★★★★ Directed by: #WillFraser Written by: #WillFraser Starring: #WillFraser, #TriRobinson Film review by: Patrick Foley “We have a dominion over the Earth” sounds like it should be a line from the latest superhero-smashfest blockbuster, rather than from a documentary focused on a rancher. But it is a mantra that defines the life of Tri Robinson – the subject of Cowboy & Preacher, and the biblical mandate he believes necessitates an environmental Christianity. Tri is both a cowboy, and a preacher, living an environmentally sustainable life in Idaho. We meet him through documentarian and director Will Fraser. Will is fascinated by Tri’s belief that environmentalism and Christianity are natural allies rather than opposites – and with an increasing rift between the two that mirrors a polarised American society, his biblical directive for green Christianity seems more radical than ever. In Cowboy & Preacher, Will is guided through Tri’s life, his spiritual experiences and his view on where the planet is heading with a conservational catastrophe seemingly around the corner. Tri Robinson is a fascinating contradiction of a man, and the perfect subject for a cause as intriguing as environmental Christianity. He is openly conservative and typically masculine. Yet his values and ideals are outright liberal in so many ways, and he is unafraid to demonstrate weakness and compassion for others. Cowboy & Preacher is about building a bridge between 2 principles that have found themselves on competing ends of a political spectrum, with no real reason to be in opposition. Will Fraser’s choice to allow us access to Tri’s life with himself as the host - Theroux-style - is a wise one, and more clearly demonstrates the wisdom in Tri’s life and teachings which the documentary clearly feels is warranted. The documentary makes no apologies for its pro-religious stance. Will is open about the strength of his own faith as we follow him in his meetings with Tri, but a belief in Christianity is not assumed or necessary for the audience. Some may see the failure to challenge certain Christian assumptions, such as environmentalism being naturally in-line with pro-life beliefs, as a lacking feature. However, these beliefs are never themselves preached to the viewer. In fact, weaknesses and failings of modern Christianity are confronted by the documentary and the subjects never look to withhold discussion or make judgements around these topics. There is an inherent reasonability to the film which impressively balances some of the contentious true-held beliefs of an evangelical farmer, and his rallying call for the compromises necessary if society is to find the common ground needed to avoid environmental disaster. The documentary is beautifully and affectingly shot. The wide, ranging landscapes of Idaho show the majesty of the land Tri is desperate to protect. Long shots of his readings from the bible, and subsequent interpretations, feel scholarly without becoming a lecture. There are also some scenes that verge into disturbing territory – such as in Tri’s slaughterhouse where he becomes upset over the inescapable need to harvest one of his animals, as well as a graphic scene showing the branding of a bull. Without much elaboration, these scenes give an insightful look into some inconsistencies in the belief system – in which dominion and respect for God’s creation are set aside or manipulated for certain purposes. Intentional or not, these small insights into the complex life of a green pastor give further weight to the documentary. Cowboy & Preacher is a fascinating and thoughtful examination of more than just one man. It is half-proof, half-plea that a green Christianity can be the future. Whether you believe we live in God’s dominion or not, time spent with Tri Robinson will leave you believing that it is worth protecting.

