A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Steven Soderbergh, “Contagion” (2011) Unexpectedly discovering a new lease of life and relevance in the current COVID-19 near-global shutdown environment, this film purports to be a…
Samuel E Mac, “Upload:U” (2017) A creepy little short made in very sparing minimalist style, “Upload:U” may be viewed as a metaphor expressing the alienation and…
Jude Chun, “The Time Agent” (2016) In its own unassuming way, “The Time Agent” is a deconstruction of a once common style of narrative in genres…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Southeast Asian Films
Tan Ce Ding, “The Masseuse” (2018) An intriguing film set in a not-too distant dystopian future in Kuala Lumpur, “The Masseuse” poses questions about the nature…
James A Sims, “What if Wendy” (2017) Here is a sparse and minimalist character study of a woman in denial about her grief at the death…
Jesse Lupini, “Iteration 1” (2016) Made for a Canadian film festival in which the objective was to shoot a film and complete its post-production in the…
French and French-language Films
Thierry Lorenzi, “On / Off” (2013) This short space-exploration thriller film had been doing the film festival circuit for a number of years before DUST channel…
Ryan Turner, “A Date in 2025” (2017) Goofy teenage romantic comedy about a socially awkward and self-conscious young man meets insidious panopticon nanny-state, courtesy of artificial…
Aly Migliori, “After Her” (2018) A young man, Callum (Christopher Dylan White), goes in search of a young woman, Hayley (Natalia Dyer), five years after she…
Michael Mathews, “Apocalypse Now Now” (2017) Made as a proof-of-concept film on which a television series or a feature film will be based, “Apocalypse Now Now”…