Year: 2016

Director: André Øvredal

Writer: Ian B. Goldberg & Richard Naing

Cinematography: Roman Osin

Cast: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Ophelia Lovibond

Country of Origin: UK

Rating: R

Time: 99 mins.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I had the privilege of attending Beyond Fest--LA's best and baddest genre film festival--where we got to watch the scariest film of this year, The Autopsy of Jane Doe. After the police find numerous gruesome murders in a house and a seemingly pristine corpse of a nude woman in a shallow grave, father and son coroners, Austin and Tommy Tilden must find out how she died. As their examination progresses and no closer to a conclusion than they started, they start to speculate that a supernatural element is at play.

Brought to you by the Filmmaker who brought us The Troll Hunter, Øvredal expertly crafts a minute by minute mystery thriller that creates a suffocating atmosphere that never lets up. This has got to be the scariest film I've seen this year along with South Korean film, The Wailing. I love it when the initial premise morphs into another theme that I would've never imagined! The film's incorporation of supernatural elements creates a chilling climax that you soon won't forget. So if you're a masochist like me, go watch this film when comes out December 21st so you'll be plagued with nightmares for the rest of your life!

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Year: 2016

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour

Cinematography: Lyle Vincent

Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Diego Luna

Country of Origin: USA

Rating: R

Time: 118 mins.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I had the privilege of attending Beyond Fest--LA's best and baddest genre film festival--where we got to watch the another cannibalism film, this time directed by Ana Lily Amirpour called The Bad Batch! Arlen (Waterhouse) is thrown into a fenced-off desert wasteland past the Texas border where all the "bad batch" of society now live. After getting her leg and arm chopped off by local cannibals, she ends up finding hope and love. Trust me when I say, you have never seen a film like this. Like Amirpour's previous hit film, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, I enjoy and appreciate her work immensely as an experience rather just a film. With it's incredible cast of new and old school actors and a banging soundtrack, psychedelic vibe, The Bad Batch surely is not to be missed!

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Year: 2016

Director: Julia Ducournau

Writer: Julia Ducournau

Cinematography: Ruben Impens

Cast: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella

Country of Origin: France | Belgium

Rating: R

Time: 99 Min.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I had the privilege of attending Beyond Fest--LA's best and baddest genre film festival--where we got to watch the best cannibalism movie of this year, Julie Ducournau's Raw. Following a veterinary college initiation ritual where she has to eat a rabbit kidney, vegetarian Justine becomes consumed with cannibalism tendencies. This film has everything I love: sisterly love, exploration of female sexuality, and a refreshing spin on the cannibalism genre! This is Ducournau's directorial debut feature and it's an absolute stunner that is crafted with confidence and innovativeness.

Raw took the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes Film Festival and even made grown men faint when they saw it at Toronto International Film Festival! Sal and I are not sure EXACTLY which scene they fainted because there isn't anything outrightly grotesque that warrants a fainting spell so for those with weak stomachs, this film is A-OK! It's all around intensely engrossing film with a brutal coming-of-age story that will give you sweat-inducing flashbacks of your college years and an in-depth look at a girl's transition to womanhood, blood and all. 

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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.

This month I was drawn to women who earned their badass status through hard-working, intensely focused work ethic. Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods was an apt first choice, but to follow her up, I selected a very different kind of woman, one who literally dances on the darker side and pushes the boundaries of what’s humanly possible. That woman is Nina Sayers from Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. As the flip side of Elle Woods, Nina finds herself consumed by her goal and will stop at nothing (to her detriment) to succeed. Bringing Nina to life, Natalie Portman’s bone-chillingly nuanced performance is the embodiment of what happens when you let your passion bring out the worst in you. Channeling her fragility into strength, Nina’s intense goals threaten to ruin who she is, and it’s this struggle that the character illuminates so well.

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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.

