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.
KNOW ME
In 2012, Rudy Eugene became known as “The Miami Zombie” when he attacked a homeless man because of bath salts. Inspired by the real-life incident, filmmaker Edson Jean‘s film KNOW ME dramatizes the case, bringing much-needed humanity to a story most of us think we know.
Jean utilizes black-and-white flashbacks to give us insight into who Jimmy was. The specific choice not to replay the video from the incident leaves a powerfully subconscious impact. The commentary on the media is as relevant today as ever. How does one man preserve the legacy raging against an entire industry? Separately, we watch family matriarch Pauline’s nuance journey to closure. A poignant moment between her and the man Jimmy attacked delivers a quiet beauty.
Tackling religion, judgment, and racism, KNOW ME is a meditation on grief. The script calls out hypocrisy and digs into underlying hurt within a trauma response. It is an undeniably strong sophomore feature.
Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe are young balls of energy. Both quickly becoming genre icons in their own right, these two make a stunning pair. Their chemistry feels super organic and appropriately playful. By the end you will be genuinely invested in their survival. Homeowners Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Donovan are total creeps. Sedgwick, in particular, will blow you away with a complex performance. They are a perfect foil for Jules and Mickey. It’s scary what we’ll do for love.
When you think of Back To The Future, you cannot help but see one of the most iconic cars of all time in your mind is: The DeLorean. But does anyone know a single thing about the creator of this movie legend? Few names in the tech industry evoke an immediate portrait of that person: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and perhaps now Elizabeth Holmes for better or for worse. I certainly had no clue about the tangled and complex story behind the man who would lend his name to cinematic history. Driven goes behind the proverbial curtain and sheds light on an unbelievable true tale of corruption and image through the eyes of someone who befriended this enigmatic figure. Con man to con man, takes one to know one.
![Nick_Hamm_Variety[4]](https://i0.wp.com/reelnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/Nick_Hamm_Variety4.jpeg?ssl=1 "Nick_Hamm_Variety[4]")
Set against the neon lights of Seoul, The Divine Fury utilizes incredibly effective special fx mixed with a dynamic plot of good vs evil. Roman Catholic use of exorcism is rare and must be approved by the Vatican. As a former Catholic school kid and genre fans since the age of 2, I know this to be fact… At least as factual as one can attribute to organized religion in general. All that aside, The Divine Fury adds an extra supernatural element by giving an MMA fighter a demon expelling stigmata superpower. It takes faith into a genre-bending underworld and it is fascinating. From the very first shot with its heightened sound editing, you know you’re in for a ride. There is never a dull moment during its 2-hour runtime. The fight choreography is outstanding and meticulously specific to this unique plot (Think MMA meets demon streetfighter goodness). As a “lapsed Catholic” viewer, it does a brilliant job of melding together religion and otherworldly lore for one hell of an entertaining storyline. I cannot express how truly fun this film is. As the closing film of Fantasia International Film Festival 2019, The Divine Fury puts this year’s selections over the top.
Fantasia International Film Festival 2019 has had some instant hits this year. Saturday night was no exception as HARPOON wowed audiences at its Quebec premiere. From the incredible opening shot, this film comes at you like a rabid animal. Amazing, quippy, profanity-laced dialogue kicks off a ride we are are now ready for. This love triangle at sea plays off a classic dynamic of a wealthy asshole, girlfriend, and third wheel best friend where suspicion fuels jealousy. The script utilizes literary references, voiceover narration by Brett Gelman, and the kind of honest intimacy in dialogue that you only find between best friends. But, secrets are the one thing that can be a real friendship killer, even for those not stuck out in the middle of the ocean. 
Our three cast members are phenomenal. I completely buy these performances. Each is funny, vulnerable, and kind of dickheaded in their own unique way. The practical fx are gruesome and awesome. Writer-director Rob Grant has given us a goddamn indie gem. It’s got a twisted ending you will never “sea” coming. What’s a little murder between friends, after all? Fantasia International Film Festival fans will go overboard for Harpoon. 
Indoctrinated as a child into a white supremacist enclave, Byron finally realized the fallout of his beliefs. He is ready to start a new, tattoos and all. But past violence and pride attach themselves to his present and his attempt to escape.
