Risk: Truth and Contradiction

By David Braga - June 5, 2017, 8:00 AM

In one of her voiceovers, director Laura Poitras states that “the contradictions are becoming the story.” If that’s how the Wikileaks story ends—a website and its creator, infinitely tied together yet completely inconsistent with one another—what kind of story is it?

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The Descent and the Psychology of Female Trauma

By Eva Phillips - May 29, 2017, 8:00 AM

The film, and the chaos that the women are subjected to (Sarah in particular), operates as a metaphor for what it’s like for women to experience psychological trauma in an uncaring world. The effects of trauma lurk unseen, unattended to and unmentioned, just like the foul cave dwellers.

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Equity: Feminism in Film and Finance

By Sandra Tzvetkova - May 15, 2017, 8:00 AM

The “​Wall Street thriller” genre would be an unlikely phenomenon were it not for this bubbling well of emotion and obfuscation. Over time, these movies have largely reflected the stubbornly skewed gender composition of the industry: from Wall Street to Wolf on Wall Street, it is always shamelessly greedy men pulling the stunts. Then in 2016 came Meera Menon’s Equity.

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IFFBoston 2017: 15 Years of New England’s Best Film Festival

By David Braga - May 8, 2017, 8:00 AM

A look back at some of the best indie films of IFFBoston 2017. 

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Meet the Patels Is the Comedy We Need Right Now

By ​Natasha Oladokun - May 2, 2017, 8:00 AM

Meet the Patels is for everyone, regardless of age or culture or background. Its core themes are familiar, but are by no means stale here: the old trope of a protagonist embarking on a quest for love is enlivened by this cast of complex, sharp-witted people who are unquestioningly devoted to one another.

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The Commodification of Black Bodies in Get Out

By Eva Phillips - April 24, 2017, 8:00 AM

Black bodies are simply that to the white characters—bodies.  Bodies that they are obsequious to, to capture, to manipulate for their own purposes....  This is one of the ways in which racism erases black identities: black bodies are stripped of all qualities, all distinctions, except for a single, “useful” feature. 

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Desierto: Genre and Reality

By David Braga - April 17, 2017, 8:00 AM

Horror reflects our world back to us. Desierto works because it feels much more plausible than it should.

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I Am Not Your Negro

By ​Natasha Oladokun - April 10, 2017, 8:00 AM

It’s a catch-22: I Am Not Your Negro is as disheartening for its relevance as it is validating in its relevance. That is, it was painful for me to watch at times, but wholly validating to witness as a black viewer.

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Notes from the (Boston) Underground: BUFF 2017

By David Braga - April 3, 2017, 8:00 AM

Though they took different routes to get there, the films at the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival all took up the burden of storytelling and brought it forth to their audience. And for the most part, they had a hell of a good time doing it.

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Hush: Disability and Horror

By Eva Phillips - March 27, 2017, 9:00 AM

Disability in Hush not only upends stereotypes and caricatures trenchant in other portrayals in film, specifically horror, but also functions to enrich the uniquely and distinctly feminine brand of power that dominates and drives the film.

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