Category: film

  • 12 Days: Viaje

    12 Days: Viaje

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    by

    Erik Moe
    in ,

    In this month of skeletons and zombies and pumpkin spice (link), it felt appropriate to watch Paz Fábrega’s minute Costa Rican romance Viaje from 2015 begin at a costume party. It was this month’s pick for Las Kikas Cine Club. As Viaje begins, a lonely young man in a bear costume hits on a woman…

  • 40 Days: Pelo Malo

    40 Days: Pelo Malo

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    by

    Erik Moe
    in ,

    Venezuelan filmmaker Mariana Rondón’s Pelo Malo (2013) follows Junior and his mother Marta in a rough Caracas housing project. His father was lost to gun violence in the recent past — the presence of Junior’s newborn brother suggests his father died six to nine months ago. They hear gunfire echoing routinely at night. The film…

  • Félicité: What is Your Part in the Orchestra?

    Félicité: What is Your Part in the Orchestra?

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    by

    Erik Moe
    in

    Félicité (2017) is a dizzying and beautiful film by Senegalese director Alain Gomis. It is a slice of life in Kinshasa that concerns Félicité, a nightclub singer whose teenage son is in a motorbike accident. In the first half of the film,  she is frantically doing all she can to save her son, but soon…

  • Why I Didn’t Read ‘Little Women’ Until Age 44

    Why I Didn’t Read ‘Little Women’ Until Age 44

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    by

    Erik Moe
    in , ,

    Back in December, I was excited to hear that Greta Gerwig had a new film coming out. One of the first things I heard about the film was that she had departed from the source material in interesting ways, ways that critics described as feminist and innovative. I was excited about this, but embarrassed that…