Posts by Neely Swanson

“Wildflower” is the sort of true story of an intrepid youngster raised by intellectually challenged parents. Peg and Earl are the parents of Sharon, born seriously challenged intellectually but with a joyful, fearless personality ready to go after what she wants. Derek, whose mental growth stopped at age 13 after a traumatic head injury, is…

The “Los Angeles Times” has chronicled the subversive presence of deputy gangs within the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. A problem for many years, the last sheriff vowed to rid the department of them and instead embraced them like an unpopular kid being welcomed into a clique. He was defeated by Robert Luna who, also, campaigned…

Marvin Samel, director of “iMordecai,” wanted to honor his father with a personal family history. A cigar entrepreneur, Samel had been using his father as a punchline for years in the anecdotes he told during sales events he hosted. He realized he had a gold mine because his father’s stories were endless and when he…

Actress Frances O’Connor, in her feature writing and directing debut, has tried to translate her fascination with the enigma that was Emily Bronte into a fanciful biography. Scant actual information about Emily Bronte exists. She was reclusive by nature, suffering from an anxiety disorder that kept her close to home. She made several attempts at…

Based on Sandra Schulberg’s monograph entitled “Filmmakers for the Prosecution”, director Jean-Christophe Klotz has crafted a documentary full of previously unknown information on how the first Nuremberg trial was constructed based on film and photographic documentation shot by the Nazis themselves.  In 1945, with the end of the war in Europe, the allies came together…

Exhausted from her work and international travels, Patricia receives a phone call boost from her partner. He wishes her well but doesn’t have great news. All of her hotel choices are unavailable but he’s found her a charming Inn in the English countryside. It will be perfect for her much needed rest and relaxation before…

The coming of age film is an evergreen that is very hard to pull off and find something or some way new to say it. Director HÀ Lê Diêm has mined the field and found gold in the far north region of Sapa in Vietnam near the Chinese border in this telling documentary.  Tracing the…

“Poppy,” written and directed by Linda Niccol, is the sweet coming of age story of Poppy Stevenson, a pert 19-year-old New Zealander with Down Syndrome. While everyone else sees limitations, Poppy sees only opportunity. She is determined to live the kind of normal life everyone else seems entitled to. Working at the family garage under…

Santa must be very unhappy this year because he left us with a piece of coal (actually something a lot smellier) in our stockings called “Christmas with the Campbells.” Directed perfunctorily by Clare Niederpruem, who in all honesty wasn’t given much to work with, and written badly and sophomorically (or is that moronically) by Vince…

Another in the genre of true crime or as the French Canadians put it at the beginning: “This film is a work of fiction freely inspired by true events.” I love that much more than the English translation of “This film is a work of fiction based on a true story.” No matter what they…

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy So much has been made of Steven Spielberg’s newest film being autobiographical, but dissecting the personal aspects of this wonderful movie diminishes its universal impact. The filmmaking is sly and misleading. Ostensibly his own origin story, undeniably it…

Vinny is a crack salesman in a Sari shop but it’s not how he sees his life. He aspires to be a rapper but he’s still looking for his beat. He’ll be looking a long time. Dumped by his girlfriend Rina three years ago, he still smarts. Now it’s even worse because word on the…

“Love, Charlie,” the excellent documentary by Rebecca Halpern, is an in depth look at Charlie Trotter, one of the first American superstar chefs. Although this is not a “rise and fall” story because Charlie Trotter never really fell from the heights he worked hard to achieve, it is a “warts and all” tale about a…

Seth Reis and Will Tracy, the writers of “The Menu,” have offered up a frothy mixture of dark comedy, thrills, and ultimately horror that goes down as readily as spherical beads of strawberry puree. Director Mark Mylod has taken this concoction and whisked it into a mile-high soufflé. Four couples and a trio, all strangers,…