Photographic Memory 

I write for a diversity-focused film review blog, so I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like Pretty Lethal. Starring Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds, Amazon Prime’s new thriller seemed like it would be a girl power movie about dancers with a horror action twist. Sort of a Suspiria for teens. But with shallow and unlikeable characters, a confusing plot, an overreliance on violence, and cringey dialogue, any fun the movie started out with was quickly lost. What was left was a faint echo of greater horror movies about dancers made before. 

Moonlight is a film that will certainly be remembered for how it won Best Picture, but the movie itself should be known for its excellent representation of one of the most underrepresented groups in film: Black, gay men.

You'd better buckle up, pack spare underwear, & maybe lay off the drinking for a night, for a gnarly ride in New York!

Kat Wahlen’s The Whiteboard tells, or rather shows, a delightful love story between two young women who meet in detention.

Praising Black representation and condemning the power structures that suppress it, a mother delivers an impassioned speech to her distant son.