Restraining Order (2023)

The most impressive aspect of this film is the honest and natural performances given by the on-screen duo.

This is a movie that combines a ghost story, revenge tale, and serial killer obsession into a cinematic experience that uses your fears against you.

Juno is extremely funny, very well-written, and contains great performances. The film is also about a very important topic, one that is extremely relevant now: women’s reproductive rights. Is this Oscar-winning film spreading a pro-life or pro-choice message to its audience?

Strangers in a crowd, exchanging glances, looking away, continually managing to run into each other then part ways, end up at the same diner, find they've rented the exact same vehicles, and are then made to travel together to learn once more whether they can both find genuine adoration and companionship again. This really does, in so many words, sum up the foundational gist of of this new feature film from writer Seth Reiss ("The Menu") and director Kogonada ("The Acolyte", "After Yang"). Yet, it's all only the set-up for the REAL wonder of everything that happens before, during, and in the aftermath of a magical, meaningful journey.

In this short film, writer/director Nikita Hattangady focuses on Jai, a starving artist rooted in the latter category. Though unhoused, he works hard.

I suppose you could argue that the story wasn’t what Director James Cameron was aiming for, it was the visuals. The spectacle of it all was the point, and it certainly shows.