The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain (2021)
Directed by David Midell
Led by a stellar performance by Frankie Faison, David Midell’s real-time thriller The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is as gripping as it is infuriating. Based on the true events surrounding the police shooting of an elderly African-American veteran in his own apartment in November 2011, Midell paints a grim portrait of racism and negligence as officers in the White Plains, New York police department harass, intimidate, and eventually murder an innocent old man who just wanted to go back to sleep. The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is an intense film (perhaps too intense for some), but the accusations it levels (backed up by the haunting LifeAid medical alert audio recordings of the incident) are important in documenting the continued police brutality faced by people of color. For all you white folks out there: this shit happens all the time. How can you be okay with that?
A Quiet Place II (2021)
Directed by John Krasinski
Like its predecessor, A Quiet Place II doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but then again there’s no rule saying every sci-fi movie has to. Sometimes, efficiency beats out innovation and deliberation trumps depth – and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as your end product is well-crafted, and above all, fun. Writer and Director John Krasinski knows this, and thus works the formula with the skill of a grizzled veteran. All too often, sequels (especially genre sequels) jump the shark and blow gaping holes in their worlds by exponentially expanding them beyond their intended scope, but not here. Resisting the urge to go full-on galactic, Krasinski wisely widens his world only one step at a time, proving that small stories – even ones involving alien killing machines – can be just as exciting as their world-dominating genre counterparts.
The Lost Daughter (2021)
Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal
As a fan of both Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, I wanted more out of The Lost Daughter. It isn’t a bad film by any stretch (I even found myself identifying with some of the frustrating aspects of parenthood depicted in the flashback sequences), but it lacks a certain coherence that could easily have elevated it to the intensely psychological experience it wants to be. That being said, Colman and Buckley prove an excellent pair, even if they never actually share a scene together and despite the purposefully disagreeable nature of their characters. In addition, Maggie Gyllenhaal is overall impressive in her first outing as a feature director, but some unfortunate pacing issues cloud an otherwise interesting story. As a result, it’s difficult to get a sense of character motivation with such a muddy narrative and a timeline of events that isn’t made clear until well into the picture. However, the oddly menacing tone present throughout The Lost Daughter is hard-won, and serves as its ultimate saving grace.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.