Darrel Manson

AFIFest: Oh, Canada – Final Testimony

Darrel MansonDec 3, 2024

“This is my last prayer and, whether you believe in God or not, you don’t lie when you pray.” Paul Schrader makes films about people searching for redemption. That means starting with a world of darkness, hoping for some light, which is not always promised. The people...

AFIFest – I’m Still Here – A Family’s Trauma

Darrel MansonNov 19, 2024

Walter Salles’s film I’m Still Here is the story of a family that is torn apart by the acts of an authoritarian military dictatorship. There have been a number of films that portray South American dictatorships and the way many people were disappeared—arrested and...

AFIFest Film Reviews

AFIFest: Group Therapy – Laughing at pain?

Darrel MansonNov 7, 2024

Mental illness is no laughing matter. However, humor can come out of very difficult and painful situations. There are comedians who have found ways of bringing their own struggles to the world in ways that entertain, but also may give us insight into the lives of...

AFIFest Features Film Reviews

AFIFest: Meet the Barbarians – Who do we welcome?

Darrel MansonNov 6, 2024

A small French village is about to do a wonderful thing. But when it doesn’t turn out to be what they thought, there are problems. Meet the Barbarians (Les Barbares), directed and co-written by Julie Delpy, who also stars, is a comic look at how changed circumstances...

AFIFest Features Film Reviews

AFIFest: Eephus – The game no one wanted to end

Darrel MansonNov 1, 2024

“Is there anything more beautiful than a fat man stealing second base?” At the festival screening of Eephus, director Carson Lund said the working title of the film during its development was “Field of Dreams in Reverse”, with a tagline, “If you tear it down, they...

AFIFest Film Reviews

Conclave – Intriguing intrigue

Darrel MansonOct 24, 2024

“The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next.” Imagine if the U.S. Senate was locked into the Capitol, and they would choose one of themselves to be the President. They need a 2/3 vote. There is no news in or out while this...

Features Film Reviews

Classified – Who is running your life?

Darrel MansonOct 21, 2024

“I’m a good little soldier.” Classified, from director Roel Reiné, is a story of loyalty and betrayal as a man discovers that what he thought was working for his country turns out to be a lie. Evan Shaw (Aaron Eckhart) has been a CIA hitman for decades. He lives a...

Features Film Reviews VOD

Merchant Ivory: Partnership

Darrel MansonAug 30, 2024

Merchant and Ivory films may make you think of lavish settings and complex emotions. James Ivory and Ismail Merchant collaborated on 43 films. Merchant Ivory, from director Stephen Soucy, is a look at their decades-long partnership, which was not only professional,...

Film Reviews

Paradise Is Burning: Not so perfect freedom

Darrel MansonAug 23, 2024

Paradise Is Burning, from director Mika Gustafson,seems to be a story of youth and freedom, but is this really freedom? It is a coming-of-age story, but the passages that it marks have less to do with adulthood than with survival. Three sisters, Laura (16), Mira (12),...

Film Reviews

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