Tag Archives: Relationships

First Blush – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film looking at people trying to find other people to plug that hole in their lives   

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

First Blush. Image Credit: Gravitas Ventures.

First Blush Review –

There has been a lot of reframing of traditional relationships in the post-modern era. However, when cinema has started to explore this realm, it rarely explores this world’s realities. Today we have a film that gives it a solid try if nothing else.

So to set the scene, Nena (Rachel Alig) and Drew (Ryan Caraway) are a mostly happy married couple living in Los Angeles. While everything is good, it does feel like they are sleepwalking through their lives until one day Drew plans a surprise birthday party for Nena with her annoying friend Carrie (Jordee Kopanski). The party is a bit rubbish, but while they are there, Carrie runs into Olivia (Kate Beecroft), and soon their worlds come crashing together.      

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The American Boys – Movie Review

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TL;DR – In this collection of short films, we get a snapshot of life, of stories untold, but nothing that really stands out.     

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

The American Boys. Image Credit: NQV Media.

The American Boys Review –

One of the strengths of short films is their ability to give a concise snapshot into a world. You pick only a couple of characters and dive into their world and how it is shaped. While usually, you would release these films separately, you can also group them around a theme which is what the film we are looking at today did.   

The American Boys is a collection of six short films including These Things Take Time, Legend of Scotty Watts, Two Fish, You Can Play, I Think I’m Gay & Billy’s Blowjobs. All of these films look at different types of relationships, and as some of the titles would suggest, they look at the many different stages of gay relationships. Now because the film has grouped them as a whole, that is how we will look at them in this review.

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Movie Review – The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse)

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TL;DR – It is like this film bottled charm because it was gloriously charming from start to finish.    

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch. Image Credit: DMC.

Review –

Tradition v change. It is one of the great struggles of the world and it is something that many of us have had to live through, consequences and all. There are a lot of films that explore this divide, do I follow the traditions of my family, or do I find my own path. Well, today we explore a film that dives right into this debate with gusto. 

So to set the scene, Mordechai Wolkenbruch (Joel Basman) who everyone calls Motti is an orthodox Jew livening in Switzerland. He works in his Dad’s (Udo Samel) insurance company, helps out in his Mum’s (Inge Maux) op-shop, and studies economics at university. He is looking for the right person but his mum keeps setting him up on shidduchs (pre-arranged meetings to facilitate marriage). The only problem is that he might have fallen for a shiksa, a non-Jewish woman called Laura (Noémie Schmidt) at university. Now I am going to preface this review with a little proviso that I am not Jewish, so I am not the best guide to know if this is a true depiction of these crashing worlds. So I do apologise if I have missed anything if it gets it wrong.

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