Tinsel & Tine's Look at
Indie Films: Brigsby Bear, Step
& Patti Cake$
Not only am I equally impressed by each of these three films, each one had a Q&A in Philly! See Mini Reviews and Videos below:
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BRIGSBY BEAR - highly touted at Sundance. It’s co-written and stars Kyle Mooney from SNL, directed by his childhood friend and sketch comedy partner (Good Neighbor) Dave McCary and co-written by other long-time friend Kevin Costello. In case you're wondering, Mooney is the guy on SNL with the greasy looking, long curly hair, who doesn’t get on air very often, and when he does, he's not very funny, but in this movie he really shines! He and the entire movie is endearingly quirky and earnest without feeling schmaltzy. Both Mooney and McCary were in Philly to introduce the film (see video below), and I've watched other videos of them being interviewed and noted that they try not to say a lot about the plot of Brigsby Bear because it really is best going in knowing very little. I can say, it is a movie about the joy of making movies, but the rest I would describe as “Room” meets “10 Clover Lane” meets ‘Power Rangers” meets “Rain Man” - I know that sounds crazy, but it’s got elements of all those movies and it’s its own thing. Greg Kinnear and Mark Hamil are both fantastic in their roles. Can't say as much for Claire Danes, she's rather wasted in her role as the psychologist.
If you read reviews of the movie, the critics do give away the whole plot, but I’m not going to say anymore because it’s one of those films where it’s fun discovering what’s really going on as you go.
STEP - If you want to experience the true joy of hope and possibilities then go see @stepthemovie! These ladies of BLYSW” step team will make you think, cheer, cry, laugh, wish and LOVE them.
You think you're going to be just entertained by some Step competition stomping and clapping, and in some ways it is like Glee for Stepping, but mainly you become engrossed in these young girls and their families as they attend their last year at The Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women and pursue their ambitions to either get into a college of their dreams or make the college they can get into their ticket out of the depressed area of Baltimore, MD.
In these three team members, Lipitz finds an illustrative cross-section of family dynamics, educational prospects and economic stability. In doing so, the film wisely avoids the trap of using the experience of one individual to represent an entire community. So we see one girl’s dinner date with boyfriend right after another girl’s mother tells her daughter, “Boys have cooties.” Some students’ mothers are distant, while another takes so much interest in her daughter’s rehearsals that she crashes it to show off her own moves...READ MORE Steve Green Indiewire.comUnfortunately, the inspired director Amanda Lipitz and the instrumental school guidance counselor, Paula Dofat, couldn't attend the Philly Q&A, due to flight issues, but we got to hear from the 3 leads /original members of the Step team - Blessin Hiraldo, Cori Granger, Tayla Solomon along with their determined coach Gari McIntyre. See video below:
PATTY CAKE$ was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It's a story of a plus-sized white girl, Patricia "Dumbo" Dumbrowski, from Bergen County, New Jersey who seeks fame and fortune as a rapper.
Yes, we've seen plenty of movies with an unlikely hero/heroine trying to make their dreams come true against big odds, and more often than not, those dreams involve the music biz; so when you see something truly original with that premise, it's really saying something, and that's what I'm saying - Danielle Macdonald in "Patti Cakes" brings a unique voice. The entire film balances grit, humor and a really decent soundtrack in a way that has you rooting for the first time filmmaker Geremy Jasper, who worked on getting the movie made for over a decade; which often brought with it a number of hard lessons and angst, yet resulted in a truly lovable and well-delivered film.
Geremy Jasper attend the Philly preview screening and answered questions about his journey into the film industry, casting Danielle Macdonald, (whose flight got cancelled for this Q&A) his prior career in the music industry and so much more. See video below:
And look swag! They gave out Patti Cakes T-shirts at this screening
T & T's LAMB (movie bloggers association) Score: All three films earn 4 outta 5
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