SCAD Savannah Film Festival: Final Days Round-Up

Throughout days 3 and on of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, I attended various daytime and night screenings. These included: The Short History of the Long Road, Knives Out, The Two Popes,  Honey Boy, The Truth, Greener Grass,  as well as the fourth season premiere of The Man in the High Castle.

My time at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival brought me in touch with so many amazing films and people responsible for allowing us access to these unique worlds expressed in their works. As the festival went on, I attended more narrative feature screenings, after attending more documentary screenings within the first two days. Every day of the festival offered new and interesting works of cinematic art to explore.

Night Screenings

Knives Out

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is endlessly entertaining from its twisty and captivating story to its stellar cast and subtle humor. Knives Out captures the murder mystery genre as well as the more comedic films peppered throughout the genre, such as Clue and Murder by Death.

Being so connected to a specific genre, especially a comedic version, Knives Out manages to feel original and maintain its own comedic tone, which does not feel too heavily influenced by other comedic murder mystery films. Knives Out has a more subtle approach to comedy, but leads to just as big laughs as the more parodic films that came before.

Knives Out is consistently a blast to watch, and managed to completely capture my attention from the first frame to the last. With wonderful and melodic performances, Knives Out captures a genre without being bogged down by its tropes.

Ana de Armas and Daniel Craig’s performances stand out in a sea of vivid and captivating performances from the film’s amazing cast. Everyone in the film has a unique tone to their voice, which helps create vivid and interesting characters, who can tell jokes of a similar vein, while remaining completely separate from each other.

Knives Out is a crowd-pleasing comedic mystery with memorable performances from everyone in its vast and immensely talented cast. I laughed throughout the film, while still wondering where the twists and turns might turn up, which is a testament to a wonderfully crafted whodunnit.

The Two Popes 

The Two Popes, directed by Fernando Meirelles and written by Anthony McCarten, is a welcoming and memorable film that feels both rightfully dramatic, while also being completely a buddy film between Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) and Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce). The Two Popes explores the changes between tradition and progress in the Catholic Church, in a heartwarming way with its immensely captivating performances and sparkling script.

When I sat down to watch this film, I didn’t expect something this engaging and humorous. The Two Popes really stands out with wonderful performances that bring to life its well-written and touching script.

The Two Popes sheds light on the Catholic Church in a heartfelt and engaging way. As I watched this film, I felt transported to the Vatican and everywhere else this film goes on its journey of discovery and change. Using accurate language from every character helps paint the world, letting the audience feel wrapped up in it completely.

This film is a warm and welcoming crowd-pleaser with visuals, dialogue, and atmosphere, which perfectly capture both the struggles and hope of Catholicism. The Two Popes strikes a touching chord through every aspect of the film working together, from its bright cinematography and even brighter dialogue.

Day Screenings

The Short History of the Long Road

Ani Simon-Kennedy’s The Short History of the Long Road is a beautifully shot coming-of-age film exploring van culture and the importance of finding where we belong in life. I felt drawn into the concept of this film, and as Nola (Sabrina Carpenter) navigates the road and adulthood, I was enthralled by her journey and the interesting dynamic between her and her father, Clint (Steven Ogg), through early scenes and well-placed flashbacks.

Sabrina Carpenter gives a strong performance, where she captures the natural emotion of a girl left on the road without her father. The Short History of the Long Road could be more engaging, though, if the serious implications of a homeless teenager were explored, but as it is, the film is heartwarming and sad, especially in moments surrounding Nola’s relationship with her father and her desire to find her mother.

Steven Ogg’s performance as Clint combines the stranger quirks of the character with heartfelt moments showing how much he did care for his daughter, such as sharing his love of books and learning with her, even though he raised her on the road, away from civilization.

The Short History of the Long Road is an interesting coming-of-age film that had potential to be a grittier look at being homeless and alone, but still comes across as a beautifully shot examination of van culture and found families.

Honey Boy

Directed by Alma Har’el and written by Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy is a deeply emotional and unsettling examination of a young artist. Har’el’s directing gives Honey Boy a dreamlike feeling, which balances the cathartic releases of anger which fill every surface of this beautiful and powerful film. Honey Boy is beautifully directed, making the audience feel one with the subjects, feeling their pain and journey towards acceptance.

