Posts by Neely Swanson

“Rita Moreno: Just a girl who decided to go for it” is a lovely valedictory to the amazing actress and role model directed by fellow Puerto Rican Mariem Pérez Riera. Interspersing her narrative about Rita, Riera inserts the comments of many Latina and Latino actors who comment how important it was to see Rita, a…

“Akilla’s Escape” is a bolt out of the blue. This is not to say that the Charles Officer directed film is uniformly good, just that there are so many unexpected pleasures associated with an under-the-radar indie. And most of these pleasures are a direct result of the star, Saul Williams, primarily known in slam poetry…

“In the Crosswind,” the remarkable film conceived by writer/director Martti Helde, will sweep you into the eye of a storm where the stillness is haunting. Based on the diary of a young Estonian woman trapped in Siberia, Helde has reimagined her observations into letters sent to her husband, also in captivity. In 1940, the Soviets…

“City of Ali” directed by Graham Shelby takes us on an exploration of Muhammad Ali’s home town of Louisville and its significance in his vast history. Recognizing that so much of Ali’s life has been already told, the director and his team have attempted to carve out new territory in a field that has already…

“Undine,” the lyrically melancholic new film by writer/director Christian Petzold further solidifies his position as one of the great directors pursuing his craft in the twenty-first century. Lest you believe this is hyperbole, consider his previous three films, “Barbara,” “Phoenix”, and “Transit”. “Undine” is a worthy addition. Ancient mythology tells the tale of the Undine,…

“Dead Pigs” is a head-scratcher of a movie. Cathy Yan, the writer/director, considers this film to be a social satire and in its best moments, it is. But sometimes those moments are few and far between. Opening on Old Wang (Haoyu Yang) in a Virtual Reality Gallery, he is unpleasant, selfish, and rude—a real pig.…

A surprising new talent has suddenly appeared. Like Venus emerging from the sea, Suzanne Lindon, age 20, has jumped to the front of the line with her first film, “Spring Blossom” which she wrote, directed, and starred in. It’s not that the film is flawless or will enter the canon of storytelling but this very…

“La Piscine” (“The Swimming Pool”), a compelling French thriller from 1969, directed by Jacques Deray and adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière from a script by Jean-Emmanuel Contil, is being rereleased in a new 4K restoration. Jean-Paul gazes around him, quietly adjusting his bathing suit, his hair, and his demeanor, all sexy bravado slightly overwhelmed by the…

Director Luke Holland worked on his documentary “Final Account” for ten years and during that time he accumulated 500 hours of interviews. That he even got one is incredible because this is a story of the ordinary Germans who facilitated the “Final Solution” and without whom there would have been no Holocaust. Getting them to…

On the 40th anniversary of its original broadcast on German television and PBS, “New Deal for Artists,” written and directed by Wieland Schulz-Keil. is being rereleased in a new digitally remastered version. Studs Terkel himself, in classic finger-wagging mode, opens this Orson Welles-narrated film exhorting the viewer to absorb the information presented. You will be…

“Tomorrow’s Hope” is a bright spot within the blight that is poverty, not just on the South Side of Chicago, but anywhere opportunities are as lacking as faith in a broken system. Subtitled “The Promise of Early Childhood Education,” director Thomas Morgan gives us an intimate view of Educare, a novel early education intervention program.…

“There is No Evil,” is a profound and uncomfortable exploration of the blurry lines between personal morality and right and wrong, by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasulof. It is almost impossible to summarize each distinct chapter without revealing an important story point acting as a spoiler. Rasulof, who has, himself, been jailed by the Iranian regime…

“The Perfect Candidate,” written by Haifaa Al Mansour and Brad Niemann and directed by Mansour, is a film with as many ambitions as the lead character. This German/Saudi Arabian co-production was primarily filmed in Saudi Arabia, in itself a major accomplishment. That the director is a Saudi woman making her second film in that country…

“RK/RKAY” by writer/director Rajat Kapoor is a self-referential movie about film that stars…Rajat Kapoor. RK (played not coincidentally by Rajat Kapoor) is in the final editing stages of his latest film which he wrote, directed, and starred in. As one of his crew comments, “Your last film was s**t. This one wasn’t that bad.” It…