Zhang Yimou

Justin Wang Powell’s FALLING SPARROW is an indie-budgeted debut film short that also happens to be a martial arts epic

By Luke Y. Thompson 5 years ago

Justin Wang Powell’s “Falling Sparrow”, which recently won a Special Jury Award at Waco’s Deep in the Heart Film Festival, offers something one doesn’t expect to see in a film festival short. Elaborately choreographed martial arts…to the death. And that’s not the only unexpected aspect. It begins in what could easily be the Old West, albeit one where a menacing man in samurai shoulder armor shows up to retrieve a family sword and is rebuffed. Years pass, but at first it seems like centuries, as the action cuts to a modern MMA gym. But no…the time period was always modern, and the man now has the sword, and runs the gym. But his niece is grown up, and she has no qualms about bloody vengeance for all that has transpired in the meantime.

Shorts and to the Point: Erica Rose’s GIRL TALK is an attention-worthy look at female sexuality in the “in-between”

By John Wildman 7 years ago

as Rose states, “This is a story about queer people just living.” Therefore, by design, what is exceptional about the film isn’t a crisis about her situation or her journey. No, what is exceptional is that rarely do we get such a direct, unapologetic in its sexual-politics, view of this world, not to mention an exploration of the gulf that sometimes exists between physical and emotional intimacy – without hanging onto a tragic moment or stock hurdle to overcome. The filmmaking is as assured as the lead character is when she is on her game, and the patience to breathe in between the “in between” Rose speaks of, makes the moments land with that much more of an impact.