First Clue: November's Screening

Clue #1: The this month's theme: Top Billing for Three Seconds of Screen Time. 

Tape Freaks Presents: November's Mystery Movie at the Trylon microcinema, Wednesday, October 5th@ 7:00pm, only $5!

****Purchase advance ticket here****

Kids Playing Kids: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Neither Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry had never had an acting gig before filming this movie, the "professional" crew was minimal and filled out with the help of locals, it was shot on 16mm, it was the directors first feature length film; yet everyone involved was for nominated and won many, many awards. It's seriously one of the best movies to come out in recent years, and if you haven't seen it, you are missing out.

(Though I love this movie completely, it's 100% out of my wheelhouse to explain, so I asked my movie critic friend Ian Nichols to help me out by writing a synopsis. He did, and it's pretty damn wonderful.)

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Magical realism, normally commandeered by white Hollywood, makes its way deep into the South, past the levies, and into the thigh-high-and-climbing waterways among a group of islands off the coast of Louisiana. A bayou community straddling the gulf between the sobering effects of climate change and heady faith, spends its days not care free but blindly wading through alcoholism, poverty, and survival. At the eye of this tempestuous domain is the heart of it: Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), a spirited young girl with immense imagination. She conjures giant uni-horned warthogs, and endures the harsh reality with her boozy, widowed father. Director/writer/composer Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild is an ugly world made otherworldly—one that is astonishingly beautiful, raw, and enchanting, seen through the eyes of a child embraced by a murky future.

Quvenzhane Wallis: This was Wallis' very first acting job, and when the movie started filming she was only 6 years old. But to watch her on screen you'd think she had been the star of, at the very minimum, every single community theater production near enough to her home for her to be in. Seriously, she isn't just the focus of the film; she narrates it and stars in it. She is the film! Beasts of the Southern Wild was nominated for 4 Academy Awards one of which was for her performance making her the youngest Best Actress nominee and it was certainly a deserved nom. (Sadly, #OscarSoWhite so the award obviously Jennifer Lawrence in her seminal performance in that movie about football or something.)

See this movie: If you love Pan's Labyrinth or Hugo, but would be interested in seeing them through a Wes Anderson, John Waters lens.

Thank you again to Ian Nichols, you can find him on Twitter here and here.


Ian Nichols is a Saint Paul, Minnesota-based freelance film critic and co-host of two podcasts: the Flicksation Podcast and the horror movie-centric It’s Only a Podcast.

Kids Playing Kids: Looper

Looper is one of those movies that we have to really pin people down to watch. Some people bristle at the mere mention Bruce Willis' name, others watched a trailer and were less than enthused. But we have yet to screen this movie for someone who didn't enjoy it, and most of those people list the kid's performance as one of the top reasons for loving it.

The plot unfolds something like this: In the future, time travel is real and immediately outlawed. But that doesn't stop mob organizations 30 years into the future from sending their hits back to present day 2044 to have them disposed of by contracted Loopers. Once a looper's 30 year contract runs out, the mob sends him back to be eliminated by his 2044 self. But lately, the loopers of the future are coming back with a deep desire to live, and that's when trouble starts.

Ok, but where does a kid come into this movie?: Well this is another genre mashing movie, sort of. The movie shifts gears pretty hard at one point, but never completely leaves behind it's original elements. In the second act Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character runs smack into Emily Blunt's character and her son, and the rest of the film focuses on the three of them.




The kid: Pierce Gagnon's performance stands out in a cast of seasoned actors. He's not just a precocious kid, he gives his character emotional depth that is compelling in every scene. There is no doubt that he will continue to have a career as long as he chooses to pursue it.



Bonus kid actor mention: Joseph Gordon-Levitt started acting when he was seven and hasn't slowed down since.

Third Clue: October's Screening

Clue #3: The kid who stars in this month's movie has had a solid acting career from the time he was 12 through to present day.

Tape Freaks Presents: October's Mystery Movie at the Trylon microcinema, Wednesday, October 5th@ 7:00pm, only $5!

****Purchase advance ticket here****

Kids Playing Kids: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

This movie started out as a giant ad campaign for a candy bar (the candy bar failed, if you're wondering), but became a cult classic in large part because of outstanding performances across the board. (I mean, also because it's a psychedelia nightmare movie, but still.)

The kids: Each kid is introduced with a caricature of bad manners (except Charlie). Each kid (except Charlie) is also accompanied by a sycophant parental chaperone who wittily or no, encourages that abhorrent trait in their child.

Willy Wonka: For most of the movie Wonka comes off as though he's everything short of murdering children. And for most of the adults watching it doesn't seem like a huge deal, which is kinda strange, especially since this is supposed to be a kid's movie.



Why that works: If the kid's performances hadn't been spot on, Wonka sending each one to certain death would have played as though he was a callous serial killer. But because the bratty, single minded, overindulgent and greedy characters are portrayed so well by the children (excluding Charlie), Willy Wonka comes off as less a killer and more like he's living out our darkest adult fantasies about how we would like to deal with ill-behaved children and their parental counterparts...



That's a shame: When the film came out critics who liked the film also glossed over the amazing performances from the kids, failing to even mention the performers by name.

Based on a kids book: Director Mel Stuart's 10 year old daughter was reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when she suggested he make the story into a movie with producer David L. Wolper. Wolper agreed and secured funding from the Quaker Oat's Company and they adapted the book into a musical. Quick recap: a 10 year old girl is responsible for this movie's existence!

Second Clue: October's Screening

Clue #2: The visual effects for this month's movie were done by an award winning effects artist who has worked with directors like Peter Jackson, Charles Band, and Larry Cohen.

Tape Freaks Presents: October's Mystery Movie at the Trylon microcinema, Wednesday, October 5th@ 7:00pm, only $5!

****Purchase advance ticket here****

Kids Playing Kids: Mixtape

Tim made a mixtape of 10 music cues taken from horror movies that feature kids, leave a comment if you can identify them all!