I have had the wonderful privilege of experiencing the Dances With Film LA Film Festival digitally this year, and here is a look at all the films I have seen. Keep them and the folks involved on your radar, as you never know when you just might get the chance to see them for yourself.
We are going to continue with the Narrative Feature Film, TENDER.
TENDER
THRILLER
RUN TIME: 96 MINUTES
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY ADAM HOELZEL
STARS JESS WEIXLER, JESSE GARCIA
Adam Hoelzel has a great sense of angles and how to manipulate them. This is well-designed shot-wise. The editing in this movie is also nicely done. I love the cuts and the fades; it gives this movie some badly needed movement and flow. There is this cool time lapse edited fading in the opening credits I thought was really cool. Spotlighting and haloing the characters in key moments, manipulating natural sunlight, and darkening the edges are all great devices used to make this feel and look claustrophobic and give the characters the space to emote and react that they don't have otherwise, and that design does help sell the tension here.
Adam Hoelzel has a great sense of angles and how to manipulate them. This is well-designed shot-wise. The editing in this movie is also nicely done. I love the cuts and the fades; it gives this movie some badly needed movement and flow. There is this cool time lapse edited fading in the opening credits I thought was really cool. Spotlighting and haloing the characters in key moments, manipulating natural sunlight, and darkening the edges are all great devices used to make this feel and look claustrophobic and give the characters the space to emote and react that they don't have otherwise, and that design does help sell the tension here.
My biggest concern, and where I trip up, is that most of the subtext and foreshadowing are delivered in off-screen voiceovers that don't help move the story forward until it's actually over. While there is a purpose to the voiceover, it serves more to set up a misdirect. Which is fine if the stakes seem elevated, which they seem to be just by happenstance. However, this whole movie feels like a slow-moving magic trick that seemingly never pulls out of 2nd gear until it has to, and even then it doesn't bring a sense of urgency for anyone, even though the situations are dire and manipulating on their own.
Jess Weixler and Jesse Garcia have nice chemistry and are radiant on screen, but this movie struggles to give us a reason to care about them or anyone, really. In a lot of ways, we are watching a movie about bad guys trying to be bad guys, but they don't know how to do it properly. The funny thing is they're not good guys either. Everyone in here has a motive to be bad, and that's fine, but it didn't play out like that for this viewer, and I don't know if it's the writing or the acting that seems to be the issue there.
All that being said, this movie could try to dumb down its premise or overact, which, thank God, it doesn't. At the very least, it stays true to its nature, and that I can appreciate. It's hard to be David Mamet or Gillian Flynn, who wrote "Gone Girl", but you get the feeling from the cadence and intelligent design that's what this movie wants to elevate too. To be fair, at times it hits like that. Jess Weixler gives good sinister vibes from time to time, especially in the reveal moments. The 3rd act is the best example of that, and that is where we find the best writing and acting because finally, we see where this was all leading.
This one was tough for me because I like smart movies, and this movie is smart, but it feels more smug than smart sometimes, and that gets in the way of fully enjoying a very well-shot and put-together narrative.
Still, though, if you like Mamet and that type of bad guy shilling, this might appeal to you. Like I said, there is some gold in here, literally and figuratively.
Jess Weixler and Jesse Garcia have nice chemistry and are radiant on screen, but this movie struggles to give us a reason to care about them or anyone, really. In a lot of ways, we are watching a movie about bad guys trying to be bad guys, but they don't know how to do it properly. The funny thing is they're not good guys either. Everyone in here has a motive to be bad, and that's fine, but it didn't play out like that for this viewer, and I don't know if it's the writing or the acting that seems to be the issue there.
All that being said, this movie could try to dumb down its premise or overact, which, thank God, it doesn't. At the very least, it stays true to its nature, and that I can appreciate. It's hard to be David Mamet or Gillian Flynn, who wrote "Gone Girl", but you get the feeling from the cadence and intelligent design that's what this movie wants to elevate too. To be fair, at times it hits like that. Jess Weixler gives good sinister vibes from time to time, especially in the reveal moments. The 3rd act is the best example of that, and that is where we find the best writing and acting because finally, we see where this was all leading.
This one was tough for me because I like smart movies, and this movie is smart, but it feels more smug than smart sometimes, and that gets in the way of fully enjoying a very well-shot and put-together narrative.
Still, though, if you like Mamet and that type of bad guy shilling, this might appeal to you. Like I said, there is some gold in here, literally and figuratively.
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