Proxima (2020) - Movie Review

 

While the last several years have shown a growth in the sub-genre of psychologically-tinged space operas, where the mental effects of space travel have been examined to largely enthralling effect in films like The Martian, a relatively smaller sub-sub-genre has grown alongside it, that of the parental astronaut. Films like Interstellar that highlight the difficulty in disconnecting from our little blue marble through showing one of the strongest relationships we are capable of, that being the one between a parent and their child. And this French offering from writer/director Alice Winocour looks to be another in that trend.

Tammy's Always Dying (2020) - Movie Review

Depictions of the lower class in media, particularly television and cinema, need the right framing to truly work. Too far in one direction, it devolves into tragedy porn meant to appeal to those in moderately-better living conditions to reassure them that, don’t worry, you’re doing better than some people out there. Too far in the other direction, it generates apathy towards the subject, turning what should be a wake-up call for a prospective audience into a reason to continue not caring about such things. This film, the sophomore feature from budding Canadian director and original Pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson deftly avoids the latter, due in part to how readily she skewers the former.

The Truth (2020) - Movie Review

Fabienne Dangeville (Catherine Deneuve) is the worst kind of prima donna. Endlessly vain and egotistical, she makes for one of the rare cinematic instances of the separation of art and artist from the perspective of the artist. She has a strained relationship with her daughter, writer Lumir (Juliette Binoche), but rather than being at all concerned with that strain, she just focuses even more on her acting craft. So long as the audience forgives her transgressions, that’s all that matters.