By 
By Roger Costa
MAYHEM
One of the most subversive and violent films of the season, director Joe Lynch’s latest has a lot to say about capitalism, greed and ambition through a scatological and hallucinating fantasy of misbehavior. Penned by award-winning Argentinian screenwriter Matias Caruso, the film is narrated by our anti-hero Derek (Steven Yeun), a fresh and enthusiastic young executive at a consulting company; as he’s trying to fix a problematic case, involving his supervisor and a co-worker, which puts everyone’s career at stake, a strangely anarchist brain virus rapidly spreads throughout the entire office complex, now under quarantine and gradually turning the workers into bitter, brutal murderers, taking advantage of the effects to unleash their inner anger and contempt for each other. An electric, disturbingly effective satire, structured as a “killing-machine-adventure-on-ecstasy” with perspectives on the loss of social values, this Audience Award Winner at Chattanooga Film Festival, will make you feel there’s blood running out of the screen. (An RLJE Films Release. Opens Friday, November 10th at Cinema Village. Also on VOD and Digital HD.)
SANTA & ANDRES
Set during the period of political conflict and social transformation in early 80’s Cuba, this sensitive, Neo-realism influenced drama, undresses its two main characters’ emotions, revealing aspects of humanitarian importance through their unusual relationship. Santa is a member of the revolutionary party sent to watch over and report Andres, a mysterious, sexually ambiguous writer who has been blacklisted by the government. Director Carlos Lechuga subtly observes this encounter, analyzing their dilemmas, loneliness, vulnerability and devotion to their political ideals, supported by convincingly absorbing performances by the duo Lola Amores and Eduardo Martinez, both named Best Performers at this year’s Miami Film Festival. As the days go by and secrets are exposed, Lechuga keeps the audience hypnotized by the turbulent dynamics of the story, a passionate, silently explosive depiction of an impossible love connection. (A Breaking Glass Pictures Release. Opens Friday, November 10th at Cinema Village.)
NAILA AND THE UPRISING
A prestigious award-winning documentarian, Brazilian-born, New York-based filmmaker Julia Bacha’s insightful investigation on the crucial events in the life of Naila Ayesh, a member of the revolutionary, non-violent Palestinian movement known as the First Intifada, proves her to be an accomplished artist, fully committed to her material and subject. Blending animation, drawings, footage images, journalistic material and interviews with family members, associates and folks engaged on the fight against Israeli occupation and brutality, the director builds an accurate and shocking portrait of the horrors of war, presenting detailed facts of Naila’s journey through prison, torture, miscarriage and eventually becoming a national reference for social activism. (A Fork Films Release. World Premiere at DOC NYC Festival on Sunday, November 12th at SVA Theater.)
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