Repost: Diary of a Teenage Girl (opens in Akron September 18th at the Nightlight Cinema)

[THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL opens in Akron on Friday September 18th at the Nightlight Cinema.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

I had a strange feeling while watching THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL that someone had, in fact, read my diary and put parts of it onscreen. No, I did not have an affair with my mother's boyfriend, nor did I do most of the things Minnie Goetze, the 15-year-old heroine of the movie, did in 1970s San Francisco. But I did once write a letter to Aline Kominsky-Crumb, the talented cartoonist who is married to the famous Robert Crumb, telling her how much I admired and identified with her hilarious confessional comics.

Aline wrote back to me too, a friendly and encouraging letter, just as she wrote to Minnie, and apparently to Minnie's creator, writer and artist Phoebe Gloeckner, whose 2002 confessional graphic novel is the basis of this film. Clearly Kominsky-Crumb's work is captivating, and she is really nice to her fans.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Review by Pamela Zoslov

I had a strange feeling while watching THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL that someone had, in fact, read my diary and put parts of it onscreen. No, I did not have an affair with my mother's boyfriend, nor did I do most of the things Minnie Goetze, the 15-year-old heroine of the movie, did in 1970s San Francisco. But I did once write a letter to Aline Kominsky-Crumb, the talented cartoonist who is married to the famous Robert Crumb, telling her how much I admired and identified with her hilarious confessional comics.

Aline wrote back to me too, a friendly and encouraging letter, just as she wrote to Minnie, and apparently to Minnie's creator, writer and artist Phoebe Gloeckner, whose 2002 confessional graphic novel is the basis of this film. Clearly Kominsky-Crumb's work is captivating, and she is really nice to her fans.

Repost: Disconnect (August 16th and 17th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[DISCONNECT screens Friday August 16th at 9:30 pm and Saturday August 17th at 7:15 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Pamela Zoslov

What did the Internet ever do to the filmmakers behind DISCONNECT, a cautionary tale about modern computer technology? The independently made film is thematically reminiscent of antique propaganda flicks like REEFER MADNESS, except that the perils it warns against are smartphones, PCs and iPads rather than marijuana. In the mode of Paul Haggis' CRASH, DISCONNECT is composed of intertwined stories about the emotional alienation produced by our techno-crazy society. Evidently the benefits of computers – information, knowledge, entertainment, the review you are reading – mean nothing in the face of the Web's many scary dangers.

Disconnect

Review by Pamela Zoslov

What did the Internet ever do to the filmmakers behind DISCONNECT, a cautionary tale about modern computer technology? The independently made film is thematically reminiscent of antique propaganda flicks like REEFER MADNESS, except that the perils it warns against are smartphones, PCs and iPads rather than marijuana. In the mode of Paul Haggis' CRASH, DISCONNECT is composed of intertwined stories about the emotional alienation produced by our techno-crazy society. Evidently the benefits of computers – information, knowledge, entertainment, the review you are reading – mean nothing in the face of the Web's many scary dangers.