★★★★ Written and Directed by: #GraceBanks Documentary film review by: Brian Penn The broad landscape of film making never ceases to surprise and enlighten this reviewer; occasionally, a complete change of pace is a breath of fresh air and blows the mental cobwebs away. A Tapestry of Life digs deep into the ecology as we lead increasingly frantic lives. Grace Banks creates an engaging, almost hypnotic view of the world we frequently neglect. She provides an infinitely more gripping case for conservation than a year’s worth of Extinction Rebellion protests could ever achieve. No need to glue oneself to the Shell Building or pitch a tent in Parliament Square. Just allow the goodness and purity of nature to speak for itself. This is achieved using the beautiful Scottish countryside and a schools project studying two rivers that run through Aberdeenshire. The River Dee rises in the Cairngorms and flows through to the North Sea at Aberdeen. It is part of the Cairngorms National Park and the Lochnagar National Scenic Area. The river is popular with anglers, and is one of the most famous salmon fishing rivers in the world. The River Don rises in the Grampians and flows eastwards to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Similarly, it attracts visitors for salmon and trout fishing as well as its castles and scenery. The schools project aims to instil an awareness of nature and the environment; an opportunity to appreciate earth’s greatest creations and the wonder of nature. Local children do their part to save the earth, dispose of waste responsibly and minimise the use of plastic. Their personal accounts are interspersed with a quietly compelling narrative by Grace Banks. Tales of life on the river are told with warmth and reverence. The pace is steady but never hurried and reminds us that we should, from time to time stop and smell the roses. It never patronises or scolds the viewer for a lack of awareness; only the genuine desire to show what constantly slips our attention. It quite rightly poses the question of who might protect the world in years to come. Will the beauty of nature be irrevocably broken by a voracious appetite for material gain? As with most things in life there is a balance to be struck. A good place to start is with the children; today’s adults have made a mess of the environment; maybe tomorrow’s adults will fare better – let’s hope so. https://youtu.be/0d9gedbkhMA

★★ Directed by: #GuyPigden Written by: #GuyPigden Starring: #GuyPigden, #AstraMcLaren,#LieshaWardKnox Film Review by Lucy Clarke Some evenings, you’re mindlessly scrolling Facebook, and you see 100 likes under the picture of a ring, a wedding photo, an eight-week scan. You then feel the drop in your stomach as you realise that these are all your schoolmates, and you’re sitting on the settee, struggling to recover from the night before. You feel out of place, as though all your school friends have leapfrogged over you in that great game of life. This describes the main character of New Zealand film, Older, to a tee. Alex Lucas (Guy Pigden) is nearing thirty and subsists on a routine of drugs, games, booze, gym and porn all while living unemployed in his parents’ house. Older blurs the lines between romantic comedy, coming-of-age story and drama and follows Alex as he finally learns to grow up. Alex should be a blueprint of a pathetic character. He aimlessly spends his days in his bedroom, living more like a teenage boy than an adult, to the point where it seems that Alex has almost been cryogenically frozen from his seventeen-year-old self. Not only does the main character act like a kid, but he is utterly preoccupied with the girls he was obsessed with in high school. He can’t decide between the gorgeous Stephanie (Astra McLaren) and new best friend Jenny (Liesha Ward Knox). Some great loser characters are sitting in the film and TV halls of fame from The Office’s David Brent to Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag. Alex is not one of them; instead, this man child is bizarrely transformed into a Lothario, a Hugh Grant style comic who is inexplicably good with the ladies, and despite his failings, gives the audience a smug grin. As Alex battles through the difficulty of realising that he has to grow up, the themes fail to tap into anything substantial. Any conclusions Alex does come to seem to be recycled rhetoric from a John Hughes movie. Rather than meaningfully comment on the situation that many men find themselves in at the end of their twenties, this film pulls us back and dumps us into the position of our sixteen-year-old selves. This film is more obsessed with finding the fountain of youth than providing the story with well fleshed out characters. The soulless characters only result in performances that stumble, with only Jenny meaningfully resonating with the audience. Older is occasionally droll, but the humour is often too immature and lacks the sparkling wit it needs to really cement itself as a comedy. On the other hand, the drama lacks a certain sense of realism, and the chemistry between the leads doesn’t feel authentic. However, the cinematography doesn’t lose its lustre. The initial uses of montage are wickedly funny, and texts are pulled up on the screen in an incredibly inventive manner. The flashback scenes are potentially the best part of the production. Cleverly set in a different aspect ratio with brown tinting, these flashback scenes quietly push you back into a rose-tinted past. Despite how polished and wonderfully shot Older is, it’s not enough to turn back time. Like a pubescent teenager, Alex is awkward, horny and immature. The feature film Older has inherited similar problems. This is an awkward film with plenty of growing room but ultimately, much like a teenage boy, feels a little immature and directionless.

