Littlerock

Francisco Luna, Jr.

Small film, big emotion

zeroteque

A fish-out-of-water story that I think resonates with all of us. Atsuko was great to watch, finding something she is lacking in those Rintaro seems to think are losers. The film certainly takes its time, though not without merit. Watching Atsuko bond with and take in these people really drew me in and reminds me of my time in Southwest China (though admittedly I could communicate more than she). Recommended.

purefault

This does a lot with very little.

MATTEO BITTANTI

This is one of the reasons why I love mubi. Mike Ott's Antelope Valley Trilogy is a true revelation and I would have never seen it anywhere else. The real story here is about the forced relocation of Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps during WWII, but Ott avoids the trap of didacticism (unlike Barry Atkins in Medicine for Melancholy, e.g. the visit at the Museum of the Diaspora). Powerful, yet sweet.

Wee Hunk

The movie is solid, and only suffers slightly from some of the bad actors. Reminds me of the good old days of independent cinema. Small movies with big ideas.

Richard Tines

(weaning myself off of a too heavy saturated Hollywood diet)...only a (pretty, pretty good) indie movie like this could get away with portraying so intimately the palpable pain of disconnection (even the moments of connection crackle uncomfortably)...the decision to leave much of the foreign (to me) speech untranslated was an inspired choice...afterthought....i'm definitely the Cory in this story....

Lee Donowitz

A good little movie! It is shot really well with some good characters and performances. It was a bit strange that the storyline involving Cory wasn't resolved, and quite miraculous that he escaped being beaten up but nevertheless a heartfelt and enjoyable meditation on identity and belonging.

De La Ghetto

A powerful, moving film about the kinds of what if stories we tell about ourselves. Our pasts. Our futures. A movie about nostalgia for a life we never lived. And the brutality of the present, the life we cannot escape except by way of these dreams and fantasies of other lives and other futures in other places. Small, yeah, but kinda like a small finger pointed at something big. At least, that's how I read it.