Daniel Pappas

Slawomir Grünberg’s Still Life in Lodz: Streaming Review; shows how art and objects can take us back emotionally to another place and time

By Daniel Pappas 5 years ago

It might be enough to simply stop and rebuild the old lives of these three’s families, but the filmmaker goes above and beyond to recreate as much of this town in its original form as possible. With a dearth of archival material and an emphasis on bringing them to life we HEAR the trains engines firing up and the cries of Jews being sent to death camps. The middle section of the film really draws out the history of the Nazi takeover of this neighborhood.

Minna Dufton’s BIG VS SMALL: HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY Film Fest REVIEW; will convince you to surf your big dreams

By Daniel Pappas 5 years ago

Big vs. Small feels like one long Buddhist meditation. The gentle in-and-out flow of breath mirrors the rhythm to the film’s edit. The lap of waves on camera perform a sort of hypnotic metronome for audiences. This quality gives measured pacing to the film overall and gives the audience chances to take in the scope and velocity of some truly massive surfing waves, but also chances to listen to Andrade. It’s fantastically cut together stringing together footage from wildly different camera sources as it shows different highlights of her surfing.

David Midell’s THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN at OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL; Review: a profound telling of a veteran’s unnecessary death at the hands of the police

By Daniel Pappas 6 years ago

Movies where you know the ending have to succeed on one major beat and that is the “what if” beat. “What if that police officer had been successful in talking Kenneth down?” It’s that last grasp at hope, the last chance to make everything right, boiled down to the slimmest possible chance. One wrong word, one wrong move and it all comes crashing down. We know it’s going to fail, but we hope anyway. This movie perfectly nails that narrative beat. I sat there and prayed it would all go right and I wouldn’t have to confront the real ending. When it’s yanked away from us the loss is felt even more profoundly.

Jason Loftus and Eric Pedicelli’s ASK NO QUESTIONS on VOD Review; suspected faked immolation suicides by the Chinese government by balancing a personal story with “true crime” deconstruction

By Daniel Pappas 6 years ago

Loftus takes pains to test various theories. Were the protesters actors in fireproof suits? Could the hospital interviews have been staged? He interviews experts in fire stunts and fire burns to analyze the footage and either affirm or negate his theories. Technically he’s grasping at straws as the footage is so slim and easily controlled by the Chinese state propaganda, but he walks the audience through his reasoning clearly demonstrating the flaws in the footage.

Ben Kawaller’s This Isn’t Me: CINEQUEST/SXSW REVIEWS: comedy pilot finds the funny and brightness in the small jokes while navigating darker situations

By Daniel Pappas 6 years ago

Those could be dark moments but in director Adrian Rojas Elliott’s hands it plays as sweet and sensitive. The show entirely dodges drafty conversations or harrowing gender harassment, focusing on a day in Fred’s life. Whether the subjects therein should be treated so seriously are beyond my purview, but it feels exciting to see these characters interact and rebound off each other without all the sobbing and scolding.

Chris Hansen’s SEVEN SHORT FILMS ABOUT (OUR) MARRIAGE: CINEQUEST REVIEWS; much more than a happy reminder of love

By Daniel Pappas 6 years ago

What works so well for this film is its vignette aesthetic. By pairing down the production to essentially seven scenes it allows the script to shine, the actors to perform, and every department thereafter to simplify and focus on it’s work. Rarely is anything shot outside of a close up and light softly fills their heads or faces and warms up the scene. It can feel extremely shot-reverse shot but only because it’s making the most of it’s best element: the acting. As an exercise in strategic filmmaking Seven Short Films works on an aesthetic AND technical level.