After an E.R. doctor treats an injured boy, he is pulled into the world of gangs and street violence in the underbelly of Los Angeles.
Score: 5/10
Director / Writer:Attila Korosi
Starring:Attila Korosi, Michael Flores, Ishaan Bahri, Daniel Hovey, Angel Hovey, Robert LaSardo
Genre:crime drama, indie, experimental
Runtime:83 min
Release:2023
Excerpt
As long as the story is solid, the pacing is well managed and everything makes sense, it’s easy to rate an independent film. Unfortunately, this film failed to deliver on most of these metrics, but… I still liked it?
Follow the Leader
l-r: Adriana Guerrero, Sara Hovey, Angel Hovey, and Daniel Hovey. Cast who are also members of Alberto Guerrero’s immediate family. Live and Die in East LA is dedocated tp Alberto in memoriam.
Joining a gang seems like a lot of effort for little reward; still, many are still drawn to the allure of comraderie and illegal group activity andLive and Die in East LA is poised to act as both an homage and a deterrent. I love the renegade style of indie film and I’m happy to give a lot of grace to productions that can’t always deliver award winning performances or stellar special effects. As long as the story is solid, the pacing is well managed and everything makes sense, it’s easy to rate an independent film. Unfortunately, this film failed to deliver on most of these metrics, but… I still liked it?
Maybe it’s the potential and maybe it’s the collaboration with Homeboy Industries and GRYD (Gang Reduction & Youth Development) – two organizations looking to end gang violence in Los Angeles. Maybe it’s the authentic ex-gang members who are being so vulnerable and open with their stories, or maybe it’s the inventive animated interstitials that condemn selfishness and backstabbing through the metaphorical tale of an ambitious caterpillar (animated by the talented Mio Yamanaka)?
In the ruins of a burned-out church, a defeated and depressed musician debates existence with two irreverent puppet companions, while reliving the betrayal, artistic rejection, and failed romance that pushed him toward nihilism.
Score: 4/10
Director / Writer:Walter Santucci
Starring:Jack Grisham, Evelyn Vazquez, Tony Nittoli
Genre:experimental, short, indie, alternative
Runtime:66
Release:2026
Excerpt
I’m not sure that the viewer is supposed to see it as a metaphor of how depression can mess with memory and perspective. If I’m supposed to acknowledge the blinders Human has put around the situation, or am I supposed to believe him completely and be on his side. For a film so multilayered and unique production-wise, it feels like the same amount of care wasn’t paid to the story – if that’s what this actually is.
I Hate Myself and Want To Die
Human waxes
Puppeteering multihyphenate Walter Sanducci’s new film I’d Rather Be Turned Into Cat Food (2026) vacillates wildly between performance art, biopic, fever dream, therapy session and propaganda film. It’s unequal parts pleasure and pain wherein the pleasure of the film is the amazing soundtrack composed by Santucci, and artful editing, and the pain is… well first, let’s define pain. Sometimes sharp, sometimes dull, sometimes quick and other times lingering, pain is a universal feeling whose intensity and tolerance lies in the body of the beholder. This film is full of pain only it’s mistaken for self-awareness and introspection and the film may suffer because of it.
