Get Your Kicks With These Flicks

Filly Brown

Newcomer Gina Rodriguez plays Majo Tonorio a.k.a Filly Brown, a Los Angelina trying to make it in the hip-hop game whilst holding her family together after her mother is sent to prison. What sets this “rise to stardom” film apart is the family dynamic between Filly, her gentle but conflicted father and her rebellious younger sister. Rodriguez balances a tough exterior with inner vulnerability as she searches for stardom and her own voice. Filly’s final rap in the last scene will bring you to tears with its personal revelations. We can’t wait to get our hands on the soundtrack.

The Raid

This film originates from the twisted mind of Gareth Evans, who has a very dark sense of humour. The Raid takes place in a run down apartment complex in Indonesia, where a SWAT team plans to take down heavyweight drug lord/ gang leader/ all around villain Tama (Ray Sahetapy). Slightly gratuitous in parts, it’s the fighting scenes that make this film, incredibly choreographed; a dance of the most brutal sort. Recognised at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, The Raid has already been snatched up by Sony Pictures for a Hollywood remake.

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry

It was such a pleasure to observe the dissident Chinese artist at what he does best: making art and bothering his government. The film begins with his appreciation for his cat – one of several – who can open the door, but is unable to shut it. These types of anecdotes help to make the powerful documentary charming, effective, and surprisingly funny. Ai Wei Wei’s influence is global and social media is his tool of prominence – and the lead to his eventual arrest. The impressive direction of Klayman takes the viewer on a tour of several of Ai Wei Wei’s shows all over the world and then finally through his mysterious disappearance and its effect on the world. By documenting humorous outings, interviews from other prominent Chinese artists and personal scenes with his family, Klayman paints a portrait of a man who seeks freedom and is ultimately punished for it. His daily life becomes a politically charged art piece. This is civil disobedience at its most profound.

Liberal Arts

After ending a relationship with his girlfriend, Jesse (played by the film’s director Josh Radnor) returns to his liberal arts college to attend a dinner for his favourite soon-to-retire professor (Richard Jenkins). On this trip Jesse meets college sophomore Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen). They form a platonic, yet caring relationship based on passionate intellectual conversation. The narrative is less important than the development of Jesse, who finds himself a sophomore in his own life and learns how to grow up, ironically with the help of a 19-year-old. Olsen’s performance is equally as striking as a clever student, who discovers she still has just as much to learn as he does. While the plot seems like it could border on creepy, it’s really very endearing. Think more Garden State and less The Graduate.

John Dies In The End

Considering the title gives away the ending (doesn’t it?) we’ve never seen a film like this before. Director Don Coscarelli helps bring David Wong’s novel to life by creating a pastiche of all sorts of cinematic genres ranging from science fiction to film noir, and even b-movie thrillers. The film begins in a world not so different from our own, but where the supernatural manifests itself in the strangest ways. From ghosts to absurdly large spiders and the creepiest of vermin, John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson) act as modern ghost busters, all the while engaging in hilarious buddy banter. David tells his story to a reporter, Arnie (Paul Giamatti) in flashbacks explaining how a street drug called “soy sauce,” profoundly affects the lives of several teens on one fateful evening, bringing together a wild gang and several dimensions. While the subject borders on bizarre, this is a truly unique piece of filmmaking.