Hector Gonzalez, Author at Minorities Report

30 Sep

The Velvet Underground Review | NYFF 2021

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsNYFF, NYFF21, The Velvet Underground

With snappy editing and great insight on its background, Todd Haynes makes you listen carefully and appreciate The Velvet Underground’s style, techniques, and artistry more-- engaging you with the film whether you are a fan of the band or not. To give a brief introduction on who The Velvet Underground are, we need to start in 1964. They were formed by bandmates Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise (who was replaced a year later by Moe Tucker). Their central genre is rock, but they blended and mashed many other ones in their music instrumentations and concoctions; avant-garde,…

29 Sep

BERGMAN ISLAND Review | NYFF 2021

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsBergman Island, Film Festivals, NYFF, NYFF21

Bergman Island is Mia Hansen-Løve’s best and most intimate film; it takes a meta-textual route to deliver a brilliantly written and structured testimony of the cursed writer’s block as well as slowly gnawing dysfunctional relationships. An American couple, Chris (Vicky Krieps) and Tony (Tim Roth), go on a trip to the famous Fårö island, which inspired Ingmar Bergman to write and direct many of his famous works. They are there for the summer to write the scripts for their subsequent films in the act of pilgrimage, seclusion, and the search for creativity. As they advance with their screenplays, fiction and…

26 Sep

Futura Review | NYFF 2021

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsDocumentary, Film Review, Futura

Futura is a documentary that touches on the fears, dreams, anxieties, and future of the Italian youth; however, it feels like it didn’t branch out enough to get different answers to the proposed questions. A cooperative venture by three of Italy’s most promising directors -- Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, and Alice Rohrwacher -- as they go city to city asking the youth of Italy questions about life. How are things currently going with your life? How do you feel about Italy’s current situation and its system? What do you expect to be doing in three to four years? Why do…

09 Sep

The Year of the Everlasting Storm Review

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsApichatpong Weerasethakul, David Lowery, Dominga Sotomayor, Jafar Panahi, Malik Vitthal, The Year of the Everlasting Storm

The Year of the Everlasting Storm is a pandemic-produced cinema passion project built by seven filmmakers that feels a bit futile as it doesn’t have much to say about our current situation. As Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s short says “this is the year of the everlasting storm”, and it is indeed everlasting and the emotional drainage that it has caused feels as if a storm has been wreaking havoc in your mind, body, and soul. The first year felt like two and now, in 2021, things are starting to open up again (at least where I live), but there are still the…

01 Sep

Cinderella Review (2021) | Eye Rolls & Cringe Abound

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsAmazon Prime Video, Billy Porter, Camila Cabello, Cinderella, Idina Menzel, James Corden, Kay Cannon, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine, Pierce Brosnan

The tale of Cinderella has been told over and over, with many iterations throughout the years. In 2015, Kenneth Branagh surprised us all with his version and Lily James truly captured the princess’ essence and poise. Now, it’s Kay Cannon's turn to deliver the classic romance, however, it is eye-rollingly cringy, unnecessary, and has terribly nauseating song choices. Camilla Cabello stars in CINDERELLA Photo: Christopher Raphael Ella, better known as Cinderella (Camila Cabello), because she was burned by cinders as a child, as explained lightly in the film, is a young woman who dreams of a better life and wants…

20 Aug

The Night House Review | OMG, Rebecca Hall!

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsDavid Bruckner, Evan Jonigkeit, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Searchlight Pictures, Stacy Martin, The Night House

Although The Night House’s supernatural aspects might not develop great enticement, Rebecca Hall’s strong lead performance as well as the atmosphere make it into an effective ghost story about loss and transience. Sarah Goldberg and Rebecca Hall in the film THE NIGHT HOUSE. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved After the unexpected death of her husband, Owen (Evan Jonigkeit), Beth (Rebecca Hall) is all alone in the lakeside home that he built just for her. She tries to keep herself together but spends most of her nights drunk. One night, she gets a…

18 Aug

Ema Review | A Truly Visionary Experience

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsEma, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mariana di Girolamo, Pablo Lorrain

Ema uses the luscious aspects of music and dance to explore its core themes of self-destruction, politics, and family with a visionary style and great performances. Pablo Larraín is a great Chilean filmmaker that devotes himself to doing dramas with staggering characters revolving around some form of pique or obsolescence. Most people will recognize him from Jackie (2016), underrated in my opinion, and No (2012). Larraín’s latest feature, Ema, takes a different stroll around the topics he is used to and transforms them into a story with more vibrancy and color by using the art forms of music and dance. …

18 Aug

John and the Hole | So Much Potential

Hector Gonzalez1 CommentReviewsCharlie Shotwell, IFC, John and the Hole, Michael C. Hall, Pascual Sisto, Taissa Farmiga

John and the Hole seems to have a good concept on paper, albeit it fails to provide any depth leaving you scratching your head with its weird mix of horror and dark comedy that makes it hard to take seriously. Comedy and horror have been blended forever; it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s a great feeling because most end up disappointing you. Recent examples that have done it are The Cabin in the Woods (2011), Ready or Not (2019), and last year’s Freaky. Now, Pascual Sisto adapts The Water of Life to make John and the Hole,…

06 Aug

The Green Knight Review | Spellbinding & Cerebral

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsA24, Daniel Hart, King Arthur, Ralph Ineson, The Green Knight

David Lowery creates yet another visceral, cerebral, and spellbinding work in The Green Knight; a hero’s tale that takes its time and, with patience, delivers one of the best films of the year. Lowery always surprises with his works, whether it is a haunting existential piece like A Ghost Story (2017) or a live-action re-imagination of Pete’s Dragon (2016). He reunites with A24 to deliver an adaptation of the Chivalric Romance in one of the most anticipated films of 2021, The Green Knight. Not only was it worth the full year’s wait-- it is far better than we may have…

02 Aug

Sweat Review | Social Media Commentary At It’s Finest

Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsReviewsFilm Review, Magdalena Kolesnik, Magnus von Horn, Mubi, Sweat

Whether we like it or not, social media is running the world. The number of influencers is rising, causing filmmakers to become interested in the topic and try to tackle it in their movies. The problem is that it’s hard to make a film about influencers that feels out of touch with today’s social media culture, most being corny and annoying rather than engrossing. Some even go in the way of satire, but they fail to get their point across due to over-exaggeration like Gia Coppola’s Mainstream (2021), Assassination Nation (2018), and Spree (2020). On the other hand, Magnus von…