By Kyle Flynn

All The Empty Rooms:

All The Empty Rooms documents the empty bedrooms of children who died in mass shootings amid the ever-growing crisis of gun violence in the United States. I found the film to be slightly emotionally manipulative in tone and structure; rarely do we get any form of real introspection into the aftermath, mentally of the families. It may have played better for me as a full documentary. For the most part, the film really is just going from room to room and recording the images. 

3/5

Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud:

To me, Brent Renaud is a hero. The work he did documenting Ukraine, which led to his death, is heartbreaking and will always strike a chord with me. However, this documentary short film says nothing about Brent, and concerning his work, the footage is organized in a way that keeps him at arm’s length from the audience. An unsatisfying vanity project made by his sibling. 

2/5

Children No More: Were and Are Gone:

A nothing-burger. Structurally not as in-depth into the deaths of children in Gaza as you would hope or expect. All the commentary was recorded from dissenters to the protests in the latter half of the short film, but it doesn’t serve as an effective foil, given the current understanding we have of the conflict and how they portray the efforts at the start of the film. Above all, my primary complaint is that it doesn’t have anything new to say about the ongoing genocide being carried out by Israel against Palestine. There is no purpose in watching this, and I didn’t learn anything from it that couldn’t be seen on the news or in a Wikipedia article. 

2.5/5

The Devil Is Busy:

The strongest documentary of the five. Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton. The former of which directed the film The Perfect Neighbor. The Devil Is Busy is a heart-wrenching account of a woman named Tracy who runs the operations of an Atlanta Abortion Clinic. We see how she handles women in need, protestors, and we hear her personal journey. It touched me and worked well for showcasing what essential workers are going through amidst are divisive political climate.

3.5/5

Perfectly a strangeness: 

I like Donkeys. Not much to say here really, but follows donkeys wandering around an abandoned astronomical observatory. It’s very cute. The cinematography is breathtaking, and it takes its time with the structure. Hard not to enjoy this one.

3.5/5