The Untamed (2017; Amat Escalante) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes Here comes more dreary provocation from Heli director Escalante. This time around, Escalante offers an intriguing but no less deadening blend of sexually charged sci-fi and kitchen-sink social drama. Impressive newcomer Ruth Ramos stars as Alejandra, the flustered […]
Person to Person (2017; Dustin Guy Defa) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes A scruffy little charmer from festival darling Defa, in the form of a smart indie ensemble piece about – what else? – mixed-up New Yorkers stumbling towards some sort of personal connection. Defa made his bones with […]
The Last Face (2017; Sean Penn) GRADE: D By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, July 28, at the Presidio in San Francisco, and on VOD services. This is every bit the self-righteous howler we all hoped and feared after its hostile reception at Cannes 2016. The Last Face makes the […]
Endless Poetry (2017; Alejandro Jodorowsky) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes Full disclosure: I have not seen Jodorowsky’s 2014 comeback film The Dance of Reality, the spiritual successor to this semi-autobiographical fantasy. Therefore, feel free to disregard my take on Endless Poetry accordingly. That previous film covered Jodorowsky’s youth in Chile, […]
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2017; Daniel Raim) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, July 21 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, the Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley, the Rialto Sebastopol in Sebastopol and the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. When Andy […]
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2017; Bill Morrison) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, July 14, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. A stunning work of curation from documentary filmmaker Morrison, a story of fortune, folly, film and fire preserved in permafrost. When the Yukon Gold Rush […]
