Bayflicks.net

Horror

Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, from his own novel
Directed by Tomas Alfredson

Last night I saw what may be the best vampire movie I’ve ever seen. Better than Horror of Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, and Lost Boys; better even than Nosferatu. It’s called Let the Right One In. I’m really glad I finally caught [...]

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drama
Written and directed by S. Pierre Yameogo
Children mysteriously die in an African village, and the elders suspect witchcraft. But the ancient traditions they use to find the witch appear to have more to do with local politics than detective work or even magic. And so Napoko, the wife of an elder and the mother [...]

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[B] Espionage comedy

Written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

The Coen brothers are back to their old tricks, mining the dark comic prospects of a crime gone wrong. While Burn After Reading lacks the humanity of Fargo and the blazing, non-stop lunacy of Intolerable Cruelty, it still provides 95 very entertaining minutes.
The Washington D.C.-set [...]

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Political biopic

Written by Stanley Weiser
Directed by Oliver Stone

The very fact of W.’s existence raises an interesting and important question: Why go to an Oliver Stone movie after all the times he’s disappointed us?
And W. provides an answer: There is no good reason.
Judging from the final result, Stone didn’t know whether he was making a comic [...]

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Musical Documentary

Directed by Steven Sebring

Steven Sebring spent over a decade following Patti Smith around with a camera (okay, I’m not sure how much of that time he actually devoted to the project), trying to get to the core of the cutting-edge rocker, poet, and generally arty person. He succeeds–with a great deal of help from [...]

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Contemporary Drama

Written and directed by Lance Hammer

Vast, flat, cold, muddy landscapes make a perfect metaphor for the lonely human heart in Lance Hammer’s directorial debut. I’ve been seeing a lot of low-key chamber dramas lately–all of them forgoing such comforting movie conventions as music, glamour, and a tripod. I like the trend.
The landscape in [...]

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Character-driven comedy

Written and directed by Mike Leigh

There’s no excuse for Happy-Go-Lucky working as well as it does, and not only because the term “Mike Leigh comedy” sounds like an oxymoron. This movie has no real plot, no significant conflict, and not an overwhelming supply of laughs.
What it has is a bubbly, upbeat, outgoing, and extremely [...]

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Odd how these things work. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 33 years. I even lived in Marin County the first 17 months of that (around the corner from the Rafael, actually). Yet until today, I don’t believe I have ever been in downtown Mill Valley. (Up until this year, every Mill Valley Film [...]

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Music documentary

Directed by Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden

People don’t recognize the name Anita O’Day the way they do Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald, but as a jazz vocalist she’s arguably in their class. She possessed a beautiful voice, a unique and expressive way of making familiar lyrics her own, and a phenomenal sense of rhythm [...]

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Comedy-drama

Written and directed by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs

Movies that start as broad comedies and turn serious seldom work. The transition is tricky, especially if you don’t layer in enough reality between the big laughs before the drama begins.
Yet first-time writers/directors Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs pull it off beautifully in Humboldt County. [...]

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