★★★★ Directed by: Samuel Gonzalez Jr. Written by: Samuel Gonzalez Jr., Christopher Lang Starring: Kit Lang, Arturo Castro, Illya Konstantin, Emily Trosclair, Vince Benvenuto Film Review by: Jason Knight Wars end and destroy lives. This intense, emotional drama follows the life of Michael (Lang) and explores in detail how his experiences in the Vietnam War have affected him after he returns to the United States. It is the late sixties, and Michael and his friend Tommy (Konstantin) voluntarily go to fight in Vietnam, in order to be with their friend Vinny (Castro), who has been drafted to serve in the war. Michael loses both his friends in Vietnam and goes back to the States. There he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and struggles to move on with his life. He then turns to crime. Battle Scars is a hard-hitting look at the damage war can do to a person after they have left the battlefield. The audience first encounters Michael, as a joyful individual, who is enjoying life and has a bright future ahead of him. After Vietnam, he is a completely different person. Unable to overcome the horrors of combat and loss of his friends, he is unable to find a purpose and is sad and angry. The film benefits from great performances, however Lang deserves special recognition. He is terrific as a man who is torn apart and constantly fighting with his emotions. At times he becomes so menacing and unlikeable that it is hard for the viewer to be on his side. Benvenuto also stands out as a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed man who convinces Michael to commit crime. Generally, this is a rather dark story, with not much happiness. It focuses on a man, who is in great emotional pain. The horrors of war are graphically shown, including an enemy soldier being humiliated. There are criminals and people violently losing their lives. There are also disturbing intercourse scenes and plenty of profanity. The film is very well made. There are wonderful establishing shots, interesting montage sequences, where the filmmakers make good use of the superimposition technique. The script is well written, the characters are compelling and the dramatic music effectively accompanies the scenes. This is a feature that raises awareness for war veterans. It vividly shows the effects that combat can have on a person's psychology and end up ruining their life. For that, it is worthy of a lot of praise. #JasonKnight

★★★★ Directed by #BryanBertino Written by #BryanBertino Starring #MarinIreland #MichaelAbbottJr Film Review by Hope Madden I’ve been a Bryan Bertino fan since The Strangers because of course I have. How could I not be? That loyalty paid off in 2016 with the moving allegorical horror The Monster, and it rewards viewers again this weekend with the supernatural terror of The Dark and the Wicked. A twisty old Southern Gothic that relies on practical effects and imagination, the film arrives somewhere in deeply rural America with Louise (a terrific Marin Ireland). She’s about a day behind her brother Michael (Michael Abbott Jr., The Death of Dick Long), back at home because of Dad’s deteriorating health. Mom (Lynn Andrews) does not want them here. Bertino is not a filmmaker to let his audience off the hook—if you’ve seen The Strangers, you know that. Like that effort, TD&TW is a slow burn with nerves fraying inside the isolated farmhouse as noises, shadows, and menacing figures lurk outside. Bertino and cinematographer Tom Schraeder work the darkness in and around the goat farm to create a lingering, roaming dread. There are clumsier moments that feel like pre-ordained audience scares, and they really stand out in a film that otherwise just seeps into your subconscious. But where Bertino, who also writes, scores extra points is in crafting believable characters. Too often in horror you find wildly dramatic behavior in the face of the supernatural. One character adamantly denies and defies what is clearly happening while another desperately tries to communicate with “it.” No one would do either, but this is the best way to serve the needed action to come in lesser films. Here, Bertino, Ireland and Abbott give us real characters honestly grappling with something extraordinary. The don’t want to be here. They don’t want to leave. So, they just do what they can, like the rugged folks they are. “Well, if I’m here, I’m gonna work.” Like Natalie James’s Relic from earlier this year, TD&TW has the long, slow, debilitating experience of parental illness on its mind. Like that film, this movie has a deeply aching center that makes the horror in the house as tragic as it is scary, and more horrifyingly, somehow inevitable. #HopeMadden

★★ Directed by: #DanielCameron Written by: #DanielCameron Starring: #DanielCameron Film review by: William Hemingway Taking this film in isolation and going into it blind, Orange Temptation comes across as a bit of an oddity. In a style that can only really be described as French Arthouse, given that the story is told entirely through the medium of mime and the film ends with the ‘Fin’ title card, we are left to our own devices to try and decipher just what on Earth is going on. With a running time of just under three minutes, and with no dialogue, there’s not an awful lot to hold onto. Our unnamed protagonist sits down to a breakfast of unmarked cereal and orange juice, but somehow, for some reason, he can’t quite bring himself to quench his thirst with that gloriously refreshing vitamin filled glass of citrus burst. Instead he leaves it undrunk on the kitchen table and heads out into the big, wide world with who knows what on his mind. Then things take a sinister turn when the spurned OJ (maybe there’s a pun in there somewhere!?) begins to stalk him and randomly appears in places that any normal glass of orange juice would never think to venture. Not only that but it’s multiplying and even wearing disguises (though never a pair of too small, black leather gloves) – will this nightmare never end? But then it does, all too quickly, leaving us with plenty of questions and no real answers. Only once the credits roll do we find out that our protagonist is tantalisingly called ‘Quarantiner’, and we just have to conclude that the poor lad is going out of his mind. This one man show; written, directed