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On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: It’s Time for IndieWire After the Dark Underside of Suburbia

I’ve long felt that the premise of “This Suburban Utopia Has Something Dark Lurking Underneath It” is among the lamest, most played-out tropes in all of media. Decades have passed since any serious person viewed the stylized suburban innocence of “Leave It to Beaver” as a remotely accurate depiction of American life, and contemporary attempts at “subverting” it often feel as if artists are mocking the same media that they grew up watching other artists mock without pausing...

Mubi has unveiled next’s streaming lineup, featuring notable new releases, including Felipe Gálvez’s The Settlers, Éric Gravel’s Full Time, C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata, and Benjamin Mullinkosson’s The Last Year of Darkness.

This March also brings Elaine May’s Ishtar, four features by Mia Hansen-Løve, and a collection of films shot by women cinematographers, with Claire Denis’ Bastards, shot by Agnès Godard, and more. Next month’s collection also features retrospectives of radical German director Margarethe Von Trotta, experimental animator Suzan Pitt, and additions to their continuing retrospective of Takeshi Kitano.

Check out the lineup below, and get 30 days free here.

March 1st

The German Sisters, directed by Margarethe von Trotta | Radical Intimacy: Three by Margarethe von Trotta

The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, directed by Margarethe von Trotta | Radical Intimacy: Three by Margarethe von Trotta

The Promise, directed by Margarethe von Trotta | Radical Intimacy: Three...

Whimsical near-future tale sees a tax inspector sent to audit an elderly bohemian’s dreams fall in love with her as a younger woman

This charming if decidedly silly sci-fi love story unfolds in a near future where clothes and home furnishings look much like the stuff we have today – while some of the tech equipment the props department came up with looks like the prizewinners at a primary school art fair. For example, there’s a headset people can put on as they go to bed, a mass of wires and twinkly fairy lights, which stops invasive advertising (designed to implant the desire for fried chicken or soft drinks) getting into the sleeper’s dreams. Another looks like a cardboard box with dials painted on it.

Writer-director team Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s low-budget whimsy aesthetic, propelled by a gently satirical undercurrent, is of a piece with other...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Vertical releases the film in theaters on Friday, July 28.

The first 25 minutes of “Susie Searches” is so tight, so hilarious and original, beaming with a buoyant teenage energy that could kickoff an entire film series of adventures, that it’s shocking how unyielding, mismanaged and sappy the next hour of the movie becomes. The drop-off is steep, and unfortunate. An expansion by Sophie Kargman of her same-titled 2020 short, “Susie Searches” aims to be about loss and loneliness, and isolation and recognition. But spins its wheels toward mediocrity, instead.

Susie (Kiersey Clemons) is a college student, with braces strapped across her wide smile and an unquenchable love of whodunits. Every night she records a podcast showcasing her sleuthing skills to her moribund audience. Far from the popular girl at school, she languishes in obscurity, while taking care...

Mary Holland and Betsy Sodaro in Golden Arm will be in Theaters and on Digital April 30, 2021. Check out this trailer:

When her best friend Danny ropes her into taking her spot at the Women’s Arm Wrestling Championship, nice girl baker Melanie must trade whisks for barbells as she trains to face off with the reigning champ for a chance at newfound badassery and the grand prize.

Golden Arm stars Mary Holland, Betsy Sodaro, Olivia Stambouliah, Eugene Cordero, Aparna Nancherla, Dawn Luebbe, Ron Funches, Ahmed Bharoocha with Dot-Marie Jones and Kate Flannery

The post Ladies Arm Wrestling! Check Out the Trailer for Mary Holland and Betsy Sodaro in Golden Arm appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

"Arm wrestling isn't going to solve my problems anymore..." Utopia has debuted an official trailer for an indie comedy titled Golden Arm, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Maureen Bharoocha. This originally premiered at the Milwaukee and Austin Film Festivals last year, and will be arriving on VOD this spring. Golden Arm is a female buddy comedy about a wimpy baker who gets roped into the world of ladies arm wrestling by her truck driving best friend. Starring Mary Holland, Betsy Sodaro, Dot-Marie Jones, Eugene Cordero, Ron Funches, Dawn Luebbe, and Kate Flannery. Described as a "true gem of a film that will delight and surprise audiences; a hilarious story of badass women and female friendship." It looks damn good! The music they use for this trailer is just the best, makes all this comedy play perfectly. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Maureen Bharoocha's Golden Arm, from Utopia...

