Tribeca 2022 reviews from Unseen Films: ‘Space Oddity’

SPACE ODDITY

One of my favorite films of this year’s Tribeca was a film I wasn’t planning on seeing. It wasn’t until I decided to focus on the films not in the press library that it jumped onto my dance card…. and right into my heart.

The story follows Alex, a young man in a broken family, who is planning on heading to Mars on a one-way mission.  He wants to go to get away from the troubles of the world, but also from the reminders of his brother who died saving his life in a car crash. Unfortunately for him, his plans end up crashing into Daisy, a young woman new to the town. Now that Alex has met Daisy will he give up his plans and stay on earth.

Do you have to ask?

Yea, you know how this will go but it’s so well done you won’t care. I mean you really won’t care because you will be so absolutely in love with everyone on screen. These are wounded people we know. They are us. God bless director Kyra Sedgwick for keeping everyone real and not insisting that everyone gets fixed by the end. Yea there is hope but the damage is still there. As a result, the film resonates deeper.

What a glorious film.

The performances are across the board wonderful Kevin Bacon may have his best role here. Yea it’s nothing special on the face of it but watch all of the shading he gives it. Listen to the emotion in his voice. Alexandra Shipp is magical. She makes Daisy the person we all want to fall in love with.

I love this film. I really do.

It’s a joy.

Highly recommended.


DIRECTOR
Kyra Sedgwick
PRODUCER
Valerie Stadler, Kyra Sedgwick, Meredith Bagby, Richard Arlook, Jack Greenbaum, Mark Maxey, Mickey Schiff
SCREENWRITER
Rebecca Banner
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Alar Kivilo
EDITOR
Stefanie Visser
COMPOSER
Travis Bacon and Scott Hedrick
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Paolo Mottola Jr., Joe Z. Crosby, Ibrahim Alhusseini, JL Pomeroy, Daryl Roth, Brent Emery
CAST
Kyle Allen, Alexandra Shipp, Madeline Brewer, Carrie Preston, Simon Helberg, Kevin Bacon, Andrew Polk

Fantasia International Film Festival review: ‘CAM’ flips subject and voyeur.

Cam is unique for so many reasons. First, it’s a genre-bending menagerie. You think you know what you’re in for with a sex worker vying to be in the top ten of her live sex show site. But the script is flipped several times and in completely unexpected ways each time. It’s difficult to categorize Cam and I do mean this as a compliment. It seesaws from horror to thriller and swings into surreal territory all while keeping the audience in the dark until the very end. Rarely do we see sex workers treated as human beings, but in Cam, there is a sense of empowerment attached to the storyline. Lead actress, Madeline Brewer, has the massive task of being more than two distinct characters and to explain further would ruin the plot. Brewer knocks it out of the park here. Her talent is undeniable. I will say that the commentary on social media and immediate gratification it can produce is front and center. The final scene renders the plot unapologetic. Cam is an all-around good trip.

Fantasia International Film Fest 2018 ends tonight. But we’ll keep you updated on release dates for all the films that screened this year.