Below is a full roundup of our IFF Boston coverage from 2015, which includes 28 reviews of 20 feature-length films and 8 short films from 5 writers. Two additional film reviews are upcoming.

Your Editor-in-Chief, Mary Tobin, covered IFFBoston as NUFEC press. Her parents so happened to be in town from Iowa during the IFFB weekend, so thankfully many of the NUFEC Blog writing staff stepped up. NUFEC writer and editor, Carter Sigl, contributed several articles, and one article was contributed each by NUFEC member Andy Robinson; Patrick Roos, former Treasurer of NUFEC; and incoming NUFEC Treasurer, Arzu Martinez.

Wednesday

Mary Tobin on The End of the Tour - "In exploring ascension to fame, it explores so much more about the relationship of the interviewer and the interviewee; how both are always assessing one another while potentially drowning in their own self-doubt."


Thursday

Patrick Roos on Being Evel - "If you’re a long-time fan of extreme sports, calculated showmanship, or Hot Rod, you shouldn’t need more than the title to sell you on this movie.  For others, you’ll still want to see a man who, when told by the federal government that he wasn’t allowed to jump the Grand Canyon, went out and bought a canyon of his own to jump."

Mary Tobin on Slow West - "There were a lot of deaths and there was some commentary on outlaws and children, but really nothing that I felt was phenomenal. I feel very indifferent towards the film, unfortunately. "

Mary Tobin on T(error) – “...it appears no one is watching the organizations that have systematically gained vast amounts of power and influence especially in the criminal justice system… which feels anything but just, especially in this context. While I’ve seen many fantastic films at this festival, this is the breakout; this is the film I want to watch again and again. "


Friday

Mary Tobin on Do I Sound Gay? - "... the film was a fascinating take on the impact of the voice, from scientific examinations of intonation to the use of the “gay” voice in film. The cultural impact and assessment was the most intriguing..."

Coming Soon: Mary Tobin on The Surrender 

Carter Sigl on The Overnight – “If you and a few friends want to see an awful American sex comedy, by all means see this movie. Otherwise, I would say this one is a pass… Unless of course you want to see Jason Schwartzman’s dick, in which case this movie will happily oblige.”

Carter Sigl on They Look Like People – “A chilling psychological horror, They Look Like People is a terrifying picture of what it feels like to struggle with schizophrenia.”


Saturday

Mary Tobin on Prom Night - "With a light, airy soundtrack, this comedy short about the sexual expectations accompanying prom night delves into the insecurities of an inexperienced young man with a fresh feel."

Mary Tobin on Hasta La Vista - "This quirky, hilarious short with a quick-witted premise could easily be too sad or too overdone, but manages to walk a comedic line throughout."

Mary Tobin on Help Point - "Two strangers looking for their cars in an airport parking lot cross paths and lament over their common woes."

Mary Tobin on Ticky Tacky - "I’m all for a film set exclusively in an office-library featuring a precocious child who shares a murderous streak with his enigmatic boss, so it was pretty exciting all around."

Mary Tobin on Desk Job - "The film managed to feel familiar without feeling overindulgent for the most part. It felt like the person who made this maybe had to convince their parents that they should be able to work in film rather than have a stable job at a large corporation..."

Mary Tobin Actor Seeks Role - "Alex Karpovsky’s portrayal of a man going off the rails for his craft feels natural, albeit disturbing. Dylan Baker may have stolen the show, though, as his medical instructor excitement flew off the screen."

Carter Sigl on H. - "...the thing about this movie is that it’s a tease.  All these strange things happen, and even if they are interesting or occasionally frightening in the moment, nothing is ever explained..."

Mary Tobin on Lost Conquest – “The most exciting part of this film is, thankfully, the meatiest part: interviews with puzzlingly genuine, thoughtful, and warm people that respectfully held differing beliefs."

Carter Sigl on Wildlike - "Combining a well-written plot with a cast of experienced actors, Wildlike is a touching drama film about two people who start as strangers and slowly come to care for one another...Wildlike is a beautiful film, on both a visual and emotional level..."

