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Review: We Are One – A Global Film Festival short film ‘CIRCUS PERSON’ is an emotional high wire act.

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Synopsis:
Left by her fianceì for another woman, a grieving painter (Britt Lower) abandons the life she knew to join the seemingly chaotic, yet invigorating world of a one-ring circus. Intermingling live-action circus arts and animated body paint, CIRCUS PERSON follows an introspective artist through the often humorous landscape of heartbreak to reclaim her forgotten wildness.

 

 

 

 

This mixed media, sometimes stop animation, twist on a “Dear John” letter is simply amazing. Vibrantly colored, engrossingly shot, Circus Person is a little bit of every visual storytelling treat you didn’t know you needed. It’s poetic and cathartic and funny. Watching it literally makes me want to join a circus for my own set of personal reasons. The script is easily about grieving, changing, and accepting the fact that we cannot control a damn thing. I first met Britt Lower at the premiere of Beside Still Waters (which if you haven’t seen, do yourself a favor and experience some more great storytelling). This feat of acting, directing, and writing is ripe for further development. (Hint, hint) I want to know what happens next. It is smart and touching from every angle. I highly recommend you catch it while you can! You can watch Circus Person on YouTube now as part of Tribeca’s contribution to the We Are One – A Global Film Festival.

TRT:                                      17 min
Country:                               USA
Curated by:                          Tribeca Film Festival

Screening information:
CIRCUS PERSON will be available to view for 10 days at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioS4X7O2sZA&feature=youtu.be

Creative Team:
DIRECTOR/WRITER:                          Britt Lower
CREATIVE PRODUCER/EDITOR:      Alex Knell
PRODUCERS:                                     Sam Fox, Desiree Staples
CO-PRODUCERS:                              Alexandre Naufel, Jasmine Dickens
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:               Elsa Gay, Tricia Lee
CINEMATOGRAPHER:                       Alexandre Naufel
COMPOSER:                                       Jason Lesser
BODY-PAINTING:                                Christopher Agostino
CAST:                                                   Britt Lower, Philip Smithey, Jess Marks, Ramona Young

Liz’s Review: Get raunchy with ‘BALLS OUT’

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Balls Out posterYou never know what you’re gonna see at Tribeca Film Festival. One out of left field film from last year was BALLS OUT. Wrong sports metaphor in this case since this particular movie revolves around an intramural college flag football league. Starring a rag tag team of hilarious and talented people like Jake Lacy, Kate McKinnon, Nikki Reed, Beck Bennett, Jay Pharoah and many, many more, Balls Out pulls no punches when it comes to the A-typical sports genre movie. Balls out cast stillCaleb (Jake Lacy) is a fifth year senior with law school on the brain and an overbearing and hilariously high-on-life girlfriend (Kate McKinnon). Suddenly finding himself faced with having his future mapped out for him, he begins to reminisce about his freshman year and his flag football team’s- The Panthers- epic win over a douchebag rival team the Titans. Haunted by the how the first game ended with the paralysis of his best friend, Caleb struggles to commit to what makes him truly happy. Balls Out is an unapologetic underdog story, that’s frankly funny as hell. Every single sports cliche you can think of is admittedly thrown in your face. Training montages, two stoner fans acting as the league’s “official announcers”, hidden personal agendas, each Panther member being just slightly too weird for reality, and a rival captain so damn ridiculous you love to hate him. All this is admitted in the actual dialogue. The film never takes itself seriously at any moment, which is what makes it so great. I was not expecting to like this film at all, and it ended up being my favorite comedy of the fest last year.Kate KcKinnon Balls Out stillSo let’s talk performances in Balls Out. Jake Lacy is, for lack of a better phrase, relatively straight laced, in comparison to the rest of the cast. Nikki Reed does an excellent job playing the girl who comes into Caleb’s life just when he needs it most. This was a nice departure for Reed coming off the Twilight series and a great follow up to her quirky performance in last year’s Murder of a Cat. She is cool and fun. Kate McKinnon steals every scene she is in. Since she joined SNL, I have been touting her as the new Amy Poehler. One wide-eyed look from this gal is comedy gold. Newly minted Panther head coach is played by Nick Kocher. Wher has this kis been all my life? He easily flips from just amusing to sidesplitting comedy with the ease of someone twice his age. How is he not in everything right now? Team him up with Chris Pratt, like yesterday. I want over saturation of Kocher immediately. Jay Pharoah and D.C. Pierson‘s narration as the sideline peanut gallery makes the game sequences what they are. Balls Out Beck StillNow, let’s get real  for a moment. Hands down, once again,the star of this film is Beck Bennett. I have been a fan ever since his national AT&T campaign. Believing he is vastly under utilized on SNL, I have been privileged to see his outstanding movie roles thus far. His last film, Beside Still Waters (a MUST see), was on the opposite end spectrum on his testosterone driven revenge obsession in Balls Out. Like McKinnon, each frame he appears in he completely owns. I don’t know how anyone kept a straight face having to be in a scene with him. It makes me wonder how much of his dialogue is improvised. I would imagine the DVD blooper reel with feature him heavily. Cheers to Beck for bring this film over the goal line.

BALLS OUT arrives theatrically and on VOD June 19th.

Genre: Comedy
TRT: 100 min
Camera: RED Epic
Language: English

Rated: R for crude and sexual material, language and some drug use

SYNOPSIS: With graduation, marriage, and an uncertain future on the horizon, fifth year college senior Caleb Fuller (Jake Lacy) decides to do the one thing he vowed to never do again: get the ol’ flag football team back together. Now with the help of his Panther teammates and unorthodox head coach Grant Rosenfalis (Nick Kocher), Caleb must defy all odds and logic if he ever hopes to achieve the intramural football glory he once had. Set in the highly popular world of college intramural sports, BALLS OUT is the epic sports movie for the guys who don’t deserve one.

Liz’s Review: ‘Beside Still Waters’ is charming reminder that we’re not alone.

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beside still waters posterAt some point or another in time, we’ve all failed to be there for friends. All gotten so wrapped up in our own lives that the ones who most count on us somehow fade into the background. In Chris Lowell’s directorial debut, we find just this scenario.  Best Still Waters is a story about love, friendship and the ties that bind us together.

Daniel has just lost his mother and father. As he spirals deeper into depression, his childhood friends show up for a weekend away at his parents’ lake house. Each carrying their own baggage, they must come to terms with the lies they tell each other and themselves once reunited. Very much inspired by the 80’s classic The Big Chill and reminiscent of this year’s Tribeca Film Fest favorite,  About Alex, Beside Still Waters deals with “what if”s and “what might have been”s. Reality swiftly punching each character in the gut or to be more specific, slapping them in the face.

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