LA VERONICA – ★★

If you want to watch a film about a woman who wants to be a lipstick brand ambassador more than anything else, and willing to pretty much sacrifice anything to do so, then I guess maybe this movie is for you. While it was interestingly filmed, with the lead in the centre of the frame throughout, it wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of character development or depth to keep me interested.

FRESHMAN YEAR (aka “Shithouse”) – ★★★☆

Pretty amazing film given that it was screen-written, directed, co-edited, and acted by Cooper Raiff who’s in his early 20s as far as I can tell. In the first minute I feared that I was going to be subjected to a mumblecore bore, but it quickly turned around. It’s about a freshman who’s having trouble adjusting to his first year of college, and has some resemblance to ‘Before Sunrise’. If I could have changed one thing, I would have ended it five minutes sooner than it did and cut the epilogue out. But I am looking forward to seeing what he does next.