IFC Films
The Night Is a Terrifying Twist on The Shining: Review
The Pitch: Driving home from a night out with friends, exhausted Iranian immigrants, Babak and Neda Naderi (Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Noor), decide to spend the night at a nearby hotel with their infant daughter Shebnam (Leah Oganyan). They quickly realize that there are dangerous secrets lurking within the walls of the mysterious building and the seemingly endless night soon spirals into reality bending terror as they find themselves trapped in a nightmarish hell of their own creation. The Night made headlines as the first US produced Iranian film to secure a theatrical license in Iran after the country’s 1979 revolution. Though set in LA’s landmark Hotel Normandie, this is an Iranian story told predominantly in Farsi and including Iranian Americans or Iranian Immigrants both in front o...
The Rental Has Ruined AirBnb Forever: Review
The Pitch: Two couples in search of some impromptu R&R book a couple of nights at a dreamy, seaside rental. They don’t pack lightly, bringing all their excess baggage with them: deep-seated feelings for one another, rage issues, the whole spread. Unfortunately for them, this remote locale also happens to be the target of a stalker. <img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1054339" data-attachment-id="1054339" data-permalink="https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/07/film-review-the-rental/rental_ar_05-24-19_154-arw/" data-orig-file="https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/THERENTALStill2.jpeg?quality=80" data-orig-size="1280,721" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0&qu...
Relic Is a Terrifying and Touching Allegory for Dementia: Review
The Pitch: Three generations of women deal with the inevitability of death in the face of a global pandemic largely affecting the elderly. Kay (Emily Mortimer) and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) travel to grandmother Edna’s (Robyn Nevin) remote Australian home after receiving news that she has disappeared. When Edna returns days later with no memory of where she’s been, the house begins to change, complicating an emotional story of aging with sinister undertones. Directed by Natalie Erika James, who also wrote the script along with Christian White, Relic effectively weaves in elements from Hereditary and The Visit to deliver a terrifying tale that tugs at the heartstrings. The Ties That Bind: Relic struck a nerve with me. The story of a woman dealing with her ailing mother at the end o...
