The 2022 Nashville Film Festival has kicked off, and I will bring you coverage from the entire festival. We have a loaded slate of films that are set to come out, and today I share everything I watched during day three.
Alta Valley
To save her dying mother, Lupe, a Mexican-Navajo mechanic bands together with an outlaw cowgirl. Together they must travel across the desert, outrun criminals, and confront a corrupt landowner.
While there are certain aspects of this film that works, there are others that don’t. First, you have some strong acting from our two leads, Briza Covarrubias and Allee Sutton Hethcoat. Both of these ladies share a strong chemistry that helps elevate the emotional aspect of the film. Covarrubias is a star in her own right, as her ability to captivate you in the little moments stood out. Next, I didn’t love the rest of the cast within this because when faced across Covarrubias and Hethcoat, it was a massive difference which hurts the overall film.
Follow Her
Follow Her has a simplistic story that doesn’t really connect on any surface. While elements of the movie give you that scary feeling of “what if this happened to me,” they quickly go away with some subpar acting. I understand not every movie can have an upper-tier budget, but you at least attempt to make it look like an upper-tier film and that’s where the film failed. It captures the watching someone aspect with the footage of the cameras, but the direction leaves much to be desired.
I Can Feel You Walking
Let me start by saying I absolutely LOVED the score of this movie. Dabney Morris does an incredible job within these moments of no context of keeping you invested in what is happening. However, the score was far TOO LOUD that it became slightly overbearing through certain moments, taking away from the film. The same could be said for the sound editing here, as you can barely hear what the lead is trying to say in certain moments because the music is too loud.
Overall, the movie is highlighted by a strong performance from Rachel Lambert but ultimately falls short of being anything worth watching. It was a bit overlong, the score was overbearing, and it’s just an okay-written movie.
The Nashville Film Festival is happening from September 29 through October 6. For more information on tickets and more click here.
The Music City Drive-In 
Leave a comment