The dialogue is unapologetically offensive. The interspersed tattoo removal sessions are some of the most effective scenes in the film with their elegant score and heightened audio. Although the film already feels long one hour in (basically halfway) the story is timely and the performances redemptive and engrossing. SKIN goes behind the scenes of a culture so vile it cannot be tolerated. The fear from the screen is visceral and incredibly effective.
Performances are eerie and amazing. Genre legend and timelord extraordinaire, Barbara Crampton plays a motherly figure looking after Marisol and her newborn baby. She sets the tone for the remainder of the film with her saccharine-sweet smile and creepy overbearing politeness. She is outstanding. Martha Higareda is the real wow factor. You are rooting for her the entire way and hope she gets everything she seeks. Her IDGAF survival attitude is pure magic. The script is edgy and brings a major creep factor that gets under your skin. The enhanced audio editing is a fantastic tool that heightens the inevitably squirming you’ll do while you watch. The story is one that will resonate with so many people living their own version of what is looking more and more like the American nightmare. This is a stunning debut feature for director Gigi Saul Guerrero and I know the industry, as well as Fantasia International Film Festival fans, can be excited for whatever comes next. 
Onur Tukel is truly one of a kind in his IFGAF honesty and deliciously bizarre approach to storytelling. (There I go again with the tasty metaphors. This all started with 
Black Magic for White Boys is a not so subtle metaphor for the gentrification of New York City and perhaps the state of our country during this truly hideous period of our history. Every great/disastrous recent newsworthy story is integrated shamelessly (a total compliment) into the dialogue. The modern-day Greek chorus of bus riders making social observations is perfection. Performances across the board are nuanced and raw, funny and wild, in your face and effed up. Shout outs to Franck Raharinosy, Brendan Miller, Colin Buckingham, and Eva Dorrepaal specifically. Therein lies the cinematic magic of Tukel. Putting himself in each of his films is also essentially my favorite thing. Watching him transform from role to role only reminds me our how insanely talented he is as a writer, director, and actor. Ultimately, like each of Tukel’s films, this stands as a unique experience packed with insight, bold ideas, humor, and a grab ’em by the balls mentality. No surprise, I loved it.
Another North American premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival 2019 is that of Ode To Nothing. The slow burn of creepy factor launches this film into skin-crawling territory. The setting alone is horror movie gold. A family mortuary? Besides My
Jessica, Beni, Dian, Alex, Erik, and Linda want to increase their popularity through recording their adventures to upload to their social media accounts. They chose to go to an abandoned apartment famous for its awesomeness. Linda manages to persuade Kang Heri, security guard, to enter the apartment. Linda and friends found one apartment unit which is given a police line. Encouraged by curiosity, they brake down the door of the apartment unit. When they are researching the room, they find an old parchment, which only Linda could read. After Linda reads the writing on the parchment, suddenly a portal open. Inadvertently Linda and her friends have opened the door to the magical world and anger the portal guardian supernatural creatures.
Those crazy teenagers. Always opening the gates to other worlds. DREADOUT had its North American premiere last night at Fantasia International Film Festival 2019 and audiences were not disappointed. The film begins with all the buildup of suspense and visual feel of playing the DreadOut video games which may be just as exhilarating as 
**Closing Night Film – Sarasota Film Festival 2019**
Happiness is the ever elusive prize in life. Depression is a monster. As one man’s seemingly perfect life comes to an end, another attempts to find out why in question of his own mortality. PHIL is a story of the pursuit of happiness and what that even means.
Greg Kinnear, playing both the film’s director and titular character, is a man on the literal edge. After becoming enamored with the joy of one of his patients, he resorts to following the man until he discovers him hanging in the middle of the forest. Why would someone who has it all end his life? Phil is obsessed with answers. Kinnear, as always, is charming and grounded. There is something in this man’s eyes that makes you want to listen to him, to care for him, to experience what he experiences. Alongside an enormously talented ensemble, including Emily Mortimer, Jay Duplass, Luke Wilson, and more, PHIL explores the things in life that make us connect with one another; Stories, memories, new and old, family and friendship. Learning to not live vicariously through others is a lesson we can all take to heart. PHIL has an unexpected script and it is pure delight. This film is about growth and the exploration of self. It’s a real gem and all involved should be proud to share this story.
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