The River 

World-famous drag queen Trixie Mattel shares a year of her life with the world in this vulnerable and uplifting documentary.

I can say without question, that this is the first movie I’ve ever seen where art imitates life so much that I could 100% identify with it on a personal level. The predominately Black cast of characters are people with hopes, dreams, fears, and ambitions.

With The Father, writer-director Florian Zeller- who wrote and developed the play upon which the film is based- pulls no punches as he confidently makes every effort to put the audience in the mind of someone whose grip on reality has all but vanished. It’s a dazzling testament to Zeller’s abilities as a director as he makes his first transition from stage to film appear as if he’s been working behind a camera his entire career. The dialogue he fashions with co-writer Christopher Hampton, along with the work of production designers Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone, collectively makes the downward spiral of dementia startlingly tangible, doing so in a way that can be comprehended by everyone except the person it directly affects.

Stylish, slow, and somewhat standoffish, Human Resource examines corporate life from the perspective of a female HR employee as she interviews job candidates while also deciding whether to keep her newly discovered pregnancy.

The film blends reality and the supernatural world together, leaving the viewer unsure of what’s real and what’s merely a figment of Michael’s agitated imagination.

Despite everything it was capable of, all of these poor choices strung together amount to nothing more than a counter-productive film.