IFC Midnight has an excellent track record with their horror acquisitions, so you'll want to add A Banquet to the list of movies to keep on your radar. Due out in 2021, the movie is the feature debut from Ruth Paxton and stars Sienna Guillory. Here's the official press release from IFC:

"IFC Midnight announced today that it is acquiring North American rights to A Banquet, the feature debut from Ruth Paxton, whose award-winning short films have been exhibited and nominated in competition at numerous prominent film festivals worldwide. A Banquet is a visually arresting, slow-burning psychological horror that uses subtle supernatural elements to create tension within a family in the midst of a breakdown, exploiting the complicated bond between three generations of mothers and daughters.

The film stars Sienna Guillory, British rising stars Jessica Alexander (Get Even) and Ruby Stokes, and award-winning actress Lindsay Duncan Cbe. A Banquet will...

“Golden Arm,” a buddy comedy set in the world of ladies arm wrestling, has sold global rights to Utopia, Variety has learned. The film will be released theatrically in the first half of 2021. HBO has licensed rights to broadcast and stream “Golden Arm.”

“Golden Arm” was originally intended to premiere at this year’s SXSW, but those plans were upended when the festival was cancelled due to coronavirus. The movie centers on a tough lady trucker who trains her timid best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship.

“Golden Arm” was directed by Maureen Bharoocha and boasts a cast that includes Mary Holland, Betsy Sodaro, Dot-Marie Jones, Eugene Cordero, Ron Funches, Dawn Luebbe, Ahmed Bharoocha, Aparna Nancherla, Olivia Stambouliah and Kate Flannery.

“‘Golden Arm’ is a true gem of a film that will delight and surprise audiences; a hilarious story of badass women and female friendship, set...

The suburban enclave of Lemoncurd — “a charming town full of charming people leading charming lives and eating charming food” — is surely home to many delightful residents, but only three of them really matter: a trio of Debras who, as the title of the bite-sized Adult Swim series tells us, are very busy indeed. Busy with what, you may ask? Only upending the social order, taking aim at the patriarchy, and engaging in all manner of crimes along the way (in pristine white outfits to boot).

Created by and starring the eponymous Debras — Mitra Jouhari (“High Maintenance”), Sandy Honig (“Isn’t It Romantic”) and Alyssa Stonoha (“Rules of Cool”) — the series is a canny fit for Adult Swim, which has long trafficked in off-kilter programming populated by fresh faces. The trio, all members of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch community, first started working together in 2015 when they teamed up to...

Courting comparisons from David Lynch to John Waters, Tim Burton to Mary Harron, Greener Grass, the directorial debut from Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe is an instant cult classic. A social satire which takes place in an exaggerated, parallel universe (think if we skipped the sexual revolution thanks to nuclear fallout and the Us has morphed into a perverse mimicry of 1950s suburban ideology) headlined by the co-directors. Premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival before embarking on an extensive festival circuit trail (which included SXSW and Locarno), DeBoer and Luebbe have a new cinematic niche of Nouveau Weird with a debut that’s a marvelous mix of striking elements while managing to be as funny as it is oddly heartfelt.…...

Uncut Gems wins best lead actor, directing, editing.

Lulu Wang’s The Farewell was named best feature at the Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday (8) in a night that recognised female directing talent in stark contrast to tomorrow’s Oscars.

Olivia Wilde won best first film for Booksmart, and American Factory, co-directed by Julia Reichert, (alongside Steven Bognar), won best documentary.

Renée Zellweger won best actress for Judy and has virtually swept the boards this awards season ahead of Sunday’s expected win at the Academy Awards.

Adam Sandler was a popular winner for Uncut Gems, which took home...

Before the Film Independent Spirit Awards kicked off inside a drafty tent in Santa Monica, IndieWire was set up on the blue carpet ahead of the ceremony, as the stars of independent film breezed by in their Saturday best — but not before taking a minute to talk about their nominated films. And with the Oscars just a day away, one question everyone was eager to answer was, “What was your best picture of 2019?” The answer, almost unanimously, was “Parasite.” Or “Uncut Gems,” sadly shut out of the Oscar race but feted with five Indie Spirit nominations.

