Welcome back to the end of the year, and the start of a new one!
“Bigbug” is a vision of the future from the director of “Amelie” (among… others) that is appropriately discomforting for the way humans are creeping into the future. I’m sorry if this is the first thing you see and feel in 2022 but also I’m not… at all:
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, and produced by Frédéric Doniguian and Richard Grandpierre, Netflix will release this streaming February 11th, 2022.
“Playground” is a Belgian directorial debut about two brothers struggling with their relationship between one another and their peers:
Written and directed by Laura Wandel and produced by Stéphane Lhoest, Film Movement will release this in select US theaters at an unspecified date in early 2022.
“The Curse of La Patasola” is a surprisingly gripping (at least by the trailer) standard monster-myth horror that seems to be about infidelity. This seems low-budget in an effectively atmospheric, different way:
Directed by AJ Jones, written by AJ Jones and Shaun Mathis, and produced by Carlos Velasco and Gillie Jones, Vertical Entertainment will release this in select US theaters and on VOD January 14th, 2022.
“The Olive Trees of Justice” is “The only French film shot in Algeria during the Algerian War,” and is receiving a 4K re-release from Kino Lorber (an underrated restoration/Bluray production company):
“Help” is an independent thriller developed and released by Blake Ridder. Honestly, my interest in this is primarily on the balance between professional looking shots and editing and the independence of the project… I’m sort of over “mystery boxes”:
Written and directed by Blake Ridder (here is a link to his Patreon) and produced by Louis James, this will be released direct-to-VOD February 14th, 2022.
It looks like were set for an adjustment; a strange, new surge in independent filmmaking that I hope holds merit. Here’s to a hopeful and tense, strange New Year!
The Music City Drive-In 
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