Posts by Neely Swanson

“Holy Spider” is the thrilling, complex, revealing story of a serial killer in Iran who targeted prostitutes and was hailed a hero. Rahimi has arrived in the holy city of Mashhad to investigate the unsolved killings of prostitutes in this Holiest of Holy cities in Iran, the equivalent of Mecca to Shia Muslims.. She is…

The very first modern dance I ever saw was a concert by Paul Taylor Company when I was in college. It hit a nerve. The movements are so angular and athletic. Classical Ballet, also something I love, is like a piece by Bach or a 19th Century painting by Corot. But Modern Dance is an…

Some documentaries truly fall under the category of too outrageous to be true, but then that’s why we have the adage “truth is stranger than fiction.” “God Forbid,” directed by Billy Corben,  falls into that category and is juicy, salacious, sad, and terrifying at the same time. And it all started with that old sex…

“All that Breathes” is an interesting documentary that hits the mark as often as it misses. Two brothers, Nadeem and Saud, have devoted their lives to trying to protect the wildlife in their native New Delhi, an area that must be one of the most polluted, over-populated areas on earth. Their initial interest was in…

“A Chance Encounter” is the very definition of a small film, in all of the best ways. Directed by Alexander Jeffery in his feature debut, and written by Jeffery and his frequent producing partner Paul Petersen who also stars, the movie feels very personal. Petersen plays Hal opposite folk singer Andrea von Kampen playing Josie,…

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” written and directed by the incomparable Martin McDonagh and bringing back his dynamic duo of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson from “In Bruge,” is elegiac, humorous, and tragic, all at the same time. That the language is poetic and the setting ironically beautiful is to be expected because McDonagh, whether on…

“Raymond & Ray,” a complex portrait of half brothers who shared the same dysfunctional and abusive upbringing, delves into the aftereffects of becoming the same in different ways.  Raymond, identifiable immediately by his crisp khakis, uncomfortable demeanor disguised poorly by the tight smile on his placid face, arrives unexpectedly at the hovel his half brother…

“Ask Me to Dance” is the very embodiment of what used to be called “straight to video.” It will be streaming but not before a theatrical release. It is a tribute to the Writer/Director/ Producer/Star, Tom Malloy that he was able to pull any of this off. By any of this, I mean finding the…

Horror is most assuredly not my genre, but good films are. Writer Kevin Bachar and director Jerren Lauder have made a film that transcends genre and finds a way to layer psychology, teen angst, and family drama into the fright. The story of Lizzie Borden and her axe murders are at the heart and soul…

The figure of a lone elongated man photographed as though a painting by Egon Schiele or Max Oppenheimer, on a dark palette without background, gets closer and closer. Color and tone create the setting, looking very much like the post-apocalyptic World War I paintings of Otto Dix and Georg Grosz. It is 1920. The war…

I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, “Mean Girls” meets “The Exorcist.” Not. “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” is a lot of coulda woulda shoulda. What coulda and shoulda been a sly comedy about the perils of high school friendships and expectations, is actually a fairly flat, mundane story about girlfriends going…

“Hold Me Tight,” based on Claudine Galea’s play “Je Reviens de Loin” (“I’ve Returned from Afar”), is a disorienting film written and directed by Mathieu Amalric. It will keep you disturbingly off center almost throughout its fast-paced 90 minutes. Packing a very few things, looking around her house for one last time, Clarisse leaves it…

The true story of career criminal Gilbert Galvan belongs in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” It definitely comes under the category of “truth is stranger than fiction.”  Director Allan Ungar starts us out at the end. In stunning opening credits, as our anti-hero unloads his gun, stubs out his ever present cigarette, and prepares his…