Currently Browsing: Hannah Mayo
The Nightingale is an absolutely unforgettable film that tells the brutal honesty of what living under British colonization was like. It’d be morbid to call it an enjoyable watch, but it is an incredible cinematic experience that’d be a mistake to miss. (HRM: 5/5) Claire (Aisling Franciosi), a young Irish convict, has spent the past […]
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s second feature film The Sweet Requiem is a powerful and political narrative about the experience of Tibetan refugees. It is excellently made and culminates in a powerfully human story. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo 26 year old “Dolkar” (Tenzin Dolker) lives in a Tibetan refugee colony in […]
Amanda Sther’s Holy Lands tells the story of a family dispersed across the world, their personal stories, and disconnected relationships. While potent with compassion, the story gets buried by an unsuccessful attempt to translate novel into film . (HRM: 2/5) Review by FF2 Media’s Hannah Mayo Holy Lands starts with the story of “Harry Rosenmerck” […]
Mouthpiece is a graceful deep dive into the first 48 hours after a young woman loses her mother. Surreally formed, it is an expression of loss and grief through the love and life of one complicated woman. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo “Cassandra,” a 30 year old writer living in Toronto, wakes […]
Sarah Daggar-Nickson’s directorial debut A Vigilante is a moving and incredibly important story about one woman’s journey to heal from domestic abuse. It is compassionate, beautiful, and deserves to be celebrated.. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo Sadie lives on the road working as a vigilante who helps people who are victims of […]
Sebastián Lelio’s new feature Gloria Bell means well but falls short in real substance. It is a confusingly dazzling portrait of a woman finding happiness and excitement later in life. (HRM: 2/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo Free-spirited “Gloria Bell” (Julianne Moore) is looking to balance her life in LA as a divorcee in […]
Gully Boy is a monumental and inspiring story about following your dreams in a world going against you. It follows street rappers trying to make it in Mumbai. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo “Murad” (Ranveer Singh) is a 22 year old boy living in the ghettos of Mumbai who has a passion […]
What Men Want is a refreshing and hilarious comedy that celebrates women and people of color. While it follows the formula of Hollywood blockbusters, it will make you laugh and warm your heart. (HRM: 3/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo Career driven sports agent “Ali Davis” (Taraji P. Henson) is constantly struggling to […]
Mitzi Pierone’s directorial debut Braid is a daringly original thriller that blurs the lines between make believe and reality. Fascinatingly beautiful and suspenseful, it disorients the viewer in the most pleasurable way possible. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo “Petula” (Imogen Waterhouse) and “Tilda” (Sarah Hay), two young fugitives on the run, decide […]
A documentary-drama hybrid, The Invisibles tells the realities of four young Jewish men and women attempting to live under the nose of the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied Berlin, Germany. Though packed with the intensity expected of a World War II documentary, it fails to go further in bringing the audience closer to the events and characters. […]
Brooklyn performance artist Narcissister combines her own stage performance work with graphic animation and her brother’s home videos to explore the nature of her parent’s relationship and familial history as it lives on in her life and work. The result is the fascinating and emotional piece of art documentary, Narcissister Organ Player. (HRM: 5/5) Review […]
Paul Dano’s superb directorial debut is Wildlife, a portrait of a small town American family struggling to stay whole amidst economic hardship and personal turmoils. Beautifully and compassionately made, it is an affecting story of familial love. (HRM 5/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo Fourteen-year-old Joe (Ed Oxenbould) just moved with his parents to […]
Sadie tells the story of a young girl coming of age while faced with the challenges of a modern American military family. Realist and simple on the surface, it explores these issues from an intriguing psychological perspective, resulting in a dark and affecting drama. (HRM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo Adolescent Sadie (Sophia […]
306 Hollywood is an eclectic attempt to document what is left of someone after they die. After their grandmother passes away, Elan and Jonathan Bogarin process the loss of a loved one by piecing together her life from the belongings left in her home and taped interviews they collected over her last 10 years. What […]
In her new documentary Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable, Sasha Waters Freyer highlights photographer Garry Winogrand and his body of work in the context of his life and the times. She crafts a subjective exploration of the question the photographer himself was trying to answer with his wok – what is photography? (HRM 4/5)
Ramaa Mosley’s Lost Child is a powerful story about returning to one’s roots to find healing. Both suspenseful and affecting, it paints a noble portrait of someone’s journey of working through a past trauma. (HRM: 4/5) Review By Hannah Mayo After being processed out of the army, “Fern” (Leven Rambin) returns to her hometown deep […]
Nelly, written and directed by Anne Émond, is an erratic film that attempts to tell of the multiplicities within the personality of a young woman, but sets out to do too much. While the actors do as much as they can to support the plot and illustrate the many themes this film tries to tackle, […]
Active Measures is a fiercely informative film that unpacks Russia’s history of meddling in world affairs and what is known about the government’s role in the 2016 United States Presidential election. While it doesn’t solve any mysteries, it dives deep into current political issues relevant to American voters, revealing disturbing political norms. The story it […]
Björn Runge’s The Wife is a superb study character study, saturated in excellent performances and beautiful filmmaking. Feminist at the core, it evolves to a complex and deeply satisfying commentary on marriage, family, art and career. (HRM: 5/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo “Joan” (Glenn Close) and “Joe” (Jonathan Price) Castleman have been married […]
Madeline’s Madeline is Josephine Decker’s electric new coming of age film that contemplates the ethics of exploitation in performative work. From the first shot the viewer is informed that everything is a metaphor inside the teenage star’s mind, allowing the viewer to take a revelatory journey into the blurred reality of the film. (HRM: 4/5) […]
Nico, 1988 follows the eponymous artist’s last year of life as she tours through Europe, and reveals the characters and events that framed her final days. Director Susanna Nicchiarelli strays away from factual information about Nico’s life, and instead explores the relationships and emotions that remained with her till the end. Whether or not you […]
93QUEEN is the empowering story of Rachel “Ruchie” Freier and the efforts of her team of powerful women to go against the deeply ingrained gender roles of the Hasidic Jewish community and create the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in NYC. In what documentarian Paula Eiselt calls “a Hasidic variation of the Me Too movement,” […]
Education is the first step to save a species, and Bell exposes the audience to all the heartbreak and hope that comes along for this ultimately heartwarming journey. (HM: 3.5/5)
Through an expansive collection of archived videos, photos, and audio from the infamous comedian’s life, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (directed by Marina Zenovich) gives an intimate look into Williams’ life and legacy. Be prepared to laugh, cry, and binge all your favorite Robin Williams films after watching this. (4.5/5) If you are a […]
Sometimes a movie is “so-bad-that-it’s-good,” but Bleeding Steel, weighed down by bad jokes and cheesy special effects, never reaches that threshold. (HM: 2/5) Review by FF2 Intern Hannah Mayo I hated Bleeding Steel just as much as I enjoyed it. A spoof of old sci-fi and action movies, writers Erica Xia-Hou and Siwei Cui and director […]