“Parasite” fans on the Indie Spirits blue carpet included, well, pretty much everybody — from “Greener Grass” filmmakers Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe to young “Marriage Story” star Azhy Robertson. “‘Parasite’ is the easy answer because it’s the best film of the year,” “The Climb” star and screenwriter Kyle Marvin told IndieWire. Academy Award-winning...

As you’re reading this, the 35th Independent Spirit Awards are being held. Oscar will have their say tomorrow evening, but today, it’s the indie films getting their turn! Will this awards show honor the likes of The Farewell, The Lighthouse, Marriage Story, or Uncut Gems? Maybe some combination of them all? We’ll know in a few hours, that’s for sure. What this space for the Spirit Award results once the show is over. A number of deserving movies and performances are about to have one last moment in the sun, before the Academy Awards suck up the last bit of awards season oxygen. If nothing else, it’s a fun, more casual moment, before the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars… Leading the way was Uncut Gems, which took home Best Actor for Adam Sandler, Best Director for Josh Safdieand Benny Safdie, Best Editing for Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie.

The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out Saturday in recognition of the best in indie films from 2019.

Willem Dafoe won the first award, Best Supporting Male, for his role in “The Lighthouse.” “Uncut Gems” won Best Editing, while the Best Documentary award went to “American Factory.” Best Cinematography went to Jarin Blaschke for “The Lighthouse.”

Kelly Reichardt was awarded The Bonnie Award, which recognizes a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant. The John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000, was given to “Give Me Liberty.”

Also Read: Independent Spirit Awards 2020: Aubrey Plaza's Best Jokes (So Far)

“Parasite” won Best International Film. Zhao Shuzhen won Best Supporting Female for her role in “The Farewell.” “Marriage Story” won Best Screenplay. Adam Sandler won Best Male Lead for his performance in “Uncut Gems” and Renée Zellweger received the Best Female Lead for her role in “Judy.

The winners of the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards are being announced live during today’s ceremony, hosted for the second year in a row by Aubrey Plaza (fresh off rave reviews from Sundance for her performance in the indie “Black Bear”). Unlike the Oscars where Netflix is the most-nominated studio, the Spirit Awards are dominated in 2020 by A24. The indie distributor boats 18 nominations across four movies: “The Lighthouse,” “Waves,” “The Farewell,” “Uncut Gems,” and “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” The Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems” and Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” lead all movies with five nominations each. Both of these films are nominated for Best Feature along with Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency.”

Last year’s big Spirit Award winner was Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which won prizes for Best Feature,...

The 35th annual Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent cinema, took place Saturday in Santa Monica.

Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” won best picture, while Adam Sandler and Renee Zellweger took home the top acting prizes.

Full list of winners.

Best Feature

A Hidden Life

Clemency

The Farewell (Winner)

Marriage Story

Uncut Gems

Best Director

Robert Eggers – The Lighthouse

Alma Har’el – Honey Boy

Julius Onah – Luce

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – Uncut Gems (Winner)

Lorene Scafaria – Hustlers

Best First Feature

Booksmart (Winner)

The Climb

Diane

The Last Black Man In San Francisco

The Mustang

See You Yesterday

Best Female Lead

Karen Allen – Colewell

Hong Chau – Driveways

Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell

Mary Kay Place – Diane

Alfre Woodard – Clemency

Renée Zellweger – Judy (Winner)

Best Male Lead

Chris Galust – Give Me Liberty

Kelvin Harrison Jr. – Luce

Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse

Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems (Winner)

Matthias Schoenaerts – The Mustang

Best Supporting Female

Jennifer Lopez...

Aubrey Plaza will return to host the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday in Santa Monica.

The 35th annual Spirit Awards are set to air live on the IFC Channel beginning at 5 p.m. Et/2 p.m. Pt. The network will live stream the ceremony on its website, though audiences will need a cable login to watch. TV subscribers can also watch the show live on IFC app’s, available on iOS and Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox, and Android TV devices.

This year’s top Spirit Award nominees include Robert Pattinson’s “The Lighthouse” and Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems,” with five nods each. Shia Labeouf’s “Honey Boy” and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s scored four nominations.

“Uncut Gems,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” are up for best feature.

Here’s the full...

