independent films
“Where Hope Grows” is a film where God works in mysterious ways
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency.
During 95 minutes, director and writer Chris Dowling show us an inspiring story about Calvin Campbell (Kristoffer Polaha), a professional baseball player who was sent to an early retirement due to panic attacks at the plate. Even though he had all the talent for the big leagues, he struggles with the curveballs life has thrown him. Today, Calvin sleepwalks through his days and copes with the challenge of raising his teenage daughter (McKaley Miller). As his life heads in a downward spiral, it is suddenly awakened and invigorated by the most unlikely person – Produce (David DeSanctis), a young-man with Down syndrome who works at the local grocery store.
It’s related to a deep friendship form in an authentic, real, full of hope and encouragement. Despite Mr. Polaha plays the role with enough self doubt and confusion, David DeSanctis (who plays “Produce”) provides hope. It’s obvious the series has given him a foundation to make this role much deeper than most but together work, here and there, and Polaha is perfectly believable as an ex-jock and ex-jerk who lets a little child lead him out of the darkness and with the help of potential future soulmate Amy (Burns), it appears that things are looking up. Definitely a watchable film that becomes a kind of spiritual role model toward lost souls.
Not everyone is lucky as "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared"
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
After a long and colorful life working in munitions and getting entangled in the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, and other definitive events of the 20th century, Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) finds himself stuck in a nursing home. Determined to escape on his 100th birthday, he leaps out of a window and onto the nearest bus, kicking off an unexpected journey involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some wicked criminals, and an elephant named Sonya. Like an unruly Nordic cousin of Forrest Gump, Allan’s youthful escapades and current adventures weave together into an offbeat treat for anyone who’s young at heart. During 114 minutes with English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Italian, Russian languages, this awsome film will keep you full of pace to see a foreign film. Directed by Felix Herngren, It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century. Obviously it’ s full of wild adventure with great combination of wits, luck, and hilarious circumstances especially when he approached his visits to foreign countries, and his conversations with world leaders, with a refreshing sort of naïveté. His complete apathy toward political matters gives the viewer a strangely fresh, open-minded perspective. For fans of independent and foreign films, this one is completely contrived and utterly delightful.
How would react if you lose your job in Two Days, One Night?
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
Two Days, One Night, the latest masterwork of humanism from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two-time winners of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Featuring a profoundly moving performance from Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard.
Sandra (Cotillard) has just been released from the hospital to find that she no longer has a job. According to management, the only way Sandra can hope to regain her position at the factory is to convince her co-workers to sacrifice their much-needed yearly bonuses. Now, over the course of one weekend, Sandra must confront each co-worker individually in order to win a majority of their votes before time runs out. Certainly it is a film that reflects the working-class Belgian life. In one side shows a sense of solidarity, the other side shows the ambition for money. During 95 minutes, the main character is in the most desperate situation but at the same time her supporters also have to face difficulties. Despite of Sandra, who is recovering from a spell of depression has to solve her worries over the economic crisis, and her performance is one of the best especially when in this film the Dardennes take an urgent and extremely relevant ethical inquiry and support of the closer coworkers and the end the results are unexpected with a powerful statement on community solidarity which human tradeoffs are purely reflected.
Roman Polanski surprises with Venus in Fur
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
From the writer-director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) complains that no actress he’s seen has what it takes to play the lead female character: a woman who enters into an agreement with her male counterpart to dominate him as her slave. Thomas is about to leave the theater when actress Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner) bursts in, a whirlwind of erratic – and, it turns out, erotic – energy. At first she seems to embody everything Thomas has been lamenting. She is pushy, foul-mouthed, desperate and ill-prepared – or so it seems. Venus in Fur has an unique script that involves an extended “audition” and the main element are psycho-sexual mind games.The two main characters are very deep and intense in their roles especially in some elements such as claustrophobia, erotic tension, role games and sexual submission. Venus symbolizes the destabilizing nature of sexual desire. For those ones who are interested in a dominant-submissive historical love story are in fact secretly pining for such a relationship in their own lives. This movie is highly recommended if you love strange stories of Roman Polanski.
