SXSW 2025 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

40 ACRES (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 20, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin 40 Acres, Danielle Deadwyler, michael greyeyes, R. T. Thorne, SXSW 2025

Danielle Deadwyler brings her fiery intensity to 40 Acres, a postapocalyptic tale about a blended family’s survival after a devastating famine. Farmland has become a valuable resource roughly a decade after a fungal pandemic ripped society apart. Hailey Freeman (Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson), her husband, Galen (Michael Greyeyes, 1923), and their four children live on a farm that Hailey’s ancestors built after settling in rural Canada following the Civil War. Making his feature debut, director R. T. Thorne (The Lake) establishes decent suspense in early moments showing the family defending the homestead from marauders.

Festivals Reviews

AMERICAN SONS (SXSW 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Leslie Combemale afghanistan, American Sons, Andrew James Gonzalez, Andrew St. Cyr, Angel Rios, Corporal JV Villarreal, documentary, marines, PTSD, SXSW 2025, Ty Klinman

San Antonia filmmaker Andrew James Gonzalez debuted his documentary American Sons at SXSW 2025, a film that follows a close-knit group of Marines still mourning and processing their experiences of their deployment to Afghanistan. These men are connected by their shared trauma, and the loss of their friend, Corporal JV Villarreal. This documentary is a tough watch. These men are undergoing trauma on a daily basis, and even the support of other vets can feel like a bandaid on a gaping wound. There are other films about vets returning home, but this one is, in every moment, personal. It allows the viewer to see the struggle these men experience, the loss and trauma they have to try to process day by day, in a very immediate way.

Festivals Reviews

CORINA (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin CORINA, Mariana Giménez, mexican films, Naian González Norvind, Samuel Sofa, SXSW 2025, Urzula Barba Hopfner

Life feels overwhelming for Corina, a twenty-eight-year-old woman in Guadalajara. For roughly twenty years, she’s lived, worked, and shopped on the same block, counting her steps every time she leaves her front door. But in the enchanting comedy Corina, her world is about to grow. It’s a charming trip tucked inside a character journey that’s lovely to see.

Festivals Reviews

FOR WORSE (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin Amy Landecker, Gaby Hoffmann, missi pyle, Nico Hiraga, Paul Adelstein, SXSW 2025

Longtime performer Amy Landecker makes her feature writing and directing debut with For Worse, a snappy romantic comedy about a divorced woman finding her feet in the Los Angeles dating scene. For Worse is a quirky journey about unexpected connections, reinvention, and self-acceptance with a woman who learns to land on her feet, even if she trips and falls along the way.

Festivals Reviews

GLORIOUS SUMMER (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin Bartosz Szpak, Glorious Summer, Helena Ganjalyan, polish films, SXSW 2025

Glorious Summer teases a lot but comes up short in tension and suspense. In Polish with English subtitles, the film establishes that the world beyond is in some strife, with sounds like explosions far off at night, but it’s all rather cryptic. We don’t learn how or why the women came to this place, nor what they hope to achieve by leaving. When one character finally presses them to decide what’s important—security or freedom of choice—it feels like the thesis arrived too late. The cinematography and editing create the dreamy listlessness of sunny days, but Glorious Summer is more of a thought experiment than an intriguing whole.

Festivals Reviews

I’M CARL LEWIS! (SXSW 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 15, 2025March 17, 2025 Leslie Combemale amateur athletics, Chris Hay, documentary, I’m Carl Lewis!, Julie Anderson, racism, SXSW 2025

If Julie Anderson and Chris Hay’s documentary I’m Carl Lewis! proves one thing, it’s that the legendary track and field star and Olympian was misunderstood then and largely continues to be misunderstood and under appreciated to this day. Lewis was decades ahead of his time, and indeed maligned about subjects that, now, make celebrity athletes even more appealing to advertisers and fans alike. The documentary really brings home just how forward-thinking and courageous Carl Lewis has been his entire career and life, and sports fans should be here for it.

Festivals Reviews

MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 19, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin aaron sorkin, Children of a Lesser God, documentary, Henry Winkler, Marlee Matlin, Marlee Matlin Not Alone Anymore, Oscar Best Actress, Randa Haines, Sara Newens, Shoshannah Stern, Sian Heder, SXSW 2025, Troy Kotsur, William Hurt

In 1987, Marlee Matlin became the first deaf performer to win an Oscar, earning the Best Actress award for Children of a Lesser God. For more than three decades, she was the only deaf actor to win an Oscar—and in navigating Hollywood, she often felt alone. The documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is a revealing and introspective look at this groundbreaking performer but also an insightful one, conveying its interviews and revelations through how Matlin experiences life: with visuals, sign language, and captioning.

Festivals Reviews

ONE MORE SHOT (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin Aisha Dee, alice foulcher, Ashley Zuckerman, australian films, Emily Browning, Nicholas Clifford, One More Shot, Sean Keenan, SXSW 2025

It’s 1999, and even with the new millennium buzz, thirtysomething Minnie (Emily Browning, Class of ‘07) doesn’t have her act together. After a rough day at work—and some nagging from roommates to find her own place—Minnie is bummed when she learns that her old flame Joe (Sean Keenan, No Escape) is back from abroad to ring in the New Year at a friend’s place. So Minnie throws on a sexy red dress, digs out the tequila someone gifted her from Mexico years ago, and perks up for a life-changing night. But once she takes a shot on the doorstep for fortitude, she sets up a time loop that resets with every swig.

Festivals Reviews

REELING (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 15, 2025March 27, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin Hans Christopher, Reeling, Ryan Wuestewald, SXSW 2025, Yana Alliata

Reeling is a portrait of a man trying to cope with a life changing event and occasionally finding some grace. Waiting for the pig to roast at his sister’s birthday luau, a man tosses a ball with a young girl, awkwardly catching it in a plastic scoop. He’s self-conscious about his coordination, but the girl is patient. She points and asks about the scar at the top of his forehead, the one that wraps around to the back of his head. “Is that why your brain’s funny?” He smiles, as if more relieved than offended. “Kinda. Yeah.”

Festivals Reviews

REMAINING NATIVE (SXSW 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Leslie Combemale documentary, Frank Quinn, Kino Benally, Kutoven Stevens, Paige Bethmann, Paiute, Remaining Native, Remembrance Run, Stewart Indian School, SXSW 2025, University of Oregon running team

Remaining Native is a coming-of-age documentary centering 17 year old cross-country runner Kutoven Stevens, and his quest to become one of the first indigenous members to be invited to the University of Oregon running team. Growing up in the rural town of Yerington, Nevada, home of the Paiute Reservation, Ku has had little competition as his considerable talent and hard work has developed. His parents, Delmar and Misty, are all support, as he reaches for his goal, even as they fear he will be part of the “brain drain” of talent and intellect leaving their town never to return.

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