AMERICAN SKIN - Henry Jackman

 

"Judging by Henry Jackman’s mournful and melodramatic horn score, it seems like this is shaping up to be an intimate rendering of a tragically familiar tale. The writing is streaked with the same kind of holy clumsiness that once made '7th Heaven' such a hit, but Parker radiates enough raw earnestness to make it work. Whatever his failings as a person, he’s always been an innately charismatic screen presence (go watch 'Beyond the Lights'). That warmth, however, has its limits."

 

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

DEAD PIGS - Andrew Orkin

 

"Demonstrating a light touch -- underscored by a whimsy-leaning score and overtly comic moments, but never delving into flimsiness or farce -- Yan handles her chosen topic, and the tapestry of tales it’s woven through, with care. Coupled with the naturalistic tones prominent in cinematographer Federico Cesca’s ('Patti Cake$') lensing, it’s an approach that mostly resonates. It may, however, struggle to turn its World Cinema Dramatic Competition berth into anything beyond modest festival and eventual streaming play."

 

Sarah Ward, Screen Daily
 

"The twisty acceleration of reciprocal payback moves is gruesome fun, if not always entirely plausible. But Blakeson and editor Mark Eckersley keep the pace zippy and the plotting taut, despite its density of incident. The sinister techno score by Marc Canham also helps maintain the momentum, while DP Doug Emmett ('Sorry to Bother You') provides a sleek visual canvas."

 

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

"For a time, the film is wordless as, with the everyday business of her survival, Edee tries to distract herself from the everyday emptiness of her life. This is the 'All is Lost'- type film that initially 'Land' teases, a sinewy solo survival thriller, before then suggesting a more interior, psychodramatic approach as she starts to see her husband and son running alongside her through the forest or downstream fishing from the same bank. Then winter comes, and there’s a bear attack, which robs her of most of her food, and a strangely placed drone shot that, floating over the cabin accompanied by a particularly ominous stretch of Ben Sollee‘s score, even hints at nature-horror."

 

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist 

MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY - Paul Leonard-Morgan

 

"While 'Wormwood' unfolded through ominous interrogation sessions and spooky hotel room reenactments, 'My Psychedelic Love Story' gives Morris the chance to show his gentler side, resulting in a sensitive, bittersweet romance that ranks as his most satisfying movie in years. Admittedly, the movie sometimes presses too hard on the style button, turning the Morris algorithm up to 11, from Paul Leonard-Morgan’s euphoric score to a restless editing strategy that amounts to feature-length montage. But even then, it’s a welcome return to form for a filmmaker whose form is all about the slippery search for truth."

 

Eric Kohn, IndieWire

"André Chemetoff‘s photography is gorgeously stark, often finding high drama in the elements -- as when a terrifying and destructive blizzard keeps the women separated for a time. And Daniel Blumberg‘s music is another crucially expressive element, its lonesome, atonal whines, and drones adding atmosphere largely without the emotional manipulation of melody. If there is a flaw in Fastvold’s approach, it’s that the exceptional elements she assembles, from performance to costuming to imagery to sound design, all become somewhat secondary to the words, perhaps a factor of two novelists writing the screenplay. Structured around Abigail’s diary entries -- admittedly beautifully written, full of faltering lyricism that creates metaphors for longing and yearning from the waterfalls and leaves and precipices of the unforgiving surrounding landscape -- it’s a film that tends to tell more than it shows. This subdues the drama and sometimes tamps down the embers of the story -- a kind of 'Portrait of a Lady on Low Heat' -- when we might wish to see them set on fire."

 

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist