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rkfried
Reviews
Hello Herman (2012)
Haunting & Compelling
This a truly haunting film. Norman Reedus as an online journalist is understated and thoughtful. Garett Buckstrom as the teenager killer is oddly compelling. It's a powerful subject, hypnotically rendered. And I found myself thinking about my own high school bully. Halfway through the film, my wife asked me, "Are kids that mean? The answer, alas, is yes. And the film shows the ways technology---Facebook and the like---renders cruelty both easier to commit and more harmful The killings in the film are rendered in freeze frame so that we see the horror on the victims' faces, but nothing else. There's plenty of gore, though, in the video games that obsess the teenage killer who commits the massacre. The film is part of the "Hello Herman Project" to create dialogue about school bullying. This compelling film is an excellent tool to get the conversation started between parents and children. Well worth watching.
Open Window (2006)
A moving, honest, story told with great restraint and psychological insight seldom seen in contemporary American film.
This very strong, subtle film reminds us of the fragility of our lives, as well as the the human capacity to heal. Izzy, played by the appealing Robin Tunney, doesn't ask us to like her at the outset of the movie, which of course makes her all the more sympathetic. Here's an actress with intelligence and a sexy edge. She seems like the young women we know: too smart to be doing her somewhat creative job, greatly gifted at looking great yet unwilling to get by merely on her obvious allure. It's rare to see one intelligent face in American movies these days, but by the time we encounter Tunney, we've already met the actor who plays her fiancé (name escapes me) and the brilliant Scott Wilson as the fiancé's father. The scenes between father and son are edited down to the bone, and they are powerful examples of how American fathers and sons do--and do not--communicate. We root for Izzy and her fiancé as every engaged couple's worst nightmare comes true: Izzy is raped. Brutally raped. All of the good luck, intelligence, and good taste with which these characters are blessed suddenly means nothing. They now will be taken more deeply into who they are--and what their relationship means--than they may have thought possible. Will their love endure? Could any love endure this hideous test? These are the questions posed unflinchingly by director/writer Mia Goldman. A look at the trades--Variety, etc--reveals that these are questions that fearful, philistine viewers wish to avoid. Fine with me: the multiplexes are filled with movies for adolescent tastes. This is a film for adults. Goldman brings her years of experience as an editor to the task of probing deeply and subtly at the same time. This moving and humane film deserves--and will doubtless find--a large audience. Highly recommended.