So's Reel Thoughts: May 2015

AHHHHHHH! It's here! It seems like I've been waiting forever to finally see a trailer for Jason Banker's hyper-realistic feminist superhero story, Felt for some time now. It's only been a couple of days since the teaser poster came out which is provocative to say the least! Now, they released a (explicit!) trailer and a new poster for all yall to see and I can't wait to hear what you think of it! Blending documentary and narrative forms, Felt follows Amy who is struggling to cope with her past sexual trauma and the daily aggression of a male-dominated society by creating an alter ego that re-appropriates the male form.

I remember very clearly that I had a run-in with a horrible cat-calling incident right before I watched Felt which only added more fuel to the fire of my ever so growing fury. I had never seen a film that so rightly captured the daily assaults women experience in their lives in such an accurate manner. Chilling, raw, and downright soul-crushing, Felt is a film that truly demands to be felt! You can read my full review here. I am so beyond excited that it's going to finally come out in theaters on June 26th and VOD on the 21st! Make your calendars bbz, this is one film you cannot miss!

Film Review // Teaser Poster

Love It / Hate It is a new segment I'm doing on every Wednesday in the month of May where Kristen Sales of Sales on Film and I discuss films we hate or love!

Kristen from Sales on Film and I are back with a whole new segment of Love It / Hate It and this time, we chit chat about David Zellner's polarizing Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter starring the ever so great, Rinko Kikuchi. The story is based around the urban legend surrounding the death of a Japanese woman by the name of Takako Konishi. The media reported that she had died trying to find the treasure depicted in the Coen Brother's film, Fargo. In reality, Konishi was suffering from depression and had committed suicide. Zellner spins the tale to mesmerizing and at times polarizing proportions to tell one of the most interesting stories to come out in a while. Sales make her great points about the film which is undeniable but it was an unexpected spiritual experience for me. Tune in to hear more about it!

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The official U.S. trailer and poster of Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's Ukrainian sign language film, The Tribe has been released and it is bloody beautiful! I saw the film last year at AFI FEST and there is no film I fell more madly and deeply in love with than this film right here that is wholly in Ukrainian sign-language, no translation. The film follows Sergey, a new student to a deaf boarding school as he navigates the school politics of the students and the culture within it. This film made me realize why I fell in love with cinema in the first place. Transformative, transcending, and powerful, The Tribe dares to grab you by your core and shake it!

The tagline to The Tribe is "Love and hate need no translation" which could not be more true in this case as Slaboshpitsky creates a singularly unique and universal piece of cinema that transcends all the barriers and boundaries of most films which is language. As his directorial debut feature, The Tribe is a groundbreaking and monumental film that needs to be experienced in its entirety! Look at the beautifully layered craftsmanship of the poster which presents the beauty within the harsh environment. Thank the heavens that Drafthouse Films is finally releasing the film on June 17th. Get ready to have your mind blown!

Badass Femmes is a bi-weekly column that I write on Crome Yellow about all the Badass Females in pop culture that has shaped my life.

I was lucky enough to have grown up in Los Angeles’ K-town, a city where Asians were one of the most dominant races. Eventually moving to the suburb of Torrance, I enjoyed the same type of cultural balance, a city filled with either white or Asian people. But despite being amongst flourishing Asian cultures, I still had my own run-ins with casual or unconscious racism, stemming from ethnicities who clearly had no knowledge of the political incorrectness that plagued such a so-called “diverse” environment. Though it was unbearable at times, I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if I were the ONLY Asian girl in small town just like Stars Hollow, from the TV show, Gilmore Girls. It was a perspective that actress Keiko Agena brought so well to her character, Lane Kim, who played the titular Rory Gilmore’s best friend. Agena’s Kim would become a powerful representation of an all Korean-American girl living in the states; and despite the fact we were in polar opposite environments, Lane was the epitome of that archetypal bi-cultural lifestyle that so many of us second generation kids have lived and breathed.

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I got the extreme pleasure of interviewing the filmmakers behind 3rd Street Blackout, Negin Farsad and Jeremy Redleaf. Their film was selected as one of the very few gems for Los Angeles Film Festival's Feature Narrative section and I loved it so much! Witty, charming, and thoroughly relevant in our technology inundated realm, 3rd Street Blackout is a knock-out. Read below!