by and starring Daniel Cameron (I’m guessing he did the editing, recording and sound recording too) is a jolly little jaunt into the mind of someone with too much time on their hands. It shows a good understanding of story progression, in as far as it goes, and there is a clear distinction between life indoors and life outside, helped by the sounds of the birds and the traffic in the background. There is obvious humour on display, as well as threat, and the last shot does leave us thinking about what’s going to happen next. However, we never really get an insight into what’s actually going on in Daniel’s head and he confounds us with a story that has no real motivation behind it. Why can’t he drink the orange juice? What does he think will happen if he does? Why is the orange juice so intent on being drunk? There needs to be a greater clarity and drive for the viewer to become invested in the Quarantiner’s story and sadly we just don’t get it within these three minutes. But then, after a little bit of research, we find that there’s more to this than meets the eye. It seems that Orange Temptation is actually a sequel to the early quarantine drama, Quarantining Alone. Here, the protagonist cycles through endless days of breakfast (over 16 million years worth, no really), pouring his cereal, but never touching his orange juice. This film itself has issues with pace, progression and continuity but it does provide one thing for the viewer that is so badly needed in its successor – context. We can now look at Orange Temptation as more of an Empire Strikes Back than a stand alone Star Wars. It relies very heavily on knowledge from the first movie to help the viewer through the actions on screen and gives us the hope of a resolution in a third instalment. It would be a shame not to see another episode in this series and have the whole story rounded out. Cameron has shown promise with his ideas and has done well to create this work on his own. There’s not quite enough to hold onto yet, in terms of character and motivation, but everything is certainly going in the right direction. Just remember folks, context is key.

★★★★ Directed by #MariaJuranic Short Film Review by Jack Bottomley Watching director #MariaJuranic’s short film Dreamers was not only an expressive experience but quite an enlightening one. Coming from the viewpoint of someone across the pond, I had no idea about some of the workings of the American systems for immigration and people caught up in this struggle to simply exist in the States. Especially in the midst of one of the most heated and fiercely divisive administrations in history. As such, this film was rather timely, and done in a way that may strike some as odd, but which feels strangely right in a time where expression and voice is so important. The film sees a young woman struggle through an overfacingly broken system of DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals) documentation, as she tries to get her papers approved. The title alone suggests a very personal take on the frustrating and fearful experiences many face in pursuing this course, especially in the controversial modern day. In 2012 Obama would issue this DACA order, after the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) did not pass in congress. But in 2017 President Trump sought to end this program (which aimed to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation, people that arrived at a very young age, and in ways out of their control). These affected young people were named 'DREAMers'. This background is important to being able to read into the strong message of this effectively choreographed (by #LisaBerman) and performed display of feeling and life through dance. Though not essential! As I say, I knew very little of any of this, but was able to ascertain from the film itself, the message being delivered here. In fact the film’s closing statement highlights the alarming stakes of this issue, stating what so many young people in America face and in the wake of this week’s election, Dreamers plants its feet down at a most vital and worrying time. The dancers perform their routine brilliantly, displaying the story through their movement, their pace and their vigour. This is not the approach that will suit all tastes and, it does certainly have an almost educational type quality to it. Though the story being told is really rather simple, albeit complicated by the overwhelming system around it. Director/producer Maria Juranic, alongside producers Lisa Berman and #ThomasBusch know exactly what they want to relay to the audience and you feel yourself, like the lead, submerged by the moving parts of the office, the flying paperwork and the dogmatic and cold system of typewriters and stamps. #BrandonBoulay’s cinematography, alongside #PaperTiger’s excellent score, work in unison, further placing you in the emotions of the many nameless people, carrying their papers, awaiting approval and security. It is a very aesthetic short film, that is made in a graceful and driven way. And through exciting dance and some nicely edited in (by Juranic and #LaurenJosephine) shots in the fields, you get a well conveyed sense of hope, frustration, confusion and struggle. The fight goes on but the right to live in peace makes that fight one that is ever important. #JackBottomley

★★ Directed by: #KyleKleege Written by: Kyle Kleege Starring: #CharityBuckbee, #DavidPerez, #RobertJordan Short Film Review by: Corey Bulloch The iconography and impact of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome is probably more relevant than ever with technology’s growing influence over life and our society’s moral decay. The sickening images of machines merged with flesh are perhaps just a stone’s throw away, though we probably won’t be so overly reliant on videotapes. The iconic body horror imagery from the film has been an influence on the horror genre as well with other Cronenberg films but Kyle Kleege’s film Static appears to be a direct homage. Not particularly engaging and lacking emotional investment, Static follows Erin’s struggle with disturbing visions after a tragedy. Kleege's underdeveloped script poor establishes the characters, their relationships and connection to the creepy Cronenberg imagery are what