"THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART" DIGS DEEP WHERE IT HURTS THE MOST!

🎥🎞️Series Review🎞️🎥 - THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART [2023] - [R] - Amazon Prime - Based on a novel by Holly Ringland and was adapted to screenplay by Sarah Lambert. Directed by Glendyn Ivin. Produced by Barbara Gibbs. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Alyla Browne, Asher Keddie, Leah Purcell, Charley Vickers, and Tilda Cobham-Hervey. The series received many nominations for awards from the AACTA Awards in Australia.

A young girl, Alice Hart [Browne], was raised in a turbulent house hold with a talented carpenter father [Vickers] who also carries memories of a dark past. After her parents die in a fire, she is moved to live with her grandmother [Weaver] who lives in a flower farm that also cares for abused women. The young girl learns that specific flowers and plants are used to communicate through patterns of colorful collection, creating their own language that is often openly displayed. As she enters adulthood [Debham-Carey], she learns that her grandmother has many dark secrets of her own, that are hidden in detailed file folders and shelved away in a dark room. But, she cannot escape the fact that some bad family traits can carry one from one generation to another, which forces her to confront the worst in some people.

THE GOOD - There are some outstanding, dramatic performances in this series that demands attention through award nominations. The little girl [Browne] does a fantastic job in her first major role, carrying the character of young Alice through some very stressful and dramatic sequences, presented an emotionally weathered down pre-teen stumbling through life. Weaver was also mentally weathered and trudging through the series, slowly aging but delivering a powerful performance as Alice's grandmother.  The lighting and sound were perfectly arranged, delivering a well balanced production. Location spotting was marvelously selected and there isn't any part of the production that felt off kilter at all. Kudos to the majority of the Australian cast who had some standout performances throughout the series, possibly a strength garnered through the addition of Weaver's presence.

THE BAD - Like most books, the back story to the series takes a long time to develop. There are some "stock footage" scenes between the story telling that were filmed as filler that just seem to slow things down to a point where the real power to the feel of the film gets lost. One plot in the film seems to have been filmed on a coastline that seems a little out of place to the lush lands of rolling fields that are home to the flower garden - I don't know the terrain that can be found in Australia, so maybe I'm just seeing something in this part of the film that is natural to the coastline landscape.

POST MORTEM - This is a sensational series. It was hard to see what was coming up next in the dark tale that was slowly spinning out of control. When the climax hits its mark, the pain is felt and the scene unfolds with turbulent excellence, something that every director hopes for in their films. I highly recommend you watch this series without interruption. This series is a winner!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️[5 of 5 Stars]

WHAT DOES "OFFICIAL SELECTION" ACTUALLY MEAN IN FILM FESTIVALS?

 Yeah, it's that time of year again when Indie film teams across the country start submitting their projects into film festivals across the internet. Many of those teams are filled with the overwhelming urge to get an awards laurel stamped on their indie movie poster as "evidence" that something they filmed was produced with "professional prowess." Chins are often held higher with every new laurel that is set on their poster, like an award pendant that is proudly pinned on the chest of a soldier in front of his unit, because he was the guy who went out of his way to do the job, who did his job without complaint and left his family for months while he was on deployment. But is simply receiving a laurel for an "official selection" really something to brag about? Do these awards actually help an indie film reach the next level of success?...No, not really.

Seriously, getting selected just means that someone paid for the admission fee and the check cleared, the indie film submitted by a team hasn't been reviewed at any point of the acceptance procedure. It's not like there's a group of judges that watches each submission and says, "Oh yeah, this one HAS to be in our festival!" - But I am sure that there are films on the submission line that ARE expected to raise eyebrows if the right name is listed in the credits. For now, for anyone to brag about their film "being selected" for this or that festival is like someone getting an award laurel for filling out an application for a 5K run that won't start for another month. Remember, "selection" films are not reviewed for required film format, legal paperwork, legitimate film making experience...nothing. As a matter of fact, a large quantity of films aren’t even previewed by judges.

