InRO Weekly — Volume 1, Issue 11

FILM REVIEWS
COUNTRY GOLD
Mickey Reece
“This bit of absurdism doesn’t seem remotely out of place in
Reece’s filmmaking — just look at the way last year’s haunting
and inventive Agnes shifts gears halfway through from a spooky
exorcism movie into something altogether more thoughtful —
and he deploys it as the perfect weapon to force Troyal to
examine the legacy he thinks he’s building, not just as a musician
but as a husband and a father. He’s also made to reckon with his
healthy ego; it quickly becomes clear that he’s a sincerely
vulnerable guy, especially when that ego is attacked, as in an
early scene in which Jones chastises him for ordering a
well-done steak.” — MATT LYNCH
DIRECTOR: Mickey Reece; CAST: Laurie Cummings, Cate Jones,
Ben Hall; DISTRIBUTOR: Cinedigm/Fandor; STREAMING: March
16; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 24 min.
SELF-PORTRAIT
Joële Walinga
“It takes a few minutes to get acclimated to the constant stream
of images; some suggest liminal spaces devoid of human figures,
while others are teeming with people. Lush landscapes are
paired with extreme close-ups of claustrophobic interiors. Some
images are almost purely abstract, as the digital cameras
struggle to record raindrops or snow flurries and instead register
them as pixelated flecks of light. There’s also the progression of
Walinga’s approximation of color grading; the film begins in
winter, and accordingly each scene features snow or ice and cool
tones. As we move into spring, and then summer, the images
become warmer, each scene bathed in natural light.” — DANIEL
GORMAN
DIRECTOR: Joële Walinga; CAST: ; DISTRIBUTOR: MUBI;
STREAMING: March 17; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 7 min.
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