A news and review site dedicated to all things movies.
Ma mère et moi
dir. Emma Branderhorst
19 minutes
A tender portrait of a mother and daughter parting ways.
On their road trip to Marseilles, where Kees (Celeste Holsheimer) is going to college, mom (Hannah van Lunteren) is clearly not quite ready to let go of her only child. Director Emma Branderhorst beautifully captures this fledgling dynamic where a young person is both eager for independence but sad about losing familiar comfort.
“I have scales. This is so f***ed!”
True friendship endures many challenges. But what if one of those challenges happens to be a mermaid transformation?
Written, produced and directed by Victoria Negri (Gold Star), the short film Mermaid, Bitch is a quirky and heartfelt fantasy-comedy about a young woman who wakes up to discover she’s sprouted a mermaid tail overnight. Lily (Alexi Pappas) calls her bestie Ruby (Ruby McCollister) in a panic. After a night of shenanigans and a potentially transformative tarot reading, Lily is now a mermaid and she needs help. Lily and Ruby set out on an adventure through the streets of Los Angeles to get Lily out to her new home: the ocean. Will their friendship survive this radical shift?
“You’re assuming that it is so easy to just become something else and instantly become an advocate for whatever it is that you are and that’s actually really hard to do.”
Mermaid, Bitch is sweet and laugh-out-loud funny. The story can be interpreted as a metaphor for personal transformation and embracing a new identity and the struggles that come with that. It also delivers a nice message about how to be a supportive friend through life’s obstacles.
I can’t help but think that the young adults who grew up reading the Emily Windsnap books as kids would find this story, especially with its Gen Z type of humor, absolutely hilarious.
Alexi Pappas—Olympic athlete and star of the film Olympic Dreams (2019)—and Ruby McCollister play off each other beautifully both giving their characters a unique interpretation of youthful angst. I quite enjoyed seeing the director Victoria Negri‘s cameo as the seemingly judgmental passerby who is surprised by Lily’s mermaid tail.
Mermaid, Bitch is currently available on Omeleto on YouTube. You can watch the full movie below.
“Para tener una familia linda tienes que trabajar juntos.”
“To have a beautiful family you have to work together.“
As the saying goes, “happy wife, happy life.” However, this is not the reality for many married couples. While the husband might be living his happy life his wife is overwhelmed by inequity of domestic labor. Wives are burdened with the majority of household work while also caring for their children and working a full-time job. And husbands have been conditioned to expect that work to be done by women and either contribute little to domestic labor or when they’re asked to do more they weaponize their incompetence to make sure they’re never asked again.
This is a sad state of affairs but the tides are turning. There is a growing awareness of domestic inequality and women are speaking up about it. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and based on the book by Eve Rodsky, Fair Play is a documentary that examines the family dynamic when it comes to domestic labor and how couples can work towards a more equitable situation. While the focus is on straight couples there is also a spotlight on queer couples and how they manage this dynamic within their own relationships.
Women will feel both validated and infuriated watching this documentary. With that said, Fair Play offers viewers hope that things can change. I appreciated Eve Rodsky’s discussion on the nuances of mental labor because it’s unseen work that really isn’t appreciated. Ultimately, the film offers a balanced perspective with the goal that men can ultimately change and that divorce doesn’t have to be the resolution.
I believe that the ongoing discourse, anthems like “You Make Me Do Too Much Labour” and films like Fair Play will help shift the dynamic. We need to keep talking about this so eventually we do reach that ideal of “happy wife, happy life”.
Where to Watch
“I want to hurt for him and all my other ancestors. I want to remember where I come from and to not forget the community that raised me.” — Ku Stevens
Trauma carries on through generations with the ripple effects lasting long after the ancestor’s pain is forgotten. One young man is keeping the memory of his great-grandfather alive. It’s not something he has to do but rather something he feels compelled to do.
Directed by Paige Bethmann (Haudenosaunee), Remaining Native is a documentary that follows the story of Ku Stevens, an Indigenous teen and track star who dreams of becoming a college-level athlete. He runs on the open dirt roads of his native rural Nevada. It’s the same path that his great-grandfather ran when he escaped the Stewart School, a reformatory boarding school that forced Native American children to assimilate into white culture.
As Ku, whose full name Kutoven means “the eagle who brings light from the darkness”, trains towards a sub 9 minute 2-mile run, he contemplates the times his great-grandfather had to run and the suffering he must have endured to escape a cruel system that tried to strip him of his Native identity. Ku is wise beyond his years. To honor his ancestor and to help his community honor theirs, he helps lead a Remembrance Run; a 2-day, 50 mile race that follows the path that his great-grandfather would have taken to escape the Stewart School and return to his homeland.
Remaining Native beautifully balances the duality of the story in which Ku’s journey to become a college athlete mirrors his great-grandfather’s pursuit of freedom. It also works as a sports documentary with much time spent on Ku’s athletic journey. Ku is a fascinating subject and it’s clear he’ll go on to do great things. I do wish there was a bit more information about the history behind the Stewart School and how it affected Ku’s community. But overall this is Ku’s story and it’s an honor to witness it.
Remaining Native is part of 2025 SIFF’s cINeDIGENOUS festival program.
“Aloha sustains Hawai’ians by reminding us who we are.”
Hawai’i is one of the most beautiful places on earth and the Kanaka (Native Hawai’ians) feel a strong connection to their homeland. However, over the years life on the islands has become too expensive for the Kanaka to live and thrive. Many move to the mainland to raise their families including director Cris Romento’s family who moved to Vancouver, Washington over thirty years ago. In Romento’s short documentary Dear Aloha, she interviews members of the Hawai’ian diaspora, in particular her father Eric who still mourns losing his homeland. He still feels the pride of his homeland as many in the diaspora do.
The film explores this displacement of Hawai’ians and the ongoing fight for the Kanaka to stay. A tender and bittersweet film with a lot of heart and a bit of hope for the future. I would love to see this expanded into a full-length feature. There are many films about immigration but not enough about diasporas. And the plight of the Hawai’ian diaspora is one that definitely needs to be spotlighted.
Description: “Two Native Hawai’ians living in the Pacific Northwest reflect on how Aloha sustains them amidst distance, loss, and longing.” (source)
Dear Aloha is part of 2025 SIFF’s cINeDIGENOUS festival program.