SFF Selections 2015: "Little Men"

Little Men * * * *



     No one writes dialogue like Ira Sachs. A master of understanding the intricacies of human speech, his films observe conversations as though heard from life. Absent of exposition and theatricality, pregnant with sub-text, and brimming over with sentiments unsaid: his words are mine, yours, human. "My parents are married, they just don't live together." says a buoyantly authentic Brooklyn teen. "I don't understand..." responds his sensitive and artistic friend. And "neither do I." comes his pointed and vulnerable reply. These words ring so true because they honestly convey how kids, nay how people speak when un-masked and genuine before one other. The people who speak them are Jake and Tony, the simplistically and earnestly genuine titular Little Men of Sach's latest exploration of interaction in a world filled with those who scheme and posture behind complex defensive facades.

SFF Selections 2015: "Time Out Of Mind"

Time Out Of Mind * * ½

     Time Out Of Mind (Oscar-nominated writer/director Oren Moverman's third feature) doesn't tell a character's story, but instead simply watches one. The story Moverman observes isn't made up of a plot per say, but rather of little episodes that anyone could go out and see any day -which when strung together, form the chronology of a man's life. That man's name is George, and he is homeless. Observed through windows and reflections, in the midst of crowds and often not central to the camera's focus, George isn't even easily identified as primary through much of his onscreen placement during the film. As though apart of a moving game of "Where's Waldo?" played out on the tapestry of lives that is New York City: his conversations are obstructed by the sounds of others, pedestrians encroach on the audience's view of him, and the honks of horns and sirens of the city never cease to interrupt the words he speaks.

Oscars 2015 Winner's Profile: "GLORY"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG WINNER:
 *the song's title links to its YouTube video

   Glory -Selma

     Rarely does a film contain social truths and human insights that transcend the four corners of the cinema's frame to speak to the lives of all who bear witness to the events there within contained. Selma is such a film, and even more so a rarity in that it doesn't speak, but sings to its witnesses.

Golden Globes 2014: A Happy Globes! -Commentary & Predictions (Original Score)

     Tonight at 8 PM EST, NBC will air the HFPA's 72nd Golden Globe Awards! After skipping out on publishing anything over the course of last year's awards season, Rodney&Roger's annual Globes' prognostications make their triumphant return with this post. Per usual, this post's intent is not to list what or whom I think should have been nominated, but rather to provide commentary on what films and individuals have indeed been nominated and to pronounce what should win out of the existing pool.

SFF Selections 2014: "Lies I Told My Little Sister"

Lies I Told My Little Sister * ½

      Imagine Tracy Lett's Pulitzer-prize winning August, Osage County as produced by the "Lifetime" network. Imagine Violet Weston's cancer being over-sentimentalized with sap lines like, "Anything could happen to anybody at any moment...", "She wasn't cast iron, no one's cast iron!", and the classic, "Every heart has its graveyard." Imagine Violet and Barbara's wrestling match taking place in the sand at a beach (looking like the actresses were in fear of harming one another) and ending in one straddling the other as they giggle. Imagine a romance cropping up mid-way to ultimately provide the story's emotional climax and conclusive resolution after grief, family reconciliation, and personal growth had been established as the plot's core themes. Imagine all these things and you will have a pretty clear picture of what sitting through Lies I Told My Little Sister is like.