fails Static as Kleege’s writing and direction can’t create an interesting narrative. Despite a short runtime, the film can’t keep your attention as Charity Buckbee’s performance as Erin is left bland by Kleege’s lack of vision for the film. There is a critical disconnect between character and audience as Erin’s grief and trauma feel hollow and inauthentic, the focal relationship between Erin and Will has no grounding and it’s hard for audiences to care what happens to these characters. Until the third act, a lot of the film reminded me of Babak Anvari’s film Wounds which also tiredly went through a storyline of an individual having visions after witnessing disturbing imagery. Though most of Static feels like it’s sleepwalking through its necessary contexts and filler so it can get to its final and most interesting scene. While the third act reveals are not shocking from a narrative perspective, Kleege’s direction fails in getting audiences engaged with the material, the Videodrome visuals that take over are enough to finally draw you in. Entirely from an aesthetic interest though, the makeup and special effects work by Jared Balog is terrific, a fine tribute to the obvious inspirations. It’s creepy, unnerving and it’s a shame the script isn’t able to make use of it beyond a visual perk but that’s really all Static has on offer; decent Videodrome makeup homage with none of the nuance or artistry that defined the original film. It’s obvious that Kleege wanted to explore the same type of themes with technology, violence and relationships but has nothing to say with it. It’s an empty film with some brief visual flourishes that aren’t enough to save it. I don’t want to keep mentioning Videodrome but it’s the only thought that will be stuck in your head after watching Static. These clear influences prevent Kleege from presenting any sense of unique style in his film and filmmaking. Watch the Movie Trailer #CoreyBulloch #shortfilm

★★★★★ Stars Directed by: #CarolineSuh Starring: The members of BLACKPINK - Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé Film Review by: Alicia Moore BLACKPINK are a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment. With their debut in August 2016, the first girl group formed under the label in seven years, they immediately dominated music charts. They have already broken numerous records throughout their short career thus far — two of their music videos in 2019 set records for the most-viewed music video within the first 24 hours of release, with one of which breaking three and setting two Guinness World Records. They are also the first music group to have three music videos with at least one billion views on YouTube… although the members have only been in the public eye as a group for four years to date, the list of awards and achievements already seem endless. With even a world tour to their name, a lot of struggles undoubtedly follow such a fast growing popularity; BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky provides a beautifully moving insight into each member’s personal journey towards the spotlight, as well as their relationship with each other and how their bond has grown over time. One doesn’t know what happens behind closed doors, or rather behind the stage in this instance, but this documentary gives an opportunity to join the girls after curtain-call. The overall editing (Peter Holmes) of this documentary is absolutely spectacular. How each scene and planned section of the film is stitched together adds a perfect blast of vibrancy to the pace of the production as a whole. It is an element that certainly holds a viewer’s attention throughout but in a subtle way; the editing isn’t vigorous in itself, it is mainly the clips of the group’s performances that provides the film with a source of pure energy, the editing instead provides an enthralling sense of order and synchronisation. Because of the work of Peter Holmes, the film simply flows towards an already decided destination with audiences held comfortably in the current, being taken on an adventure filled with joy, laughter and a possibility for tears to be shed. The cinematography brilliantly intertwines with the editing of this documentary. Much of the details previously said regarding editing can be passed down to compliment the cinematography as well. It possesses simplistic properties and still grasps firmly onto the hands of a lively atmosphere. The simplicity that is shown, especially through the individual ‘interview’ sections with the group members, does not stand as a lacking of depth or any description of that nature. Everything in relation to the work of the director of photography, Luke McCoubrey, perfectly matches BLACKPINK’s specific effervescence when moulded together as a team and matches the incredible passion that can be seen when delving into the personalities of the members separately too. As a fan of BLACKPINK myself, it was wonderful to see the members be given a chance to speak more openly and freely about their experiences and emotions. In turn, the film then embraces the range of unique qualities between the girls, like different knowledge of languages, cultures and also events in relation to their younger selves. Providing the members with a space to bare as much of their hearts as they see fit is really what makes this documentary so striking. Their comfort in that environment finds its way out of the screen, easily wrapping itself around viewers all over the world. Even with the discussion of some topics that evoke a strong, empathetic response, changing the upbeat mood one may expect, the comfort lingers like a warm fire nearby. BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky is a captivating documentary that invites fans of the girl group, as well as newcomers to their presence, to unite together and find inspiration through the group’s story. Not only does this film give a notably new perspective to the career of BLACKPINK and the lives of the talented girls who stand together under the glistening name, it stretches further to show details of what life is like in the somewhat harsh industry in general. I cannot recommend this Netflix original documentary highly enough; it is utterly stunning in all forms, on all levels and covers many bases of curiosity.

