A family reunion in Nebraska? Sounds familiar to me. What doesnât sound familiar is being a gay Californian teen who is forced to tone down his sexuality for said reunion and is somehow accused of molesting some young girl, and it turns out something a little darker is going on here than just a misunderstanding. Yeah, the worst thing that happened during my Nebraskan reunion was my dadâs snoring. Simply put, the situation in Take Me to the River goes from bad to worse in a way worth watching.
Seventeen years old and bold, Ryder (played by Logan Miller) wants to make a scene at his conservative familyâs reunion and come out as gay-- the perfect way to do it, he thinks. His parents are super not into that, though, but he still tries show it through his amazing style choices (red short shorts, deep v-neck, and the sunglasses really complete the look). All it does is attract the attention of his young cousins who think heâs pretty rad. Most important is Molly (Ursula Parker) at 9 years old.
Things go south (or should I say Midwest?) when Ryder and Mollyâs little bird nest in the barn adventure ends with her running out screaming with blood on her dress at just about the worst place possible. Thus Ryder is unspokenly accused of something seriously sinister. His uncle, Keith, initially acts out in rage but then interactions just turn weird afterwards. This is where it goes from worse goes to worst. Uncovered are family secrets kept buried for years, with performances so unsettling you have to see to believe. That is, if you can even understand whatâs going on.Â
May I pause to say the actor who plays Ryder was 23 when filming? Can he pass for 17? Yeah, I guess so, but only because films and tv shows have been forcing me to watch 26-year-olds play teens so now itâs just been normalized. Dislike. This movie is already pretty uncomfortable and the fact that this guy is 6 years older than what heâs playing is not helping in the slightest.
The best way to describe this movie would be completely dreadful. Itâs filled with conflict after conflict as our protagonist is forced to face Keith and the rest of the family. Nothing is really fun anymore. Itâs all a nightmare.
Visually, the movie is presented pretty straight-forward. Only in a few specific moments was I really dazzled by itâs visuals or cinematography. Itâs real strong suites are the atmosphere it creates by the unnerving situations us viewers have to watch. It uncovers the taboo topics of young sexuality, and sexual abuse, and handles them well. And the best thing about this movie is itâs actors, most important young Parkerâs performance, and Josh Hamilton as Uncle Keith who made me feel oh so very much like I wanted to leave.
At the same time, a place where it falls short is explaining why a character is doing what theyâre doing. Itâs not part of the mystery; sometimes even the eventual explanation of actions doesnât seem satisfying. For example, why does the family even go to the reunion if they are already black sheep, and why do they stay? Itâs revealed, eventually, but I just donât find the reasons believable all the time.
Another short 90-minute film for you to quickly be traumatized and then move on. Perhaps not the best it could be, Take Me to the River is still interesting creation from a first-time filmmaker, Matt Sobel, and is more good than bad, to say the least. Three and a half out of five stars, probably. Iâm very grateful this is not the family reunion I attended in Nebraska.
This movie premiered last year at Sundance, and just hit theaters last month. You can see it at the UWM Union Cinema tonight (2/27) at 7:30 pm!
You donât have to travel to Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to celebrate independent film. Milwaukeeâs version Sundance can be found at the University of Wisconsin â Milwaukee Union Cinema, which has been presenting art house, experimental, documentary, narrative and alternative feature and short films for as long as I can remember. It âŠ
Some love for the Union Cinema from the Dudek Abides!
Tonight at the UW Milwaukee Union Cinema at 7:00pm!
Details:Â â1,200 feature films were made in Germanyâs Third Reich. According to experts, some 100 of these were blatant Nazi propaganda. Nearly seventy years after the end of the Nazi regime, more than 40 of these films remain under lock and key. Director Felix Moeller (Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew SĂŒss) interviews German film historians, archivists and film-goers in an investigation of the power, and potential danger, of cinema when used for ideological purposes.â Â âTelluride Film Festival
COME SEE THE THING AT THE UNION CINEMA TONIGHT AT 7:00pm!!!
From legendary horror filmmaker John Carpenter comes The Thing. Set in an isolated Antarctic research facility, local scientists suddenly become prey to a shape shifting alien that can take the form of anyone it kills. The Thing is often considered one of the greatest horror movies ever created and you will want to see why.
Can you identify the candy bar by its profile? So many fine options available at the Union Cinema for your cinematic consumption. Also LGBT Film Festival is seriously good times; be sure to come check it out!
Two fantastic films, two fantastic critiques of society. Another weekend at the Union Cinema with some seriously good entertainment. Still two days left if you want to see them, highly recommend it!
Come to the Union Cinema at 6:30pm and watch Berlin Is In Germany!
When Martin is released from prison, he returns to a very different Germany than the one he left: the Berlin Wall has fallen, over a decade of rapid construction has occurred, and transportation is at an all-time high. With his family as changed as the world around him, Martin must begin on his own journey of evolution or become a relic of the Germany left behind.
