This past weekend, I attended days two and three of the Montclair Film Festival in Montclair, New Jersey with my friend and co-host of My Parents Office, Brett Castle, and his girlfriend. We were able to see 12 projects in total over those two days from feature films to documentaries to shorts. With this being my first time attending a film festival, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it turned out to be an awesome atmosphere of creative individuals and cinephiles alike congregating shoulder-to-shoulder in theaters to view some fantastic works of cinema.
The festival took place at two different locations which were less than a quarter mile apart on the same road — the Wellmont Theater and the Clairidge Cinema. I have to say, both offered great viewing experiences. The Clairidge served as the more traditional movie theater, while the Wellmont was a vast theater that accommodated close to two thousand people for larger screenings.
Before I get into what I actually viewed, I must comment on the overall concessions which are vital when you’re watching as many movies as I did this weekend. The Wellmont I’d remark to have the better concession stand with some of the best Diet Coke I’ve ever had. I’m not sure what made it different, but it was crisp and the lime wedges in it were essential. When we saw May December on Saturday, I ventured out of my comfort zone and ordered two Miller Lights with peanut M&Ms. Great separate. Not tremendous when mixed. The Clairidge was more barebones and traditional in their concessions approach, but was still great as it carried the essentials like popcorn, candy, soda, and beer.
Okay, now onto the films.
Saturday
Pianoforte dir. Jakub Piątek
To kick off my time at the festival, we attended an early screening of the Jakub Piątek directed documentary, Pianoforte. Going in depth about the International Chopin Piano Competition, Piątek brought the viewer up close and personal with some of the young contestants and showed us who wasn’t strong and would break under pressure and who had the wherewithal to withstand the high heat of playing piano on a daily basis in front of large crowds. I’ll be honest, this was very jarring at times. I say that because these are kids younger than me being pushed to the brink by their family and coaches to play piano and practice over and over and over. All in all, an entertaining documentary about something a topic I was blind towards.
3/5 Stars
JessZilla dir. Emily Sheskin
I should have grabbed the tissues before this screening. The story of Jesselyn Silva, or as she’s known by in the boxing world, Jesszilla is tragic. Jesselyn began boxing at a young age, mainly because she wanted to be around her dad. But she grew to become not just a sycophant of the sport, but an extremely talented fighter. Winning tournament after tournament and exuding no fear was Jesselyn Silva. Up until she was fifteen, she lived for boxing. Then, a diagnosis of a rare form of brain cancer took her out of the ring and has put a clock on her life.
Director Emily Sheskin did a fantastic job chronicling Jesselyn’s life and still does as she’s outlived her one year life expectancy. What you will take away from JessZilla is that hard work trumps any sort of talent and that no matter what you’re encountering in life, just keep pushing. Jesselyn Silva is a true warrior and we learn that in JessZilla through Jesselyn herself, her father, and her teammates.
3.5/5 Stars
Lousy Carter dir. Bob Byington
The biggest surprise of the festival for myself was the Bob Byington comedy Lousy Carter. Starring David Krumholtz, we get a unique look on the human condition when Krumholtz’s character Carter gets diagnosed with a terminal illness and only has months to live. We’ve seen many films with this exact plot, but Byington flips it on its head. He makes Carter a hilariously crass person who probably fears death, but masks it by sleeping with his best friend’s wife and reigniting a lifelong passion project.
From start to finish, I found myself howling in the theater. Krumholtz has such a dry delivery that perfectly suits the character of Carter. From snippy and witty one liners to long, comedic monologues, Krumholtz steals the film. During the post viewing Q&A with Krumholtz and Byington, Byington stated that Lousy Carter should hit Hulu towards the end of 2023 or start of 2024 and I implore you to watch this yourself. There’s an unreal twist at the end that truly left my mouth agape and I want you to experience it firsthand. Lousy Carter is one of the best comedies of the past decade.
4/5 Stars
May December dir. Todd Haynes
One of the films I had been anticipating the most this year has been Todd Haynes’ May December. And after viewing it, I don’t know if let down is the word I’m looking for, but I was most certainly underwhelmed. When I say that, that’s no fault to Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, or Charles Melton — even Todd Haynes. I felt like the script lacked an identity and cohesion. There’s a lot of loose ends that make the audience have to imagine more than you desire. That along with the pacing being up and down hurt the viewing. I’d say the highs are very high, but the lows are extremely low in May December.