★★★★ Directed by: Marcel Dorian Written by: Ian Armer, Amanda Webster, Marcel Dorian Starring: Marcel Dorian, Joseph Steyne, Michelle J. Wright, Gabriela Brinza Film Review by: Jason Knight When a person cheats on their other half, it usually leads to consequences. And those consequences tend to be bad news for the ones who commit adultery. There have been many films that deal with these issues and Introspectum Motel is one of them. Philippe (Dorian) is a successful businessman and married to Susan (Wright). He goes away on a business trip and checks in at a motel. There he meets Camille (Brinza), with whom he has been having an affair with. The two of them are then taken prisoners inside the motel by people who want them to pay for their unacceptable, selfish behavior. This thriller is very well directed and has a well structured screenplay. The characters are interesting, the plot will keep the audience wondering what is going to happen next and the confrontation dialogue is intense and well-written. There are also unpredictable plot twists and quite a lot of swearing! The film gains by outstanding performances. Dorian is great in his portrayal of an unlikable, determined man, who does not respect others, uses profanity and is unwilling to take responsibility for his actions. His captors are also very convincing as individuals who are greatly angered by his infidelity and have decided to make sure he does not get away with it. The story's strongest part is the way the way the captors interact with Philippe, after they have confined him. He spends the majority of the movie tied up on a chair, verbally insulting them, while they mock him, attempt to make him understand the seriousness of his bad choices and make it more and more clear that they are going to make sure he regrets what he has done. It should be pointed out that there is quite a lot of material that is likely to offend. As mentioned, there is a great deal of cursing and quite a lot of nudity and intercourse scenes. The protagonists have many scenes where they are mean to each other, using very heavy insults! Generally this is a very well made film that focuses on unfaithfulness. Very strong acting and a compelling story, along with music that creates a suspenseful atmosphere make this feature worthy of a lot of praise and recognition. #JasonKnight

★★★ Written & Directed by: #ShonaCharlton Starring: #AmbikaMod #ZaraAslam #AliciaSimaiKral #MelissaSuppiah #RuchikaJain Short Film Review by: #ChrisBuick #Shortfilm The Sacrifice from filmmaker Shona Charlton boldly and bravely tackles the highly controversial issue of child marriage, a practice that is unfortunately still prevalent in many cultures and countries across the world where young girls often find themselves deprived of creating their own futures and instead are forced to be wed to much older men by their families as part of almost business-like agreements. Having found herself unable to sufficiently tell the harrowing stories of her interviewed subjects in documentary form without fear of endangering their lives, Charlton has instead opted to focus the important and consistent facets of this issue into a powerful short drama about one teenage girl from East London named Leila (Aslam), who with the help of her older sister Rukshana (Mod) and girlfriend Margot (Simai-Kral), managed to escape such a fate. The Sacrifice’s opening moments should make it fairly evident how this talented filmmaker feels about her subject matter, a young calf's throat being slit before we've even really got comfortable in our seats is hardly a subtle metaphor for how strongly Charlton likens the prospect of these arrangements to death, a theme the writer/director is keen to make clear throughout and from start to finish there is an unwavering moral sensibility and commitment to those she is trying to give voice to which should be commended. Charlton also clearly has an eye for visual punctuation in storytelling as well. Asides from the aforementioned bovine slaughter which instantly sets the spot-on tone for this piece, the brilliantly-timed introduction of Margot is yet another prime example of the kind of statement Charlton is capable of making as it suddenly hammers home the reality of just how young these girls are yet all dressed up beyond their years ready for their prospective suitors. That being said, the film might have benefitted from slowing down and giving its core story enough room to breathe in order to really let the message permeate in the viewers mind. Presented as a single-take (very much worth noting also that this film is never