Incluvie Film Fest 3rd Place Winner: ‘Warmth’ Review
This film is a splendid mix of mediums, but its strength lies in its simplicity and beautiful message of closeness.

Adapted from Zhou Meisen’s novella, this wartime drama follows Chinese POWs, Central Army scouts Tian and Liu alongside Eighth Route Army cavalry captain Meng and soldier Zhang, imprisoned in Japan’s “Death Camp No. 9.” Rival escape plots collide: Sichuan captain Lao Qi’s men tunnel through mine shafts even as Meng’s group plans their own breakout. Camp commandant Major Nagasaki appoints collaborators, tortures and exposes dissenters, and uses a comfort woman to bribe Liu. When guerrilla agent Zhang Mazi is executed, Meng and Zhang Dielong sacrifice themselves under blistering sun to save their comrades. Amid bayonet executions and armed revolt, the prisoners wage a final, desperate battle to smash the camp gates and reclaim their freedom.
This film is a splendid mix of mediums, but its strength lies in its simplicity and beautiful message of closeness.
The cancelling of these series is being blamed on the writers' strike and low viewership, but it's just the latest example of the industry's lack of appreciation for stories about queer women.
This current year, as well as the past several, has seen a slowly building increase in something the horror genre has required for quite a while in this critic's opinion...originality. I've stated before that I am very hard to please when it comes to this vein of the film industry's offerings, always leaning more towards that which sends chills through my very being in lieu of buckets of blood and gore.
This indie short documentary archived the story of a staple rock band as well as an essential part of local history.
It’s easy to dismiss Joel and Ethan Coen for writing from the world they build from outside the box of overarching Hollywood stereotypes, but their inability to compromise their collective vision is precisely what makes the simplistic nature of their world-building and characters so brilliant. It’s also what led Fargo to collect seven Oscar nominations and two wins for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Frances McDormand’s brilliant portrayal of the sincere, motherly detective whose wholesome demeanor seizes the day over the selfishness, corruption and evil of the men who don’t comprehend that there’s more to life than a little money.
Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) tells her mother (Laurie Metcalf) that she wants to live through something — something that matters.