Author: Nathanael Hood

Abu is Underdeveloped Ambition

Abu is Underdeveloped Ambition

Posted by | Jun 23, 2017 | , |

Overview: Canadian-Pakistani documentarian Arshad Khan recounts his difficult upbringing as a gay Muslim in a fundamentalist immigrant home. TCDM Associates; 2017; Not Yet Rated; 80 minutes. So Close Yet So Far: The most objective documentaries are always the hardest ones to review. Stripped of any kind of creative stamp or focus other than the dry regurgitation of facts, interviews, or images, it’s nearly impossible to review them without simply recounting everything that was shown or said like you were writing lecture notes. At a glance, Arshad Khan’s Abu should be the exact opposite: it’s an intimate recounting of the...

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A Look Back at Funeral Parade of Roses

A Look Back at Funeral Parade of Roses

Posted by | Jun 16, 2017 | |

Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) is one of those rare Japanese films which, while heavily borrowing from the aesthetics and genre iconography of other countries and cultures, is distinctly, unmistakably singular in vision, execution, and impact. Trying to winnow it down into any kind of movement isn’t just inappropriate, it’s outright reductive. Yes, the film feels heavily inspired by the American queer and underground cinema scenes à la Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Jonas Mekas, the latter of which is directly quoted by one of its characters. Many of its formal techniques seem pilfered from the creative...

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The Dunning Man is a Rambling, but Charming, Atlantic City Day Trip

The Dunning Man is a Rambling, but Charming, Atlantic City Day Trip

Posted by | Jun 5, 2017 | , |

Overview: An increasingly harried landlord desperately tries to collect the rent from his possibly villainous, possibly insane tenants. Dedalus Films; 2017; Not Rated; 91 minutes. Eisenstein Wept: Oh, how the old Soviet masters must be spinning in their graves. For with Michael Clayton’s The Dunning Man we have a film where a landlord isn’t just the protagonist but the valorous hero in a story that’s essentially just him trying to collect late rent payments from his tenants. What’s worse: we cheer for him the whole time. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. The landlord, Connor Ryan (James...

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Blame! Is a Bold Step Forward for Netflix

Blame! Is a Bold Step Forward for Netflix

Posted by | May 24, 2017 | , |

Overview: When threatened by the robots of a murderous, sentient supercity, a group of post-apocalyptic survivors are aided by a lone wanderer hiding a terrible secret. Netflix; 2017; Not Rated; 106 minutes. Brevity is the Soul of Decent Adaptations: As any anime expert will tell you, it’s never a good idea to try and condense a multi-volume manga series into a single feature-length film. Take Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. The film is unquestionably a watershed moment in anime history, completely revitalizing not just the cyberpunk genre, but anime’s reputation as a serious art form outside Japan. Yet in their attempt...

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96 Souls Has 0 Identities

96 Souls Has 0 Identities

Posted by | May 22, 2017 | , |

Overview: After gaining the power to see smells following a lab accident, a professor fights to keep his discovery out of the wrong hands. Gravitas Ventures; 2017; Not Rated; 112 minutes. Premiering Tonight at 8/7 Central: Stanley Jacobs’ 96 Souls missed its true calling as an entertaining yet slightly campy kid’s movie. It features the kind of set-up seemingly ripped straight from Nickelodeon or Disney Channel original movies from the late ’90s to the early ’00s: following a lab accident, professor Jack Sutree (Grinnell Morris) accidentally gains the ability to see smells. Eventually his super-sight increases in power to the...

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