Furthermore, members who pay for their film being submitted to a festival, must also pay extra fees for "nominations" in their own application. That's right, studio teams have to pay cash and submit for their own nominations! Positions that are paid for consist of various genres film categories for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Producer, Best Director, etc, etc, etc. And again, judges for these festivals don't recognize "instant performances" in every indie film that was entered or selected and giving them awards for their performances. Plus there's no reassurance that all of the films submitted into a film festival are even previewed by final judges at all. I've known all about these "festival follies" for many years; and a solid reason why I never entered into film festivals since I began working on my own indie film productions.

Super-duper amateur film makers tend to jump on the "excitement band wagon" and have a proven record of thriving on their initial success of simply being entered in a film festival. These idiots often release trailers on YouTube [which is a big no-no during the submission process] and try to prove that viewers numbers prove that the film has a large sized group of fans [apparently outside of the film teams line of family and friends] who are interested in seeing the big movie they just finished putting together. 

 

Film teams who boast of having an "editor from LA" ready to take over the projects post production, claim to have one just in case their initial submission turns out to be a bust; I'm not sure why a film team wouldn't have such phenomenal access to an established post-editing credential and not use that person on all of their film projects? - Seems a little odd, wouldn't one think? Oh my oh my, the cracks that slowly but surely begin to form when the truth about someones low-life integrity about knowing absolutely nothing of the film industry begins to show.

It's a known fact that meta-data has proven the members of how an indie film team love to watch their own films over-and-over again, trying to help build the numbers of the viewing counter on their YouTube account. These issues were investigated on in the Quantum Storm .357 E-Magazine [QSE .357] Issue 5, a few issues back, where we proved in a studio video investigation on how to check someones meta-data on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and any other online platform, to see what the real outside viewers numbers were to a film teams "successful" trailer or full feature film. When internal numbers are removed from the equation of viewers, industry professionals will know what the real numbers of views are; and trust me, they do look at all of the meta-data they can on any project submitted to them.

What I honestly like to see are the amateur first time leading indie actors who also enjoy the ride of tasting success through the fruits of their limited experienced performances; most of whom have never really worked on a real production or were never educated on set through experienced directors or assistant directors. Most of these people will never see the light of day as a lead or supporting role on a film project that is a step up from the film they just finished. Most are complete no-bodies who are given roles and promises of "riches to come" when they "ring that bell" of success. And unfortunately, where there is one; there is also a slew of other cast and crew members who are on that ride of just hoping that the film was "selected" by the film festival in question.

I like watching indie movie trailers. Seriously, I enjoying watching them as much as I liked being a child and walking though the toy aisle of a grocery story, looking at all of those hollow plastic cars and airplanes, saying to myself then, "Why would anyone want to buy that crap?" - Amateur indie film trailers are the same. They often boast of "film producers" you've never known [or truly want to know], credits are displayed on top of actors performing their parts, the sound is bad, the nauseating music selection is as horrific and reoccurring as the swishing sound of the ocean being replayed over and over and over. Plus I like the fact that right away, even an unbiased outsider will tell you that someone in that film production never made a film trailer in their life...but it looked like certain people in their group HAD to be presented in it; you know, people that you've never seen before in any film what-so-ever, except in their own film community.

Most normal people [like me] can see it now...a group of amateur indie film makers huddled around in prayer, waiting for that one film festival to accept their film after the entry fee was paid...waiting for the approval email that their film is IN; with some director or indie "film producer" whose already prepared a laurel to post on his or her Facebook page, just waiting for the moment that he can hit the post key. Once the news gets out, the laurel is passed out to their small team of actors an the hype begins. There's no reality but the fact that an entrance fee was paid and now the next big step in the festival process is about to begin, but this time, the next round will prove who is truly the experienced film maker from the people who just put something together with camera and no real idea of how to use them.

