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Slamdance Journal: The Vast of Night

Deirdre Crimmins — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 20:00:53 +0000

The Vast of Night takes a big gamble in both visual style and storytelling structure, and it hits the jackpot. This close look at a small town’s flirtation with the unknown shows how small stories can have big rewards. Taking place in 1950s New Mexico, The Vast of Night takes its time in getting to...

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Slamdance Journal: A Great Lamp

Deirdre Crimmins — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:00:57 +0000

A Great Lamp is the first feature by director Saad Qureshi. While much of it feels like a first voyage and a grand gesture to make a strong impression, the film’s raw emotions make for a humanizing tale of two strangers just trying to reach someone. The film is nearly entirely black-and-white, save for a...

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Slamdance Journal: Desolation Center

Deirdre Crimmins — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:00:07 +0000

As riveting as the recent Fyre Fest documentaries have been, Desolation Center shows us that there’s some heart and soul in the history of music festivals. With its roots in the early 1980s Los Angeles punk scene, Desolation Center tells the story of the short-lived DIY punk concert series of the same name. Following a...

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Slamdance Journal – The Beksinskis: A Sound and Picture Album

Deirdre Crimmins — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 16:00:39 +0000

The Beksińskis. A Sound and Picture Album is a documentary based on a book by Magdalena Grzebałkowska, which is based on the life of painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. A collection of home videos, news footage, diary entries, and essays, the documentary takes the rich history of an artist’s home life and crafts an accessible portrait of...

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Slamdance Journal: Lost Holiday

Deirdre Crimmins — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Lost Holiday seems to fancy itself some sort of crime drama or buddy comedy. I’m not saying that it’s neither, but it does seem to suffer from a lack of passion in its characters, just as those characters suffer from a lack of passion for their own lives. Margaret (Kate Lyn Sheil) and Henry (co-writer...

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Slamdance Journal: Impetus

Deirdre Crimmins — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 18:00:20 +0000

Impetus is nearly impossible to categorize – not because it defies genre, rather it tries to occupy too many of them at once. Fiction, biography, autobiography, documentary and metatextuality all factor heavily into this self-indulgent portrait of creativity and loneliness. Beginning at first as a straight documentary by filmmaker Jennifer Alleyn, Impetus is about making...

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Slamdance Journal: Hurry Slowly

Deirdre Crimmins — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:00:06 +0000

Hurry Slowly is the rare film that focuses its attention on the quiet times leading up to a major life change, and not the change itself. It’s slow, contemplative, and methodical in its examination of one young woman’s life, just before she starts living it. Fiona (Amalie Ibsen Jensen) lives on an isolated island, in...

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Slamdance Journal: Crystal Swan

Deirdre Crimmins — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 13:00:39 +0000

Crystal Swan is the official submission from Belarus to the Academy Awards this year, a recognition that it rightly deserves. The film is smart and steeped in decades of Belarusian history, and yet it features relatable characters who just want to live their lives. The film is all about the misadventures of Velya (Alina Nasibullina)...

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