Rambling Film

Official Synopsis:   A pathologist (Marin Ireland) successfully reanimates the body of a little girl, but to keep her breathing, she will need to harvest biological materials from pregnant women. When the girl's mother (Judy Reyes), a nurse, discovers her baby alive, they enter into a deal that forces them both down a dark path of no return. Yes, this movie is exactly as messed up as the synopsis suggests, and I had been wanting to see it ever since lucky festival goers reviews came across my letterboxd feed. Pathology itself is an interesting field and and having one as a co-lead just made this all the most interesting. It raises a lot of questions about mortality and whether or not you would do something like this if you could. Like, as a parent, can you blame Celie for wanting to do all she can to have her 6 year old daughter alive again? Can you blame Rose for her discovery, even if the means are questionable?  I was very into this, but I don't think this film is a ho...

Official synopsis:  A young American, Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate I'll admit, when I first saw a trailer for this film, I rolled my eyes. WHY do we need a prequel to The Omen? Is there not something else we could write about? Well, here I am now, eating crow, because this film was a lot better than it had any right being. Even though we know Damien is eventually going to be born, the film does very well with making the "how" of it a mystery. There's so much for Margaret to uncover. There were parts I found predictable, but even though I knew where it was going, I was still interested in seeing how the characters get themselves there. Tiger Free is great in this role. It's very reminiscent of what she did in The Servant , but I liked that about this f...

Official synopsis : A woman's friendship with a new co-worker at the prison facility where she works takes a sinister turn. I think all of us movie lovers that actively read reviews can admit that sometimes we're reading and watching so many, that it's easy to forget what a film is about if you don't see it right when everyone else does. Take Eileen for example. I love both Anne Hathaway and Thomasin Mackenzie, and I know I read other blogger's reviews of this film. I remember it being mixed. So I went into this expecting a forbidden lesbian romance story, and boy when I say I was the literal embodiment of this meme.. I almost had to laugh. I probably would have if this film had not gotten SO dark. I was really impressed with this overall. It's a very quite film, but it has quite the crescendo. It's easy to see why Eileen finds herself obsessed with Rebecca considering the people she has to surround herself with each day. I thought the production design wa...

Official Synopsis:  An ambitious journalism student, Mia (Bel Powley) falls under the thrall of an esteemed yet cutthroat news reporter, Diane(Tracee Ellis Ross) whom she's desperate to impress, even if it means manipulating her latest story - and the very idea of truth itself. I've always loved journalism movies, so when I saw this film finally hit Netflix, I immediately downloaded it for my long flight. If you're going into this looking for someone to like, you will be disappointed. Both Mia and Diane suck. Especially Mia, who we spend all of our time with. Diane is an asshole, but Mia screws over so many people in this film that when karma finally catches up with her, I couldn't give her even an ounce of pity. It's a stark contrast to the last thing I saw Powley in, which was A Small Light , where she played the hero Miep Geis, who I would do anything for.  Powley plays the part well. Mia knows she has to step on people to get to the top, and that she does. When ...

Official synopsis : In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles - from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog. I'm sure there's a name for films like Napoleon Dynamite , Eagle vs Shark , and now Fallen Leaves but I struggle to define them. "Deadpan comedy," "irreverent," "awkward." These three films have that in common.  I wasn't expecting to dislike Fallen Leaves as much as I did. These type of movies that I previously mentioned just don't work for me. They come off as unfunny and low effort, and I know that is a minority opinion because those films both have a lot of fans. This film was even a Mubi exclusive, so clearly there is an audience for them, it's just not me.  This film felt like a series of good ideas, but they couldn't settle on which one they wanted to bring to the forefront. I...

Official synopsis:  When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her. I'm back! I was on a week long trip to visit family in Germany, so I watched quite a few movies to occupy me on my long flights. The first up is Germany's submission to this year's Oscars. One I had hoped to catch before the ceremony. One film I did not expect to compare this to was 2012's Compliance . I feel like I've been thinking of that film a lot lately, but I will never re-watch it because if you know, you know. I feel similarly about this film. Carla makes so many stupid decisions, and yes I know *why* she's doing it, but it was so frustrating to watch. Nearly every problem in this film could've been solved with a simple conversation. And the film keeps building and building the tension, then ends in th...

Official synopsis:  Fourteen-year-old Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Seven teenage girls and a boy were accused of the savage murder. A true crime series starring Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough? Sign me up. This 8 episode drama streams on Hulu and follows the real case of Reena Virk, whose grisly murder inspired author Rebecca Godfrey's book of the same name. Godfrey unfortunately passed away from cancer before the mini series finished production, but she allegedly liked how the episodes were written and how she would eventually be portrayed by Riley Keough. This surprises me a bit, because there is one thing that really tanked the series for me, and it was how unbearable Rebecca became. I've read that she liked that she was portrayed as a bit of an "anti hero" in this, but I don't think that's true at all. I don't think there's anything heroic about show Rebecca and how she projected onto these tee...

Official synopsis:  Upon the loss of his mother, an Egyptian teenager Nabil (Ryan Ali) leaves his home of Cairo to live with his father in Toronto. Parachuted into the underground queer nightlife in Toronto, he confronts his mother’s death, much to his father’s disapproval, by taking up the ways of drag and becoming Queen Tut. There's so much to love about this film. Endearing performances, gorgeous costumes, found family. It feels very honest. It's wholesome to see Nabil feel connected to his mother by a sketch of a dress she planned to make, and for that dress to come to life as he does as Queen Tut. I liked the focus on preserving LGBTQIA+ history and not letting it fall to the wayside of gentrification. Even if this was a fictional landmark, you feel for it as if it's real.  Another part of Nabil's story outside of his relationship with his parents is how he grapples with religion. I liked that the film has space for both being critical of people using religion to d...

Official Synopsis:  Post-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb. I'm not sure I've ever kicked myself so hard for not seeing a film in theaters the way I did Godzilla Minus One. Life would just NOT work with me on that one, and I missed it. Now, after 84 years, the film is finally available to stream on Netflix. And I can see what all the fuss was about.  At this point in the pop culture zeitgeist, I'm used to Godzilla teaming up with Kong and taking a nap in the Colosseum. This film reminded me that he's meant to be legitimately terrifying. His entrance into this film is so abrupt and creepy. Then he leaves, and we focus on the human story. One of found family, surviving post-war when your war isn't necessarily over, and love. I found myself getting so into that, that I almost forgot I was watching a Godzilla movie until he returns with a vengeance.  The SFX team d...

Official Synopsis:  While Thomas (Nico Tortorella) and Oscar (Juan Pablo Di Pace) are very much in love, after their first foster child returns to his birth mother, they find that they have different ideas about what making a family actually means. This film gets its title from the Mattachine Society, and early US gay rights organization. The famed staircase dedicated to founder Harry Hay also makes an appearance. It's a fitting title for a film with plenty to say about the broad spectrum of gay relationships. Dealing with marriage, fertility, dating, adoption, and everything in betwenen. Thomas is a photographer, he narrates the film from time to time against a series of photos he's taken. I really liked this touch. Thomas is a character who starts off not thinking too much about becoming a parent, then when it happens he realizes just how much it means to him. My heart always swells when I think of my own child, so I loved seeing that play out.  This film just made me feel a...