Marvelous and the Black Hole - A Creative and Touching Story of Anger and Healing

Marvelous and the Black Hole - A Creative and Touching Story of Anger and Healing

I found myself considerably moved by filmmaker Kate Tsang’s directorial debut, Marvelous and the Black Hole. On paper, the film appears like a simple and familiar tale of a mentor/mentee relationship; a feel-good movie with a predictable trajectory. In the wrong hands, something like this could come across as overly childish or just plain boring. But Tsang imbues her work with a distinctive visual flair and an honesty that appeals to a younger audience without ever talking down to them or taking them for granted. As a result, her film joins a growing list of emotionally intelligent stories that do more than just convey the intense feelings that children experience – think Inside Out – but offer positive and healthy conduits for them.

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John and the Hole - A Dark and Ambiguous Rumination on Adolescence

John and the Hole - A Dark and Ambiguous Rumination on Adolescence

John and the Hole is one of those movies that refuses to spoon-feed the audience, leaving any and all scenes open for interpretation. This will certainly frustrate or bore some, but the ambiguity that Spanish filmmaker Pascual Sisto goes for in his directorial debut is the film’s greatest strength. The slow, methodical yet offbeat pace that editor Sara Shaw crafts goes hand in the hand with the distant and cold shots of cinematographer Paul Ozgur to create an unnerving tale of adolescent angst, existential dread, and what exactly it means to be independent.

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