Für Elise (2025)

Jaschar Marktanner returns with the story of a couple pondering where to go with their relationship.

Some one get a feature budget for Marktanner so we can see what he'd do on a larger scale. A master of small moments he gets better and better each time out of the box. 

This time his tale of the final moments of a relationship hit home. Deflection becomes hop becomes something else. It's a note perfect film of a small moment in time. That Marktanner balances it also so perfectly never leaves us wanting. We know everything we need to know.

This is great filmmaking from a great filmmaker.

Chase this film down.

Brief thoughts on STORMBOUND (2026) SXSW 2026

This is the story of storm chaser Jeff Gammons as he finds out that his kidneys are failing on the eve of what looks to be a storm season of record proportions.

I am going to be honest and say I am all over the place concerning this film. Being released in the IMAX format the film is going to be pushed as a big screen experience and to be honest when those storm sequences hit this film will blow you away. At the same time a great deal of time is spent telling Gammons’ story, which if fine, but I’m not certain it needs to be done in IMAX. And you will forgive me about being bothered by the split nature of the film, but I watched the film from a screening link and began with the IMAX count down, which had me adjusting what I was seeing so that I would consider it as an IMAX film. I kind of wish that this was two films- a shorter film that just focused on the storm chasing moments and another feature- minus the hype of Gammons story.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a solid film, it is just its billing as a super screen film is over doing it.

Tether (2025) Cinequest 2026

 

This is the story of a father trying to deal with the loss of his daughter in a school shooting and the security guard who froze and allowed it to happen.

Director Hariharasudhen Nagarajan and writer Anghus Houvouras's TETHER is a thought provoking look at the aftermath of the all too common occurance of a school shooting. The film goes beyond the typical stories we see in the media. There are no easy answers. More importantly people don't instantly get over the bad things that happen to them. People are broken weeks after the fact. Even the "bad guy"  authorities who didn't act are not what the media or social media present them as.  Nagarajan and Houvouras have made a film that is important and should be seen because of how it peels back the layers on an important issue of our time. We clearly see the casualties beyond those struck by bullets.

At the same time I need to warn you that as good as the writing and directing is the performances are a step or two down.  While the leads are adequete they never fully sell the grief and pain the way they should have.  When the final confrontation occurs it doesn't soar because  neither actor feels as fully invested in what is happening. Yes, how they are acting is good, but it doesn't feel as though it is being lived. I wanted to be broken and I wasn't.

My quibbles on the acting aside Nagaranjan and Houvouras have made an important film. It's a film that grabs you and forces you to consider what is happening to those left behind. It wonderfully does not give answers but instead, and more importantly it gives us the room to ponder the on going national tragedy in ways that the regular media and other films have not given us.

Recommended.

Two Prosecutors (2025) opens today

During Stalin's reign of terror in 1937, a letter from a political prisoner gets out of a prison and into the hands of a state prosecutor who goes to visit the prisoner. Once there he is effectively told to go home, but he persists.

While I can sing the praises of TWO PROSECUTORS from the technical stand points, it looks great and is flawlessly acted, the truth is this is a two-hour trip to nowhere. I say that because there is a point very shortly after the prosecutor shows up that you will know how this is going to end, down to the final shot. It's going to end badly and all the extended takes and Kafka like turns can't hide it.

To be honest, I was with the film 100% during the opening sequence where a prisoner is tasked to burn letters to Stalin from the prisoners. This was something I hadn't seen before. However, once the prosecutor arrives at the gate of the prison and the film slows to a crawl as he is forced to sit and wait, walk all around the prison, take a train ride before being told to wait some more. Nothing unexpected happens and we know this good man is doomed by the corrupt system.

While not bad, it's wildly over long (this would be a fine short film) and terribly obvious.

I cannot recommend it.

Kaiju Guy (2025) NYICFF 2026

If you want to know how good KAIJU GUY is consider that I ran into people I know from the New York Asian and Japan Cuts Film Festivals who had heard how good the film.

The film is the story of a young man who works for his local ciy's PR department. The mayor wants a promotional film made for the city. When things go sideways he decides to try and make a kaiju film.

There is way more than that going on and once a certain plot twist happens this film  goes from being an amusing but kind of dispoable comedy and becomes a wonderful film about people trying to do the right thing despite their bosses telling them otherwise. The film changes and suddenly fills with emotions and warmth. Rarely have I been this invested in a group of characters as I was with the people in KAIJU GUY.

 You (and I) need to chase this film down.

One of the great films of NYICFF

My Life in Versailles (2025) NYICFF 2026

Feature expansion of the NYICFF winning film from 2020 is a glorious little film that earns every damn emotion it elicits from us.