Details: Hannes Stöhr, Germany, German w/Eng. Sub, 99 min, 2001
If you woke up this morning thinking, âI want to be thoroughly depressed todayâ then hereâs the movie for you. Donât get me wrong, itâs a beautiful movie both in meaning and visuals, but itâs a total downer. But donât let that stop you from watching it because it contains some important lessons about guilt, responsibility, and support.
The film begins with bus driver (played by Amy Morton) doing her bus driver thing. You know sheâs a Good One because she gives her hat to a child who was previously hat-less. Definitely no malicious intent from her. Where she goes wrong is at the end of her day sheâs inspecting her bus and lets a bluebird frazzle her. Innocent enough expect once it has flown out again, she doesnât continue on with the inspection and therefore never encounters little Owen chilling (literally, itâs the middle of January) in one of the seats. The next morning she is quite shocked to see his boot in her rear-view mirror and boom! her life is pretty much over.
Now Owen is in the hospital with severe hypothermia and a small chance of survival. And that causes a lot of issues for Owenâs family and the bus driverâs family, and everyone they interact with which is basically the whole town because not many people live in this Northern Maine town.
May I stop to interject that Bluebird was actually filmed in Maine. Itâs just refreshing to see real snow in movies instead of that weird patchy fake snow, or worse, having no snow at all in an area that geographically should. Although, it still contains one of the fakest, saddest snowball fights Iâve ever seen. You win some you lose some.
The themes of blame and guilt are heavy, as the bus driver is completely emotionally destroyed by her accidental negligence. Someone not taking any of the blame is the boyâs own mother Marla (Louisa Krause) who forgot it was her night to pick up Owen from the bus stop instead of her mother. She probably has tons of other things to feel guilty about though, because her life is a disaster to the point you might wonder why she isnât the star of Trainwreck instead.
Then on the other side of the same coin we have the theme of being there for someone. This is referenced several times, in Marla being pretty much absent in her sonâs life, and paralleled in the bus driverâs own family, with her husband rarely being home for his daughter. Mainly, what I think it all boils down to is the theme of being hurt. The film can become overwhelming (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way) in itâs emotion to the point I lost sight of what I was supposed to be getting out of it. Iâm uncertain if that was intentional by the director.
Something I thought was always well-done in the the movie is the moments of pure raw emotion between the actors that it made me half to step back and realize, whoa, this is acting. Amy Morton and Louisa Krause both put on spectacular performances and are amazing leads. The other characters do a well enough job in their roles, but these two really went above and beyond for me.
The color scheme is fantastic at displaying the movieâs depressing nature. Forever dark and gray. Even if all the awful things never happened in this movie, by colors alone you would still feel the dullness of it. Itâs wonderful to look at. And frame-wise, is like each still of the movie could be a beautiful photograph on itâs own. Very well put together.
The only place I feel this movie truly falls short is in itâs ending. It feels incomplete and offers no resolution like it was trying to. If they had gone for more of itâs âup in the airâ kind of ending, I think it would have been better, but instead itâs somewhere in limbo, between being resolved and unresolved. If you can forgive it this one thing though, I donât think itâs a movie-ruiner, perhaps a movie-dampener, but you can still enjoy the movie for what it is.
The movieâs pretty short, only 90 minutes, so if youâre in the need of some quick feels, here it is. Itâs a mess, it truly is, but itâs a beautiful disaster. Three out of five stars from me.
You can still catch it at the UWM Union Cinema, October 3rd or 4th at 7 p.m. each day.
Summary:Â The smaller the pond, the bigger the splash a stone makes. This is the case in a small town on the northern tip of Maine where a local school bus driver becomes distracted during her end of the day inspection. The ripple effects of her actions will leave the tranquility of the town broken, showing just how powerful a single mistake can be.
In the Basement plays tonight at 7:00pm in the Union Cinema!!! Hope to see everyone there!
Summary:Â Who people are above ground is not necessarily who they are below ground. In this latest documentary by prolific filmmaker Ulrich Seidl, he takes us on a journey through several middle-class Austrians basements revealing their lives beneath. From sex-slaves to Nazi-obsessives, In The Basement reveals just how little we may know, about the people we know.(Ulrich Seidl, Austria, German w/Eng. Sub., 81 min, 2014)
The UWM Union Cinema returns with a new name, and continues to bring new, classic, experimental and otherwise off-the-beaten path choices to Milwaukee. Plus: what's on the marquee around town this week.
Bluebird is showing at the UWM Union CInema on Friday, Sat, and SunOctober 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (2015) at 7pm.
Hope to see you there!
The smaller the pond, the bigger the splash a stone makes. This is the case in a small town on the northern tip of Maine where a local school bus driver becomes distracted during her end of the day inspection. The ripple effects of her actions will leave the tranquility of the town broken, showing just how powerful a single mistake can be.
