This year, AFI Fest offered a massive and diverse selection of films to experience during their virtual even this year. From World Cinema selections like Farewell Amor and Wander Darkly to New Auteur films like The Boy Behind The Door and Jumbo to Special Presentations like The Father. There was no shortage of quality filmmaking and entertainment, and I’m happy that I had the opportunity to experience the films that I watched.

To cap off this extraordinary experience, here are capsule reviews for a handful of major titles that were presented during AFI Fest. Though I’m sad my experience at AFI Fest this year has ended now, I’m excited to share my thoughts on the films I experienced and hope you get the chance to see them as they release to the public, many in the coming months.

For my coverage of other AFI Fest movies, just click here.

Collective

The unfortunate circumstances regarding the fire that burned down the Colectiv nightclub are tragic, but the events that transpired following the tragedy are nothing short of abhorrent. That’s the story Collective covers - how egregious the insufficient efforts to treat and save the lives of the victims were.

Foregoing standard features of a documentary like a score or one-on-one interviews, Collective sticks almost exclusively to conversations, meetings, and press conferences of activists looking for justice for the event to convey the facts of the matter. It’s a piece that relies more on outrage than entertainment value in a heavy handed effort to get its point across.

For this reason - try as I might - I just could not enjoy this film. Dry and overlong, the appalling information presented was effective to convince me of how awful these medical transgressions were, but entirely ineffective in holding my attention for it’s 109 minute run time. Some viewers might invest themselves enough into this story to adopt the same level of outrage this documentary cultivates, but this particular presentation just wasn’t for me.

No Ordinary Man

Education about the difference between sexuality and identity is important. Even I as a man in a same sex marriage have a lot to learn about the transgender community and the intricacies involved in understanding individuals who identify with the latter letters of LGBTQIA+.

No Ordinary Man utilizes the story of Billie Tipton - an allegedly transgender musician whose death in the late 80’s unearthed his identity story - and transgender individuals familiar with his story to help illustrate what it means to be trans. His story is inspiring for the subjects interviewed

The documentary is a heartfelt educational experience. Extremely personal and never preachy, No Ordinary Man uses insight and experience of individuals living this underrepresented lifestyle to explain the challenges others in similar situations face, and thus, the even more strenuous challenges Billie Tipton must’ve faced in a less understanding era.

It’s entertaining, it’s informational, it’s intimate, it’s outstanding, No Ordinary Man is a stand-out documentary this year; one I highly recommend seeing.

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel

Here is another documentary meant to insight outrage and discontentment - this time though for the current state of business and technology. Similar in messaging to Netflix’s new documentary The Social Dilemma, The New Corporation takes the conversation beyond tech, analyzing and condemning the corporation’s perspective of society as a market and attention as a commodity to be purchased and manipulated. Co-directors Mark Achbar and The Magnitude of All Things’ Jennifer Abbott return to give a post-financial-crisis follow up to their shocking 2003 entry on the subject, The Corporation.

The topic of corporate power and social manipulation is certainly in need of robust conversation. That, unfortunately, is not what The New Corporation offers. With menacing Mr Robot styled narration and distressing speculation about corporate intentions, The New Corporation seems to exist just to instill paranoia about products and services consumers use on a regular basis. The doc identifies evils of conglomerate corporations with narrowminded focus on how they need to change and very little consideration with how consumers need to change.

Heavily biased and largely unproductive, The New Corporation fervently preaches to its loyal choir without offering constructive conversation about the topic. The film is likely to insight fury for how business operates and how money flows in today’s society, but without any sustainable solutions to the problem, audiences will likely watch it, quickly turn to their Apple device to express their outrage on Facebook, then flip their Samsung TV back to some Disney-owned programming.

I Carry You With Me

Tender, intimate, affectionate, I Carry You With Me portrays a relationship that neither societal judgement nor illegal immigration could (break up?). In the film, Ivan (Armando Espitia) is a closeted gay man who wants a better life so he can better support his child. But meeting Gerardo (Christian Vazquez) nearly derails his efforts, and illegally crossing the border seems to be his only way to move forward.

Ardently contradicting the “drug dealers, criminals, and rapists” rhetoric associated with illegal immigration, I Carry You With Me offers a first person perspective of the risks, loss, and consequences involved with making the heavy decision to cross the border in pursuit of a better life. Bolstered by incredibly strong yet (admirably?) subtle performances from it’s leading duo, Armando and Christian, I Carry You With Me sets itself apart from typical love stories.

Unfortunately, as admirable as it was to include the real life couple the story is based on, the flow of the third act suffers from the shift in tone for me. The non-linear storytelling is thoughtfully stitched together and works for the artistically crafted first two acts of the film. But means the third act toggles between this elegantly captured love story, and more documentary-styled present day footage, which was off-putting for me.

Others might appreciate this feature of the film more than I did, but regardless, I Carry You With Me is an undeniably inspirational story and a powerful display of storytelling from director Heidi Ewing.

Sound Of Metal

Thanks to his two prominent portrayals of musician with declining health conditions, Riz Ahmed has quickly become one of my favorite actors this year. In Sound of Metal, he plays heavy rock drummer, Ruben, who learns that he is losing his hearing at an inopportune time in his career. This, of course, affects his ability to play the live shows he and his band companion/girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke, Thoroughbreds) have scheduled, and despite his resistance to this new reality, he now has to learn how to find peace in this new chapter of his life.

It’s a standout performance for Riz, and I sincerely hope he is up for Oscar consideration this year. But Sound of Metal is also a monumental production for the deaf community. In the presentation of the film that I experienced, there was a creative decision made to subtitle verbal communication, but not subtitle sign language in a seemingly conscious effort to demonstrate the importance of accessibility.

The film presents themes that are relevant for both hearing-abled and hearing-impaired audiences. With a compelling story and powerful final moments in the conclusion, Sound of Metal is one of the year’s most distinguished films.

AFI FEST | Quick Takes On Hot Selections At AFI Fest

Collective

No Ordinary Man

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel

I Carry You With Me

Sound Of Metal