Review: ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ Explodes with Oppositional Cinematic Fanfare

Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Classism, Anti-Patriarchy, Anti-Capitalist. Oppositional Media has been a mainstay in cinema for a long time.  There is a clear history of films being made to fight against the rich and powerful, or the hateful and powerful trying to take advantage of people for their own gain. Now, while a lot of that media involves real footage, and documentary production, there are many times where oppositional cinema is in the form of fiction. These films get us in the mind of a familiar situation to show us how things are. How to Blow Up a Pipeline does this in the most explosive way.

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Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post Presents Unflinching and Earnest Queerness

This film was seen at the 44th Seattle International Film Festival. The film is now in wide release in Seattle.

“Maybe you’re supposed to feel disgusted at yourself when you’re a teenager.”

This is not your average coming of age or moody YA drama. Desiree Akhavan, a bisexual Iranian-American woman, accomplishes the daunting task of provoking a dialogue about identity politics within the structures of well-built film. The Miseducation of Cameron Post surprises with the blackest of humor and seamlessly transitions into heartache. The film masters the waver between hope and devastation.

Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) is sent to God’s Promise, a Christian conversion camp founded on repetitive and mind-numbing prayer and encouraging self-hate. From its exterior, it could be mistaken for any summer camp setting, but by the first encounter with Psychologist Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) and her “ex gay” brother Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.), the institutional psychological abuse is laid bare. The sheer absurdity of such an idea as praying away ones’ sexuality drives home how dangerous a sect of religion can become when it forgets its message of acceptance. It is a cult, and a place for ashamed evangelical parents to make their children invisible to the world. And it is still a reality for queer children in this country, with the people who run them being responsible for the psychological suffering of children. It pushes us to hold figures of authority accountable, both internally and externally.

However, it is the very bleakness of these circumstances that allow the resilience and sincerity of the young cast to shine through. Comradery becomes synonymous with survival. The friendships that Cameron forms with Jane (portrayed by rising star Sasha Lane) and Adam (a Lakota two-spirit boy played by Forrest Goodluck) are galvanized by similar stories of rejection by society, and through this, they come to serve as each other’s’ only touchstone for sanity and solace. The film takes its time working in fragments of each of their memories to fill out their identities and pasts, avoiding clunky exposition and filling it in as the narrative progresses.

The kids’ characters are all fully realized, and even young actors in supporting roles begin to outshine the less compelling adults. Ultimately all the kids are deeply sympathetic individuals. They are truly victims of the institution, and while they sometimes experience conflict, they are not ever made out to be rivals or enemies among themselves. They do their best surviving together as they become rebellious and self-determined in the face of institutional powers. It showcases their abilities to adapt to the adults’ games, while staying fully aware of the insidious methodology. It becomes a collective coming of age story, and the end of the film is less of a conclusion than it is a jumping off point into an unknown and indifferent world; through the very last shot, all you can be sure of is their resilience and togetherness.

In a Q&A at the film’s SIFF premiere, Goodluck explained succinctly what made him and the other teens so convincing in their roles and described how Akhavan gave the actors the space to breathe and exist as the kids after a period of research for the sake of properly representing specific identities. It’s responsible, meaningful filmmaking in a situation where any less nuance could have spiraled into exploitation. This film is ultimately about visibility; this kind of representation in media is unprecedented and desperately needed. Akhavan takes great care with a multiplicity of intersectional identities without calling attention to itself or asking for a pat on the back. The film portrays these teens knowing people in the audience will hang on to them in a media landscape dominated by white, cis, and heterosexual narratives. It resonates with those coming to terms with their own being and searching for validation in their identities and experiences. The film also inhabits a space that challenges the perspectives of those who have never lived a day in their life fearing any sort of prejudice due to their sexuality. It is eye-opening to see that kids are still shipped off by their families to these places, and are being taught to destroy themselves in the name of religion.

While the tired trope of the unhappy queer woman pervades the media, Akhavan ensures that it is never gratuitous. Her camera treats the characters with respect, an instruction for the audience to do the same. Lesbian intimacy on screen is for once not a product of the male gaze. This is proof why it is so essential to have film made by actual queer women of color who can lend their perspective. Cameron and the others aren’t simple martyrs; they are survivors that refuse to be dehumanized or forgotten. Overall, the film goes beyond a fresh narrative to absolutely raw at moments, well balanced with unexpected and biting humor. Don’t pass on this one just because the subject material is so dark, because the depth and resonance of the young characters and moments they can be genuinely themselves more than make up for it.

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Review: A Solid Outing in Hearts Beat Loud

This film was seen at the 44th Seattle International Film Festival. The film is now in wide release in Seattle.

The “indie” scene is full of heart warming dramas, catchy music, and well regarded actors who take on smaller scripts with the hope of tapping into human emotion. The scene is well populated and represented, but Hearts Beat Loud is perhaps the most outward facing, indie movie so far this year. The question is can the film break free from these notions that plague the indie scene? Well no, but it is a solid outing.

The film centers around Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman) and his daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons). While Frank struggles with his vinyl record store Sam is preparing to head off to college in the fall. In the final months of their departure, Frank tries to savor what time they have left by making music, a hobby Sam reluctantly participates in. When Frank uploads one of their collaborations to Spotify and it becomes a hit, the two come at odds as Frank pushes for Sam to pursue her talents while she wants to move on.

What is the biggest issue is how contentious the father daughter relationship can be. Frank is a man who hangs onto the past, but he never seems to over come that. Instead the film finds resolve in compromise which doesn’t lead to a gratifying arc for either Frank or Sam. As Sam is going off to college to study pre-med, Frank is losing the lasting remnant of his wife who he sees in his daughter, and he attaches himself to her to prevent that loss. The following interaction between Sam and Frank doesn’t result in anything learned, but rather a consolation as Sam accepts her father’s dependency and desire to remain the same, doing so through their collaborative music. By the end of the film, you feel as if neither father nor daughter have changed all that much.

It’s even weirder when you consider how much push back Sam has to the initial jam session, but then acceptance immediately after the song finds success. The film sets itself up for Sam to resent the success of their song because she wants to be a heart doctor, but instead she leans into it and takes it on. The conflict in the film wants to come out of a mismatch between what Sam and Frank want, but it never communicates that. It is much more concerned with how both Sam and Frank find an equal footing between themselves in a father-daughter relationship, but unfortunately that theme isn’t all that gratifying.

Hearts Beat Loud is trying to communicate the acceptance of differences between father and daughter, but ends up with an unsatisfactory result. The mild mannered indie film is harmless enough, but you won’t find much beyond the performances of Offerman and Clemons. There’s nothing that completely derails the film, but it’s also nothing to write home about either.

Score: 3/5 Stars