Te film tells the story of Violet. After her parents are killed in a terrorist attack she is sent to live with her uncle Regis, who stayed away from their family. It seems her family looked down on Regis and his job as a care taker at the Pa;ace of Versailles. While Regis tries to connect, Violet chaffes. Will the pair get along.

Oh, hell yeah, and the result is a glorious film. What makes this film work is that everyone in the film is a person and most of them are broken and damaged. We connect to the pair because they are us. The joy we feel at what happens is because we have felt the pain.

This film is magic- and by the time the ending comes you will be misty and wondering when we can spend time with Violet and Regis again.

See this film.

Esta Isla (2025) opens tomorrow

A young man scrapping by begins to slide toward crime. When job goes wrong, he and his girlfriend end up running into the mountains in an effort to hide from a hit man.

This is a film that is very interested in showing a place and a way of life a bit more than it is interested in telling a compelling story. Sure, there is a narrative thrust, though thrust is too strong a word, its more a push. The characters are very much part of the life and the place on display, but the problem is that unless you are part of that life and that place it is not going to connect to you. Watching the film I could feel the cast and crew bleeding themselves and experiences into the film to create something near and dear to their heart. The trouble is it's a little too personal.

This isn't to say it's a bad film, it's not. The cast is strong, the interpersonal reactions are strong and the violence when it happens feels real. The trouble is focus on place and life leave us  a step or two outside the ring where you fall in love with what is before us.

Worth a look for those who think they may connect.

Palestine 36 (2025)

PALESTINE 36
Palestine's entry to the Oscars is the story of a young man caught up in the politics and tensions of 1930's Palestine, where the influx of European Jews is turning the status quo upside down.

This is a solid historical drama that takes the current vogue of Palestine before the Second World War tales and tries to tell a large story than that of a family caught in the march of history. I mention this because PALESTINE 36 is one of a half dozen or more films that have come out this year set in the same period, and one of at least three that is in the Oscar mix.

Of many films of a similar subject this is probably the most conventionally told, but it is also the one trying to tell a larger scale story. We are introduced to a swath of people from various groups and we are given a wider look at the politics of what is going on.

While just as good as the other films on the subject, it stands out for not taking a similar path. At the same time it is hurt by being clumped together with films that are less conventional. Don't get me wrong, I like the film, but at the same time seeing it at the end of the year in the midst of Oscar talk, I found it hard to take on it's own terms. That said I will revisit down the road.

My peronal quibbles aside PALESTNE 36 is worth a look.

Mickey, a documentary film by Dano García at SXSW

Filmmaker Dano Garcia charts ten years in the life of friend Mickey Cundapí (she/her), known artistically as Mis$ Mickey, a trans multidisciplinary performer. The film charts and reinvents the past through documentary recordings, recreations, and art.

This is a one-of-a-kind trip through a life. It’s a film that seeks to not only tell Mickey’s story but to force us to rethink the past, present and future as well as how we see the world.  It’s a film that shifts styles and points of view, which forces us to fully engage with the images and sounds coming off the screen.

Destined for a long life in the artistic festivals where the audiences are open to fully engaging with the art before them, MICKEY is a film that may frustrate the regular movie goer. I say that because the films shift of tone and style forced me to play catch up and remain engaged on its terms.  This is not a film for anyone who wants just will have a film wash over you.

I will not say if you will find this good or bad- however I will say that if you want a film to engage with, you must see MICKEY

Bird Boy (2025) NYICFF 2026

Joel Soisson's BIRD BOY is a delight. 

The film is the story of a boy named August who is sent to live with his great uncle and aunt after the death of his mother. August has been bounced around from 6 other family members and his dumping on a distant farm is his last stop.

The vast majority of this film  is not what you expect.  Yes the set up is something we've seen before but once the ostrich shows up the film goes into unexpected places. What an absolute delight.

What makes the film work is that writer director Soisson gives us real people. Almost everyone in this film isn't a cliche and we lean into the film as a result. Soisson also makes sure we love the people on screen by giving us great actors, including Tia Leoni. 

I absolutely loved this. It surprised me at almost every turn.

You need to see this film. Its wonderful.

Two at NYICFF- Thoughts on the final episodes of MOOMINVALLEY and a non review of GRANDFATHER WAS A NIHONJIN

MY GRANDFATHER IS A NIHONJIN
This is a brief note to say that I am not going to be reviewing MY GRANDFATHER IS A NIHONJIN which played this past weekend at the NYICFF. I can’t fairly comment on how the film because the English dub was incredibly bad. There was no life in the vocal performances, with the accent given to the grandfather being in the territory of old school Hollywood stereotypical. I’m also not certain about the English script which seemed to simplify everything down way too much. I can’t honestly believe that the film script would make things that simplistic. I am told the original version plays much better so I will wait to do a review then.

MOOMINVALLEY
Stretching things out for a final year, NYICFF ran the final three remaining episodes of the British series MOOMINVALLEY.  There are no more episodes to run since the series finished production several years ago and despite attempts to continue the series finally shut down.   Coming from the very start of the series the festival had held off running the episodes because they weren’t as good as all of the later episodes.

The three episodes are sequential with the first episode having Mymble bringing her brood in late winter to crash at the Moomin home until midsummer. The episodes set up most of the characters including the Moomins and Little Mai. There is a variation on the tale that was told in a later episode. It doesn’t play as well as what would follow. The second episode was focused on Snufkin who was on his way to see Moomin Troll and was trying to compose a new Spring song. It’s an okay episode. The final episode has Snufkin arriving at the Moomin home just as Moomin Troll captures a baby dragon which causes a rift between friends.  It's another okay episode, which doesn’t live up to later episodes.

Dry Leaf (2025)

 

Shot on an old Ericsson cellphone DRY LEAF looks like a 43rd VHS genration dupe of someone's home movies. The film is the story of a man looking for his missing daughter and stopping at every football pitch that he runs across. Running an eternal 186 minutes the film is an endurance test to see if one can remain awake. 

Apologies for being snarky, but this is the sort of film that resulted in art house films becoming jokes in the 1960's and 70's, being self indulgent and full of meaning. Don't get me wrong I like art house films but at the same time there is a point where a filmmaker needs to really decide if he needs to go on past the point of sleep. I really think that half this film could be removed with no loss to the meaning. 

While the film did screening as part of the Currents section of the NYFF, which used to be the Avant Garde/ experimental section, you knew it was going to try to be edgey, or thought it was. The truth of the matter is that if it wasn't visually degraded this film probably wouldn't  have been picked up since the visual choice of how its shot confuses many programmers into thinking a film is more important than it is.

DRY LEAF is important, as a new cinematic sleep aid.

MATERIA PRIMA (2026) CPH:DOX 2026

This is a look at the various groups in Bolivia that are trying to take control of the Lithium deposits in the country. As the old school minerals are beginning to run out, they are being replaced by rare earth metals and other unexpected one- such as lithium which is used in cellphones and batteries.

There is a great deal here, so much in fact that I delayed writing this up  in the hope of seeing it again before the end of the festival. However illness during the early days od CPH DOX stepped in and I didn't manage it. I still need to go back but this film is so good that I can't wait any longer.

What I love about this film is thatthe film shows us how the various groups, the government, the business leaders and the indigenious population all try to control the lithium, which is prized by the mega corportation.  The filmmakers wonderfully don't do what a lot of other films and focus on just one group. Instead they give us a look at all of the people with skin in the game. While some get more attention to others we get a sense that this is not a simple story.

At a time when everyone is looking to make a financial killing, many not caring who they hurt or what damage they do to the world, MATERIA PRIMA is a vital look at the battle for control of not only natural resources but our destinies.

SPACE CADET (2026) NYICFF 2026

There are spoilers ahead....

This is the story of a young woman who graduates from the space academy and heads off into the stars, while the robot parent who raised her after her mother passed away on a similar mission waits on earth for her return.

This film crushed the life out of me.

This film is not for kids. Kids will not get it.  Adults will get it but may find its tale of fading memory in ourselves and loved ones heartbreaking on a level they may not want to deal with. This is an allegory about growing old, getting ill and the death of parents.  Told largely as a memory play,  most of the film follows the robot as it goes through its day remembering her human child. Memory is everything in this film and when that fades, even for a robot, what is left?  

The film came into my life at not the best time as several friends and family have begun the slow slide into forgetfulness. The climax of the story where the robot essentially gives its happiest memories to her daughter in the only way she was capable before expiring broke me in ways that few pieces of art ever had. I desperately needed not to be in a theater full of children right before going to lunch with a friend. I needed to be in a room alone with a box of tissues where I could scream out the pain.(Writing this damn near broke me again).

At the same time, I need to say that the tale of the young girl is not up to the robot. Yes, it reveals how we go off and live our live and not fully engage with our parents while trying to cover the same ground, but the story of her stranding on a far-off world is just okay. Its not quite as well thought out as the stuff at home. But then again it isn’t what you are going to remember.

This is a film about ourselves and our parents asnd our memories. As a representation of life this film is as fine a film as has ever been made… it just may break your heart.

On the Line (2026) plays March 19 at Pérez Art Museum in Miami

This film is ten years in the lives of boxers Will 'Power' Rosinsky, Danny 'The Miracle Man' Jacobs, and Patrick 'All' Day during which time we watch as they ride the waves of success and tragedy. It's possibly the first look at boxing that honestly shows what it takes to be a professional boxer and the cost.

As long-time readers of Unseen Films know I am a fan of boxing. I've gone to numerous boxing cards, from Golden Gloves to World Champion levels.  I've actually seen the men profiled fight, and I live near Freeport New York. I mention this because I feel connected to the stories.

