D.R Hood’s debut feature film, Wreckers starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, was met with critical acclaim. For me, Wreckers was a film that clung to me weeks, even months after I watched it; simply put, it was an emotional sucker punch that blindsided me with just how powerful the story was. D.R Hood focused her directorial eye on the fractious nature of human relationships and kept her finger on zoom until watching each scene unfold became unbearable, yet I was unable to look away.
Her latest feature film, Us Among the Stones promises to be a brooding, raw tale about family and the significance of history and place. Movie Metropolis spoke to Dictynna Hood to talk about Us Among the Stones, what it takes to make a feature film and how she creates her characters. Continue reading
Is there anything better than going to the movies? The experience of watching some of your favourite characters on the biggest screen imaginable is an incredibly exciting way to spend an evening.
Did you know that Alaska is the largest state of the United States? Or that Alaska is the only state name that can be typed on only one row of keys? Crazy to think, but true. More often than not, Alaska in cinema is represented as ambiguous and isolated from the rest of the world. And if those fun facts didn’t do it, think John Carpenter’s terrifying Thing or the movie and television series Fargo and the countless aliens that converge in Alaska to commit their abductions.
Directorial debuts are often a mixed bag, Quentin Tarantino, M. Night Shyamalan, and Alex Garland have all debuted with movies that are fantastic, while other directors such as Eli Roth, Corin Hardy, and Paul Feig all made less than average debuts. However, this is one of the best debuts I have ever seen from a director, this time being Cory Finley and the film being Thoroughbreds. I was not expecting a whole lot going into the movie, but my gosh, it is in my top 3 of the year. There’s so many marvelous things to discuss in the film, so I probably should just go into it.
“It feels like a movie born from a different era.” That is the thought that immediately flooded my brain upon leaving the cinema after watching Venom. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing of course. Hundreds of amazing films have been born well before superhero films became the successful genre they are today.