Coming Soon: Mary Tobin on Stray Dog

Mary Tobin on Crooked Candy - "It feels rare that a voiceover short film shot largely in the same room and with limited visual engagement of the single subject could so quickly and delightfully engage, but engage it did."

Carter Sigl on DEATHGASM - "DEATHGASM is ridiculous, hilarious, extremely gory, and downright awesome. It’s a horror movie and splatter comedy based entirely around Heavy Metal music which does not take itself seriously in the slightest and runs entirely on sheer mayhem and absurd comedy...All in all, DEATHGASM is one of the funniest and most fun movies I’ve seen in quite a long time."


Sunday

Carter Sigl on Made in Japan - "Directed by John Bishop, Made in Japan is probably one of the most unlikely stories of either Japan or country music I’ve ever seen. The documentary charts both Tomi’s history in the music industry and her contemporary quest: to play on the Grand Ole Opry one last time."

Mary Tobin on The Look of Silence - "This companion piece to The Act of Killing is just as difficult to watch as the original installment, if not more so. That’s not to say the film isn’t fantastic in it’s ability to confront human emotion and what we expect of humanity in a striking tone; it is."

Carter Sigl on The Keeping Room - "All in all, The Keeping Room is a beautiful and terrifying film about women and war, a topic that sorely needs more attention and examination in our culture."


Monday

Mary Tobin on Lost Colony - "I really wanted to like this film, but the combination of frustrating camera choices and a wandering plot with many touched on but underdeveloped subplots was too much for this 84-min film to handle."

Arzu Martinez on Posthumous - "In their conversations, there are brief mentions of questions that could have made the story deliver, like the definition of art and its value, the difference between a real artist and a sell-out, or whether an artist should strive for greatness or happiness."

Mary Tobin on The Hermit - "Unfortunately, The Hermit felt too disorganized to pack much of a punch. For such a ripe and unique story, the exploration felt conventional and surface-level."

Carter Sigl on Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD - "Overall, Future Shock! is a fascinating and entertaining story about a realm of geek culture I knew next to nothing about."


Tuesday 

Andy Robinson on The Wolfpack - "Moselle positions herself as a fly on the wall in the claustrophobic apartment, but is shy about addressing her influence on the family dynamic. As the first and only guest in their apartment, it’s hard to believe that Moselle was merely an observer throughout several years of filming."


Wednesday

Mary Tobin on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - "You can read this review in its entirety, but I’ll save you some time if you’re a busy person on a train or something and you’re reading this in a hurry: go see this movie."

This article is part of NUFEC's ongoing coverage of the Independent Film Festival Boston 2015.

In a wolfpack, there is a leader: the Alpha male. They command respect, keep order, and enjoy first dibs on dinner. In The Wolfpack, Crystal Moselle’s debut documentary, there is no leader; there is only the shadow of a father.

The Angulo family lives on the Lower East Side. Six brothers and one sister are kept in seclusion from the outside world, whose windows are really only the small television set they have and a library of films numbering in the thousands. Images from Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino fuel their eagerness to create – in the form of meticulous re-enactment. They recreate the scripts from scratch by transcribing the movies in real time, make costumes out of yoga mats and cereal boxes, and get into character using music from tape decks.

For roughly twenty years, this was the way things were in the Angulo household. Homeschool during the day, then movies. Dad, a Salinger-esque hermit, would stay in his room. The father’s obsession with his children’s safety verges on abuse; by trying to protect them from unspecified forces outside, he turned them into shut-ins. For all that, home video shows a warm upbringing. The children bond, polite and well-spoken. They celebrate birthdays and have parties. Throughout the documentary, there is no sign of child abuse by the father. There's a brief discussion of him slapping their mother several times during their upbringing, but largely he only drifts in and out of the frame.

The hook may be the reenactments: silly, heartfelt renderings of Batman and Tarantino characters. But the real intrigue comes from the father’s cultish impact on the family. The patriarch is the most interesting character, but unfortunately he has the least screen time.

Moselle positions herself as a fly on the wall in the claustrophobic apartment, but is shy about addressing her influence on the family dynamic. As the first and only guest in their apartment, it’s hard to believe that Moselle was merely an observer throughout several years of filming.

We only get a few brief encounters with the father and mother. I was left with more questions after the credits rolled. Moselle teases us with these enigmatic people, but leaves us shy of any real closure. The brothers eagerness to leave the family makes you eager with them, grinding your teeth in frustration that one little lock can keep such bright young people away for so long. The story is captivating enough to keep you going, but what it really needs is a better director–or maybe a leader.

Grade: C+

Danny Collins tells the story of a washed-up, but enormously successful, singer-songwriter (Al Pacino) who hit his prime in the early 1970s and hasn’t seen personal fulfillment in half a lifetime. Decades of singing the same songs over and over again have brought Collins to rock bottom, which happens to be the bottom of a whiskey glass. 

The story opens with a grandiose concert that Collins goes through methodically and then drinks the memory away quickly after. What’s actually unique about this story? Decades after giving an interview, just as his fame was coming into play, John Lennon wrote him a letter asking to meet up and discuss his future. The letter was lost in delivery, but winds up in Danny Collins hands 40 years later.

“What could have been?” That’s the question Collins tries to answer by canceling his tour, reconnecting with his son he never met in New Jersey, and flirting with a hotel manager. Can a hard drinking, fast living hot shot rock star start anew? Does everyone get a second chance? Can there be a character rebirth? These are the questions we have to answer watching this, and it’s excruciating. Jeff Bridges played a similar character in Bad Blake in the film, Crazy Heart in which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. That film took a similar plot and made it small and intimate, and the music was actually good. Danny Collins is a Paul McCartney- Tom Jones fusion that just doesn't deliver. The story is wrapped in cliches about rock stars and put into a world that doesn't even feel lived in. Everything feels built and clean like a set. Collins’ home, the hotel, and even the venues he plays in - none feel real. In fact, everything feels forced, including Al Pacino’s presence in the movie, in which he plays himself: classic “Whoo-ah” Pacino riding his celebrity charm into the shoes of Danny Collins. 

Dan Fogelman (writer of Crazy Stupid Love) makes his directorial debut with this post-Oscar season effort. That’s exactly what it is: an effort. Al Pacino is not the actor he once was, and his name can’t save a movie that’s so poorly written, produced, and directed. But I will take one tip from the Danny Collins book of regret: drink to forget.

It gets exceptionally foggy at the Foxcatcher Farm. Fog, literally and figuratively, represents a clouding of vision in director Bennet Miller’s latest film, Foxcatcher. At its core, it’s about the unpredictability and the impaired vision that accompanies living in this fog. Miller (Capote, Moneyball) invites you to stay at the prestigious Pennsylvania horse farm during the reign of mutli-millionaire John Eleuthère du Pont, a literal enigma portrayed by comic actor, Steve Carell, who makes an impressive leap into drama here. Foxcatcher Farm, settled in a rural landscape just outside Philadelphia, is home to generations’ worth of equestrian awards, as well as the eccentric and terrifyingly complex du Pont. Despite the 800 acre estate being peppered with grandiose stables, cottages, and impressive athletic facilities, you’ll want to make only a short visit. Du Pont aspires to see America’s renewed dominance through the vessel of Mark Shultz (Channing Tatum); an Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler. Why him? Why through wrestling? Only du Pont really knows, which provides for a tantalizing study. It’s a darkly enjoyable stay that will have you asking all sorts of questions after, and be warmly satisfied.  
The film opens with a Ken Burns-esque archival montage of Foxcatcher Farm, presumably during its prime. Little flickering film clips from the early 19th century showing Ivy League-ers preparing for a fox hunt. Fast forward to an elementary school parking lot in 1986. Sitting in a tiny beat up junker of a car is the quiet, hulking Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum). He’s there to give a speech to a group of less enthused grade schoolers about wrestling and America. He may be an Olympic Gold Medal winner and at the top of his athletic career- but he’s still the alternate, filling in for his equally if not more impressive older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) who couldn’t make it.

