The Fabelmans (2023)

The poster says, "Capture every moment," but a more appropriate line would be "capture just a series of moments from mostly one formative year in the life of a young schoolboy who dreams of making movies, and really wallow for most of the time in the uncomfortable matter of the boy's involvement in his mother's love, sex, and fidelity, while only treating very cursorily the much more interesting ideas of the camera's fidelity - its equal ability to tell truth and lie - leaving bemused viewers wondering why, if this is Steven Spielberg's deeply personal life story, the lead is Sam, not Steven, and why the life story abruptly ends with a shrug (and a playful wink) in the middle of Sam's teens - perhaps this was to be a Wonder Years-style TV show gone wrong; perhaps seventy other years' worth of cinematic genius are on the cutting room floor.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Esteros (2016)

 

Esteros

It includes occasional glimpses of the beautiful Iberá wetlands and ends sweetly, but wading through the  flashbacks showing Matias and Jeronimo's burgeoning childhood romance and waiting for the adult Matias to reconcile long-lost feelings after he reunites with Jeronimo at the summerhouse where they first discovered their love for each other is pretty ponderous. 

★★☆☆☆ 

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Adam (2019)

I kept waiting for the coming-of-age drama to trump me with some unexpected virtue of title character Adam, a teenaged dope who beds a conquest by pretending not to be a cis male, but no, to the end Adam remains a repugnant catfisher, a rapist by deception and character who detracts greatly from this, what?,  comedy's commendable efforts to represent gender fluidity on screen, and what's worse, Adam is given an unlikely reprieve in the end that leaves a taste in your mouth even worse than that left by his dumb campaign of lies.

★★☆☆☆

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Booksmart (2019)

Reaching the end of their final year and realising they've concentrated so hard on study they've missed out on everything else, a high-achieving pair of high school students decide to catch up on some fun and on the eve of their graduation resolve to be brave, declare their Love, Simon crushes and finally make a good Romy and Michele impression on their peers...but first they have to get to their White Castle: Nick the school jock's house party.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Love, Simon (2018)

If you don't have time to watch Love, Simon, a high school comedy drama about a student's largely trouble-free coming-out to his only beautiful, articulate and supportive family members and friends, a scroll through the United Colours of Benetton website will suffice, but if you do have time, it is a manufactured, sanitised, suicide-free, family violence-free, largely schoolyard bullying-free and a wonderfully - perhaps not impossibly - feel-good hoot.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS