Burning Cane

Burning Cane delivers a thoughtful, unyielding statement here about generational trauma, the false promise of religion, and the dire circumstances facing the rural poor.

Youmans, who was 17 while making the film, presents not only an advanced visual language and style for his age but a striking emotional nuance in the portrayal of his characters...

Deeply moving and a little bit tragic.

This film feels like a grown man coming back and trying to understand his childhood. This [director] was 17!... It's deeply astonishing.

Even when the images edge toward the self-consciously authorial... there's always something to latch onto... "Burning Cane" also gets us excited about what else Youmans can do.

Youmans... depicts these harrowing emotional crises in dramatic fragments and shadow-drenched, often oblique images; they suggest his anguish at a legacy of male frustration, violence, rage, and self-destruction...

The Black Church, Toxic masculinity and alcoholism these are the themes that are examined in first time directors Philip Youmans drama Burning Cane.

It's quite a slow burn of a movie which will test some people's patience but it still deserves a watch regardless.

Stepping into the emotionally intense world of Burning Cane is like being stuck in blistering heat in rural Laurel Valley, Louisiana, where the movie takes place.

If every great story ends by starting a new story, then Phillip Youmans has succeeded on two levels with Burning Cane: we want to know what Helen has done. Even more, we want to know what Mr. Youmans will do next.