We’ve all been there, overcome and desperately in need of that bright light of inspiration. I, for one, tend to look towards the women around me to find motivation, but also keep coming back to one of the first characters that encouraged me to embrace who I was. Surprisingly enough, that character was Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Even though I was an angsty 13-year-old, like Elle, I too was labeled a supreme ditz with a disgustingly peppy attitude, a “blonde” who was not actually blonde. Sure, I wasn’t sporting her sparkly pink wardrobe, but her determination to be seen beyond a socially embedded stereotype ignited a power within me to basically embrace the “fuck the rest and do me” mantra. At such a young age where the odds seemed against us both, she was the light in my dark, long tunnel, proving once and for all, that women could have it all – brains and beauty. If Elle Woods could do it, then so could I.

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Year: 2016

Director: Karyn Kusama
Writer: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Cinematographer: Bobby Shore

Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi, John Carroll Lynch, Michiel Huisman, Tammy Blanchard

Country of Origin: USA

Time: 100 min.

Crome Yellow and I went to Beyond Fest and one of our favorite films was Karyn Kusama's The Invitation! While attending a dinner party and his former home, Will (Marshall-Green) thinks his ex-wife Eden (Blanchard) and her new husband (Huisman) have other sinister intentions for him and the guests. I have been a huge fan of Kusama's earlier works like Girlfight and Jennifer's Body but The Invitation is by far her most masterful work yet! She crafts this suffocatingly tense thriller with such precision and  artistry, the results will make you completely rethink dinner parties for good! Drafthouse Films is releasing the film next April which cannot come soon enough! 

- Trailer & Poster -

This post was originally posted 12/9/15

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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.

Nowadays, there aren’t enough films about female friendships – at least not the ones that represent real women, hustling through life, singular interactions intact. This is why I keep coming back to F. Gary Gray’s iconic film, Set It Off, starring the some of the most prestigious black women of our time – Vivica A. Fox as Frankie, Jada Pinkett as Stony (before she was a Smith), Queen Latifah as Cleo and Kimberly Elise as Tisean. In truth, I could’ve written an entire Badass Femmes focused on Pinkett’s beautiful and resilient Stony, but these women individually are even more special as a whole. It’s who they are with and without each other that drives the film’s story. The results are an immaculately fleshed out and emotionally resonating film, showcasing the daily hustle of the working woman when faced with brutally real moments of economic crisis. These ladies represent the many real-life women out there who fearlessly make hard decisions when their backs are against the wall, reflecting a harsh reality that rings true today more than ever.

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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.

Raze doesn’t mess around, namely because it showcases a woman’s greatest fear (dying at the behest of a man), and strips its female characters of their freedom, showing who they are at their most feral, primal and unhinged. The premise of Raze is simple, exhibiting women who are survivors first and foremost, thrown into a ring and forced to fight their fellow female in a fight to the death – and all for entertainment. It’s the ultimate betrayal of each characters’ identity and worth, but also a celebration of women and sisterhood, as our heroines rise above their shitty circumstances to beat the system in the ultimate act of perseverance and sacrifice.

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Year: 2015

Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Writer: Ah Cheng, Chu T'ien-wen, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Hsieh Hai-Meng, Pei Xing (short story)

Cinematographer: Lee Ping Bin

Cast: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Tsumabuki Satoshi

Country of Origin: China/France

Time: 105 min.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I got to witness one of the most beautiful films of this year at Beyond Fest which is Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Assassin. In ninth-century China, an exiled assassin must choose between love and her duty when she is ordered to kill a man from her past. This is unlike any other martial arts film you have ever seen! The film showcases the most stunning and breathtaking cinematography that will transport you through time and space to witness a story truly visionary and masterful. Any fan of Hou knows the steady pace he utilizes and to some it may be too slow, but with these kind of rich visuals, who cares!

The Assassin is China's official entry to the Oscars for Best Foreign Language film. It might have some serious competition with Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang from France but regardless, you should experience these two singularly powerful films for themselves. I had a chance to go to a q&a with Hou a day after where he went over his filmography and filmmaking style. All I can say is that he is such a wacky cat! I need to definitely to check out his previous works because if they are anything like The Assassin, I am in for a real treat! 

