Glenn Kenny called it the best American film he's seen so far this year. That's enough for me. http://www.rogerebert.com/festivals-and-awards/venice-film-festival-the-bad-batch-one-more-time-with-feeling

Guess I should bump A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night to the top of my watch queue finally, huh?

The director's name, according to the rogerebert.com, is Amirpour.

When I saw the post title I thought Christine made a documentary about Serin gas or something.

Thanks for letting me know. Embarrassing, lol.

Saw this last night at TIFF, not entirely sure how I feel about it. Not sure if anything I write below could spoil anything, but a warning just in case. Don't know what 'American' competition it could be up against, I can see how certain viewers can appreciate it's style but it's less mainstream accessible than I expected for some reason, dude sitting behind me was bored early on and I know where people like him are coming from (like my family's tastes) even if I don't feel the same.

Some other reviews have picked up on rather obvious Fury Road parallels, especially with the sparse dialogue, but I feel that's where this film disappoints me. The greatest lines seem to be the comedic ones, and the humourous moments are good, but I think it's a problem that they seem like the strength of the film. Nothing hit me like "Hope is a mistake..." did.

There's definitely a lot more going on in this film than dialogue that's great, but I feel uncertain about the intentions. There's only one set piece that presents a specific timeframe and its not what is expected and I couldn't really decipher it. Certain moments it feels rather grand and epic in scope and distance, but then the way certain things are presented makes it seem like everything is taking place in way too compact an area. I knew I wasn't going to get all the answers going in, but it feels like certain things are left behind within the story itself. Definitely see 'Girl' too no matter what, I do feel it's the better film personally even though it was awhile ago.

The most interesting thing I've taken away since it ended actually has to do with the lack of any sexual innuendo really. One of the bored folks behind me thought it could 'use a sex scene' which as a statement is stupid an unnecessary, but it feels like a very conscious decision that this world ALA created exists without rape or anything when you consider the context. It's possible she's not interested in shooting the usual pointless sex scene that you always expect in a film just for that reason alone, but I think it could be a bold statement that the people deemed unworthy of remaining in civilized American society does not include rapists despite all the other craziness that goes on.