What's Up @ the Montclair Film Festival

The Montclair Film Festival, which runs through May 12, is North Jersey's ticket to seeing quality films. This year the Festival has drawn some top names such as Olympia Dukakis speaking about the doc, "Olympia" as well as Mindy Kaling, chatting about her film "Late Night," which she wrote and is starring in opposite the extraordinary Emma Thompson.

There are many diverse offerings at this year's Fest. Here are a few pics.

Opening the Fest was Tom Harper's "Wild Rose" easily one of 2019's best films to date, starring a dynamic Jessie Buckley as a troubled young woman from Glasgow who dreams of being a country singer. Julie Walters lends her brilliant support. The film opens in June.

The aforementioned "Late Night," directed by Nisha Ganatra, centers on a late night talk show host (a spot on Thompson) whose ratings are in decline. Kaling plays her new hire, filled with fresh ideas that shake things up amongst the all-boys-club writing staff. It's a very funny and insightful film that should have had more bite. But Thompson elevates it every time she is onscreen.

Dome Karukoski's "Tolkien" examines the titular author's early years as a student and then a soldier in WW2. "Tolkien" is an inspirational and compelling piece of cinema with wonderful performances anchored by Nicholas Hoult's mesmerizing turn. Hoult and Lily Collins lead a q&a, which will be broadcast into cinemas around the U.S.

Among the feature films screening, Hannah Pearl Utt's "Before You Know It" focuses on two sisters (Utt & co-writer Jen Tullock) trying to keep their playwright dad's (Mandy Patinkin) off-off-Broadway theater afloat. Judith Light steals all her scenes in this enjoyable dramedy.

Mary Harron's "Charlie Says" is yet another look at the Manson gang, this time via three of its female members. Matt Smith and Merritt Wever stand out in a film that sheds little new light on the 1969 culture-shifting crimes but is fascinating nonetheless.

Among the LGBTQ-themed docs, Daniel Karslake's urgent and heartbreaking, "For They Know Not What They Do," chronicles four faith-based true stories about the devastating effects of religious fundamentalism on LGBTQ children.

In "Gay Chorus Deep South," David Charles Rodrigues takes us on a post-Trump-election journey with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus through the Deep South. This film is a potent call for unity.

Harry Mavromichalis's empowering and delightful doc, "Olympia" shines an honest light on Montclair's own (via her Whole Theater) Olympia Dukakis. This groundbreaking Oscar winner tells it like it is when it comes to her life and career. "Olympia" is a celebration of a woman forging her own path at a time when it was simply not done.

Finally, one of the most powerful and certainly the best film of 2019 I've seen to date (which was also featured at Tribeca) is Guy Nattiv's "Skin," based on real events which explores the life of a white supremacist who seeks to change his violent ways when he meets the love of his life. "Skin" is not an easy sit but it's a transformative one and Jamie Bell's astonishing embodiment is one for the cinema pantheon. Vera Farmiga is chilling as his adoptive mother and Danielle McDonald excels as his eventual wife.

My only issue with the Montclair Film Festival is that if they are going to continue to screen films at the Wellmont Theater (where concerts are usually held), they need to acquire a larger screen and fix the sound system for those stuck in the upper balcony. I recall being a teen and having sound issues at the Wellmont. I hadn't been back since. And I will not be returning to that venue anytime soon. Luckily, most Fest films screen at the Clairidge.

Visit the event's website for more info.