Negin Farsad and Jeremy Redleaf, writers, directors and stars of 3rd Street Blackout, talked with Associate Programmer So Yun Um about their film, which also stars Janine Garofalo, John Hodgman and Ed Weeks. The story follows neuroscientist Mina and her hacker boyfriend Rudy, a picture-perfect, prototypical hipster couple who live, work and love across digital platforms. When Hurricane Sandy pummels the city and knocks out the power in their neighborhood, at first it is romantic. But when Rudy discovers an indiscretion that Mina kept secret, they must learn to navigate on analog terrain, or risk losing their relationship.

Is this a story that happened in real life?

Negin: We were both in the hurricane zone after Hurricane Sandy. I was actually dating a guy and I had a relationship that was intensified because of the black out and I live on 3rd Street. And some of the characters [are based on real people]–like the chill master across the street is a real guy who’s played by Arthur French but the real chill master is a guy who appears in the film and says hello to the chill master. The guy at the card shop that I go to all the time plays the father of the actor who runs the card shop. There are real life people from the neighborhood. The band lives in my building and what not.

(read the rest of the interview at Film Independent)

Love It / Hate It is a new segment I'm doing on every Wednesday in the month of May where Kristen Sales of Sales on Film and I discuss films we hate or love!

Kristen from Sales on Film and I are back with a whole new segment of Love It / Hate It and this time, we dive into Ryan Gosling's first feature, Lost River. Lost River really divided critics and audiences alike like I haven't seen in a long time and surprisingly, I was on the opposite end which means I liked it (as usual)! Kristen on the other hand had many valid points to make (as usual) and it's always interesting to see how we consume the same material but end with vastly different perspectives! I can understand everything Kristen says but the film catered to my aesthetic taste in tones, cinematography, story, and music despite a few mishaps here and there. Maybe I am too forgiving but it's no denying that this would be a great midnight classic! Am I right or am I right?!

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I am incredibly sad to state that I did not know about Josh and Benny Safdie's Heaven Knows What till I saw the film listed on this year's SXSW film roster despite the film having made so many festival rounds from Venice Film Festival to AFI FEST to even True/False Film Festival! But better late than never right?! I am so thrilled that I found out about them because this film looks like one hell of a film! Based on the experiences and unpublished memoirs of Arielle Holmes, Holes plays Harley, a fictionalized version of herself: a heroin-addict who is battling a manic addiction in the backdrop of NYC admist a craved love affair.

I am posting two different edits of the trailer because I had first saw the Red Band Trailer and fell in love with the edit of it all and how through the midway point, there is this intense voice-over that reminded me much of Flosstradamus (who I'm obsessed with) that evoked this fantastically crazed world of absolute chaos! With this kind of music thrown into the mix, I better fasten my seat belts for one maniacal ride!

Official Green Band Trailer shows a more tender aspect revealing more of the love story between her and her boyfriend. A great new edit.

What I adore about Heaven Knows What's blend of fiction and documentary is that it encapsulates the raw and nitty gritty vibe of New York street life so accurately. Although, I've only been to New York City a handful of times, I've witnessed the unrest that occurs on the streets that normally one cannot get away with in a city like Los Angeles. The city plays just as big of a role as the characters in the film and it seems like just the kind of disorderly riot that I am normally drawn to! Heaven Knows What is coming out on May 29th which is only two weeks away so get ready!

I don't know about you but I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't what I thought it was! Provocative and jarring, the poster completely translates exactly what Jason Banker's new film, Felt truly represents. Blurring the lines between narrative and documentary, Felt follows the real-life story of artist Amy Everson (who co-wrote the script), as she struggles to cope with past sexual trauma and the daily aggressions of a male-dominated society by creating costumes of alter egos that reappropriate the male form.

I saw the film back in November at AFI FEST (read review) and never have I seen a film that was so viscerally raw and accurate to the daily experiences of a girl dealing with the consequences of living in a misogynistic and patriarchal society. As someone who gets cat-called and thrown sexist remarks on a daily basis, the film shook me to my core. Amplify Releasing is releasing Felt in limited theaters on June 26th before VOD platforms on July 21st. Don't miss out!

It's a long time coming but it's almost here! The official trailer for Mia Hansen-Løve's house music film, Eden is here! I had seen the film last November when it was screened at AFI FEST and even did a review with Sales on Film (watch here) where I rave about Hansen-Løve's portrayal of the real-life events that took place. Inspired by her brother Sven's career as a DJ (and co-writer), Mia constructs a beautifully simplistic yet refreshing take of a French DJ's career spanning twenty years, capturing the grim realities of adulthood as well as his rise and fall with swooning melancholia. This new U.S. cut of the trailer translates the film perfectly with serenading music provided by none other than Daft Punk. I had the extreme pleasure of interviewing Mia way back when about this film which is her fourth feature (read interview here). Broad Green Pictures will be releasing Eden on June 19th so get ready!