harsh on the eyes), this technically applaudable film glides through its narrative with a certain speed and grace that gives the film a very energetic tempo, but also means it seems to bounce from moment to moment in an effort to get to the end as quick as it can, instead of letting any of these important and fertile story beats really sink in. Trying to touch on as many narrative points as it attempts to in such a short space of time also means that the majority of the performances are fleeting and therefore never long-lasting in the memory, save perhaps for Mod’s Rukshana, whose contempt for the situation and those perpetuating it is portrayed effortlessly. But what we do see from the rest of the cast is of a decent calibre, the exchange between Leila and her expectant mother the best example of something that delivers but perhaps could have been explored more. Hats off to Charlton for creating such an important and commendable piece of filmmaking. It’s a small shame that it’s all over before its really had a chance to hook us in, but what we do get to experience in the short time we have together is a sound achievement in terms of honourable storytelling and distinctive filmmaking. #ChrisBuick

★★★★ Written & Directed by: #VictoriadeMartin Starring: #LauraPiccoli #ChinazaUche #LoriTischfield #MontgomerySutton #MariaWolf Film Review by: Chris Buick Having already tackled a diverse range of subjects such as rivalling ballet dancers, romance clashing with obligation in 18th century America and a young woman inheriting her late grandmothers dream interpreting business, highly-accomplished New York writer/director Victoria deMartin is back with yet another example of her incredible versatility as a filmmaker and storyteller. DeMartin’s latest enigmatic #shortfilm Skindiving follows Caitlin (Piccoli), an avid skin diver (swimming under water without a portable breathing device) during her last days on the island where she is currently residing, looking to finally leave her old life behind in the hopes of starting anew before her past catches up with her again. It’s a film that certainly sets itself up in the most promising way, instantly alluding to a great deal of mystery just under the surface, but viewers expecting to come out the other side with any clear and definitive answers may want to prepare themselves. Neither the minutiae of Caitlin’s past nor the veracity of her present are ever truly revealed and with Skindiving, it seems that deMartin is quite happy to intentionally leave as much of her film as open to interpretation as possible, an attitude that looks to echo the film's opening Robert Henri quote; “Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.” It’s risky, but it is certainly an approach that a talented and efficient writer such as deMartin is more than capable of pulling off, and the most viewers will be more than happy to mull over the specifics and revisit time and time again hoping to find something new. But in its efforts to maintain its perpetual sense of mystery, and with dialogue at a minimum compared to the deMartin’s other works, Skindiving suffers slightly without some of the humour and heart that runs through the veins of Knick-Knacks and Winter Rye to give this particular film just a little bit of jolt. However, those fortunate enough to have enjoyed any of the aforementioned gems in deMartin’s filmography will see a number of welcome recurring themes from the filmmaker's diverse work at play here such as crisp, stunning visuals, strong and engaging female characters and a clear intention to always try and produce something different. Performance-wise, having previously worked with deMartin on 18th century romance drama Winter Rye, Piccoli’s measured turn as Caitlin really serves the films sense of mystery well, making us search each complex expression for any sort of clue as to what might be hiding behind those secret-filled eyes and Piccoli’s talents are clear, even if this particular role might not always give her the room to really show that off. Finally, with this being Caitlin’s story, the presence of the supporting players is fairly limited to providing what little backstory we are privy to but manage to deliver adequately when called upon. Although it may lack some of the deeper emotional beats or humorous bites of deMartin’s previous efforts, with its highly subjective and concise script and applaudable technical achievements, Skindiving is another fine film from an obscenely talented filmmaker always looking to push their craft into new directions. #ChrisBuick Watch the trailer for Skindiving here: