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< Back Our Son centers the pain of a break-up with an atypical couple Tigresa, 2023 104 minutes Director/Writer: Bill Oliver / Peter Nickowitz and Bill Oliver Reading Time: 5 minutes Our Son A Father's Love (SBPKC2XMTQYWW7G6) 00:00 / 06:08 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock Dandelion: Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Honeybush: Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Reba Chaisson 2023-12-14 Our lives can get messy. What even our closest friends see and hear doesn’t reveal what’s underneath the façade masking the messiness of our realities. But I guess it depends how closely we hold our friends. In the movie, Our Son , Gabriel and Nicky are married with an 8-year-old son named Owen. To their relatives and friends, they appear to be a happy family. But while Gabriel is close to his son, he no longer feels close to Nicky. A stay-at-home dad, Gabriel is the prototypical homemaker: cooking, cleaning, walking Owen to and from school, dealing with the PTA (Bless him!), and comforting him in time of need. Nicky is a successful publishing executive who works outside the home to financially support the family. The two share a tight-knit group of friends with whom they regularly get together for dinner, special events, and just hanging out. Hints of problems in Gabriel and Nicky’s relationship appear as they initially exchange small slights in private, which then evolve into larger put-downs in front of their friends. Owen, while generally a happy child, senses a breakdown of the harmony at home as he overhears the two arguing more and more frequently, despite their efforts to keep it down. When one of them files for divorce, what was once a tightly woven relationship begins to unravel and the pain experienced by everyone in proximity to them becomes palpable, even to us in the audience. I can remember a visit to the emergency room when I was in severe abdominal pain, so much so that I would not allow the doctor to touch me. It doesn’t make sense, but we rarely do when we are in excruciating pain. We get a sense of the emotional parallel to this when Gabriel insists that he and Nicky tell Owen that they are splitting up. Nicky responds by promptly kicking Gabriel out of the house. Incredulous, Gabriel asks, “Are you serious?” Nicky angrily points to the door, “Go, now.” Nicky stands in the foyer as Gabriel very slowly puts on his slippers, opens the door, and turns to look at Nicky in disbelief before walking through the threshold and softly closing the door behind him. Similar scenes in dramatic films are usually performed fast, in fits of anger with raised voices, and ending with the slamming of a door, as in the 2010 film, Blue Valentine . The absence of such histrionics in Our Son is undoubtedly by design, so the audience is permitted the time to sit in the scene and feel the pain of the deep emotional wounds often associated with divorce. This tactic is not unique to this film, though, as it can be found in other compassionate works on the subject, such as the 2019 release, Marriage Story starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, and the 2021 HBO mini-series, Scenes from a Marriage , with Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. True to form for stories about divorce, there is some yelling. But yelling neither dominates nor defines these pieces so exquisitely crafted to depict the pain and dynamics of the break-up of a marriage. Another major distinction between Our Son and other films about divorce is that the lead characters are a gay couple rather than heterosexual . I love this switch. Indeed, one of my pet peeves about films with LGBTQ+ individuals and communities is their tendency to center the story on the people rather than the problem that needs to be solved. Think Boys in the Band , The Miseducation of Cameron Post , and numerous other films. In contrast to these, Our Son focuses on divorce as the dilemma requiring a resolution. This is a refreshing contrast from past films because it presents LGBTQ+ individuals and families dealing with the same kinds of issues and struggles that others do – the most fundamental of which is keeping their families safe and intact. Phylicia Rashad makes an appearance in Our Son as Gabriel’s loving mother, who reminds him that despite their differences, Nicky, played by Luke Evans ( Beauty and the Beast , The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ), is someone he cares deeply about. The two, however, are at odds over who gets custody of Owen - Nicky who says he “can support him financially in the way he has become accustomed,” or Gabriel, played by Billy Porter ( Pose , Fairfax ), who feels it is appropriate since he has been “Owen’s primary caretaker since he was born.” These are not atypical claims for fractured families who live middle-class lifestyles, such as those with college degrees, low to mid-six-figure incomes, and multi-story homes in communities with Blue Ribbon public schools. This is the context of Gabriel and Nicky’s existence, which leaves one to wonder if such a story about divorce would be appealing within a different set of socioeconomic circumstances - a movie, for example, about the divorce of a working-class couple (same-sex or heterosexual) presented in a similarly humane and palpable way. For working-class families, such stories are rarely central to the film, and when they are, they tend to be presented as modern-day comedies ( Crazy, Stupid, Love. Def initely, Maybe ) or tragedies ( Safe Haven , Enough ). In this respect, Our Son depicts more of the middle-class lifestyle often presented in film and television. Despite the social-class rub, Peter Nickowitz and Bill Oliver’s moving piece does an excellent job of maintaining the focus not on the couple’s sexual orientation, but on the unimaginable yet relatable pain that is part and parcel of the break-up of a love that once was. This is needed to help us remain mindful that these are people’s lives and the sh**’s real no matter the couple’s sexual orientation. