College students Mary Hewitt (Andie Lerner) and Harold Kruger (Eric Bermudez) decide to meet upstairs at a house party in a small town in Pennsylvania. At first glance one can form a few assumptions about this scenario, but Get it Together’s clever dialogue and building tension only keeps the viewer guessing on what could possibly be next in its approximately 45 minute timeframe.
Written and directed by Michael Quinn, Get it Together is a drama film in the New York City Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYCITFF) which continues streaming online through Sunday, February 20. This film contains some mature themes. Click here for more information and how to get access to a wide range of short and full length films in a variety of genres.
From having fun to sharing secrets to betrayal to creepy and back again, Mary and Harold have a bit of a history. Deep thinking Scarlett and secretive Horan have peculiar and evolving chemistry and it is interesting to see the way the tone of the film changes at the drop of a hat.
The push and pull of the dialogue constantly ambushes expectations. Are these two people adversaries, acquaintances, friends, lovers? Each carefully selected line of dialogue will leave the viewer constantly guessing about what these two mean to each other. It is an encounter that will possibly simmer in your mind long after the film is over.
Get it Together, part of the New York City Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYCTIFF) continues streaming online through Sunday, February 20. Click here for more information and how to get access to a wide range of short and full length films in a variety of genres.
Viewing Warwick Film’s unconventional and heartwarming romantic comedy Love, Repeat makes this city lover long to return to New York City. Steeped in New York City’s pinnacle, snow-covered beauty and featuring some of the city’s most iconic landmarks in muted enchantment brings on a wistful feeling. New York City not only provides this film’s idyllic ambiance, but is portrayed as its own active character in James, an auspicious person who feels like he lucked out in love to his wife Barbara until they suddenly divorce. James feels much like Manhattan, a lonely island.
Bill Connington as James in idyllic New York City in ‘Love, Repeat’ Photo courtesy of DARR Publicity/Love, Repeat
Whether you are still feeling the holiday spirit as any Hallmark movie fan would be or looking for a lighthearted tale of love and loss, Love, Repeat delivers. January is also nestled between the close of the holiday season and the anticipation of Valentine’s Day. Warwick Film’s Love, Repeat is available to stream and on DVD. Click here for more information on the film and how to watch Love, Repeat.
MaxwellPurushothaman as Chris and Bill Connington as James in ‘Love, Repeat’ Photo courtesy of DARR Publicity/Love, Repeat
Written, executive produced, and starring Bill Connington as James, Love, Repeat largely portrays the difficult part of love. It explores the kind of love that is tested after things go right, but done in a way that is optimistic, humorous, and never bereft of hope.
Marcus Ho as Chad, Maxwell Purushothaman as Chris, Stu Richel as Philip, and Bill Connington as James Photo courtesy of DARR Publicity/Love, Repeat
The setting may be idyllic, but this is not a tale of beautiful people with beautiful problems that are easily solved. Love, Repeat boasts a dynamic, strong, and quirky cast helmed by Bill Connington as earnest, stoic and quietly romantic James Anderson. Connington endearingly depicts James’s tension and hesitation as he wades into this unexpected period in his life while his artistic ex-wife Barbara, amiably portrayed by Leenya Rideout, seems ready to move on. The pair possess a sweet and familiar chemistry. There is nothing quite like getting romantic advice from your son and Maxwell Purushothanan as their bright, albeit blunt son Chris receives the lion’s share of the laughs. Stu Richel as Phillip, James’s football-loving father resembles that “shoot-from-the-hip” charisma portrayed in Martin Crane from the hit TV show Frasier.
Marcus Ho as Chad and Nandita Shenoy as Lavanya Photo courtesy of DARR Publicity/Love, Repeat
Marcus Ho as Chad and Nandita Shenoy as Lavanya are James’s chic and wildly dramatic friends as they amusingly swing from passionate to cynical at times in the very same scene. The film also has its share of good naturedly silly moments including a spontaneous dance sequence and Vivia Font who deems a noteworthy portrayal as increasingly obsessive and comically driven Camilla.
The story is a bit rushed at times and it would have been nice to get more insight into Barbara’s character, but the characters are relatable enough to stay invested while delivering an authentic message about love, risk, acceptance, and relationships while taking in those marvelous city views.
Bill Connington as James at the MET Photo courtesy of DARR Publicity/Love, Repeat
Warwick Film’s Love, Repeat is available to stream and on DVD. Click here for more information on the film and how to watch Love, Repeat.
Showplace Icon Theatre, located at Boston Seaport. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Denizard
Director, executive producer, writer, and narrator Christian Taylor explores the complicated road to forgiveness in her moving D-Day documentary, The Girl Who Wore Freedom which made its US Premiere at the Boston Film Festival. This extraordinary film provides a unique perspective on D-Day on June 6, 1944 through the eyes of a variety of groups associated with D-Day including citizens of Normandy who were children when the bombs dropped. 20,000 French civilians were killed on D-Day. Taylor narrates this film as an awed spectator and tourist as she invites D-Day survivors to recall their experiences while she demonstrates the paradoxical ways veterans are treated in Normandy than they are in the United States.