On a positive note, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore have tremendous on-screen chemistry with each other. This story calls for tension between their characters and we get that in an emotion and passive aggressive way that shocks the audience and leaves you feeling uncomfortable. I do love having that sensation from a film so Haynes wins points from me for giving me that feeling. Overall though, I wasn’t super thrilled with May December. Maybe it’s because I was just expecting more due to Haynes’ history as Carol and Safe are great films. But, at the end of the day, I was left wanting more.
3/5 Stars
Sunday
Robot Dreams dir. Pablo Berger
What Pablo Berger does in his 100 minute film Robot Dreams with an animated dog, robot, and no dialogue was masterful because he made me feel real sadness, loneliness, and happiness. That’s rare to do in any movie, but when there’s no dialogue, it’s near impossible. From the jump, you feel yourself gravitate towards the main character, Dog. He’s a loner in a city and wants to have someone to experience life with. It’s sad because in a way, you feel yourself in his shoes. Dog then sees a commercial for a robot you can buy that’ll be your friend. Dog pulls the trigger and receives the perfect friend who he eats hotdogs with while listening to Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s sweet and analogs the relationship of Doug and Carl in Up or Remy.
But in all great films about friendship, tragedy strikes. Robot gets stuck at the beach because of a lack of oil and Dog has to leave him there during the offseason before retrieving him. We then see Dog revert back to his lonesome self without Robot, and that hurts. He fails to make friends, though he tries by going on ski trips and handing out candy on Halloween. Dog and Robot experience vivid dreams about one another and that broke me. I’m getting emotional about it as I write this.
The film progresses as Robot ends up with another keeper named Rascal and becomes best friends with him while Dog purchases another robot. We come close to the two of them reuniting, but sadly we don’t see it happen. It’s refreshing in a way because they’ve both grown and dealt with loss, but selfishly I wanted Dog and Robot to reconvene. Bravo, Pablo Berger. A truly beautiful film I can’t wait to revisit.
4.5/5 Stars
Clinical dir. Lauren Ciaravalli
Clinical was the first of six short films in a short film screening session and I’d add that it wasn’t very memorable. It featured solid dialogue between two characters, but I feel like Lauren Ciaravalli attempted to make them too whacky and too mentally unstable to drive her point home about therapy being a good thing. We already know therapy is beneficial. Listen to any podcast and you’ll hear a read for BetterHelp. The message wasn’t anything new and while the performances from the two female leads were good, I wouldn’t opt to revisit this in the future.
2/5 Stars
The Luckiest Man Alive dir. Kerri Lynn Miller
The ending of this short film session incorporated a Q&A with the directors and director Kerri Lynn Miller noted how she was inspired by a short she saw where a man couldn’t let go of his dead wife and when authorities caught wind of it, he buried himself with her. I’d say she used the wrong word when she said this film “inspired” The Luckiest Man Alive. It’s a blatant ripoff, but with the roles reversed where a wife can’t get over her husband dying. And instead of burying herself alive, she nearly torches her home with them inside. I already wasn’t a massive fan of the short, but when she mentioned that, I felt more disdain.
While I haven’t spoken favorably about The Luckiest Man Alive, I do commend Miller for writing, directing, and starring in it. That’s no easy task and she took the bull by the horns with it. At the end of the day though, this was a copy cat film. I’m worried that maybe Miller might copy Gone Girl in the future and just flip the husband and wife and call it her own for her next film.
1/5 Stars
Our Farms, Our Farmers dir. Murphy Birdsall, Keith Reamer
The first of two documentaries in this screening was Our Farms, Our Farmers which showcased three surviving family dairies in New York State and gives the background of these farms and how they have stayed afloat. It was definitely dry in many parts and the pacing wasn’t great, but I found the people at the center of this documentary to be interesting. Their whole lives are dedicated to farming and since they were kids, this is what they knew. Seeing that in an area that’s not too far from me was intriguing.
2.5/5 Stars
The Day Of dir. Umar Malik
An easy way to gain audience emotion is putting children in peril, but Umar Malik executes his short, The Day Of in a concise manner. He gets right to the point of the issue of the issue at hand which is a school shooting. Except rather than showing the perspective of the students barricaded in a classroom, he displays the parents worrying for their child when they don’t know whats going on. On top of that, it feels like Malik draws inspiration from the 2021 film The Guilty where a lot of the communication comes over the phone. That adds an aura of anxiety and claustrophobia to the film that he was going for.
3/5 Stars
The Auction dir. Jordan Hidalgo
Where do I start with The Auction? Jordan Hidalgo parallels football players to slaves in his seven minute short, and in a way he’s urging the audience to feel guilty in a method that’s been done to death already by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. There’s a few occasions where there’s a shot-for-shot ripoff from the Netflix documentary Colin in Black & White. The finest example is when Hidalgo has his player stand on a stoop in front of coaches the same way Kaepernick did in Colin in Black & White.
In addition, I question some of Hidalgo’s motives and knowledge about the topic he attempts to tackles. During the Q&A, he brought up his experience working with the New York Jets as a videographer and commented on a line in the film where the coach says to the player, “Go fetch“. Hidalgo says this is something he heard a Jets coach say to a 19 year-old undrafted free agent in camp. There’s issue one. It’s rare and in my research, I couldn’t find any nineteen year old undrafted free agent wide receivers in the Jets system over the past few years. Maybe my research wasn’t thorough enough, but I feel confident saying I’m right.
My other issue is that Hidalgo mentioned how he set his fantasy football lineup the morning of the festival. If that’s the case, aren’t you playing into the “slave” persona of players? You’re drafting these players based off their performance and physical attributes. You’re happy when they play good, but disappointed when they underperform. All in all, The Auction felt like a cheap grandstanding picture that the director contradicts himself on.
1/5 Stars
Calls From Home dir. Sylvia Ryerson
The most intriguing and the final film of the shorts screening was Sylvia Ryersons Calls From Home. Calls From Home told the story of radio station WMMT-FM and how it serves as a messenger system to the inmates in Central Appalachia from their friends and family at home through shoutouts. It then divulged into a few different families and how they visit their loved ones in said prisons and have petitioned to have them released on parole due to Virginia’s harsh sentencing between 1995-2000. It was a truly gutting documentary about being away from family members you may never get to have a normal life with again and that cut deep.
My one and only issue with Calls From Home is that it struggled with its identity. With only a 31 minute runtime, I think Ryserson should have fully told the story of these inmates families trying to get them released or about WMMT-FM being a vehicle for messages to the prisoners. Not both.
3.5/5 Stars
The Holdovers dir. Alexander Payne
Ever since seeing the first trailer for The Holdovers, I was amped. I love Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti, and their past collaboration of Sideways was dynamite so there was a lot of anticipation surrounding this film. Payne delivers a hilarious piece of cinema and makes it hysterical by breaking the first layer of jokes which usually consists of middle school humor. We get intellectual jokes that fit the prep school narrative and in many instances, failure and disappointment act as the catalyst for jokes. It’s the type of humor I enjoy so Payne roped me in immediately.
Performance wise, Paul Giamatti felt like his purpose on this planet was to play a curmudgeonly teacher and he knocked it out of the park. Alongside him was Dominic Sessa in his first ever film and he brought a unique and clever delivery to his lines that straddled him being a pompous prep school kid and a plucky underdog. While both of them are great, Da’Vine Joy Randolph was divine. Her raw motherly emotion felt familiar in a good way where she was comforting. All three of them were amazing, but boy was Randolph outstanding.
Going into The Holdovers, I had one massive concern. Was Alexander Payne going to make the film too shmaltzy? The trailer made me think it’d head that way, but that wasn’t the case. Yes, it gets sentimental between Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, but never over the top. At no point in the screening did I feel bludgeoned by it and that alleviated any concerns I had for The Holdovers. All in all, this lands as one of my favorites of 2023. Do I think it’ll have a presence at the Academy Awards? Probably not, but it’ll be remembered as a classic film to watch in the winter and that’s what I wanted.
4.5/5 Stars
