Locked down at home, Kent scrambles to make a last minute sign for his co-worker’s virtual surprise party. “Hey Yú (如魚得水),” directed by Athena Han, perfectly captures a common mode of our times — being distracted, overwhelmed, and failing to live up to other’s expectations. Living alone in Vancouver, almost 40 years old and single, all of the sudden one day things get hectic. A reminder email eight minutes before a work obligation anniversary celebration sends Kent rushing to make a sign. As he searches for supplies, he gets a call from his parents, themselves celebrating an anniversary, a phone call that he tries to entertain but can’t really focus on. (“when are you going to have a family of your own? they ask, Kent barely listening.”) All the while, something strange is happening in his fish bowl, a mysterious multiplication of goldfish. Han’s film is a mood, it builds rich tension from its melding of ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary stressors, and culminates with a wonderfully surreal final image.
Two brothers steal a car in Lisbon, Portugal and head for a lighthouse. Directed by George Daniell, “The Valley of the Cats,” is an inventive lo-fi comedy adventure, shot on 8mm tape, part road movie, part descent into madness. Dead Eye and Square Hands, as the brothers are known, make their way ...
An emotionally unstable outcast attempts to make a connection with three unsuspecting college students. “Angel of the Night,” directed by Nick Verdi, is a pitch black character study (darkly funny depending on your tolerance for aggressively anti-social, antagonizing behavior) that follows a 35-y...
In New York City, a man named Lenny looks after his mother who is experiencing memory loss and hallucinations. “I’ll Be Here For Awhile,” directed by Dylan and Dakota Pailes-Friedman, is an elliptical drama told with quietly evocative visuals about identity loss and the burdens shouldered by love...