Love It / Hate It is a new segment I'm doing on every Wednesday in the month of May where Kristen Sales of Sales on Film and I discuss films we hate or love!

Kristen from Sales on Film and I are back with a whole new segment of Love It / Hate It as we talk about David Robert Mitchell's It Follows. It Follows made all the big film festival rounds starting with Cannes last year to AFI Fest to this year's Sundance and then it finally got released for the whole world to see what the hype was all about! Kristen disliked it and I liked it for various reasons for which I'm sure you can both agree on. She makes some valid points about the film's standpoint on gender and racial economics and so much more. And like always, there are certain things she disliked about the film which ultimately are the very reasons why I liked and appreciated the film as you will see in our discussion below! See which points you agree with more!

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I named Chloé Zhao's directorial debut film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me one of the best films I saw at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Set on the Great Plains and the Badlands of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the film explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister as they navigate through their separate paths as they rediscover the meaning of home. It was Zhao's sensual and delicate filmmaking style and approach to this beautiful story that truly captivated and moved me on an emotional and spiritual level beyond what I had ever expected. Through the eyes of the film's two youthful leads played by John Reddy and Jashaun St. John, we get a sneak peek into the usually reserved and rarely seen world of Native American people and culture with sweeping beauty and sincerity. The trailer is being released by Pharrell Williams and Mimi Waldês' company i am OTHER, so check it out below!

Songs My Brothers Taught Me is selected to screen in the prestigious 47th annual Directors' Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival this year. As one of the three female filmmakers in the program, Zhao is a visionary and tour-de-force filmmaker to be reckoned with. You can already tell from the trailer and poster that the film will be a poetic contemplation on a culture seldom seen on screen. The film provides a portraiture of the Native Americans living on this Indian reservation but the story goes beyond that, to tell an universal and potent story about one's identity and home. It was such a unique and breathtaking experience going into a film without knowing and expecting anything, only to come out questioning and reflecting on my whole existence and journey as a human being. I mean, THAT is powerful. I hope it gets U.S. Distribution soon because I need everyone and their mama's to see it ASAP!

Badass Femmes is a bi-weekly column that I write on Crome Yellow about all the Badass Females in pop culture that has shaped my life.

As an asian girl growing up in the early 2000’s, I was fortunate enough to see the start of Asian American culture represented in popular media; naturally, I gravitated towards women like Lucy Liu and Margaret Cho. Since I didn’t discover Cho till much later, Liu was the first Asian woman that caught my attention on screen as Alex Munday in McG’s Charlie’s Angels. As an iconic group of female spies, Charlie’s Angels were monumental figures within pop culture and it was radical to see a Chinese American woman take over a predominately white role. Alex’s character defies all standards and expectations, mildly rooted in stereotypes but ultimately pioneering the face of a growing Asian American community that was famished to see representation.

Continue reading on Crome Yellow...

Love It / Hate It is a new segment I'm doing on every Wednesday in the month of May where Kristen Sales of Sales on Film and I discuss films we hate or love!

Kristen from Sales on Film and I are back with a whole new segment of Love It / Hate It as we talk about legendary documentarian Albert Maysles' last film, Iris! To start off this beloved series, we changed it up a bit to discuss the first film that we both LOVED (gasp!). We may be going against the rules but hey, I wrote them so why not! Following a day in the life of 93-year old Iris, we witness her hectic yet luxurious lifestyle, knit-tight marriage, and singularly unique fashion influences and styles. As this is Maysles' last film, it is endearing and emotional to see yet another work that embodies his usual intimate and delicate approach of the portraiture of his subjects with incredible empathy and warmth. See what Sales and I had to say about the film as Maysles' #1 fangirls.

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I had the pleasure of moderating the Q&A for Miss India America at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival! Miss India America delivers a rarely seen coming-of-age story in which a fiercely ambitious young Indian American girl named Lily Prasad competes for the title of Miss India America. Set in the backdrop of SoCal suburbia, the film channels many rom-com elements reminiscent of many contemporary Hollywood productions while infusing traditionally Indian standards of beauty as well as culturally-specific notions of success. I feel so fortunate to have moderated this Q&A where the director, Ravi Kapoor, Writer and actress Meera Simhan, Actress Anushka Rani, Producers Megha Kadakia and Saurabh Kikani, Editor Varun Viswanath, and Sound Mixer Caleb Mose were in attendance! Check it out!