International Family Film Festival
Raleigh Studios
Hollywood, California
November 7th-9th, 2014
The 19th Annual International Family Film Festival kicked off with a nice string of films and a wonderful reception in the Studio Cantina. It was held on the studio lot where shows like Castle and Major Crimes Unit film. As you made your way to the back, there was a special feeling getting to walk around sound stages and see movie-star trailers. The reality of being where films and t.v. shows are made, gave the experience a surreal feeling.
The I.F.F.F. marked its 8th year being held at Raleigh Studios. The event had a stellar selection of shorts, documentaries, features, Youth Fest! Showcase, industry panels and a Screenwriter’s Showcase.
I had the good fortune to catch an advanced screener of A Little Game.
*****
Review: A Little Game
Ostracized at her posh new uptown school and shaken by the death of her beloved grandmother, a 10-year-old downtown girl finds an unlikely mentor in the form of an irascible chess master, who uses the game to teach her lessons in resilience, perseverance, and how to embrace inevitable change.
Review: In a wonderful script filled with great metaphors and life-lessons, the film managed to avoid being sappy like a Hallmark channel movie. I was intrigued by the cast which included Oscar-winners F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus), Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck) and includes Ralph Macchio (My Cousin Vinny), Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites) and the new-soon-to be female star Makenna Ballard who plays the main character Max and won the festival’s Best Child Actor Award.
When you think of child actresses, names like Anna Paquin who snagged Oscar gold while doing the dance with Holly Hunter in The Piano. The wonderful cinematic images starring Dakota Fanning, who has held the screen with double Oscar-winners Denzel and Sean Penn, also come to mind as you watch Makenna Ballard.
Makenna Ballard, in this movie, goes to bat with Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham and she steals the show. This film’s great story of a working-class family, walks the line, but never dives into social issues like education, social separation and the new generation needing to pay more attention. The metaphor for the new generation’s attention span is told through the chess game Norman (Abraham) and Max (Ballard) play.
Excellent direction by Evan Oppenheimer who brought an incredible intelligence to every directorial choice. The best part of his direction was as a Yale Graduate (B.A. in English) and a NYU Film School Graduate and he never condescends the audience. His characters are working-class people with one or two snobby characters, but he keeps the line of humanity throughout the entire film. The sure-handed directorial choices paid off, as A Little Game won the Award for Best Family Drama.
You are in luck, A Little Game gets its theatrical release in N.Y.C. December 12th and is set for release to VOD/Netflix and Walmart in early January. I highly recommend this sweet, genuine, wonderful family drama that leaves you remembering why family films still have a place in cinema.
Article by Paul Booth