And even IF the film wins an award or two, what is the next step for the amateur film makers? Do they post another link on their Facebook page to show the film to the outside "millions of local fans" who are dying to see their film? Has their number one "film producer" ensured that he's paid the yearly subscription to his website to post the film and bring in that lucrative meta-data to provide to future distributors the large numbers of future fans who are wanting to see the film in question? - Something that we introduced on the QSE .357 [Issue 4] is that amateur indie film producers and directors who have no knowledge of what meta-data is or where to get it and are just people who are winging their indie film productions along. But you can bet your ass that after seeing this blog, they'll google it and be the "purveyors of knowledge" the next time you ask them, because they'll have read this blog entry too.

Current Meta Data for QSE .357 E-Mag

The truth of the matter is, if you don't have any experience in promotions, advertising, or proven connections within the indie film circuit, your film will die a sure death of never being seen by anyone that actually matters in the film industry...but hey, there's always another BIG new indie film to make...or perhaps you can be bold enough to pull a "Nanae Volle" and create your own Inde movie award festival and sweep the BIG awards with your super amateur, peace of shit film!

 

Nuff said.

Editorial by D. R. Quintana-Lujan
Editor in Chief

 

 

EPIC INDIE SURGE FAILS WITH “UNDER THE SKIN”

🎥 🎞 Movie Review 🎞 🎥 - UNDER THE SKIN - [R] - Amazon Prime [2014] - Independent films come and go every year. You would have thought that the term "independent film" would have actually meant; "Made by complete nobodies with a micro-budget that fails in comparison with big Hollywood, but hey, this one has some class in it." But Skin is the proverbial "slap in the face" that proves that some Independent films, even ones written so badly, can somewhat aspire if you throw in a big Hollywood name, especially one who has an upcoming summer action film, and present her naked for all to see in a cheesy, classless pile-of-shit.

 

Now, not all piles-of-shit have a half life of zero seconds, and please keep in mind that Scarlett Johansson truly didn't do anything in this film that made me think, "Hey, this is where her real career started!" - nope, it was way far from that. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, who also wrote the script with Walter Campbell, this pile-of-shit won some big Indie film awards for it's musical score, the direction, and of Johansson's performance[???]...Uhhmnn, did I miss something here? I think that most of this films success comes from the fact that Brad Pitt was somewhat involved in it's development and casting.

 

Well, lets break down the story little and you tell me what big success this pile really has to offer it's viewers...most of whom will be males after I reveal the big surprise in the film. Okay, so without any real description, an alien arrives on earth and becomes a woman. She is helped by a biker-alien who loves to zoom around the countryside looking for her. She wonders from town to town, trapping men into entering an abandoned house, luring them in with sexy temptations to walk into a black muck of liquid that traps them - like the Venus fly trap plant. She discovers that she's more woman than alien and it becomes her weakness; I think Johansson delivers maybe twelve [12] full lines of dialog throughout the movies run...Oh, did I mention that Johansson reveals her naked body seven [7] times in the film, even revealing her bird in a closeup?  If you ever wanted to know what you might expect if you had a chance with her in bed, this is your chance to see her in the nude...yep, that's it.

 

The director claims that there was this really heavy CGI sequence in the film that he really wanted to keep in, but that it was taken out from the film to leave more questions about the alien motif and their technology, which was not explained at all. There are two parts of the films special effects that really took me into SciFi/fantasy excitement, but it came at the end of the movie and there was nothing more question as the en credits popped up after starring into several snowflakes landing on the camera lens; like a quasi Forrest Gump ending. The visual effects were sharp and produced well, but the aimless walking, scenes without dialog, and the doll-like performance by Johansson did not move me at all to keep focused on the film; it definitely did show a glimpse of why she might have been picked to play the lead role in Ghost in the Shell.

 

The cinematography was okay. Most of the film was shot in a guerilla-style filming format which the director felt at the time that he wanted to "catch real peoples reaction" to whatever the alien was doing when walking through town. In my opinion this whole award winning film was a waste of time and just another reason to build up the "what does Johansson's body really look like under all of that plastic and leather" curiosity with her male friends. I'm sure if your male, you won't pass on this movie...I certainly didn't. ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫   [2.5 of 5 Stars]