Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
Parallel (Streaming December 11 on OnDemand, and playing in select theaters)
Leena (Georgia King), Devin (Aml Ameen), Josh (Mark O’Brien) and Noel (Martin Wallstrom) are friends, co-founders and roommates. While exploring their home’s attic they discover a mirror that is a portal to an alternate universe. Since three hours in this parallel universe equals one minute in our own, the time difference allows them to create, or steal, money-making breakthroughs. Loyalties are tested. Penned by Scott Blaszak and directed by Isaac Ezban on a relatively low budget, the film uses clever cinematography to emphasize concepts that burrow in. (Lisa Miller)
“Saturday Night Live: The Early Years” (Time Life DVD)
After “Saturday Night Live” debuted in 1975, many people arranged their Saturday evenings around it. The party doesn’t until SNL ends! “The Early Years” is a 12 DVD set, a “Best of” with 33 complete episodes from seasons 1-5, starting with a pow as Garrett Morris punched out a racially oblivious Ronald Reagan (as played by Chevy Chase). The comedy-variety format wasn’t unprecedented but the cast—John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd et. al.—delivered their brash material with a contemporary edge. Pop culture as well as politics was material for their skits, many of them groan out loud funny. The cast and writers were acutely aware of the conventions of television s well as comedy and laughed at all of it. (David Luhrssen)
Song Without a Name (Film Movement DVD)
The streetlights glow eerily against the terraced hillsides in the silvery black and white cinematography of Song Without a Name. I the opening scene of the 2019 Peruvian film, Georgina, a pregnant indigenous woman, makes her way to the capital, Lima. She is lured into a clinic where her newborn is stolen. Finding no cooperation from the authorities, she turns to a journalist who begins to suspect that Georgina’s lost child is part of a larger conspiracy to sell babies for adaptation abroad. The film includes long silences of unknowing and a deep dive into indigenous culture. (David Luhrssen)
Wander Darkly (Streaming December 11 on OnDemand)
Following a horrific car accident, Adrienne (Sienna Miller) and Matteo (Diego Luna), meet in an alternate reality where they discuss and relive their troubled romantic history. While examining their past, the couple's memories sometimes diverge. Believing she may already be dead, Adrienne seeks to reconcile their past, and improve any possible future. Writer-director Tara Miele was inspired by a life-altering auto accident that befell her and her husband. Adrienne's perspective is the film's focal point, as it keeps us guessing her fate—to the bitter end. (Lisa Miller)
