TENDER
Filmmaker Adam Hoelzel delivers a twisted directorial debut at DWF LA 2026 Closing Night film. In TENDER, after coming up with a non-starter scheme to leave his wife and start fresh with his mistress, both Mick and Billie find a way out of their mess after stumbling upon a gold brick in the walls of their house. Billie quietly begins to search the house for more. When they hit the jackpot, it comes with some complicated terms.
Each bar has a UV mark, so selling it outright is not an option. Finding legal loopholes and roping in those around is a carefully choreographed dance between two people who now supposedly hate each other. Paranoia and crossed wires force Mick and Billie to adapt. But an additional player reframes their complex plans.
Jesse Garcia plays Mick with an overconfident air, perfect for the plan the audience knows is insane. Jess Weixler, who plays Billie and also serves as the film’s narrator, is magnificent. She steals every moment on screen with her take-no-shit attitude. I fell in love with Weixler in Chained For Life. Her chameleon abilities are a director’s dream.
Phillip J. McLaughlin‘s editing absolutely delights in establishing the passage of time and the initial plot point in the film’s opening. But, like the entirety of Tender, get ready for a long con. Heolzel sells us the illusion hook, line, and sinker. Tender is a complex cat-and-mouse game. If you can follow the truth, you’re quicker than I am. Well played to everyone involved. I’ve been had.
WRITER/DIR: Adam Hoelzel
PRODS: Sofia Rovaletti, Sonja O’Hara, Farrell Ingle, Theo Bucksey, Michael K. Dwyer, Corey Moosa, Roy Hsu, Grayson Hay
CAST: Jess Weixler, Jesse Garcia, David Koechner, Shakira Barrera, Sonja O’Hara, Robert Longstreet,
Mark St. Cyr, Stephen Ellis
After inheriting a modest house in a dying town, Billie and Mick believe they’ve finally found stability, until crushing debt, old resentments, and a shocking discovery buried within their walls threaten to tear them apart. As the couple is forced into a dangerous alliance to protect their future, Tender becomes a darkly intimate portrait of marriage under pressure, where love, money, and survival blur into something unrecognizable.
![The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg - [www.imdb.com]](https://i0.wp.com/reelnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Goose-That-Laid-the-Golden-Egg-www.imdb_.com_.png?resize=678%2C330&ssl=1 "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg - [www.imdb.com]")
Combined, the location and camerawork are extraordinarily immersive. Fans of the Silent Hill gaming franchise will be in heaven. Viewers will find their eyes darting to every point on the screen. The wide angles from the security cameras keep you on high alert. INFIRMARY delivers the goods. 
The oldest generation speaks about the legacy of Emmett Till and the importance of passing on that history from one generation to the next. Glendora created the Emmett Till museum in 2005 as a way to apologize to the Till family for their lack of engagement. They recount the abhorrent entitlement of white people and the aggression and violence they brought to the doorsteps of the African American community members.
Glendora is a snapshot of America’s authentic history of racial atrocities and economic disparity, but the strength of Black culture, excellence, empathy, and community shine brightest in Glendora. Their genuine pride is infectious. This country can learn from its relentless spirit to equally honor the past and change the future.
THE DISINVITED
The plot is disorienting. Filled with time hops and something else supernatural, Carl finds himself both haunted by the past and stalked by some harassing force. Repeated aggressive and toxic interactions from strangers and others in Carl’s sphere throw the viewer’s understanding of the truth into utter chaos. 
Carl’s exes are beyond livid that he has inserted himself into the festivities. As the plot thickens, Lawrence and co-writer Matthew Mourgides insinuate that we are missing large pieces of the puzzle as the former fiend group offers an alternative version of what we have witnessed thus far with their dialogue. This off-kilter effect gets an assist from Lawrence’s editing. 
Sam Daly owns this film. His emotional swings are simultaneously relatable and unhinged. Daly is riveting. THE DISINVITED mashes up relationship drama and psychological horror in a mind-bending way. The final third is wild as hell. Jacob Fatoorechi and Jaco Caraco‘s classically string-heavy score is a perfect match. You must pay attention to every frame, and do yourself a favor: watch the credits. Even better, watch it again.
Adam Finberg‘s narrative feature debut, STAR PEOPLE, arrives to engross Dances With Films LA 2025 audiences. The film follows a photographer who receives a tip about the same strange lights she witnessed in childhood. But, a heatwave and tensions between unexpected guests threaten everything.
The archival news footage sets a brilliant tone for STAR PEOPLE. Combining alien hunting with an immigration story is incredibly clever and entirely seamless. Finberg brilliantly tackles racism and the sick practices of border coyotes and anti-immigration militants. Everything is high stakes as temperatures rise to deadly levels, and the chance to solve Claire and Taylor’s biggest childhood mystery seems less and less likely.
McCabe Slye is Claire’s junkie brother Taylor. Slye is outstanding, tapping into Taylor’s manic PTSD like a pro. He steals every frame he’s in. Kat Cunning‘s Claire is desperately chasing answers from childhood. Her comfort in front of the camera is unmatched. She and Slye’s chemistry is movie magic.
For more coverage from Dances With Films, 
Nate Hilgartner brings a stylistically strong debut to Dances With Films LA 2025 in NO CHOICE. Amy struggles to keep her head above water in her small-town life. Working at a convenience store and riding her bike, she longs to make someone more of herself. An unexpected pregnancy is the result of a broken condom on a first date. Being financially responsible for her addict mother and impending college tuition, an abortion, and the lack of access have potentially deadly consequences for Amy. 
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Our introduction to Sweaty Larry is as ridiculous as it should be, and the original song saying over the credits (written and performed by ATL’s 
DEATH PERCEPTION
The hilarious and terrifying overall premise might seem unrealistic to some, but I can tell you it is entirely plausible. When my husband was a first-year associate coming out of grad school at Yale, he passed out on the way to work three days in a row from lack of sleep. After being revived by police officers and refusing medical attention, he arrived five minutes late only to be told, “That’s a YP, a You Problem.” Empathy be damned when there is a dollar or deal to be made.
The film looks spectacular. Sharp cinematography from Ali Armino ups the production ante. Lead performances are fantastic. Everett Osborne and Tommie Earl Jenkins command your attention with dazzling charm and ferocity, making us beg for an expanded world. Without needing to, BURN OUT takes a hard left turn into total WTF near the end of its 12-minute runtime, but the metaphor completely stands. It was unhinged before that choice. Executive Producer Jamie Lee Curtis knows talent when she sees it. Goldman’s voice is fresh, intense, and welcomed.
Stimson Snead takes us on a comedy of trial and error in DWF: LA sci-fi feature TIM TRAVERS AND THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX. This film is a story of a mad genius’s guide to what if, get ready to have your mind blown.
Samuel Dunning is Tim Travers. He is funny, charming, and owns this role. Travers is stubborn as hell and honest to a fault. The character has authentic mad scientist vibes. The number of alternative death scenes and distinctly unique versions of the same character is Multiplicity on crack. Dunning eats it up.
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