In her review, Heather Wixson wrote that Greener Grass is "...one of the weirdest movies I’ve seen this year...," and if you missed the feature-length directorial debut from Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe (who also co-star in the film) in theaters, Scream Factory is bringing the IFC Midnight movie to Blu-ray on February 11th, and we have a look at the cover art and full list of bonus features:

Press Release: Please keep off the lawn, because the grass might not always be greener on the other side. The weird only gets weirder in this bizarre slideshow of a world of murder, braces, and plastic ball babies. Making its Blu-ray debut February 11th, 2020 from Scream Factory, in conjunction with IFC Midnight, you too can join the neighborhood! This release also includes the original Greener Grass short film as well as deleted scenes as bonus features. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.

Further new openers include ‘Harriet’, ‘Blue Story’, ‘Greener Grass’.

Disney’s latest blockbuster Frozen II is looking to challenge the highest openings for an animated title in the UK when it launches this weekend.

Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck return to direct this second instalment, which follows sisters Anna and Elsa as they travel to an ancient forest looking for the origin of Elsa’s powers.

The first Frozen opened to £4.8m in December 2013, two weeks later in the year than the second title. It pulled in a £9,368 location average from 508 locations – a wide release, but not fully so.

This...

Best international film nominees include Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and The Souvenir.

Uncut Gems and The Lighthouse have emerged as the top contenders for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards with five nods apiece while A24 leads the distributor pack on 18 nominations.

Adam Sandler from Uncut Gems will face off against The Lighthouse’s Robert Pattinson and others for best lead male and the Safdie brothers and Robert Eggers are among the best director nominees for each film, respectively.

Other best feature nominees announced on Thursday (21) are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.

Best international film nominees include Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and The Souvenir.

Uncut Gems has emerged as the top contender among nominees for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, with the Adam Sandler drama getting nominations in five categories including best feature.

Other best feature nominees are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.

The Lighthouse also got five Spirit Award nominations and other films with multiple citations included Give Me Liberty and Honey Boy with four each and Clemency, Hustlers, The Last Black Man In San Francisco, Luce, Marriage Story and The Third Wife with three each.

The nominations for the 35th Independent Spirit Awards have been announced, and it was a big morning for “The Lighthouse” and “Uncut Gems.” The annual indie awards ceremony is presented by Film Independent and takes place the day before the Academy Awards on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The Spirit Awards have become known over the last decade for showcasing nominees that are a mix of underdog films and higher-profile awards contenders.

It’s important to note the Indie Spirit Awards has a budget ceiling of $22.5 million, meaning any movie made for more than this amount is ineligible for nominations. For this reason, Martin Scorsese’s Netflix-backed “The Irishman” was not eligible for 2020 nominations (the film had a budget north of $150 million). Netflix’s other top Oscar contender, Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” is eligible for Spirit Awards and landed a Best Feature nomination. As has become common over the last several years,...

A soccer mom casually gives away her baby to an admiring neighbour in a comedy with echoes of The Stepford Wives

Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe are La comedy actors and veterans of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre improv group who are now jointly making their feature debut as writer-director-stars of this elaborately deadpan suburbia satire inhabited by squeaky-clean people with hints of Stepford and Todd Solondz. The title might lead you to think that it is all about envy – the gnawing torment that your neighbours’ lawn is lusher, their SUV bigger etc – but it’s not, or not exactly.

DeBoer and Luebbe play Jill and Lisa, two best frenemies and competitive stay-at-home soccer moms whose husbands do the breadwinning; they live in a manicured little community where people drive around in golf carts. Jill has a strange need to please people, so when Lisa says that Jill’s new baby is adorable,...

Written and Directed by Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe Starring Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland and D’Arcy Carden In a day-glo-colored, bizarro version of suburbia where adults wear braces on their already-straight teeth, everyone drives golf carts, and children magically turn into golden retrievers, soccer moms and best friends Jill …

The post The Suburban Hellscape of “Greener Grass” Expands! appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

The best examples of surrealist cinema plunge into perturbed characters and enrich their anxiety, giving an audience for their unconscious. The more laborious specimens tend to indulge their weird world too much, and the characters become almost secondary. Greener Grass — the colourful yet aimless debut from Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe (who also star) — has a lot of discombobulating fun, wandering blindly in its bizarre neighbourhood. But it doesn’t delve deep enough into its apparently contented citizens to hold our attention for long.

For me, the surreal experience is always a preferable one. For the first twenty minutes or so, it’s a thrill to simply embrace the madness. The grownups all wear braces, everyone drives around in golf buggies, and children can morph into Golden Retrievers without many, if any, questions. When soccer mum Jill (DeBoer) is watching her boy play badly on the pitch, she, out of nowhere,...

The term “midnight movie” has a lot of connotations: Alien babies, giant bunny rabbits, kinky sex dungeons galore. It’s the type of film with a cultish following epitomized by “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Eraserhead,” “El Topo,” “Donnie Darko,” “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” not to mention countless horror movies catering to a young, splatter-obsessed male audience.

But these aren’t the whole story. Over the years, the midnight movie has become a vehicle for women and filmmakers of color to explore issues that more mainstream films might not — and this year, a more diverse group of creators is making midnight movies that are more outside-the-box than ever.

Consider “Greener Grass.” The Sundance discovery, in limited release now by IFC Midnight in select markets and on VOD, marks the directorial debut of Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe. Set in a suburban community where everyone wears pastel sundresses, drives golf carts,...

For this latest review round-up, I’ll be diving into a trio of films that couldn’t be any more different from each other: Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, The Gallows Act II, and the bizarrely funny Greener Grass from directors and former members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe.

The Lighthouse: Honestly, I’ve struggled with my review of The Lighthouse for quite some time. Not because I didn’t like it—filmmaker Robert Eggers does impressive work here once again—but because I’m not sure how much I have to contribute in the way of real discourse. The film has only been on the festival circuit and in theaters for a relatively short time, and yet I feel like I’ve already seen many great discussions on it that were beyond anything I might bring to the table myself. But suffice to say,...

Described as "Stepford Wives on acid," Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe's Greener Grass takes viewers into the surreal depths of suburbia, and with the film now in theaters and expanding its theatrical reach beginning October 25th, we've been provided with an exclusive clip to share with Daily Dead readers!

Below, you can watch a birthday party take a quirky turn in our exclusive clip from Greener Grass. Currently playing in New York and Los Angeles, Greener Grass will be expanding to more theaters starting on October 25th, including:

October 25 -- Los Angeles Market - Alamo Drafthouse Downtown La October 25 -- Los Angeles Market - Arena CineLounge Sunset

Directed by Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, Greener Grass stars Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland, and D'Arcy Carden.

Synopsis: "In a day-glo-colored, bizarro version of suburbia where adults wear braces on their already-straight teeth, everyone drives golf carts,...

The cinematic equivalent of the popular improv exercise “Yes, and…,” Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s feature directorial debut, Greener Grass, opens on an extreme instance of absurdity and gobsmackingly builds from there. In picturesque suburbia, competition runs thick amongst cutthroat nuclear families, neighborhood pool parties are all the rage and mom and dad travel to and from soccer practice via the tacky family golf cart. Co-starring the film’s directors as housewives who develop a grating rivalry, the film opens with Jill (DeBoer) giving up custody of her baby daughter to Lisa (Luebbe). Why does Jill do this? Because Lisa expresses interest […]...

The cinematic equivalent of the popular improv exercise “Yes, and…,” Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s feature directorial debut, Greener Grass, opens on an extreme instance of absurdity and gobsmackingly builds from there. In picturesque suburbia, competition runs thick amongst cutthroat nuclear families, neighborhood pool parties are all the rage and mom and dad travel to and from soccer practice via the tacky family golf cart. Co-starring the film’s directors as housewives who develop a grating rivalry, the film opens with Jill (DeBoer) giving up custody of her baby daughter to Lisa (Luebbe). Why does Jill do this? Because Lisa expresses interest […]...

Critical darlings at the Sundance Film Festival and winners of the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival for their first feature, “Greener Grass,” actors, writers, producers, and directors Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe are primed to break out in the industry in a grand fashion. The comedians, both alumna of the prestigious Upright Citizens Brigade (Ucb) Theatre, have redefined the suburban satire subgenre in an audacious, unique, and immoderately imaginative fashion.

Continue reading Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe On Their Sundance Breakout ‘Greener Grass’ And Ucb Loyalties [Interview] at The Playlist.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

3 From Hell (Rob Zombie)

With 3 From Hell, Zombie is intent on ripping out those sutures, grabbing a hold of the blistered flaps made from that fresh incision, and waving a grisly tapestry that may as well have the red, white, and blue colored on the leathery skin of every casualty we’ve taken to make this country great. This is America let loose, with our violence, trauma, and psychopathy sweeping south of the border in a deluge, our arbiters wearing the indigenous garb of those we’ve already slaughtered to make bedrock. – Mike M. (full review)

Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google

La Ciénaga (Lucrecia Martel)

With only a few features,...