Shia LaBeouf’s writing brings his semi-biographical story to life through anecdotes binding James (Shia LaBeouf) and Otis (Noah Jupe & Lucas Hedges) together and pulling them apart. There’s something especially remarkable in LeBeouf’s ability to use his own childhood pain to create a character for which we feel sympathy as the story goes on, capturing the tumultuous, but consistent ambiance found in relationships. In addition to LaBeouf’s wonderfully captivating writing, his performance as James is filled with an intensity that drives the story and makes the audience feel that stronger for Otis’s journey throughout the film.

Honey Boy is an equally unsettling and dreamlike portrait of an artist and their journey throughout life. Alma Har’el’s directing gives the film its memorable and dreamy tone, and combined with Shia LeBeouf’s script and cathartic performance, gives the film its nuanced examination of growth and change.

Greener Grass

Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s Greener Grass is a bright and whimsical comedy within a surreal Stepford world where everyone wants everything to be perfect, which comes across in amazing comedic moments. The film features wonderful performances by Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, as well as the rest of its cast of remarkable comedic talent, which includes Beck Bennett, Mary Holland, Neil Casey, D’Arcy Carden, Lauren Adams, and many more.

Greener Grass fills every minute of its runtime with wonderfully absurd and surreal comedy. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe wrote, directed, and starred in this film, and they are both wonderful in all of these roles. Greener Grass’s surreal tone and focus on perfection reminds me of the Kids in the Hall film Brain Candy. Both films explore similar concepts of perfection and fixing our insecurities. Greener Grass takes this concept to unique and endlessly entertaining levels.

The cinematography of Greener Grass perfectly captures the bubblegum and intensely colorful aesthetic, which works perfectly with the film’s focus on the quest for perfection in suburbia. As I watched this film, I was constantly surprised by its unique and wonderful comedy. Greener Grass is strange in the best way, and that’s just what I look for in a comedy. Greener Grass has too many hilarious moments to focus in on a select group for a review, and its surreal comedy needs to be experienced first hand. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe created a wonderfully surreal comedy that perfectly captures the absurdity of suburbia.

The Truth

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth, an examination of Fabienne Dangeville, a French movie star, played by Catherine Deneuve, is his first film outside of Japan. The Truth tells the story of a French movie star, who’s now in her 70s and examining her life for a memoir. Casting Catherine Deneuve as this last standing symbol of French cinema works to see a character popular in a similar era of French cinema as Deneuve herself, reminding us of her work in films such as Belle de Jour and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

The Truth takes the idea of an aging actress writing her memoirs to examine ideas of truth, family, and self-absorption. One moment which stands out to me could come across as a joke about mortality and aging, but the idea of Fabienne forgetting which of her friends are alive or dead brings out the biggest aspect of her character, her feeling that she is above all, the most important person in her life.

Another moment where I felt the full impact of The Truth come through is a conversation between Fabienne and her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche), where she turns an emotional conversation into a comment about needing to use this emotion in her acting, which she is still giving more focus than the relationships with her family.

The Truth examines the self-absorbed nature of celebrity and its impact on personal relationships through a script with just enough moments of humor to feel realistic in its examinations of life and family, and its memorable performances, especially those from Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.

The Man in the High Castle Season Four Premiere

When I went to the fourth season premiere of The Man in the High Castle, I had never watched the show, and by the time the panel ended, I was excitedly wanting to go home and watch every episode of the first three seasons. When I got home, I called my dad. I asked him if he’d watched the show yet, and told him he should, even though I had only seen this one episode, four seasons in. Something in the way this show captures different universes and times with such ease in the fourth season premiere made me eager to see where the show would go after this episode.

Hearing people involved with different aspects of the show, and people who have been involved for varying lengths, made the panel discussion informative and entertaining. Even as someone with such little knowledge of the show prior, I appreciated every answer to every question. As a student at SCAD, I am so grateful I came to this screening and discussion. I know this isn’t really a review, but I felt so strongly about how quickly and concisely I decided to watch a show I had been thinking about starting for a while after one discussion and screening, and it made me want to share my experience.

The Man in the High Castle is so vast, yet feels so intimate and emotional through every moment. I was drawn in from the very first minute of the premiere, and left the theater wanting more, in the form of finally watching the show and wanting to know where plot threads and character dynamics evolve from the end of this episode across the fourth and final season.

Conclusion

Attending the SCAD Savannah Film Festival as both a film critic as well as a student helped me unlock the potential of a festival such as this. I enjoyed attending and reviewing the different works I had the pleasure of viewing. This experience has made me truly see myself as a film critic, and I know I never want to stop doing this. Writing about something I love as much as film captivates my heart, and makes me yearn for more and more experiences where I can fully realize my dreams.