Since the days of Stella Dallas and Mildred Pierce, filmmakers have sought to explore the dichotomy of being a woman and a mother. Freedom and marriage are two terms that aren’t mutually exclusive, and an entire genre of features exists…
Traffik Movie Review: A grindhouse feature with a message
There’s something naturally fun about a movie whose plot revolves around a couple being hounded by small-town hoodlums, whether they be backwater hillbillies (like Backcountry or Wrong Turn) or Satanists (like Race With the Devil). Deon Taylor’s Traffik is a…
Deon Taylor Discusses Finding Inspiration in Authenticity with ‘Traffik’
Deon Taylor is a director who doesn’t sugarcoat. He hopes to find a way to please audiences while simultaneously telling them a story that affects women and children throughout the world. He also gets bonus points for revealing to me…
Grace Jones Bloodlight and Bami Movie Review: Bold yet blah
There’s a moment at the beginning of Sophie Fiennes’ documentary, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, where an adoring fan asks Jones if she’d ever do another movie. She smoothly answers, “My own.” It’s a loaded phrase because if Bloodlight and…
Andrew Dosunmu talks Michelle Pfeiffer and ‘Where is Kyra’
Nigerian director Andrew Dosunmu wants us to look closer at the people around us. His latest feature, the Michelle Pfeiffer drama Where is Kyra? is a haunting exploration of a broken woman audiences might commonly ignore on the street. Dosunmu…
Blockers Movie Review: A film that 🐓 blocks itself
Throughout the 1980s the teen sex comedy was associated strictly with young men. Even today, movies focused on teenage girls losing their virginity – such as Maggie Carey’s The To-Do List – are rare. Director Kay Cannon’s Blockers, whose title…
Where is Kyra Movie Review: Michelle Pfeiffer dominates quiet story of loss
The death of a parent is a final cutting of the apronstrings, a literal disassociation from the life you grew up with into the harsh world of adulthood. For some people, this is less of a shock if you exit…