There’s a certain kind of comedy fan most likely to embrace a satire featuring lines like, “I don’t mean to be a Native American-giver, but now that my only child is a dog, would it be possible to get back the baby I gave you?”

If this head-spinning level of absurdity is your thing, “Greener Grass” will be, too. Writer-director-costar team Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe (former members of Upright Citizens Brigade) are sharp parodists, and they spare no one in their evisceration of suburban superficiality. But they’ve expanded this project from their original short film, and the lengthier treatment may incite some moments of okay-we-get-it antsiness from more impatient viewers.

The movie’s biggest asset is DeBoer, who plays sweetly dim soccer mom Jill with a commitment that’s alternately terrifying and heartbreaking. Jill, who works painfully hard to meet her community’s ideal, always wears...

Envision an alternate reality where David Lynch decided to direct the “Barbie” movie and you’ll see a nightmarishly clear picture of what to expect from “Greener Grass,” an ultra-farcical deconstruction of the suburban upper-middle class in the United States. If you wanted to save time and energy, you could merely label the directorial debut from Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe as “strange” or perhaps “bizarre.” But in doing so, you would rob “Greener Grass” of the praise it rightfully deserves as one of the year’s finest gems.

Continue reading ‘Greener Grass’: Surrealism And Social Satire Fuse To Form A Pastel-Colored Nightmare [Review] at The Playlist.

In an industry increasingly enthused by the possibilities of world-building — or, more appropriately, the creation of worlds expressly for comic book movies that can sustain repeated films and planet-devastating battles while looking oddly familiar to the real world in the process — the ability for any filmmaker to craft something wholly unique and fully realized is still damningly rare. “Greener Grass” does it with two filmmakers. Directed, written by, produced by, and starring Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, the Not everyone will vibe with the pair’s sharp upbraiding of the modern world, but those that dig what they throw down will love the inventive duo forever.

Based on the pair’s 2015 short film of the same name, DeBoer and Luebbe have further expanded their nutty vision of suburban ennui and the painful consequences of keeping up with the status quo into an unsettling and amusing send-up of human behavior. Set...

Mexican event runs from November 13-17.

Sophie Deraspe’s Canadian Oscar submission Antigone, Matías Meyer’s Modern Love, David Zonana’s Workforce and Michael Angelo Covino’s The Climb are among the Los Cabos International Film Festival’s competitive sections, Competencia Los Cabos and México Primero, announced on Tuesday (15).

Entries in the Competencia Los Cabos are: Modern Loves, Matías Meyer; Antigone (Canada), Sophie Deraspe; Ash (Canada), Andrew Huculiak; Greener Grass (Us), Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe; Honey Boy (Us), Alma Har’el; Holy Beasts, Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas; The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open (Canada), Elle-Máijá...

Following its screenings on the festival circuit (including Fantastic Fest and the Toronto International Film Festival), the cult-centric film The Other Lamb has been acquired for North American distribution by IFC Midnight, with plans to release the movie next year:

Press Release: New York, NY - IFC Midnight is acquiring North American rights to The Other Lamb directed by Małgorzata Szumowska starring Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman, and Denise Gough and is written by award-winning Australian screenwriter Catherine S. McMullen (Two Sentence Horror Stories). The screenplay was featured on the 2017 Black List, Hit List and Blood List and had its World Premiere as a Special Presentation at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The film most recently screened at the 2019 Fantastic Fest and is currently in competition at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. Szumowska has previously won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival 2015 for her film Body and subsequently...

Imagine what hell might be spawned if David Lynch and Martha Stewart had a baby that they then gave to John Waters to raise, and you might be somewhere in the neighborhood of the genius that is Dawn Luebbe & Jocelyn DeBoer's Greener Grass. A biting absurdist satire of the suburban upper middle class nestled inside of an insanely hilarious set of picture perfect comedic performances, Greener Grass is an absolute stunner from top to bottom, proving that there is still magic in cinema and not everything has been done before. Jill (DeBoer) and Lisa (Luebbe) live in an idealized suburban planned community painted in pastels somewhere in small town, USA. Within their neighborhood, everyone knows everyone else, and the compliments never stop coming. They...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

IFC Midnight and Forbidden Planet announced today the launch of a new sneak-peek screening series and genre film night at IFC Center called Planet Midnight. The new monthly series will kick off September 12 with New York-based horror legend Larry Fessenden’s new film “Depraved” in advance of its Friday, September 13 release. Dedicated to championing defiantly independent genre films and collaborating with partners who share that passion, Planet Midnight will host a variety of undistributed films and new IFC Midnight titles as well as films from other distributors.