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Year: 2015

Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Yoshitaka Yamaguchi

Cinematographer: Hajime Kanda

Cast: Hayato Ichihara, Lily Franky,  Yayan Ruhian, Reiko Takashima

Country of Origin: Japan

Rating: R

Time: 125 min.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I went to Beyond Fest, the biggest and baddest genre film festival in Los Angeles! We had the privilege of witnessing Takashi Miike's latest genre-bending and mind-blowing film, Yakuza Apocalypse and we were not disappointed! The story follows Kageyama, a young yakuza who is ridiculed by his peoples for not being able to get tattooed. His bossman, the notorious and revered Kamiura is in secret, a vampire. After getting defeated by rival gangs, Kamiura passes his powers to Kageyama, forcing him to seek revenge on the syndicate. Sal and I get down on all the deets and why we'll be forever Miike fans!

With blood-sucking Yakuza vampires, super-strong fighting Keroppies, and all around madness, Yakuza Apocalypse may be one of the craziest films you will see this year! Miike is no newbie when it comes to controversial subjects in his work and while his previous films have pushed the boundaries of terror with Audition and Ichi the Killer, it's pleasant to see a bit of a more wackier side to his film palette like seen in his kid's film, Ninja Kids!!! Sure, this film wasn't perfect but it was 100% Miike and that's what we wanted to see. Fans across the globe will be excited to see another work from this auteur and guaranteed, they will be roaring in ecstasy that they did!

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Year: 2015

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Writer: Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins

Cinematographer: Dan Laustsen

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam

Country of Origin: USA

Rating: R

Time: 119 min.

Sal from Crome Yellow and I are really excited about Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak. Like REEAALLLLYYY excited! Forget what the trailer shows you, this film is truly a gorgeous gothic love story that is a feast for your eyes and soul. An aspiring writer Edith (Wasikowska) marries the charming and seductive Sir Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston) and she finds herself swept away to his remote gothic mansion in the English Hills where him and his sister Lady Lucille (Chastain) resides. Able to communicate with the dead, Edith tries to decipher the mystery behind the ghostly hauntings in her new home.

As stated in my trailer reaction of the film, I was worried that the "ghosts" were going to be too cheesy but having seen the film, the imagery works seamlessly into the story. There are so many elements in this story from the intricate and exquisite production design to the sweeping soundtrack to the dazzling cinematography makes this "horror" story a truly opulent and extravagant film experience. But above all, it's the powerful performances by Hiddleston and Chastain that puts the cherry on top of this stunning tragic love story. I cannot express how much I adored Crimson Peak! I hope everyone loves it despite the film being marketed incorrectly because it really is a film worth feasting on! 

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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.

Like most girls growing up in the 90s, I was fed a steady diet of witchery thanks to Sabrina the Teenage Witch,Charmed and of course everyone’s favorite gothic guilty pleasure, The Craft. My interests eventually changed and a fascination with having powers shifted my attention to the Harry Potter series. Then last year, my love of the dark arts was revived by the coven of witches in Witching & Bitching, a Spanish film following a group of desperate thieves-on-the-run who stumble into the home of some ancient sorceresses. Witching & Bitching has everything you want in a maddening Halloween film, a man dressed up as a machine gun wielding Jesus, growling witches on the hunt for men’s blood and a grotesque gargantuan woman thrice the size of Bigfoot ready to squash her opposition. There isn’t a single thing in this film that isn’t outright bat-shit crazy, but the real MVPs are the witches, or to put it more accurately, cannibalistic witches?!

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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.

