears—the fear of not being believed.

Co-writing with Isabel Peña, Martín-Calero movie follows several women as they encounter a sinister presence. Each section of film follows a different woman, traveling backward and forward in time to show how each one is impacted by the violent entity in their lives.

The first is Andrea (Ester Expósito). While walking home one day, the music on her phone is interrupted by the ethereal wailing of one or more women.  

The film’s tension picks up quickly. One especially frightening scene pairs the fear of not being believed with the anxiety of being ignored. As Andrea pleads and screams for help in a crowded room, onlookers simply stare at her, unmoving and unmoved.

It’s these moments, and several quieter ones, where the film excels. As the suspense and mystery grows, it’s clear the takeaway is that when women are ignored, everyone is the worse for it. While the women are the most negatively and directly impacted, the violence has a sinister spread with the potential to affect everyone in it orbit.

The only element the film struggles with is how to convey text conversation. The choice to overlay images with text messages is distracting and negates the rising tension.

Fortunately, this is only an issue during Andrea’s story. Then the film moves back in time to follow Camila (Malena Villa) as she interacts with Andrea’s mother, Marie (Mathilde Olliver).

The Wailing excels in following a reverse timeline to explore the extended metaphor of the long-term effects of not believing women. The film ends on what could be construed as a hopeful note, but the choice of how we move forward is left to the audience to decide. Believing women is the first step; what comes next is up to us.

Outtakes

A Sort of Homecoming

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Reawakening

by Rachel Willis

It’s generally a good bet that if Jared Harris is in your film, it will be worth watching.

This is certainly the case for writer/director Virginia Gilbert’s Reawakening, and the cast surrounding Harris help elevate the entire film.

On the tenth anniversary of their daughter Clare’s disappearance, John (Harris) and Mary (Juliet Stevenson) make a renewed plea to the public to help them in their search for their daughter. It’s made known through subtle pieces of conversation that Clare wasn’t kidnapped but ran away from home at the age of 14.

Brief flashbacks show pieces from the past that help to explain the events leading up to Clare’s departure, but these moments never overshadow the present narrative. We frequently see how her disappearance continues to affect her parents. Mary’s grief is overwhelming. John looks for his daughter in the faces of every young woman he passes. Both have continued with their lives, but it’s clear they will never move on from their loss.

This is a subtle thriller, as the twists and turns play second fiddle to a poignant character study. Harris takes center stage as first a grieving father, then a skeptical one as a woman claiming to be Clare (Erin Doherty) enters their lives. It’s not hard to understand why Mary and John have such divergent reactions to the return of their daughter. Their reactions underscore both blind hope and stunning disbelief.

The film’s subtlety sometimes works against it. There are small moments that are easy to miss even though they play an important role in the overall narrative.

But what works for this film is the veracity of this small family as they seek answers and struggle to reconnect. Harris, especially, sells his role as a father who just wants to know what really happened to his beloved daughter.

It’s a moving analysis of family trauma that resonates long after the credits roll.

Nightmares Film Festival

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

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Tinsman Road

Screens Sunday, October 19 at 2pm

by Rachel Willis

Writer, director, and star Robbie Banfitch crafts a unique, documentary-style film with his feature, Tinsman Road.

Banfitch plays Robbie Lyle, a documentarian focused on capturing his mother Leslie’s (Leslie Ann Banfitch) belief that her missing daughter is now an angel.

Leslie’s grief is tangible, and as the “documentary” progresses, her hold on reality seems more and more tenuous. Her belief that her daughter is now a visiting angel is met with tender skepticism by her son. When she asks if he believes in psychics, she answers his no with the assurance that while “some are scams,” hers is real.

Leslie Banfitch’s naturalism helps sell the documentary approach. Her ability to fully encompass a woman who believes her missing daughter now haunts her life is not only heartfelt but convincing. Her performance sets the film apart from similar, weaker fare. Robbie’s own grief feels two-fold. Not only does he also mourn the loss of his sister but feels helpless in helping his mom with her grief. It’s a heart wrenching dilemma.