Dave, played with such a blue-collar, American heartland charm by Ruffalo, turns out to be quite the saint to Mark. He’s his trainer and only friend. Both meet everyday to train mercilessly for the next Olympic games and at this level of professional athletics, you get the impression that all Mark really knows, breathes, and lives is wrestling. Hence the uncomfortable silence he seems to bring anywhere that calls for social interaction.

So where does this enigma du Pont work into all of this? There’s no bump into, no stop and chat, nothing to foreshadow these two men ever coming together. It’s a call out of the blue. Du Pont asks for a meeting to discuss Mark’s future, but when they do meet face to face, they only skirt on the topic of wrestling. They move into vague terms about America; its lack of role models, its lack of appreciation for its heroes, and their goals to, “make it great again.” They’re only real overlap in character is a shared vision for America, which they don’t really come out and say. This is your own fox hunt. Finding out what’s really going on inside their heads.

Miller’s niche character is the lonely misfit. Truman Capote and Billy Beane in his previous films were loners with a drive to do something they felt was bigger than themselves; something that nobody else really could see or understand at the time. In this one it’s Du Pont. Although unlike Miller’s other protagonists, du Pont’s mission is hazy. To really understand du Pont is impossible.  Raised by money, not a friend in the world, presumably a genius, mother’s boy- he’s really is a mixed bag with many erratic personality changes. He strives to be a “leader of men,” but doesn’t have the slightest idea how. He has a spectator’s love for wrestling, but without the technical expertise to coach, he’s only able to position himself as an ominous benefactor. Regardless, he still holds the ego-stroking title of “Coach”. One day he’s like a father to Mark. The next it’s like he’s never even seen him before.

Comic actors are almost always equally great dramatic performers. Think Jim Carrey. Think Bill Murray. These guys, under the costumes and jokes, usually have hearts filled with darkness that they can tap into every once in awhile. This has the added caveat of Carell using heavy prosthetics and makeup, which could easily be a distraction, but it really doesn’t. It helps it. The personality and choices of du Pont are so outlandish; the portrayal of him visually needs to match that. Receding hair line, blotchy skin, face with a freakishly beak-ish nose. But Carell isn’t the only one who made dramatic physical changes. Tatum contorts his face with a massive gorilla-like under bite and goes through bulk and lean periods that give the film a visual timeline to follow. Ruffalo walks around with a hunched wrestler’s posture that looks strikingly real.      

Don’t consider Miller’s style slow for a second. He balances the long periods of stillness so well with harsh, abrupt moments- like the wrestling matches that appear to be shot at a higher frame rate. The sound of bodies colliding after long silent exposition puts you within sweat’s reach of the mat. He makes history cinematic with a marriage of film and photography. He’s a lot like Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Elizabethtown); always making sure we notice the pictures hanging on the walls.

There have been a lot of fighting movies in the last couple years, sort of grittier rebuttals to the Rocky franchise which has become laughable at this point. They’re getting better, and this one raises the standard no less than Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and David O. Russell’s The Fighter did. As those movies said, there are fights in the locker room and there are fights from within. The same is true here. The air between the trio working towards their overlapping goals leads to grave decisions by all parties. Mark being best in the world vs. Dave’s support of family vs. du Pont’s ambitions for America. Each man’s goal narrows their vision until they can’t see what’s right in front of them. And most of all, du Pont’s own vision gets distorted by his unlimited resources in his little world of Foxcatcher Farm. Can our most precious ambitions cloud our sense of reality? Cloud the definitions of right from wrong? Sane and insane? What about America itself? Films in this genre make it very clear that the real fights take place outside the ring. In this case, it’s in the fog.    

Grade: A-