‘Passing’: Don’t pass on experiencing this delicate, complex friendship

“Passing” (2021) – Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) were high school friends.  Not close comrades, but dear enough to actively reach out if a future encounter ever occurs. At least 12 years after school, that day arrives for the two ladies during an ordinary afternoon at The Drayton Hotel, an upscale spot in New York City.  Irene and Clare both sit alone at small, circular tables with white linen covers, and bright daylight illuminates every inch of a large, open sunroom with 30-foot high ceilings.  They catch each…

AHFW’s Top 5 Sundance 2021 Films

Even though the Sundance Film Festival is a big deal and only a 90-minute flight away from Phoenix, I sadly never attended.  After growing up in Upstate NY, shoveling our 60-yard driveway hundreds of times and trudging through blizzards, ice storms, and 3-foot snowdrifts as a paperboy for five years, I tend to shy away from snowy, cold weather whenever possible.  (Living in and embracing one of the hottest cities in the country is reasonably reliable proof, don’t you think?) This year, however, I enrolled in Sundance 2021, and through…