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Soft and Quiet, Along With 6 Other Movies Shot in One Take A Brief List of Movies Shot in One Continuous Take -- er, Supposedly Chris Chaisson 1/27/23 Reading Time: 9 minutes 📸: Used with Permission, Snollygoster Productions (hello@snollygoster.productions ) I recently watched the Blumhouse indie film Soft and Quiet , which premiered last spring at the SXSW Festival. While the film has too many twists and turns to discuss without spoiling, one noteworthy aspect about the project is how director Beth de Araújo chose to shoot it: all in one take. “Whenever there’s a cut in a film, there’s a sort of inherent exhale where you give the audience a second to catch their breath,” Arajuo said in an interview with SXSW. “And so if you never give them that, they’re feeling the tension a little bit more effectively.” The style of shooting with no cuts or breaks originated over 70 years ago (more on that later), but we rarely see directors incorporate this technique for a variety of reasons. For starters, this approach completely changes the story that the writer crafts. Writers traditionally follow a rule of thumb with their scenes: “Get in late, get out early.” In other words, start the scene at the latest moment possible when the audience can still understand everything, convey the important plot points, then move on to the next scene once all exposition has been delivered. Scripts usually cut anything mundane, even if it is true to real life, to avoid losing the audience’s attention. When directors shoot a film in one take however, they do not have this luxury of compressed time. Additionally, shooting a feature-length film in a single take requires precision with camera and lighting setups, set design, and dialogue memorization that are very difficult to pull off with no break in the action. Thus, what many filmmakers shooting in one take have to do is rehearse ad nauseam before shooting the entire film a handful of times, ideally becoming more comfortable with each rep. The post-production crew will take the best run-through and, if needed, incorporate bits and pieces from other takes before smoothing it over to make it look uninterrupted. Which genres does this style attract? Horror movies and crime thrillers choose the shooting style more so than other genres. Its immersive nature builds more suspense and anxiety in the audience, making it an asset to thrillers and horror. For instance, a hostage or home invasion movie, where you want the audience to experience arrested development, would be movies that may utilize this technique. Here are a handful of such movies spanning several decades that embraced the challenge of presenting a story in one take: Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Best Picture-winner Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) follows washed-up actor Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) attempting to revive his career by creating and starring in his own stage play. Its use of the one-take method conveys the dizzying state of being a live performer, especially one with a troublesome personal life. In no scene is this more apparent than when Riggan is forced to run through Times Square donning only a pair of whitey-tighties in order to re-enter the theater and continue his performance. While many one-take films attempt a very grounded feel, Birdman dabbles in the surreal, using voiceover narration, pulsating non-diegetic jazz music, and the occasional telekinesis. Oh yeah, and Michael Keaton flying over Manhattan streets in a bird costume. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu stuck to a very rigorous and meticulous schedule, including both the lines and the blocking of the actors. He stuck mainly to one location and both rehearsed and shot the film in sequence, with very strict lines of dialogue and choreography (McKittrick, Creative Screenwriting ). 1917 1917 surrounds a pair of British lance corporals (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) during WWI sent into enemy territory to deliver a message that would halt a planned ambush. Winning multiple Oscars for sound mixing, visual effects and cinematography, the Sam Mendes picture uses its continuous take style to illustrate the very sudden nature of life-and-death situations in a war zone. It is not as graphic and gory as many other war films but nonetheless effectively illustrates that soldiers are never really safe, even in quiet moments. The project was quite a commitment for all actors involved, as they spent 6 months in rehearsal prior to shooting. While the film appears to be one continuous take, Mendes concealed many edits through camera movements behind objects and the occasional black screen (i.e. dirt being kicked up in front of the lens, etc.). Rope Who better to take on a herculean filmmaking task than Alfred Hitchcock? Nicknamed the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock applied the one-take filmmaking aspect to his 1948 project, adapted from a Patrick Hamilton stage play by the same name of nearly 20 years prior. In the adaptation, two students, Brandon and Philip (John Dall and Farley Granger respectively), murder their classmate and hide the body in the same location of their dinner party later that evening. The point of their daredevil tactic is to test the precision for executing the crime. As Brandon’s guilt weighs on him Telltale Heart style, one of their guests, Rupert (Jimmy Stewart) grows suspicious. Shot on 35mm film, Hitchcock had to resort to shooting a series of 10-minute takes and stringing them together due to the technological limitations at that time. As in Soft and Quiet , the camera heightens the effect of big revelations by panning around, zooming in and resting on particular props, such as a gun in one’s pocket, a message on a piece of stationary or a design inside a bowler hat. Silent House Silent House is adapted from an Argentinian horror film titled La Casa Muda . It revolves around Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), a young woman trapped in her family’s lakeside retreat with an intruder and no way out. Without spoiling the ending, Silent House utilizes the “unreliable narrator” trope and places the audience in Sarah‘s limited perspective, leading to a dark and shocking plot twist. The film doesn’t shy away from the jump scare method through lighting effects (or lack thereof), tight shots and sound mixing. Similar to Rope , Silent House was shot as a series of 10-minute takes edited to appear continuous. Timecode Like the other films on this list, Mike Figgis’ Timecode filmed multiple run-throughs using the one-take style. Unlike the others, this particular selection incorporated a split-screen to show four takes at once. While this sounds like a battle of attrition for one’s attention span, the film foregrounds the audio of the screen that it wants the audience to focus on at any particular point. Timecode tells the story of a jilted lover (Jeanne Tripplehorn) discovering her partner’s (Salma Hayek) infidelity and listening in to a Hollywood production company’s casting call, located in the same place her partner was heading. The initially separate characters eventually intertwine, culminating in a tragic ending. Rather than containing meticulous dialogue and action as the other films on this list chose to do, Timecode consists largely of improvisation, with each actor and actress responsible for their own clothes, hair and makeup. Figgis shot the film fifteen times over the course of two weeks, always as a continuous take. Victoria Sometimes, tourists who trust strangers can get more than they bargained for. Such is the case for the titular character, a twenty-something Spanish woman (Laia Costa) who leaves Madrid for Berlin and runs into a group of friends at a nightclub. After a fun and flirtatious start to the evening, Victoria finds herself coerced into a bank robbery with dire stakes and consequences. As is common in one-take movies, Victoria takes place in real time over one evening. The film contains many emotional swings, as the protagonist goes from guarded to trusting, euphoric to depressed and back multiple times. As Victoria is in every scene, we see the events unfold through her viewpoint. The limited perspective also drives home how loneliness can compromise anyone’s judgment. Like Timecode , Victoria leaned heavily on its actors to improvise, with the original screenplay being just 12 pages long. While other one-take movies use clever editing to smooth out cuts, Victoria was shot as one continuous take three different times during the early morning hours in Berlin. Director Sebastian Schipper watched them all and picked the best run-through. What are the takeaways? For starters, a lot of one-take movies are not actually one take. Editors tend to weave together clips in a way that appears continuous by using black screen, extreme close-ups and stagnant frames as in and out points. Movies meant to appear as one continuous take tend to require a lot of preparation, even relative to other detailed shoots. Some of the movies on this list performed well at the box office while others didn’t. Some received critical acclaim while others did not. The reality is that this style can be a turnoff for moviegoers who see it as a gimmick used to distract from a script’s gaping plot holes. Despite viewers' complaints, one-take movies can be done very well, as evidenced by the critical acclaim and accolades of Birdman , 1917 , and others not on this list. It is yet another cinematic tool that provides directors, crews and cast one of the best things about art: an opportunity to challenge themselves. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

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< Back Steven Renkovish Interview: A Talk with Writer/Director Steven Renkovish Interview with Writer/Director Steven Adam Renkovish on The Awakening of Lilith Chris Chaisson 2021-11-19 Reading time: 18 minutes Synopsis: A woman finds herself in the midst of a dark mystery after the unexplained loss of a loved one. Her mind begins to unravel as her sense of reality begins to slip away. Principal Cast: Brittany Renée as “Lilith” Justin Livingston as “Noah” Mary Miles Kokotek as “Mother” Rachel Sims Jackson as “Elizabeth” Tiffany Majors Doby as “Emily” Christiana Wilson as “Dawn” Jessie Roberts as “Iris” Crew: Writer/Director/Editor: Steven Adam Renkovish Director of Photography: Thomas Springer Music: Seth Anderson Producers: Ashley Renkovish, Lorraine Renkovish, Steve Renkovish, Brittany Renée Special Makeup Effects: Jessie Roberts During 2019, writer/director Steven Adam Renkovish decided to build off the momentum he gained from his short film, Fugue , by writing and shooting its feature-length version, The Awakening of Lilith . Starring Brittany Renée in the role of “Lilith,” the film addresses how we grieve in the aftermath of traumatic events and how some remain in that state, seemingly unable or unwilling to fight their way out of it. “ The Awakening of Lilith explores this idea of the weight of grief - how some of us long to forget it the minute we feel it, the very second it shows its face, and how others almost see it as a comfort,” Renkovish states in the film’s press kit. “Because grief tethers us to our loved ones for eternity, every time that we grieve for them, they are there, in some way or another… I hope that the experience of watching The Awakening of Lilith will initiate a conversation that needs to be had. I hope that, through the character of Lilith, people may see a bit of themselves. That is my hope.” I reached out to Steven for an interview to talk more about the film’s themes and the challenges he faced in finishing it during the pandemic, as well as his plans for future projects. Lilith’s Themes Chris: The big theme of the movie is processing grief following a traumatic event. How would you describe Lilith’s dilemma and the more surreal experiences she has? Renkovish: Throughout the movie, Lilith has two different realities that she's wrestling with, to cope with this tragedy in her life that she's blocked out. She's taken the reality and sort of put her own spin on it to be able to cope. … I did a lot of research about false memories, and how people who are grieving will create things to fill in those gaps in their memory of the stuff that they blocked out. … So I really wanted to play with that psychology of just how we can take the traumatic experiences in our lives and sort of whittle them down and get them to a point where they're something that we can live with. … Describing a poignant scene in the film with Lilith and her best friend Elizabeth, played by Rachel Sims Jackson, Renkovish explains that it was telling because it reveals Lilith’s own emotional baggage and how it gets in the way of helping people close to her. Renkovish: So, if you look at Lilith, you'll notice that there are similarities in the situations and in the dialogue, but they're twisted in a lot of ways. So I really wanted to play with that psychology of just how we can take the traumatic experiences in our lives and sort of whittle them down and get them to a point where they're something that we can live with. … Because in a way Lilith was never really prepared to help Noah in the way that he needed to be helped. … I wanted to touch on the fact that when we lose people - I feel like, we sit there and we ask ourselves so many times, what could I have done to alleviate their pain. … we have those dialogues with ourselves when really, I mean, we can't put that kind of pressure on ourselves. … And I wanted to touch on that sort of dynamic with her character of just the guilt that she's feeling and the way that it's just caused her to retreat. And it's almost like she finds comfort in her grief. And that's an odd thing, too, because we tend to look at grieving as something negative. … But it's also a comfort because whenever you grieve for your loved ones, they're there with you, in a way, their presence - it's just a lot of stuff to unpack. … But it was one of those situations where it's like, you have this opportunity to make this feature film. Why not say the things you want to say? Chris: Exactly. When I was watching it, I felt like Lilith seemed like somebody who leans on people a little bit. She's a codependent personality. So I thought it was interesting for her to be having this stage of grief in her life by herself. You see a lot of movies where the main character suffers a loss, and the movie’s about somebody that they meet that pulls them out of that. When I was watching it, I thought it was interesting, this movie where she's in this state largely by herself and at odds with some of the people around her. Renkovish: Oh, exactly. Yeah, to me, that was one of the big things because when you're in the midst of something like that, and if you're with people who are not ready to be emotionally available to you when you need that support, especially if you're someone like Lilith with the mother that she had. … the more I watch it, the more I see where my own subconscious sort of took over. And there's just so many possibilities with it. Like so many. There's a lot of mirroring in it. Like, one minute Lilith is the one just popping off or it's Noah who's popping off to Lilith in one scene. And then in the next scene, he's the more submissive one, and the more docile one, and she's the one who's aggressive. ... Sometimes, we treat our loved ones, especially when they're going through something, we can be dismissive. It doesn't necessarily mean that we're responsible for what ultimately ends up happening, but that we’re imperfect. … There's a lot of twists and turns that it takes, and it is deliberately ambiguous in a lot of areas, because I always find that I would rather have that ambiguity, and leave some strings untied, rather than have everything presented in a nice big bow at the end. ... I hope it will be able to generate these kinds of discussions. And I think that these are things that need to be talked about, especially now when there's just so much loss going on in the world. And I understand that it deals with some heavy and dense and complex themes, but at the same time, to me, it is a hopeful film. Shooting Challenges Renkovish and I spent some time talking about the challenges he faced while shooting Lilith during the pandemic. Besides directing a large pool of actors and fighting what he calls his tendency to be a “people pleaser,” he had to deal with time and budget constraints. Chris: You shot this film in the middle of the pandemic. What was the most challenging aspect of the shoot? Renkovish: Everyone that worked on it, God bless them, they were volunteers. Altogether, after the movie was through, we're like, “How much money did we spend on this thing?” Because we really didn't spend a lot. I bought a new laptop to edit; well, my sister got me one for Christmas. And we catered a little bit, paid for Thomas's gas money whenever he would let us do it. And about $3,000. About $3,000 for this little movie. … We really wanted to have sort of a homemade, homespun sort of feel to it. And the challenge was working within those constraints, and still trying to be as true to the nature of the script as we possibly could. And I really think we did. … There were several days where I was thinking to myself, you've bitten off more than you can chew, because this is a huge project … [We] didn't have the luxury of having the time to block things out … And it was just chaos, because every person there had an idea of how they wanted a scene to go. And I got really overwhelmed because I'm a people pleaser, and I didn't want anybody to get offended. And I was trying to be that director who listens to suggestions, and just works with the group … Just the fact that we didn't have the time that you usually have on a film set with a big budget to block things out and to have all that planning ahead of time. And so that was a challenge. But it brought the best out of everybody. Art Influences During our conversation, I learned that Renkovish is “old school,” in his approach to filmmaking. He talks about Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch as he delves into how he thinks about the stories he develops. Chris: As I was watching it, I was just thinking about directors who do movies with a similar tone to them. One of the ones that came to mind was Charlie Kaufman and the way some of his movies are about a main character [experiencing] a breakup or an imagined relationship, more so than the death of a loved one. They have some surreal elements concerning the state that this person was in and how they were coping with this new reality that they were having. I know you mentioned Roman Polanski, but I was wondering if there were any other directors that you looked at and saw yourself as emulating. Renkovish: Um, let's see. Okay, so I think after I started writing Fugue , which was the lead up to this, I think by then Polanski was just no longer a blip in my mind at this point. My other influences at this point were Ingmar Bergman. Specifically, his film, Hour of the Wolf, and Persona . So I really had those on my mind. And then David Lynch. And Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession , so those three juggling around in my brain, maybe with a dash of Terrence Malick. Yeah, just a little bit, I think. ... But then this was one of the first times where I could see myself also being influenced by my own little ways of doing and saying and staging things. With Fugue , Fugue was actually really big, just as far as trying to keep within the mood of that and the framing. And so it was one of the first times that I was acutely aware of the way that I like to do stuff. And then sort of pulling little bits of inspiration from these other people as well. … And so I definitely had my influences. And, especially Bergman, in this case, that bedroom scene with Noah and Lilith. I was thinking of scenes of a marriage a lot when I was shooting. So I got my people that I'm always thinking about. Chris: What did you find more interesting, as a director, the framing, and I know you leaned on your director of photography a lot, Thomas Springer is his name? Renkovish: Thomas Springer. Old Tommy, yeah. Chris: I know you probably leaned on him a lot for your framing of the shots. But what did you find to be the more interesting part of making the film, the framing of the shots or the coaching up of your actors? Renkovish: Um, I would say a little bit of both. I mean, as far as the framing and everything, I have a shot list prepared. And I talked earlier about having to make compromises whenever something needed to be changed up, Tommy would frame it up for me, and then he would bring me over and he'd be like, “Alright, boss, how does this look?” And I would confirm it and be like, “Yeah, that looks good. That looks really good; that actually looks better than what I had in mind.” So as far as that, with Tommy, I knew that I was gonna get as much coverage as humanly possible. And he was willing to do what I wanted, and then go off and experiment and do other things, too. So I gave him ... free reign. … I mean, when you have somebody like Tommy on your team that is just so dependable, and willing to just go all out. That took a lot of that aspect off my shoulders, although I was always very aware of it. ... But then just going in and talking with my actors, and especially Britney and Justin Livingston, who played Noah. Justin is like, he is incredible. I'm so proud of him in this role, he did such a great job. And he was the perfect match for Britney because they both played off each other so well. ... So I would send them long texts with background information about their characters. And they would read that and incorporate that into their characters. I would go in before each scene and we would talk about the subtext of every scene and what the scene meant and what the characters were thinking. But you give them that bit of direction, and then just let them go with it. And they'll surprise you. There's no need to get in there and micromanage and overcorrect a scene when you have actors as good as that. Promotion Plans One of the most expensive elements of making a film is promoting it. This exposure is important for gaining “buzz” about the film, which typically leads to viewership and prospects for distribution. Renkovish described film festivals as the path to doing this for Lilith . Chris: You were talking to me about submitting to festivals, and you said you've gotten yours into the Tryon International Film Festival in North Carolina, and also the Mental Filmness Film Festival in Chicago. Were you able to attend those in person? And what was your experience like? Renkovish: Well, the Tryon International Film Festival in Tryon, North Carolina, is like the Sundance of this area. Like they got it going on, and they never let me down. Just about every single thing that I've had. I mean, everything that I have made thus far has gotten to try on in there. They really have been supportive of my work. And I'm telling you, Chris, they are so I mean, they're with it. Like they're there. ... A lot of festivals, God bless them, they just don't have the budget, but the people at Tryon, they take every penny and they make it stretch, and they put on quite the event. And they're always so accommodating and familial and welcoming. It really is like a home away from home. If you ever get the chance to go to the Tryon International Film Festival, you need to do it. It is well worth it. You will go away feeling so loved. ... And that's where we had the world premiere of Lilith , and it was quite the event. There were just, there's nothing like seeing your dream come true. With a room full of people that you've known your whole life who are there rooting for you. And that's it. The premiere of Lilith at Tryon was something that changed my life and something I'll never forget. It was one of those landmark moments. ... And the Mental Filmness Festival is a virtual film festival based in Chicago. So I actually didn't attend in person, but [Sharon Gissy] who runs it is phenomenal. Like she knows her stuff. She's very well read and Mental Filmness is basically a film festival that focuses on films that have the theme of mental illness and try to take away from the stigma of mental illness. And they brought our film on and we're happy to have it, and it played on their platform for about a month. And they were wonderful too; just really good people. So that was, shoot, I would’ve gone if I could have if it had been a physical event at a venue. But not at this point. It's just virtual, but another good festival. Future Projects Before ending our talk, Renkovish touched on several of his upcoming projects, including a collaboration with his co-editor on Lilith , and one that he hopes gets him in a “little bit of trouble.” Chris: That's cool. I'm glad you got to have those experiences. I mean, it's really impressive that you were able to put this film together with the resources you had and in the time period you were able to, and then I'm glad you're able to not only get it into those, but probably future ones as well. And so I will of course be rooting for you, not only for the future of this project, but for your future projects. Any, of course, is there anything else you wanted to say? Renkovish: Oh, well, number one, thank you so much for this opportunity. Like, it really means the world to me that you reached out for an interview. Yeah, I'm definitely going to keep you posted on my future projects. I've got two short films that I've sort of got on the back burner right now. One of those is going to be shot completely on eight-millimeter film stock. So that one is coming up. And then my next feature is going to be called Immersion . And it's basically going to be like an anthology film about people that are wrestling with faith and doubt in many different forms. And I'm going to take the Evangelical crowd to task a little bit in this one. But yeah, I'm hoping that one gets me in a little bit of trouble. We'll see what happens. I'm going to stir the pot a little bit. So yeah, I've got those things going. ... And my brother from another mother, Bradley Andrew. He was the assistant editor with me on Lilith . There's like a big dream sequence in the midsection of Lilith. That just comes out of nowhere. And he and I edited that together. We stayed up to like three o'clock in the morning one night and edited that whole sequence together. And so yeah, me and him are doing a short film called 16 . That is shot on eight-millimeter film stock. And it's sort of like an experimental, psychedelic film. And he's also going to act in it as well. And he's a film director and also an author, and he is working on his own series of comic books right now. So he's got a lot on his plate, too. So just a lot of really good things are coming on down the pike. So I'll keep you posted. Having submitted to 70 film festivals, the filmmaker describes himself as “broke,” but his comments indicate that he is passionate about the work while also hopeful that the film hits strongly on its themes. “I’m not always going to make films that are palatable to a mainstream audience. …,” he says. “But I’m hoping that it does well … and resonates with people [who] see it.” You can find more info about The Awakening of Lilith on Facebook , Letterboxd and IMDb , or email Refuge Films for updates. Check out our review of Lilith in our Movies section. 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Learn about Cup of Tea Critiques, an online hub for Proof of Concept & Insightful Movie Reviews designed for film and TV enthusiasts. Click here if this sounds like your cup of tea! Welcome to Cup of Tea Critiques® Cup of Tea Critiques examines movies and television series through a critical lens. Our main focus is independent cinema—films rarely talked about, found in mainstream theaters, nor advertised on billboards. However, they are broadly available on streaming platforms and can be watched from the comfort of your own home. The shows consist of stories from across the globe—often important, funny, and entertaining stories—that captivate and inform, expose you to underrepresented perspectives, stimulate your thoughts, and facilitate discussion. Reviewing elements like story, depth of character, aesthetics, and themes, we develop a synopsis and denote it with a tea brew that evokes a feel for the work. So, instead of likes, ratings, emojis, or thumbs up or down, our reviews are tagged with a type of tea that, based on its benefits, gives you a sense of the show's feel and substance. In the mood for a lot of dialog? Maybe a movie tagged with a barley tea is just for you. Prefer something light? Perhaps a show tagged with ginkgo biloba is what you're looking for. Don't worry, we provide a legend that describes every tea we use. So, what movie or show are you in the mood for? Reading the review and noting the show's brew will help you decide if it's your "cup of tea." ® chris@cupofteacritiques.com Hi! I’m Chris reba@cupofteacritiques.com Hi! I’m Brandon brandon@cupofteacritiques.com Hi! I’m Reba Subscribe to receive email alerts for new movie and television critiques. Follow us on our Facebook, Instagram , and Letterboxd pages.

< Back Conclave highlights the elusiveness of infallibility Indian Paintbrush, 2024 120 minutes Director/Writer: Edward Berger / Peter Straughan and Robert Harris Reading Time: 9 minutes Conclave Over the Years (T5KTL7QBINSTAQET) 00:00 / 11:27 📷 : Used with permission, Theo Peng https://www.instagram.com/mrtheodorepeng/ https://x.com/mrtheodorepeng Honeybush: Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Sage: Movies and TV shows with low-key characters Reba Chaisson 2025-01-31 I was raised Baptist and my church felt like my second home. In addition to choir rehearsal and Bible Study during the week, I was there every Sunday with my family from 9:00 to 1:30. I stopped going to church when I went to college and actually felt liberated from the more than half-day Sunday service. So, when we broached the topic of declining church attendance during a graduate seminar in the late ‘90s, I humorously speculated that long services could be the reason for the decline. Church attendance has been shrinking since the 1990s. Gallup studies this phenomenon regularly. Its most recent report shows that 30% of people in the U.S. attend religious services on a weekly basis, which is down from 42% 20 years ago. Adding to this phenomenon, Pew Research reported in 2009 that 17% of people claimed to be agnostic, atheist, or “nothing in particular.” Ten years later, 1 out of every 4 indicated as such. Individuals and families are often blamed for problematic social phenomena. But I’ve been considering what responsibilities the institutions themselves have for declining attendance and perhaps even diminishing faith? As I watched Conclave , these decades-old questions began to swirl in my mind once again. Conclave ’s inciting incident is the sudden death of the sitting pope. Ralph Fiennes headlines the film as Cardinal Lawrence, the pope’s dear and trusted friend. Soon after arriving at the Vatican, Lawrence learns of the Holy Father’s written order that he lead the Catholic church’s traditional conclave to select a new pope. Distraught but touched by his friend’s trust, Cardinal Lawrence carries on his duties by first summoning all the cardinals from across the globe to the Vatican for the proceedings. Consulting with Lawrence is Cardinal Bellini, a close friend and confidant of he and the late pope’s, played by Stanley Tucci. In case you’re unaware, a conclave is the process whereby Catholic cardinals appoint a new pope after the one in office has resigned or passed away. During this time, the cardinals are sequestered to the Vatican’s campus to avoid any outside influences on their decisions. The meeting itself is held nearby in the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals' exchanges and votes are kept secret, and their notes and ballots are burned at the end of each session to ensure their inviolability. Black chimney smoke from the burnings signal to Catholic faithful that a decision on a new pope has not yet been reached, while white smoke indicates that a pope has been selected. The process can run from days to years. During their stay, each cardinal has a private room in the large dormitory on the Vatican’s campus. They eat meals together in an airy, spacious dining hall, while dressed in clean and starched robes and zucchettos. Isabella Rossellini plays the tough, stubborn, and protective Sister Agnes in Conclave , who leads the group of international nuns called in to support the cardinals’ domestic needs in the form of cooking and cleaning. Interestingly, their role is little different than that of most women in the secular world. That Sister Agnes is tight-lipped, stern-faced, and has few lines in the film signals the