Flo Boucherie, pictured, co-producer of ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’ Photo credit to ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’
The Girl Who Wore Freedom’s co-producer Flo Boucherie is the symbolic Normandy girl that inspired the film’s title. She has a particular tie to D-Day partly because her parents were D-Day survivors when they were children. Her mother worked with the veterans, made Flo’s dress, and participated in the D-Day ceremonies.
Citizens of Normandy, historical representatives, medics, and veterans describe the impact and the dynamic experiences they had from a Normand child’s encounter with an American veteran who inspired him to never start smoking to trading shoes for eggs to harrowing stories of a civilian who got shot and the museum that resulted from it. It also recalls some of the significant and surprising events that occurred after D-Day and how perspective changes over the years as generations look back.
Photo credit to ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’
GIs Giving Canned Goods in Heisville Photo credit to ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’
Despite its serious material, the film is not without its lighthearted moments. It is about trauma, heartache, and harrowing loss, but also about liberation, love, friendship, and compassion. What unfolds is a testament to the power of healing and forgiveness, not lost on anyone who has been at war.
Watching this film is an eye-opening experience of one of the most harrowing events in world history. Its emotional complexity may leave some conflicted of what should come out of the atrocities of war.
Tom Rice, an American veteran who was in the March on Carentan Photo credit to ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’
The Girl Who Wore Freedom has been released at a pivotal time in the United States and the world with a sorely needed, universal, and thought-provoking message. It encourages you to reflect inwardly and empathize with one another’s struggles. The Girl Who Wore Freedom will unexpectedly move you to tears and make you grateful for the experience.
D-Day Parade Photo courtesy of ‘The Girl Who Wore Freedom’
The Girl Who Wore Freedom is currently touring the film festival circuit nationwide. Click here to see where The Girl Who Wore Freedom will be shown next and here for more about this year’s Boston Film Festival and future updates.
Though The Sleepless Critic does not usually tackle films, since awards season is here and Sleepless Critic is associated with the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a review will pop up here and there about a nominee. Emily Blunt has been nominated for Screen Actor’s Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Supporting Role for the post-apocalyptic horror film, A Quiet Place.
The Abbots are embarking on a quiet journey. Not by choice, but in fear for their lives. Every moment of this nail biting PG-13 horror flick will keep you at the edge of your seat. John Krasinski makes his directorial debut in A Quiet Place starring alongside his beautiful, IRL Emily Blunt, who has had a strong presence this awards season and was pregnant IRL during its filming. See the trailer here.
It may seem like too simple a premise that just might put you to sleep. Not a word is spoken for the majority of the film, but Krasinski makes some clever and bold choices to build the film’s tension to hair raising suspense. It’s a mostly unpredictable movie about the Abbot family trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Everyday tasks are harrowing under the threat of being attacked at the hint of any noise.
John Krasinki brings this world to life and is likable as a courageous father and husband. Emily Blunt is quite the warrior (especially in a perilous scene not to be revealed here), but it is Millicent Simmonds as Regan who is the real standout in this film, a young actress deaf in real life.
Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, January 27. Photo credit to SAG
The 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by Megan Mullally, will be broadcast on Sunday, January 27. Click here for more information.
A Quiet Place is available for streaming on ITunes, OnDemand, on Blu-Ray, DVD, and where I found it – at my local library.
“It’s such a good feeling to know we are lifelong friends,” was Mr. Rogers final words as he closed out his show, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, in 2001. However, the impact he has had on the world is timeless.
Though The Sleepless Critic usually tackles the very best in music and theatre, one has to make an exception to express the rare, extraordinary quality in Morgan Neville’sWon’t You Be My Neighbor, a moving, deeply personal documentary which highlights Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, a children’s show that was unconventionally the best in television and ran from 1968 through 2001 on PBS. The film is currently in limited release. Click here for more information and ticket availability.
This is not to say Won’t You Be My Neighbor didn’t explore the power of music. American cellist Yo-Yo Ma appeared on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood at a young age and shared his exceptional musical talent.
Mr. Rogers also used music as a powerful tool to influence his viewers such as with his original song, It’s You I Like. An introvert from childhood, Mr. Rogers often expressed his feelings through music. This inspiring documentary opens with Mr. Rogers offering a metaphor on the piano about life’s difficult transitions. He expressed how easy it may be to get from a C note to a D, but how challenging it is to transition from an F to an F sharp, paralleling the challenges children face growing up. His dedication to children through television offered children support on how to overcome the hardships of life and feel like they have a unique importance in this world.
The film draws from Mr. Rogers’s charisma, which softened the toughest of hearts with his assertion that everyone either had love or lacked it. Through his family members, cast, crew, and some of his adversaries, it is a balanced portrayal of an ordained minister with a simple purpose, a purpose that was not always understood. Nonetheless, Won’t You Be My Neighbor is an important film that has navigated generations of children through grief, assassination, divorce, disabilities, and other hardships, providing glimpses into devastation in recent history such as war, the Challenger tragedy, and 9/11.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor was also not without its own sense of humor from backstage antics to show parodies. However, the best quality of Won’t You Be My Neighbor is, like a good neighbor, Mr. Rogers had a warm smile and an open door, and he genuinely cared. That’s an awful lot of comfort in a troubled world.
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