Don’t-Miss Indies: What to Watch in March
This month at the movies we draw your attention to three compelling documentaries on the future of AI, the historic trailblazing courage of a female astronaut, and the inescapable present of colon health. Mix that up with some hockey, nursing, social commentary, neurotic romance and truly spooky fare for your Friday the 13th, for one wild storytelling ride.
YOUNGBLOOD
When You Can Watch: March 6
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Hubert Davis
Cast: Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Shawn Doyle
Why We’re Excited: It’s a reimagining of the 1986 hockey movie starring Rob Lowe. Detroit prodigy Dean Youngblood (Ashton James, Boxcutter) joins a Canadian hockey team in order to show off, really. With his father’s voice in his head (Blair Underwood, Deep Impact) and coach Murray (Shawn Doyle, Star Trek: Discovery) in his face, Dean must decide for himself what it means to be a Black man – on or off the ice. Directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Hubert Davis (Black Ice) after Charles Officer (Akilla’s Escape) helped write it and then passed away, Davis honored Officer’s vision to invert 80’s narratives of masculinity: learn to fight, beat up the bully, get the girl. “For me,” he told Alt A Review, “it was about taking my own personal experiences—my relationship with my dad, my relationship with my sons now—and infusing that into the story to make it feel true.” Film Independent member Allison Sokol is an Associate Producer on Youngblood.
HEEL
When You Can Watch: March 6
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Jan Komasa
Cast: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon
Why We’re Excited: This psychological thriller stars Spirit Award winner Stephen Graham (Adolescence) and nominee Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as a dysfunctional couple trying to rehabilitate a 19-year-old criminal named Tommy (Anson Boon, Pistol). They do this by chaining him up like a dog and attempting to train him accordingly. As the training unfolds, Tommy’s resistance cracks with an occasional show of obedience, but is it just an act to get away? Embracing dystopian allegory and dark comedy, Heel is the latest from Polish Oscar nominee Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi), whose body of work reflects psychological intensity. “It became a kind of thought experiment,” he told TPM. “Everything I’d done before was rooted in realism, so this was about opening new doors.” Film Independent member Naomi Despres is an Executive Producer.
ANDRÉ IS AN IDIOT
When You Can Watch: March 6
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Tony Benna
Cast: André Ricciardi
Why We’re Excited: Spirit Award nominee Tony Benna documents the last days of a San Francisco advertising professional with a quirky lifestyle, a sarcastic wit and stage four colon cancer. Why is André an idiot? Because he could have caught it with a colonoscopy. Following Andre’s last days through chemo, indulging in his curious hobbies, and reflecting on his irreverent life choices is more entertaining than it might seem. Along the way we also meet his wife and two teenage daughters, his best friend, his therapist and many of his colleagues. Not a commercial for how to die, André aims to present his version of the experience – and potentially inspire more colonoscopies along the way. Film Independent member Joshua Altman is a Producer.
UNDERTONE
When You Can Watch: March 13
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Ian Tuason
Cast: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet
Why We’re Excited: First-timer Ian Tuason initially imagined this found footage horror film as a podcast, focusing attention on sound. Podcast host Evy (Nina Kiri, The Handmaid’s Tale) listens to these sounds while creating content for her paranormal podcast. Living with and looking after her dying mother in a house full of memories, Evy’s creepy recorded sounds merge with the creepy world she’s living in, haunting her with a parallel experience to the podcast story. Evy’s denial only drags her deeper into an inevitable confrontation with the source of it all – an ancient demon that Tuason claims also visited him. “But I saged my house, and it’s fine now.”
LATE SHIFT
When You Can Watch: March 20
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Petra Biondina Volpe
Cast: Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Alireza Bayram
Why We’re Excited: Swiss-Italian filmmaker Petra Volpe (Dreamland) consulted with dozens of nurses for this workplace thriller following Floria (Leonie Benesch, September 5) through one shift at the hospital. There’s no supernatural twist to this drama, it’s simply the riveting profile of an ordinary surgical nurse on any given day – a tense, urgent race against the clock. Volpe’s love letter to nurses prioritizes the critical frontlines of patient care, the person most likely to notice any change or be called upon to meet any need. But with one colleague absent from an already understaffed ward, it’s Floria against the laws of physics as she meets each stressful situation with humane attentiveness and professionalism – until she makes a fatal mistake.
RICKY
When You Can Watch: March 20
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Rashad Frett
Cast: Titus Welliver, Stephan James, Sheryl Lee Ralph
Why We’re Excited: Thrust back into a world he doesn’t trust and hasn’t seen in fifteen years, Ricardo Smith (Stephan James, Spirit Award-winner If Beale Street Could Talk) is making the effort to be a law-abiding citizen. At the age of 30, he’s spent half his life behind bars and is still growing up. But challenges to his freedom arise, such as gainful employment – a condition of his parole overseen by Joanne (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary) – and making choices that could just as easily land him in danger as not. It’s a razor’s edge of justice, and Ricky’s journey is inspired by filmmaker Rashad Frett’s documentary work with the criminal justice system in Connecticut. Film Independent members Robina Riccitiello is an Executive Producer and Marci Wiseman is Co-Executive Producer.
SPACEWOMAN
When You Can Watch: March 20
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Hannah Berryman
Cast: Eileen Collins
Why We’re Excited: This documentary from Hannah Berryman (Rockfield: the Studio on the Farm) explores human risk-taking through the eyes of the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft, Eileen Collins. From her difficult growing up years to breaking through layers of glass ceilings, Collins copes with fear in increasingly dangerous space shuttle missions. “Piloting was such a testosterone-driven arena in the 1970s and ’80s, the world of Top Gun,” Berryman told Variety. “With Eileen, I was interested in how her difficult background had, in a way, helped her to conquer fear more easily, a skill she’d had to develop as a child.”
FANTASY LIFE
When You Can Watch: March 27
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Matthew Shear
Cast: Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear, Bob Balaban
Why We’re Excited: First-time director Matthew Shear also stars (Mistress America) as Sam, who becomes the ‘manny’ for Dianne (Amanda Peet, Spirit Award-winning Please Give) who is an actor married to a musician, living a well-to-do but creatively frustrated New York life. What ensues is a quirky comedy of backward romance, as Sam falls for Dianne with an attentive devotion that turns her head. When Sam accompanies the whole family on vacation with all four grandparents (one of whom is Sam’s therapist), the fantasy meets real life with wry honesty. Film Independent members David Bernon, Emily McCann Lesser, and Sam Slater are Producers.
THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST
When You Can Watch: March 27
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Directors: Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell
Cast: Sam Altman, Daniela Amodei, Dario Amodei
Why We’re Excited: Apart from coining a new word (Apocaloptimist is fun to say), Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher (Navalny) teams up with fellow dad-to-be Charlie Tyrell (My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes) to find out what AI really means for the future. Rather than draw definite conclusions, the filmmakers elicit perspectives from tech giants and dozens of experts as well as Roher and his partner, filmmaker Caroline Lindy (Your Monster) in animated vignettes. Indulging curiosity in the face of such potential (for better and worse), the filmmakers present a compelling conversation starter on the future of human jobs, development and life in general – with hope and dread right alongside. Film Independent members Diane Becker is a Producer and EJ Lykes is an Associate Producer.
Programmer’s Pick: SLANTED
When You Can Watch: March 13
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Writer/Director: Amy Wang
Cast: Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Elaine Hendrix
Why We’re Excited: From Film Independent Lead Programmer Jenn Wilson:
Film Independent member B. Quinn Curry is Executive Producer.
KEY
Film Independent Fellow or Member
Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A
Microbudget
Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color
Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee
Female Filmmaker
LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters
First-time Filmmaker
LA Film Fest Winner or Nominee
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