nuns’ narrow and traditional functions in the midst of a group of men with prestige and who each has authority over them. We know this for sure when she cracks a slight smile as one of the cardinals acknowledges the sisters during a prayer over the food, thanking God for the sisters who prepared it. On the one hand, the gathering of the cardinals brings to mind domestic and international college students converging on campuses for the start of fall semester. Like predominantly White college campuses, the Vatican has a predominance of White cardinals with a smattering of cardinals of color. Together, like students, the group is diverse in nationality. On the other hand, the setting feels like a high school with a strict dress code and beginning its first week of classes for the semester. Early on, there are smiles, hugs, and a bit of catch-up after the summer away from one another. And over time, they form cliques, secrets are revealed, and voice is given to what were once implicit biases. Quickly, we learn from this film that what we often view as perfect in religious institutions is far from it when we get to observe the goings-on in its inner sanctum. The movie reveals that conclave proceedings are more like politics than a process we might imagine as steeped in prayer, humility, and melancholy. While the cardinals are serious about the task at hand, for many, their own aspirations to be king — oh, sorry — pope, are top of mind. And those who insist they have no such ambitions, well, we learn differently not only when their names suddenly appear on the ballot, but especially as their names begin to drop in the number of votes they receive. When Lawrence suggests to Bellini early on that he is likely to succeed the pope, Bellini is modestly surprised and insists he doesn’t want it. But when his voting numbers begin to slip, he becomes indignant about the people who move ahead of him on the ballot. He even accuses Lawrence of wanting the papacy for himself despite his name not appearing on the ballot. So much for being close friends! Different from Bellini’s initial modesty, other cardinals are not shy in expressing their desire to be head of the Catholic Archdiocese. Cardinal Tremblay, who is played by John Lithgow, not only insists he should be the next pope, but he has a cadre of cardinals who agrees with him and votes in his favor. When Lawrence asks Tremblay if there is any truth to an allegation he learned from a priest who came to see him at the Vatican, Tremblay responds as if he’d been accused of blasphemy – “Oh God, of course not!” But as he does with others who throw their zucchettos in the ring, Lawrence instructs his assistant to conduct a background investigation on the cardinal. When he confronts him with his findings, Tremblay is forced to moderate his arrogance and swallow his indignation. Cardinal Wozniak, played by Jacek Koman, is openly racist and xenophobic, once even proclaiming in his native Italian, “We tolerate Islam in our land, but they revile us in theirs. What we need is a leader who believes that we are facing a true religious war. … We need a leader who fights these animals.” While this sounds more like a military zealot than a priest, Wozniak too has a cadre of cardinals who sides with him and casts votes in his favor. But when his bigotry is confronted by an unlikely source, his run too is short-lived. Even the Black cardinals get behind Cardinal Adeyemi, an ambitious cardinal from Nigeria played by Lucian Msamati, who insists he deserves the opportunity to be pope. But Lawrence finds that he too has blemishes on his record. Watching Conclave made me realize why conclaves can last years. It is an endless search for perfection among fallible human beings, none of whom began their lives as adults or priests. The process reinforces the ever-present somber reality that infallibility is both elusive and an illusion, that we must recognize we are works in progress and strive to be better. The film suggests, however, that strict adherence to the rules of the church is required and that there’s no margin for error when it comes to the papacy. This lack of flexibility could help explain why people seem to feel alienated from religion and religious institutions. While they are not one and the same, they both manifest in the lack of church-going. It makes you wonder, then, if the church itself is lacking in a relatability factor, where its leaders present themselves as pure and infallible and the congregation by contrast is made to feel like heathens. An interesting aspect of Conclave is the difficulty in locating the villain in the story. Coincidentally, COTC recently recorded a podcast on the different forms that a villain can take. In it, we also pose a question regarding audiences’ patience to watch films where the villain is not readily obvious. On the one hand, Cardinals Tremblay and Wozniak can be considered the villains for their dishonesty and bigotry, respectively. But perhaps the villain is less obvious. In his background checks and confrontations with cardinals, Cardinal Lawrence is determined to honor the late pope’s trust in him. But his efforts can also be viewed as a desperate fight to keep evil out of their sacred space. In this sense, he is not fighting the cardinals themselves; rather he is fighting the lust for power, which has the potential to corrupt the church throughout if that kind of power wins. From this perspective, power is the villain rather than the individuals themselves. Cardinals Tremblay and Wozniak behave poorly because they have been infected by a thirst for power that can ultimately fracture the church if they ascend to the role of pontiff. Given what is at stake, Lawrence’s wariness and diligence are warranted and admirable. At the same time though, it suggests he is in pursuit of an infallible human being, or perhaps just the appearance of one. I love movies that give you a glimpse of places and processes we would not otherwise see or experience. The value of Conclave is that it helps us appreciate Catholic clergy, or clergy in general, as flawed people, much like everyone else. What distorts this view, I believe, are the religious institution’s frequent adorning of accoutrements like crosses, starched robes, hats, and even certain colors (i.e. the notion of white for purity) to mask their imperfections and present themselves as holy, unbiased, without ambition, and always upright. We lowly parishioners can’t possibly measure up. Perhaps this is just naïvete on my part, but I wonder how clergy might modify their presentation to make themselves more relatable to the people they serve. Maybe this could be the beginning of making church feel like a second home again. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

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< Back Between the Temples makes us laugh at our deepest fears Fusion Entertainment, 2024 111 minutes Director/Writer: Nathan Silver Reading Time: 6 minutes Between the Temples Bright Sunny Day 00:00 / 06:44 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock Oolong: Movies and TV shows that make you laugh or involve physical activities like dance and exercise Barley: Movies and TV shows with a lot of dialog Chris Chaisson 2024-08-31 A few weeks ago, my Apple watch broke as I was exiting the metal detectors at a Dodgers game. As annoying as it was, my good mood allowed me to view it as the loss of an accessory, both replaceable and insignificant. What hurts far more and is far longer lasting is losing an ability that allows you to express creativity. Any talent that you have fostered and developed a fondness for can probably be taken away very easily. Our lifestyle is probably much more fragile than we realize on a day-to-day basis. Nonetheless, a way to bounce back from losing a hobby or calling can be to devote yourself to service. Endow someone else with the ability to do what you no longer can. Such is the premise of Nathan Silver’s newest indie project, Between the Temples . Jason Schwartzmann plays Ben Gottlieb, a widowed music teacher and cantor who abruptly loses his singing voice. Already experiencing the loneliness of carrying on without his life partner, Ben must now cope with the loss of a lifelong enjoyable pastime. Seeking counsel from the town rabbi (Robert Smigel) does not prove entirely helpful, and his two mothers (Dolly De Leon and Caroline Aaron) can be overbearing. A confrontation at a bar leads Ben to reunite with his grade school music teacher, Carla Kessler (Carol Kane, The Princess Bride ). Ben catches up with her and decides to train Carla to sing at her own adult bat mitzvah, curing his loneliness while providing him with the zeal to pass on his abilities to someone else. On paper, Between the Temples sounds like a downer premise. The film revolves around grief, depression and anxiety. However, it takes all of these negative concepts and wraps them in a hilarious bow, largely thanks to its characters. Ben’s behavior lets you know how he is feeling right off the bat; within the first ten minutes of the movie, he lays down in the middle of the road. When a truck comes along and stops, he begs for it to roll over him, but instead he just ends up getting a ride home. For much of the script, Ben finds himself in one uncomfortable situation after another thanks to misunderstanding and ulterior motives. In the opening scene, his mother suggests that he see a doctor. While the obvious interpretation is that he sees a doctor for health purposes, Ben is quickly ushered into the living room to meet a doctor as a potential date. The protagonist being put on the spot in the opening scene provides a perfect tone-setter for the rest of the comedy. Nathan Silver uses the camera and visual effects to convey the anxiety each character feels in their social engagements. Not only does he include an abundance of close-ups, but they are accompanied by a slow zoom in to heighten the discomfort. Similarly, many scenes consist of overlapping, sometimes unintelligible dialogue, which contrasts sharply with the often “perfect” dialogue we hear in films. Characters tend to speak clearly and uninterrupted in films, and if they are cut off, they immediately stop talking so that the other person is clearly heard. It tends to work for movies, but our real-life verbal exchanges are not always so seamless. While Silver’s tactic is at first jarring, it quickly becomes very relatable and plays into the theme of imperfection. Lastly, Between the Temples possesses a very grainy cinematography, despite the modern digital advancements. Many independent films make this aesthetic choice even today; as before the age of digital cinema, low-budget indies likely had a grainy appearance due to the lack of a budget to clean them up. Though Temples is set in modern day, this nostalgic look fits the film’s premise given that the protagonist reconnects with someone from his childhood and occasionally takes trips down memory lane. Like many strong comedies, Between the Temples contains its fair share of recurring gags. For instance, a specific bartender/waiter keeps reappearing in different establishments as himself, with his appearance usually following an unrelated laughable moment. By the halfway point of the film, he has Ben’s go-to beverage down pat. Another gag is the basement door at Ben’s place, which won’t stay closed and emits an unsettling creak noise every time it gradually reopens. Just as with the bartender, the door serves as an annoying add-on to a scene where tensions have already been heightened. The creaking noise is often used at the conclusion of scenes that are not even taking place at Ben’s home, again emphasizing the heightened tension of what just occurred. Many years ago, I had a professor tell me that the reason characters in a sitcom can exhibit mean-spirited behavior towards each other and not alienate the office is because no matter what, there is always an undercurrent of shared love amongst them. In Between the Temples , no one is particularly cruel to Ben; they just put him in a series of uncomfortable situations where he finds himself spitting out non-kosher food, chasing his childhood self on an acid trip, or having an impromptu blind date in his living room. It is clear that despite Ben’s struggles and unpredictable escapades, the people around him want the best for him. Their constant efforts, however bad or misguided, provide the movie with a heartwarming feel and many belly laughs. Premise-wise, the closest comparison is Sound of Metal , a Riz Ahmed-led movie about a drummer losing his hearing. However, the mood of Between the Temples more closely replicates a film such as Wes Anderson’s 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums about a quirky family being reunited under the same roof. While the performances aren’t quite as monotone or deadpan, the characters in Between the Temples exhibit a fondness for one another and just lack the ability to express it; or, at least, successfully. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!