JONESING FOR FILMS

My second day at MIFF was Sunday, July 12 and I got to see two movies that were narrative feature film debuts from the respective directors.

Still Ohio (dir. Kaylin Allshouse)

Director Kaylin Allshouse attended the screening of Still Ohio, and apparently it was the world premiere of the movie, right in little ol’ Waterville, ME! This is a time loop horror movie, where Ana (Fernanda Lopez) gets a ride from Buffalo to New Orleans carpooling with three people who are supposed to be classmates and friends of her boyfriend at Tulane. Turns out, they’re not as close to her boyfriend as she was led to believe (and, frankly, her boyfriend is really putting the distant in long-distance relationship). They end up stopping at a gas station in Ohio and then keep stopping at the same gas station in Ohio over and over again.

Some clever plotting going on, which involves Ana realizing that the mirror in the women’s bathroom at the station is showing her a glimpse into the future. Also, rather than everything looking exactly the same, the gas station gets perpetually more decrepit and run down with each stop they make, like there is entropy creeping in more and more each time.

I think the time loop here is doing a similar thing that Exit 8 did earlier this year, using the time loop as an illustration of being stuck between going forward with a decision or not.

The director held a Q&A afterward and I wish, in hindsight, I spoke up and asked why it seemed like she set the movie in the mid-2000s, because they four people in the car had flip phones (if they had a phone) and Mapquest instructions printed out for their trip. Seemed like it was a deliberate choice to have this movie be set in a pre-smartphone world.

A really solid first effort feature film.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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If I Go Will They Miss Me (dir. Walter Thompson-Hernandez)

Another movie, another feature film debut, this time from director Walter Thompson-Hernandez. This film shines the spotlight on a fracturing family in Los Angeles and the frayed relationship between a father and son in particular.

Lil Ant (Bodhi Dell) idolizes his father, Big Ant (J. Alphonse Richardson). Big Ant has been in and out of jail, and, finally determined to stay straight, works as a farm hand.

The film includes a little magical realism into the hood setting, with both Big Ant and Lil Ant obsessed with airplanes to varying degrees and hallucinating(?) seeing kids in plane formations in the neighborhood. Lil Ant also has manifestations of his imagination, like he pictures his father as Zeus, chucking a lightning bolt farther than any human being could.

Big Ant is afraid of his son’s creativity and, for some self-destructive reason, wants to force it out of him. He resents that his son draws pictures that he is in. All of this ties back into a criminal act that Big Ant did as a teenager that changed the trajectory of his life and snuffed out his own creative flame.

This movie was emotional, lyrical, powerful, and impactful. It left a genuine impression on me. It’s an impressively confident and competent film from someone making their first feature length film. Both Richardson and Dell as the father and son really shine as the focal points of the story. Danielle Brooks also gives an amazing performance as Lozita, the mother desperately trying to keep everything together and get Big Ant to connect with his son.

The end of this movie really hit me like a brick and left an impression on me. It reminded me of a few movies that have moved me in the past few years, like Sing Sing, Nickel Boys, The Holdovers, and C’Mon C’Mon.

The film of the festival for me, so far.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars