“There’s a place for us / A time and place for us / Hold my hand and we’re halfway there” go the lyrics in West Side Story’s “Somewhere.” The original production got us halfway there, but A West Side Story Story brings us home to an authentic Puerto Rican story. 

Awaiting the Lightning Bolt is a sweet little ode to the many times we try and the many times we fail and the one time we catch lightning in a bottle. All in the name of love.

Dragonfly doesn’t have an answer to the social crisis, but it does show an extreme of what happens when we try to fix problems by ignoring the reality of the situation.

“Today,” Suzette says. “I met Josephine.” It’s a powerful moment. New York Day Women is for the child in all of us who longs to understand our parents, knowing that the goal, however impossible, is essential to learning where you come from. 

The Rebirth is about ownership of the self and all that entails.

Just Sing is something special, not because of what this group of people is trying to achieve, but because this particular group of people found each other and chose to pursue something bigger than themselves.

In what is a two-hour movie, Ballerina feels like most of the runtime is some sort of action sequence. It’s what the people want, and Ballerina is giving it to them.

Sunny is a dreamy rumination on the power our ambitions have over us and the people, long gone or by our sides, who add fuel to our fires.

The Hicks Happy Hour is a wonderful, albeit stressful, world to live in for fifteen minutes. A reminder of a golden era whose sheen has dulled a little.

Lemonade Blessing asks you to put your faith in its journey, to take a deep breath and learn something about yourself.

Birthright is a skewering of two generations, utterly at odds with each other, yet unbreakably connected through blood.

A Bright Future is a well-crafted piece of speculative fiction that’s deeply personal. It’s a film about the grand smallness of our lives.

The Scout is about knowing people intimately, artificially, and wholly.

The Chambermaid is a technically sound, well-acted addition to the world of the lesbian period piece, but the love story at its core is missing the passion, the stakes, and the tenderness that a movie like this one should have in spades.

Re-Animator is a delightfully weird blast from the past.

In French Lessons, it’s the endless fight to “make it” in this industry. The two work as an excellent double feature, and that only makes what lies ahead all the more intriguing.

Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded is a fascinating social experiment, both in its subject matter and release format, that proves new technological horrors are always right around the corner.

Dear Aloha is a strikingly earnest, beautifully captured story of identity.

The Phoenician Scheme proves that Anderson is still a mastermind behind the camera, but could benefit from letting his heart out onto his sleeve.

The Choctaw Nation were forced to this land, but now that they’re here, they will fight for its right to grow on its own.