St. Marla's Journal

A Collection of Film Writings

Welcome to St. Marla's Journal, a place where film is the main focus. This is an avenue for film reviews and film analysis. I made this so that I could share different views and ideas that film brings to people. I hope you enjoy the writings! Scroll to read more...

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Cameron Allison

Apr 1
2 min

Saint Frances: Prayers, Answered

Saint Frances is equal parts a sweet, sentimental film and a harsh reality check. The premise of 34-year-old Bridget, a woman recovering from an abortion and...

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Cameron Allison

Mar 26
1 min

Ziggy: A Solid Shot On Goal

“Ziggy” (10 min.) The story: A short exploration into the life and career of former soccer player Nenad “Ziggy” Zigante. Directed by D. Forest Gamble, this sw...

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Cameron Allison

Mar 21
10 min

Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker: An Analysis of Feminist Themes

B movies are often viewed as being campy, over the top, exploitative in content -- often, all of the above. Indeed, these low-budget films that have a better...

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Cameron Allison

Mar 21
2 min

Tuscaloosa: Where Toxic Relationships Thrive

Taking place in 1972, Tuscaloosa tells a story intertwining tensions about the Vietnam war, race, and toxic relationships. The vessel that ties these themes ...

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Cameron Allison

Mar 10
2 min

Escape from Pretoria: I Need a (Prison) Break

Escape from Pretoria tells the real-life story of Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber), two white South African political prisoners w...

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Cameron Allison

Mar 9
2 min

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn): Self Love Soars

By St. Marla's Journal contributor Emily-Ann Elizabeth Trautman Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a twist on the age old...

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Cameron Allison

Feb 19
2 min

Ride Your Wave: Good Grief (No, Really)

Coming from visionary director Masaaki Yuasa, Ride Your Wave is the latest film in an impressive filmography. Yuasa’s other recent films — the colorful and sw...

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Cameron Allison

Feb 10
3 min

Santa Sangre: Holy Blood, Rush Through My Tainted Mind

Coming from Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santa Sangre stands as an inspiring, disturbing and frustratingly somewhat inaccessible mark on his resume. Santa Sangre te...

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Cameron Allison

Jan 19
2 min

White Snake: What Is A Memory Worth?

White Snake is an adaptation of the Chinese fable Legend of the White Snake. The film follows a snake-demon named Blanca who loses her memory and goes on a q...

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Cameron Allison

Jan 18
2 min

Frozen II: The Snow Queen Reigns Supreme

Frozen II is the sequel nobody asked for. Nobody. The first film became a classic and one of Disney’s staples in animation. For all the acclaim it was gettin...

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Cameron Allison

Jan 16
2 min

Weathering with You: Is There Still Anything Love Can Do?

Weathering with You adds to Makoto Shinkai’s impressive resume. Key to its appeal is animation so visually striking that it’s sometimes difficult to tell whe...

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Cameron Allison

Nov 21, 2019
2 min

JoJo Rabbit: One Step, Two Step

JoJo Rabbit is a film with a formula nobody would expect to work. A wannabe 10-year-old Nazi whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler finds out his mother is h...

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Cameron Allison

Oct 22, 2019
4 min

5 Centimeters per Second: An Analysis of Stagnation (Spoilers Ahead)

5 Centimeters per Second isn’t a story about moving on. Its ambiguous ending leaves little hope for even the most optimistic viewer. What this 63-minute film...

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Cameron Allison

Oct 9, 2019
2 min

Miss Hokusai: Life is Like a Painting

Production I.G. has an impressive filmography including every FLCL season, a short from Gotham Knight, and the ever-so popular Bunny Drop (you know, the one w...

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Cameron Allison

Sep 8, 2019
3 min

Promare: Burning Spirit Prevails

Promare is Studio Trigger’s debut film, after out stellar anime such as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia. The film follows a firefighter named Galo Thy...

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Cameron Allison

Sep 2, 2019
2 min

Kingdom: Who Will Rise? What Will Fall?

Kingdom follows Xin, a slave who aspires to be the world’s greatest general alongside his friend Piao. Piao is drafted by the kingdom to serve the king, only...

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Cameron Allison

Aug 29, 2019
2 min

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles: Fearing and Embracing Surrealism and Reality

The story of Luis Buñuel’s venture in the realm of documentary in the form of Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan, provides a provocative narrative to say the least. ...

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Cameron Allison

Aug 28, 2019
2 min

Cool World: What's Up Hot Stuff?

First and foremost, it is essential to say Cool World is not Who Framed Roger Rabbit? In any sense. Aside from both films blending live-action and 2-D animat...

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Cameron Allison

Aug 19, 2019
2 min

Microwave Massacre: No Warm Meals

A man fed up with his wife’s cooking becomes extremely enraged one day and he kills her and eats her instead. Then another woman, so on and so forth. This is...

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Cameron Allison

Jul 26, 2019
2 min

Paprika: The Spice of Dreams and Reality

Satoshi Kon’s fourth and final film Paprika presents itself as a psychological thriller by way of an in-depth mystery that explores the psyches of its charac...

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