Employing the catchy tagline “Where Outsiders Are Insiders,” Planet Midnight’s 2019 line-up will include Dawn Luebbe and Jocelyn DeBoer’s “Greener Grass,” Jennifer Reeder’s “Knives + Skin,” and Miguel Llansó’s “Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway.”

The aim of Planet Midnight is to revive gathering spaces for the genre community. “As smaller community spaces such as video stores, record stores,...

Adults wearing braces, children turning into dogs, giving away babies, giving birth to soccer balls, and more peculiar images abound in the first delightfully ludicrous trailer for Greener Grass, arriving in October. Adapted from the short film written by Jocelyn Deboer and Dawn Luebbe that premiered at SXSW, DeBoer and Luebbe take the director’s chair this time around for their feature length take on their short film, which premiered at Sundance.

This biting satire conveys the passive-aggressive competition between two suburban moms, Jill and Lisa, which takes a sharp turn into the bizarre and paranoia when Jill gives her baby away to Lisa in an altruistic gesture. Adding to this almost Lynchian landscape is Jill’s husband (played by SNL’s Beck Bennet) becoming obsessed with drinking pool water, Jill’s son Julian turning into a golden retriever and his school teacher (played by The Good Place‘s D...

After making a splash on the film festival circuit, Jennifer Reeder’s haunting, music-infused neo-noir Knives and Skin (which recently played at Popcorn Frights Film Festival and has a fascinating personality all its own) has been acquired by IFC Midnight, with a release planned for this December:

Press Release: IFC Midnight has acquired North American rights to Jennifer Reeder’s visionary coming-of-age thriller Knives And Skin, starring Kate Arrington, Tony Fitzpatrick, Tim Hopper, Raven Whitley (Red Line), and Ty Olwin (Personal Shopper). Knives And Skin was produced by Brian Hieggelke and Jan Hieggelke of Newcity/Chicago Film Project. The film had its World Premiere at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival and had its North American debut at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and 2019 Fantasia Film Festival. Knives And Skin will next screen at the upcoming 2019 Fantastic Fest, and the prestigious 2019 Deauville American Film Festival. IFC Midnight is planning to release the film...

Festival celebrating Us cinema unveils full line-up of 45th edition.

The Deauville American Festival has unveiled a female-focused programme spotlighting women behind and in front of the camera for its 45th edition.

The festival, unfolding in the luxury northern French resort of Deauville Sept 6-15, courted controversy earlier in the week when it announced it was opening with Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York.

It will be the feature’s biggest festival screening after backers Amazon cancelled its release after its 2017 shoot when molestation allegations by the director’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow resurfaced amid the rise...

"Julian, are you a dog now?" IFC Midnight has debuted the first official trailer for Greener Grass, a very bizarre, dark comedy / satire made by comedians / actors / directors Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe. This premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and we've been hearing very strange things about it ever since. It's hard to even explain what this film is about. Suburban soccer moms find themselves constantly competing against each other in their personal lives as their kids settle their differences on the field. This stars Dot-Marie Jones, D'Arcy Carden, Jim Cummings, Beck Bennett, Mary Holland, Jocelyn DeBoer, & Dawn Luebbe. Described as a "gloriously weird" film that's a "hilariously demented, Stepford Wives-on-acid satire destined to be an instant cult classic." Weird, but possibly brilliant? Maybe... Here's the first trailer for Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe's Greener Grass, direct from IFC's YouTube: In a day-glo-colored, bizarro version of...

IFC Midnight presents Greener Grass, the bebut feature film Written and Directed by Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, this October. The film will open on October 18th in New York and Los Angeles and will also available On Demand. The trailer for their twisted satire premiered today. Have a look below. In a day-glo-colored, bizarro version of suburbia where adults wear braces on their already-straight teeth, everyone drives golf carts, and children magically turn into golden retrievers, soccer moms and best friends Jill (Jocelyn DeBoer) and Lisa (Dawn Luebbe) are locked in a passive aggressive battle-of-the-wills that takes a turn into the sinister when Lisa begins systematically taking over every aspect of Jill’s life—starting with her newborn daughter. Meanwhile, a psycho yoga teacher...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

If you like overly saturated pastels, unhinged over-medicated housewives, and vicious takedowns of suburban social hierarchies, then “Greener Grass” is the fall comedy for you. The self-proclaimed “bizarro” film marks the directorial debut of filmmaking duo Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, and was one of the surprise hits of the Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight section, known for hosting the festival’s zaniest genre offerings. IFC Midnight released the first official trailer today, offering a look at this avant-garde suburban satire from two singular new comedic voices.