Eerie elements underscore the fact that, while this is a movie about a grieving family, it’s also a horror film. It’s these subtleties from the very beginning that slowly suck you in. The film also pulls artfully from the true crime genre.

The camera work and low-budget quality of the movie both heighten the tension and add to the sorrow surrounding the characters. Though the style has certainly been overused in the horror genre, Banfitch manages to make it feel like a necessary choice.

Certain moments feel unnecessary, but they’re few and far between. The removal of one or two scenes may have helped tighten pacing. But these are small imperfections, easy to overlook.

Tinsman Road‘s slowly building dread gives way to a shattering climax. The intensity of the third act is stomach churning, especially after the quiet meditation on grief that came before it. Banfitch rewards your patience with the finale.

Grief and horror have often gone hand in hand, and Banfitch offers up a worthy contribution.

Uncategorized

Ain’t Got No Swing

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London Calling

by Rachel Willis

Charming isn’t usually the first word to spring to mind when describing a movie about a down-on-his-luck hitman. However, that’s the word that comes up when thinking about director Allan Ungar’s film, London Calling.

Tommy Ward (Josh Duhamel) flees London for sunny Los Angeles after a hit goes terribly wrong. He finds similar work with a new employer, Benson (Rick Hoffman). Somehow, Ward also finds himself the unlikely caretaker of Benson’s son, Julian (Jeremy Ray Taylor, It). Tasked with turning Julian into a man, Ward takes him along on a series of hits. 

London Calling is suffused with humor, from the opening scenes through several bloody shootouts. Throw in Julian’s interest in LARP-ing and a penchant for Furry porn, and London Calling delivers the right mix for a solidly funny movie. 

Ungar’s script, co-written with Omer Levin Menekse and Quinn Wolfe, is very predictable, but Duhamel and Taylor’s chemistry keeps it fun. Their pairing is delightful. Duhamel plays to his strengths as a hitman who could clearly use a pair of glasses but refuses them. Taylor is believable both as a crime lord’s son (with a certain ambivalence toward violence), as well as a LARP-obsessed kid.

The film falters during its climax. Too many threads come together in unsatisfying ways. Worse still, London Calling loses its sense of humor and veers too close to melodrama. 

Thankfully, it’s a brief misstep, and the overall effect is a solidly funny, enjoyable film about two charismatic outcasts.

New In Theaters

Don’t Waste It Living Someone Else’s Life

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Everything to Me

by Rachel Willis

For a young woman growing up in Silicon Valley during Apple’s heyday, the role model for her coming-of-age journey is none other than Steve Jobs.

Writer/director Kayci Lacob has a new take on the perils of growing up in her film, Everything to Me.

The film opens on an adult Claudia (Victoria Pedretti) at a reading for her new book, The Book of Jobs. What starts as a reading turns into voice over narration as we follow Claudia through several life stages.

The most impactful iteration occurs with tween Claudia (Eliza Donaghy), who uses the words of her idol to not only navigate her parents’ tumultuous divorce, but to correctly insert a tampon for the first time. There is a lot of heart and warmth in these moments.

However, the bulk of the film follows teen Claudia (Abigail Donaghy). It’s apparent that Claudia’s hero worship has become off-putting to her best friend (Lola Flanery), reflecting, unfortunately, the way it feels to the audience as well. Claudia’s hero-worship no longer feel like a natural extension of her character, but a script she follows rather than lives.

This is a theme throughout the film: live life as it happens rather than trying to live by someone else’s bucket list. However, our teenage Claudia never quite comes across as someone who truly believes in what she does and how she lives.

But the film comes alive in other ways, mostly in the characters who surround Claudia. Particularly vibrant is way she navigates her relationships—with her mom (a winning Judy Greer), her dad, a favorite teacher, and the boy who likes her.

In these moments, the film excels, making it easier to brush aside less interesting and less believable scenes.

Growing up is never easy, Claudia’s journey toward finding herself delivers a memorable reminder of that..