Whose Streets? (2017; Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, August 11, at the Landmark Embarcadero in San Francisco and the Landmark California in Berkeley. A portrait of activism captured by activists, mostly focusing on street-level views of the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri. […]
Columbus (2017; Kogonada) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes A promising but arid directing debut from video essayist Kogonada, with a rare showcase role for John Cho and a potential breakout performance from Haley Lu Richardson (she played Hailee Steinfeld’s best friend in The Edge of Seventeen, as well […]
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, […]