Cheerleaders and football jocks have always been at the top of high school hierarchy, so it’s no wonder why us outcasts always had a love and hate relationship with them. But truth be told, my spunky and spirited 15-year-old self almost became a cheerleader before the inevitable wave of teen angst washed over me. Cheerleaders just had cutest outfits, got all the boys and I just thought my spastic nature would fit right in. Naturally, I had to see the holy grail of cheerleading films, Bring It On, and found plenty to love. As much as I adored Kirsten Dunst as the now iconic Torrance, it was the Clovers that stuck with me because of their no-bullshit, fearless attitude. Despite their economic and sociological background, they had the will to work hard, dream big and come out on top.

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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.

Thanks to her youthful roles in Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Reality Bites and of course, Heathers, Winona Ryder, our Princess of Darkness, will always have fans (and I) using the hashtag #Wino4Evaz on a daily basis. Out of all her films though, Heathers is the most sinister and darkest of all her younger years. As Veronica, Ryder was the fairest of them all, a sharp contrast to her shallow and soul-sucking companions – her angsty and aloof personality epitomized teen behavior in all of its cynical and nihilistic glory! To this day, the character is one that sticks out for standing her ground in a counter culture battle against the very people she once called her best friends. Though times have changed, high school remains a vicious battleground, and to make it out alive, you gotta play the game like Veronica did. Of course she saved the day by killing her ex-boyfriend and knocking her former besties off their throne, but that’s just high school drama to the next level y’all.

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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.

Girls are constantly being told that they can’t do what boys can, simply because…. biology. Alright, we get it! Now, shut up! I understand that we are physically not built the same way. But while we sometimes might not be able to carry something really heavy or open an insanely air-tight mason jar, it doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to offer. This is why it’s so obviously infuriating to tell a woman, a person who can bring life into this world, that they can’t do and don’t have the same power as men. This idea is one of the central themes in Karyn Kusama’s breakthrough debut, Girlfight, starring then fresh-faced newcomer Michelle Rodriguez as Diana Guzman. As the role that catapulted the now, Fast & Furious star to fame, the role of her lifetime gave us an unapologetically fierce and downright in-your-face Diana, a woman who fights (literally) against gender discrimination both in her private and public life.

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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. 

Contrary to popular belief, it’s hard being in any minority group in America. Being a woman is hard enough, but imagine being a black and queer as well – you can just imagine the sorts of challenges you might run into on a daily basis. Rarely have I seen that perspective painted as vibrantly as it is than in Alike (Adepero Oduye), the central character of Dee Rees’ semi auto-biographical first narrative feature, Pariah. The film is a gorgeously shot one, which takes us through this woman’s first loves, friendship, family and heartbreak, pulsating with authenticity and heart. Oduye as Alike gives us a nuanced, complex performance that resonates through every scene. As she reclaims her identity and sexuality amidst the vicious prejudice of her own family, we get to know a girl takes charge of her life and realizes that only she can make the choices that will make her happy.

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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.

Lesbians in film usually fall into common stereotypes feeding male fantasy. There are rarely any on-screen depictions with women naturally drawn to the same gender and not merely “experimenting.” I’d always wondered if going to college was suddenly going to awaken my desire to fall into this same stereotype, and how genuine it would be. To me, sexual preference never seemed like a concrete decision but more like fluctuating wave, something to be reevaluated as life’s ebb and flow took over. But I’m A Cheerleader’s Megan however, played by Natasha Lyonne, breaks the mold in queer representation, being a refreshing example of a teenage girl unconsciously attracted to women without knowing it. She’s also a girl who does what she wants and sticks to her guns.

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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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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.

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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.

Looking back at the most iconic high school teen flicks, the one quality that shines the most is the idea of dedication and loyalty. In high school, my best friend and I would pig out on Hot Cheetos, watch Romy and Michele and banter about the day we would attend our high school reunion to show up all the shitty kids that tormented us. We were a iconic duo and she was the Michele to my Romy. As a pair, Romy and Michele were the perfect reflection of our intensely strong bond to each other, a powerful reminder that friendships outlast high school and get us through the most awkward times of our lives.

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