The official synopsis reads: “In a day-glo-colored, bizarro version of suburbia where adults wear braces on their already-straight teeth, everyone drives golf carts, and children magically turn into golden retrievers, soccer moms and best friends Jill (DeBoer) and Lisa (Luebbe) are locked in a passive aggressive battle-of-the-wills that takes a turn into the sinister when Lisa begins systematically taking over every aspect of...

What is there to say about the new trailer for “Greener Grass?” Well, the short version is that the trailer for the new film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, is probably one of the weirdest, hilarious things you’ll see all day. The long version? Oh boy, there’s a lot to discuss.

The trailer for “Greener Grass” will likely make you laugh, as it’s a comedy that pushes the absurdity to the max, but will also make you question everything.

Continue reading ‘Greener Grass’ Trailer: Filmmakers Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe Bring You One Of The Most Absurd Comedies Of The Year at The Playlist.

16 titles will play across three Kinoscope sections.

Nadav Lapid’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Synonyms, Juliano Dornelles’ Cannes Competition entry Bacurau and Anna Eborn’s Rotterdam award winner Transnistra are among the selection for the Kinoscope strand at Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23 2019).

The festival has selected 16 titles across three sections.

Scroll down for the full list of films

The Kinoscope section is open to films from around the world, excluding the Southeastern European territories which comprise the festival’s competition strand.

One title from the UK, Peter Strickland’s dark comedy In Fabric, is chosen, in the Kinoscope Surreal section.

Indie comedy Golden Arm has rounded out its cast with Dot-Marie Jones, Eugene Cordero, Ron Funches as well as Dawn Luebbe (HBO’s High Maintenance), Ahmed Bharoocha (Adult Swim’s Dream Corp LLC), and Olivia Rose Stambouliah. They join previously announced stars Mary Holland and Betsy Sodaro. Maureen Bharoocha is directing the film, which is currently before cameras in Oklahoma. The buddy comedy follows a tough lady trucker who trains her timid best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship. Jones will play Big Sexy, the rough-and-tumble mentor who puts her trainees through a rigorous schooling in order to create a winner. Cordero is Greg, an Mlb ref who – in the off-season – refs the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Tournament. Funches will portray Carl, the crass Mc of...

Before Telluride, before Venice, before Tiff, there is the last great festival of the summer season: the Locarno Film Festival, a singular Swiss event that typically features a strong mix of fest favorites from Sundance and Cannes, along with their own batch of returning favorites.

This year’s lineup is no exception, including films from Quentin Tarantino, Asif Kapadia, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and rising stars Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe that have premiered elsewhere, along with new films from Valérie Donzelli, Fabrice Du Welz, and Boris Lojkine.

The 72nd edition of the festival marks the first for incoming artistic director Lili Hinstein, who has taken over from Carlo Chatrian, who served as artistic director of Locarno since 2013 and now returns to the Berlinale. Hinstin is the 13th artistic director of the Locarno Festival since it was founded in 1946 and is only the event’s second female chief.

This morning’s lineup...

Celebrating its 72nd edition this year, the Locarno Film Festival has been the birthplace for the finest in international arthouse cinema and this year’s lineup looks to continue the tradition. Ahead of the festival, running August 7-17, the full slate has been announced.

Top highlights include the world premieres of Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela (pictured above), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, Ben Rivers & Anocha Suwichakornpong’s Krabi, 2562, Ben Russell’s Color-blind, Denis Côté’s Wilcox, Fabrice Du Welz’s Adoration, as well as a new 12-minute short film from Yorgos Lanthimos titled Nimic and starring Matt Dillon. Other titles that have caught out eye are Echo, from Sparrows director Rúnar Rúnarsson, and A Girl Missing, from Harmonium director Koji Fukada.

The festival will also kick off with some star power as Patrick Vollrath’s 7500, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, will premiere. Check out the lineup below,...