PBS | Film Festival Today

Series Review: An Extraordinary View into the World of Video Games, “Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story” Excels in All Ways
By Adam Vaughn
February 28, 2021
Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story (Jeremy Snead, 2021) 3½ out of 4 stars. It was a mere matter of time before filmmakers and film researchers would have the information and knowledge to create such an informative work of documentary exploration. Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story is an immensely thorough and driven series (a five-parter, premiering on Crackle on March 1) that encompasses an incredible amount of history behind the ... >>
Film Review: “Test Pattern” Offers a Nuanced Examination of a Sexual Assault’s Aftermath
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
February 18, 2021
Test Pattern (Shatara Michelle Ford, 2019) 4 out of 4 stars. Two women, close friends Renesha and Amber, meet in a bar for drinks, just to catch up and blow off steam. Soon they are approached by two men very much on the make, who ply them with drinks and weed gummies. Amber is into it; Renesha not, as she not only has work in the morning, but a boyfriend waiting for her at home. As the night goes on, the pot and alcohol cloud her thinking, and ... >>
Interview with “Savage State” Director David Perrault
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
February 18, 2021
A few weeks ago, as the film Savage State (which I reviewed) came out, I had the opportunity to send its director, David Perrault, some written questions, to which he soon thereafter responded. His movie is a metaphysical western that follows a French family trying to extricate itself from the 1860s American Civil War. As they flee one conflict, they soon find themselves immersed in another. What starts out as one kind of story slowly morphs ... >>
Film Review: “Happy Cleaners” Thoughtfully Explores the Korean-American Experience
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
February 11, 2021
Happy Cleaners (Julian Kim/Peter S. Lee, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. The Choi family is in crisis. Son Kevin has dropped out of school and wants to leave the family nest in Flushing, NY, for Los Angeles, where he hopes to make his fortune running a food truck. Daughter Hyunny, though gainfully employed as a nurse, finds that her long-term relationship with the man she thought would be her life partner may not survive both his own feelings of ... >>
Sundance Review: “Land,” Despite Occasional Missteps, Offers Profound Healing
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
February 11, 2021
Land (Robin Wright, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. An alternately melancholy and vibrant exploration of grief and its gradual transformation into something else, actress Robin Wright’s directorial debut, Land, delivers a moving, if maudlin, tale with a powerful life-affirming lesson at its center. Starring Wright (House of Cards), herself, in the lead role of Edee, a woman who has just lost her husband and child, the movie brings us on a voyage of ... >>

Film Review: “Wonder Woman 1984”
December 30, 2020
What happen to Wonder Woman? She is a supporting character not given much to do. What happened to ...>>
Film Review: “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
October 24, 2020
It’s Baron Cohen’s commitment to the character and no wink to the audience that still captivates. ...>>
Film Review: “Cuties”
September 13, 2020
In defense of Cuties, it is a cultural eye-opener. Stop trying to bully Netflix. No one is forcing ...>>
Film Review: “Ava”
August 31, 2020
Don’t miss these three great fight scenes: Colin Farrell and John Malkovich, Jessica Chastain and ...>>

Series Review: “Asian Americans” Offers a (Sleepy) Celebration of Its Subjects

Interview with “For Sama” Directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, Plus Hamza al-Kateab

Film Review: “Downton Abbey” Is an Entertaining Trifle

AFI DOCS 2019: Interview with Director Jialing Zhang of “One Child Nation”