How would you live if you had no choice? If you had to hide who you are? What if you had to live in a society where everyone who is different from the "norm" is forcibly corrected? Imagine such a world. And try to live it as a father who could lose his "wrong" child at any moment. Or in the role of a teenager who still doesn't know what it means to be "normal". At the center of the story is the Asinov family. The head of the family, Nikolai Vladimirovich, does everything to make sure that his youngest son Dima succeeds and arranges for him to participate in a startup competition, which turns out to be a very unexpected outcome for Dima.
The Forge is a moving story about a young man’s search for purpose. Through mentorship, discipline, and faith in God, his life is transformed from confusion into clarity, reminding us that true greatness is shaped in the fire of surrender and growth.
... La huesera haunts her daily life, leaving people to question her viability as a mother, and Valeria’s lack of satisfaction with her life leave her asking similar questions. These misgivings reach their peak after the baby is born, when Valeria, visibly in a state akin to possession, locks her in the fridge when she won’t stop crying through the night
After years of mediocrity, Thunderbolts* is the welcome change MCU fans were waiting for.
An artistic approach to the impact of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
When it comes the horror genre, I am VERY hard to please or impress, much less scare. Coming from a current mindset of appreciation for chilling, unsettling, tension-inducing efforts such as "Hereditary", "The Conjuring" (ONLY the first one to date, mind you), "Lights Out", "The Babadook", "Midsommar", "Talk To Me", "Oddity", "Bring Her Back", and the like
