No preamble, let’s get into the reviews.
The Holdovers – I love the way Alexander Payne looks at human connection and acerbic people. I think The Holdovers is a very solid movie with strong performances throughout. Paul Giamatti is great and his scenes and moments with Dominic Tessa really soar. Da’Vine Randolph Joy is good in her part, though her character’s storyline left much to be desired. The movie just feels too long for the resolution and journey we ended up on.
Smugglers – A crime caper that we deserve. Smugglers is really entertaining. It tackles two female divers as they attempt to help smuggle stolen goods off the coast of Korea and run into and afoul of a drug kingpin and the police. This movie is solid in every area and one of the most fun times I had in the theater.
Strange Way of Life – I want Pedro to get back to the computer now and start writing the feature, cause he know he ain’t right for only giving us this (very good) short! Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal play former lovers who are brought back together when Hawke must track down Pedro’s son as the sheriff. All of Almodovar’s trademarks are here and it was nice to see him in a different setting. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A Normal Family – Do you like mess? Do you want to see phenomenal acting? Well, A Normal Family is here for you. Truly one of the best films of the festival, it chronicles two brothers, their wives, and their kids, as their lives become challenged by their jobs and shocking acts of violence. It’s insane that the inciting incident of this film is maybe like 5% related to what the movie is actually about, and watching the families twist themselves into pretzels over complicated morality was a sight to behold.
Dumb Money – If there were ever a need for a movie to be 75-80 minutes, this is the film I would put up for that. Dumb Money dramatizes the chaos around the Game Spot stock craze a couple years ago. There’s not much to the story here and the movie tries to flesh out the film with different redditors who contributed to the stock, as well as the hedge fund guys who wanted to profit massively from predatory tactics. Paul Dano is quite good in this film and he has the emotional journey that mattered most in the film, but it feels stretched and also not enough due to the script.