This is one of the best boxing films I've ever run across. The strength and power is not simply in the story rather it is in the fact that the film covers ten years in the lives of multiple men. Normally we get arcs of a single life so we don't fully understand the toll the sport takes on people. The ten-year arc is important because when late in the game promoter Lou DiBella expresses regret at making a career watching people get damaged it hits home.

If you love boxing, or even sports like MMA you must see this film because you need to fully understand what is happening to the people we ask to beat each other up for our entertainment.

This is highly recommended.

Young Female Playwright (2026) Cinequest 2026

A young female playwright gets a dream commission with the National Theater of Canada and then runs into problems since her first play, which has a plot described as being too complicated to explain without spoilers, is being billed as based on personal experience. This freaks out her friends and family who wonder what secrets she knows and what is she going to reveal.

Don't go into this film expecting a raucous comedy, instead you have to go into it expecting a film that is more about the ideas it is trying to explore, specifically who gets to tell what story and someone too young to write a wise work. The issue here is that the story is well written and entirely made up. It isn't based on anything that happened to her despite the theater trying to sell the film.

I'm not certain this film works. It's not the theatrical style the film is presented (the film has sections marked like "Overture" and as moment best described as theatrical interludes) rather the script doesn't really work. More specifically the conversations are from natural with every piece of dialog aimed at getting to some greater truth. We get repeated statements as if the film was written by someone from Netflix who insists we are told what is going on every so many minutes. I kept wondering why everything was being stated as it was since no one speaks like that.

I disconnected early and I never reconnected.

While I admire what the film is trying to do, I don't like how it is doing it.

MIROIRS NO. 3 (2025) Opens Friday

Christian Perzold returns  with a film that feels unfinished

The film is the story of Laura, a girl unconnected to, her life. After a fatal car accident where her boyfriend is killed she ends up staying with Betty a woman living alone who lives down the road from the crash site. Betty is mourning the loss of her daughter.

Requiring the audience to believe a wild string of events (Laura leaves her bag at a river for the hell of, she behaves badly, is in a car accident that is physically impossible, is allowed to stay with a strange woman just because she doesn't want to leave, never does anything about her dead boyfriend and behaves as if nothing happens, and on and on) the film spins out as if it was stripped down version of a longer script. Problems aside there are volumes of things unsaid to the point there are times we are left adrift. It's not bad but there is a sense of a better long film somewhere out there. (preferably one without a shocking revelation that we deduced twenty minutes in)

This is not a bad film. The cast is great, the script has some great moments, but too much is unsaid and missing. I like the film on it's own terms but it is ultimately a minor film from an important director 

Birita (2026) CPH: DOX 2026

Bui Dam decides to return his mother, Birita Mohr,  to the stage in the role of King Lear despite the fact that she is suffering from Alzhiemers and has little ability to speak.

This is a wonderful film. It's a very bittersweet tale that will leave you misty. 

What makes the film work is that the film is operating on several levels, We have Biritia's story and how it parallels Lears, but we also have the story of Biritia's family and the theater on the Faroe Islands. This is a film full of life at its beginning and end. Its also a film full of views of the importance of theater and how we view how we live. 

You will forgive me if I don't say a great deal about the film. About the time I saw the I had several friends slip further in to Alzhiemers and into dementia. The result was a film that played out  the lives of the people around me. 

What you need to know is that this film is one to see. It will move you.

Brief thoughts on ROAD TO L’ÉTAPE DU TOUR (2026) Cinequest 2026

A young woman who wants to ride in the Tour duFrance has to contend with life and a medical condition.

You will forgive me but I don't have a great deal to say about ROAD... It's a solid little drama that is well acted and well told.  I enjoyed the film agreat deal. But at the same time it didn't stick with me as well as some of the other films I was watching for CInequest. That should not be taken as a knock against the film, only that its charms are something that should best be experienced away from a festival crush.  I want and need to see the film again down the road when I am not mainlining it as part of a festival.

If the film sounds interesting buy a ticket and go.

The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much (2025) SXSW 2026

A blind violinist is put in danger by a killer.

This  is an over the top of English dubbed giallo films, that is intentionally badly dubbed. It's a film that looks and feels like a giallo from the 1970's. It's a film that doesn't let go of the conceit at any point, even through the credits.

I was amused.  I was particularly amused by how the film nails the genre... and the bad dubbing, perfectly.  This film truly gets it.

I particularly appreciate that the film is only about 15 minutes. This is a joke that is funny, but what makes it funny is not something that would survive then played longer what's here.

Because I like giallo films, I do have to say that not all film in the genre are this over the top. Actually a lot of them are not, they just seem that way because they are badly dubbed. I also think that if you don't know the genre  this film may not work for you.

Worth a look for giallo fans