Krisha goes to show how easily suckered critics are these days, its reception has left me baffled. There's no depth to this film, only the illusion of it. No 'brave new voice', just a few formal flourishes, certainly nothing stylistic you haven't already seen.There's no shade or development to Krisha's character whatsoever; despite the best efforts of the actor, we leave the film knowing the same information about her as when we began. When there is neither plot or character progression (certainly not prerequisites for good cinema in my book) a film has to arrest the viewer with something else. In this case, if viewing a sustained single note of miserablism is what thrills you, it's right here, knock yourself out.Personally, I found the dread tone and nausea effective for around thirty minutes, at which point I wanted more. I wanted to watch A Woman Under the Influence and Festen again.

Terrible movie. I saw many of the reviewers rated this movie because of its realism? The soundtrack punishes you the entire movie.And there was no substance to really follow. I'm usually all for these one-off, real-type movies (then again, if I wanted real life or somebody else problems, I wouldn't sit down in front of the TV to watch this nonsense).Sure.. go ahead, watch it. Don't say I didn't warn you. Whatever the length of the movie in wasted time.This was a complete waste of time.. and I've seen pretty terrible movies like that movie where Samuel Jackson is the bad neighbour? Yeah, this beat that out 1000x over.

As an aspiring filmmaker, I cannot help but feel as if I relate to the debut filmmaker Trey Edward Shults. This film is heavily stylized and intense, and I feel that if I were able to make my own low budget film it would turn out to be something like this. The film focuses on extreme emotions, making the audience feel somewhat warm and humored at first, but completely crushed by the final shot. The film is overall extremely ambitious in its approach, due to Shults' use of long takes, black humor, and an atmosphere that contains both heavy realism and surrealism. "Krisha", one of the finest and funniest films to come out last year, is not only a beautifully made film but also the most earth shatteringly heartbreaking portrait of addiction since "Requiem for a Dream". It takes place during Thanksgiving as a family prepares for the holiday. One somewhat special member of the family has visited this year, Krisha, an old woman who has been absent of their presence for 10 years. This brilliant, harrowing shocker combines elements of humor and horror to craft a modern miracle. Unfortunately, this masterpiece is quite obscure and underrated-but I must urge anyone stumbling across my review to check it out immediately! It is a jaw droppingly fantastic work of art.

Where to begin? . . . . Cinema, at its best, is an experience. It is a medium through which the viewer is engaged; titillated, repulsed, shocked, confounded, angered, humored or otherwise incited to feel any number of emotions among the spectrum of the human experience. As an avid movie- watcher, it is sometimes easy to forget the potential and power of the medium.Going into the film, I knew close to nothing: something about a thanksgiving dinner complicated by an estranged and drug-addled family member. I had no expectations other than to be entertained, which has unfortunately become the basic function of most mainstream filmmaking. One and a half hours later, I was absolutely floored. Mouth agape and scrambling to find out who the cast and director were, as well of the title of an immaculately applied Nina Simone track in one of the most poignant scenes I remember having seen in a long time.The film's 27-year-old director (writer and editor to boot) Trey Edward Schults exhibits such a masterful technical literacy in the editing and execution of this film, it is hard to believe that it is his first feature. I am so pleased to see a filmmaker who is so consciously aware that the camera, not the actors, is the primary storyteller. It reminds me that the director is still the auteur, and not just a shot-manager who is paid to dress up performances.Even so, Krisha Fairchild's performance will forever be burned into my brain. It is not always easy to watch, as it surely was not easy to perform, but even if the film's execution had been otherwise mediocre, it would still be worth the rental price to watch this gem in action.I hope I've piqued any prospective viewers' interest. I will keep it short from here on out. I give the film 9 out of 10 stars for several reasons.1. Aforementioned Shults' direction and Fairchild's performance. 2. The film's testament to the fact that vision and execution will always trump budget and star- power. Let that be a lesson to the industry! 3. The soundtrack is unique and extremely emotionally manipulative.I hope Mr. Schults will grow and continue to do very promising things in the future. I also hope that other young independent film-makers like Shults will emerge, paying homage to the greats (as Shults seemed to have done with the Shining here) while offering their own novel and idiosyncratic language. Bravo.