White Bird in a Blizzard (January 8th and 10th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD screens Thursday January 8th at 6:45 pm and Saturday January 10th at 8:55 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Part coming of age story, part mystery, Greg Araki's WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD is told from the point of view of Katrina “Kat” Connors (Shailene Woodley) as she recalls when she was seventeen and her mother Eve (Eva Green) disappeared without warning or trace. Eve's marriage to Kat's father Brock (Christopher Meloni) was not a happy one, with the formerly adventurous Eve resentful of being forced into the role of traditional homemaker. She drinks, and takes every opportunity to snipe at Brock, even threatening to leave on several occasions. Still, it's a bit of a surprise to Kat when she seemingly follows through with those threats.

Repost: Kaboom (May 12th and 14th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[KABOOM screens Thursday May 12th at 6:45pm and Saturday May 14th at 11:45pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

After seemingly “maturing” as a filmmaker with the excellent sexual abuse drama MYSTERIOUS SKIN, director Greg Araki has regressed a bit. Apparently we have John Waters to blame/thank for this, as he put the notion in Araki's head to make another film more like early works such as THE DOOM GENERATION and NOWHERE. And so he has, although KABOOM has the advantage of everything Araki has learned as a filmmaker since. He's still trying to generate laughs and pan-sexual eroticism while shocking and offending polite society, but now he does it with more skill and confidence.