Tag: Thomasin Mckenzie

Activism, Feminism, History

Women’s History Month- 10 Inspiring Women Who Deserve Their Own Biopic

For this Women’s History Month, I have decided to focus on creating some top ten lists which discuss films, biopics and documentaries about women in history that will hopefully inspire and inform readers about the accomplishments of women throughout history. For this piece I am focusing on ten women who deserve their own biopics and will be discussing who I think should star in the film, who could possibly direct the film and why their stories deserve to be seen on the big screen. Continue reading Women’s History Month- 10 Inspiring Women Who Deserve Their Own Biopic

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Personal Essays

ITOL’s Cinematic Dads: Leave No Trace

“Leave No Trace” is one of those films that remains too painful for me to watch. There’s only a handful of films that I know I’ll struggle to rewatch again, films like “The Grave of the Fireflies”, “Shoplifters” and “Nobody Knows” each one of these films have connected with me on such a personal level and what occurs on-screen eerily mirrors my own life experiences. Continue reading ITOL’s Cinematic Dads: Leave No Trace

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Film Reviews, Reviews

Review: True History of the Kelly Gang

“True History of the Kelly Gang” is the latest adaptation of the story of Ned Kelly, an Australian outlaw. Directed by Justin Kurzel, this movie is stacked with talented actors; George MacKay, Russell Crowe, Charlie Hunnam, Thomasin McKenzie, Nicholas Hoult, and Essie Davis. It follows Ned Kelly from a young age and his journey to the man he would become.

I’m in the minority when I admit having no idea who’s Ned Kelly. This film is divided into three parts; Boy, Man, and Monitor. It begins with adult Ned Kelly writing his story (right after a caption stating everything we’re about to witness isn’t true). For someone like myself who isn’t familiar with Kelly, this caption, followed by the scene, left me a bit confused. Continue reading Review: True History of the Kelly Gang

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Film Reviews, Reviews

Review: Jojo Rabbit

“Jojo Rabbit” is–at first glance–quite the peculiar film. It opens up with vintage footage of Nazi Germany; Hitler-hailing fascist nutjobs going wild in exaltation over their idol. All this while a German rendition of The Beetles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays…this is the part where you, the viewer, may start to scratch your head in bewilderment, then utter to yourself what I did during this sequence: What. The. Hell. Continue reading Review: Jojo Rabbit

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Film Reviews, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade, World Cinema

ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No.7: Leave No Trace

I had the unique privilege of reading My Abandonment in Pete Rock’s creative nonfiction class during my junior year at Reed College, a tiny, liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon. I already knew that I wanted to write a creative thesis my senior year, but I had not yet taken a creative writing class (oops). Pete was kind enough to take a chance on me, accepting me into his mostly full upper-level course. It was in this course that we read a vast array of creative nonfiction, a unique genre that Pete capped off with one of his own works.

The writing of My Abandonment is solid, of course, the story of a weathered Iraq war verteran and his thirteen-year-old daughter imbued with the rough Oregon life that I myself had been growing accustomed to for the past two and a half years. Continue reading ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No.7: Leave No Trace

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Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Retrospect Reviews

Retrospective Review: Leave No Trace

Debra Granik is an expert in creating stories with a naturalistic sense and giving us characters that are vulnerable, and organic. “Leave No Trace” (2018) is no exception. Will (Ben Foster) and his thirteen-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Mckenzie) live alone in a remote part of the woods. There they’ve survived, without technology or material things, and he’s taught her the skills needed to make it away from the world. Will desperately does not want to be found and the two practice drills to ensure Tom is ready if something happens. Is it for the best? The film tackles the familial impact in a new and gradually compelling way. Continue reading Retrospective Review: Leave No Trace

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