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Deauville Festival of American Cinema · 2021

Deauville Festival of American Cinema 2021

Competition

Programme

13 films · 9 reviews

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Blue Bayou

As a Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make a life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Justin Chon; Writer: Justin Chon; Stars: Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander, Mark O'Brien, Emory Cohen)

Catch The Fair One

Review preview for Catch The Fair One

It’s astonishing to realise that this is Reis’ first screen role.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A Native American boxer embarks on the fight of her life when she goes in search of her missing sister.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka; Writer: Kali Reis, Josef Kubota Wladyka, Josef Kubota Wladyka; Stars: Kevin Dunn, Kimberly Guerrero, Lisa Emery, Daniel Henshall, Michael Drayer, Jonathan Kowalsky, Gerald Webb, Isabelle Chester, Tiffany Chu, Peter Johnson, Samantha Stack, Bill Smith, Jonathan Wilde, Christine Lauer, Elisabeth Manente)

Full review See: Interview with Kali Reis about Catch The Fair One

Down With The King

Mon­ey Merc, a famous rap­per dis­il­lu­sioned with the music indus­try leaves his career behind to find him­self in a small-town farm­ing community.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Diego Ongaro; Writer: Xabi Molia, Diego Ongaro; Stars: Freddie Gibbs, Bob Tarasuk, Jamie Neumann, David Krumholtz, Sharon Washington, Terry Holland, Polly MacIntyre, Leon Michels, Tara Turnbull, Freddie Gibbs, Bob Tarasuk, Jamie Neumann, David Krumholtz, Sharon Washington, Terry Holland)

John And The Hole

Review preview for John And The Hole

Perhaps everything doesn't quite stack up into a neat narrative but as a film that explores the frosty hinterland between sociopathy and more simple teenage boredom it follows through.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
When a teenager finds a hole in the ground, he hatches a chilling plot.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Pascual Sisto; Writer: Nicolás Giacobone; Stars: Charlie Shotwell, Michael C Hall, Jennifer Ehle, Taissa Farmiga)

Full review

The Last Son

Set in the late 19th cen­tu­ry, mur­der­ous out­law Isaac LeMay learns from a sooth­say­er that he is cursed by a ter­ri­ble prophe­cy: he will be killed by one of his chil­dren. To pre­vent his own death, he tracks down his kids...

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Tim Sutton; Writer: Greg Johnson; Stars: Heather Graham, Thomas Jane, Sam Worthington, Machine Gun Kelly, Alex Meraz, James Landry Hébert, Emily Marie Palmer, David Silverman, Bates Wilder, Andrew Stecker, Kim DeLonghi, Hiram A. Murray, Kathleen Timberman, James Di Giacomo, Michael McCartney)

The Night House

Review preview for The Night House

Ambiguity lurks in the shadows and there's a doubling up and a doubling down.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A widow struggles with grief as strange things happen in her lake house at night.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: David Bruckner; Writer: Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski; Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit, Allie McCulloch, Samantha Buck, Patrick Klein, Michael Flores, James W. Meagher, Amy Zubieta, Andy Rich, Laura Austin, Dannielle Rose, Crystal Swann)

Full review

The Novice

Review preview for The Novice

This is a stunning first feature.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat, no matter the cost.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lauren Hadaway; Writer: Lauren Hadaway; Stars: Isabelle Fuhrman, Amy Forsyth, Dilone Kate Drummond, Jonathan Cherry, Charlotte Ubben)

Full review See: Interview with Lauren Hadaway about The Novice

Pig

Review preview for Pig

Cage fills the screen even when he does not.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness is forced to return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Michael Sarnoski; Writer: Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski, Michael Sarnoski; Stars: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Cassandra Violet, Julia Bray, Elijah Ungvary, Beth Harper, Brian Sutherland, David Shaughnessy, Gretchen Corbett, Sean Tarjyoto, Darius Pierce, Kevin Michael Moore, Tom Walton, Davis King, Nina Belforte)

Full review See: Michael Sarnoski on Nic Cage and Pig

Pleasure

Review preview for Pleasure

Everything has been meticulously researched from the garish costumes and outlandish make-up to the mechanics of the business.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A 20-year-old woman moves from her small town in Sweden to LA for a shot at a career in the adult film industry.

(Country: Sweden, Netherlands, France; Year: 2021; Director: Ninja Thyberg; Writer: Ninja Thyberg; Stars: Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade)

Full review

Potato Dreams Of America

Review preview for Potato Dreams Of America

Quirky and a little uneven but appealingly sweet.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A true story about a gay boy growing up in the collapsing USSR, his courageous mail-order bride mother, and their adventurous escape to Seattle in the Nineties.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Wes Hurley; Writer: Wes Hurley; Stars: Marya Sea Kaminski, Dan Lauria, Tyler Bocock, Lea DeLaria, Sera Barbieri, Hersh Powers, Jonathan Bennett, Sophia Mitri Schloss, Cynthia Lauren Tewes, James Grixoni)

Full review

Red Rocket

Review preview for Red Rocket

The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A washed-up ex-porn star tries to get his life back together in his hometown, sparking trouble for those in his orbit.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch; Stars: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone)

Full review

We Are Living Things

Review preview for We Are Living Things

The film begins in a landscape of urban decay and it’s a long time before we see a horizon.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Two immigrants to the US go in search of the truth about a shared UFO abduction.

(Country: US, China, Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Antonio Tibaldi; Writer: Àlex Lora, Antonio Tibaldi; Stars: O-Lan Jones, Isaac J. Conner, Lissa Carandang-Sweeney, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, James Patrick Nelson, Lan Zhong, Lawrence Ballard, Geoff Lee, Paul Cooper, Christopher Kien Dao, Kenny Chin, Charles Sweeney, Xiren Wang, Kenny Wong, Xingchen Lyu)

Full review

We Burn Like This

When 22-year-old Rae, a descen­dant of Holo­caust sur­vivors, is tar­get­ed by neo-Nazis in Billings, Mon­tana where she lives, her ances­tors’ trau­ma becomes real.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Alana Waksman; Writer: Alana Waksman; Stars: Devery Jacobs, Madeleine Coghlan, Kendra Mylnechuk, Kate Britton, Rinnan Henderson, Megan Folsom, Mary Riitano, Jenna Ciralli, Casidee Riley, Christina Valentine, John Budge, Andrew Rizzo, Tyson Gerhardt, Nathan Snow, Morgan Solonar)