Reviews

Awkwafina gives an amazing performance, proving she can more than handle being the lead and giving a dramatic performance. This film deals with a topic that in a way can be felt in any culture. This is the topic of whether or not it's right to reveal a secret and possibly worry the person who you want to tell or keep it to yourself to shoulder that burden. What I love about this film is how everyone expresses at times subtle and at other times clear concern of their secret being revealed to their terminally ill matriarch. Props to everyone in this film, especially Awkwafina who I believe should be featured in many future films as she gives a stellar performance.

Pamela Green has done an incredible job showcasing the works of one of the most important figures in Cinema History, Alice Guy-Blache. From the clips of her films at Gaumont to her own studio Solax, Be Natural shines a light on a woman who for decades has been largely forgotten by mainstream audiences. One of my favorite scenes in the film was watching the attempts to recreate a couple of Alice Guy-Blache's films using the same camera she used. Using a camera that needed to be cranked at just the right speed to see real time speed on film makes you appreciate how much easier it is to film things today. As a student of film history, I want every moviegoer, whether they be casual or avid, to see this film and understand what Alice Guy-Blache contributed to the world of cinema. Pamela Green shows so many clips of unseen interviews with the director herself which gives you a good understanding of how she saw her own career. She's an inspiration to all aspiring filmmakers, women espeically. In the early 20th Century, Alice Guy-Blache was a woman who not only owned her own studio, but she was also a director, producer, screenwriter and actress to name a few. She also was one of the few who experimented with sound before Warner Bros perfected it with The Jazz Singer. She experimented with color tinting, special effects, and even had interracial casting which was unheard of at the time. Amazing job to everyone involved with this film, especially Pamela Green and a big thank you to the late great Alice Guy-Blache.