Buzz - Reviews

Sims is an up and coming screenwriter to watch.


Script Magazine

What Harmony Korine did for white trash in Gummo, Brent Sims and John Taylor do for wanna-be thug-life in “Becoming Vex”.   Playing like a live-action version of Jim Goad’s magazine “Answer Me,” this feature is an uncompromising look at our misanthropic society with a message that clearly rings.


"BECOMING VEX - 4 star review by film threat(filmthreat.com)
by Eric Campos

"BECOMING VEX is courageous...pushes the boundaries of what is permissible in modern cinema...powerful and intense."
Robert Hawk, Indie Film Advisor, Associate Producer Chasing Amy, Sundance advisor

(indieWIRE/ 03.05.02) FESTIVAL: Cinema Returns to Silicon Valley, as Cinequest Continues to Impress -by G. Allen Johnson
American movies: Brent A. Sims' virtuoso and hard-edged filmmaking performance on digital Beta, "Becoming Vex,'' about street kids world premieres at this year's fest.

"Director, Brent Sims' work is always arresting, uncompromising and controversial."
Al Owens - Cinequest International Film Festival

"Words do not express how much we love Becoming Vex and the power of its maverick vision."
Mike Rabehl, Programming Director, Cinequest International Film  Festival

"Silence is a groundbreaking short film reminiscent of the silent era shoot with groundbreaking technology."
Millimeter Magazine
 
"An amazing and good example of the future of new technology that will take over Hollywood is the short film, Silence, by Brent Sims and John Taylor that was featured as part of D.Film's tour at the first digital showcase at the Cannes International Film Festival, the film looks raw but effective, oddly recalling the silent-film era."
WIRED Magazine: Life After Hollywood- by Rob Kenner

"A true example of a passionate filmmaking..."
Variety review of Gutter Punks world premiere at Hamptons International Film Festival.

"One of the best documentaries in years…Sims creates a vision of hope in this life affirming look at homeless teens…moving."
Hollywood Reporter review at Hamptons International Film Festival.

"Brent Sims, director/writer, and John A. Taylor, producer, took the opportunity after their screening of Gutter Punks, a heart-wrenching depiction of New Orleans street kids, to preview their lyrical short, Silence, which was the first short film shot with a Nintendo Gameboy. Gutter Punks was ultimately one of the lucky ones, walking away with an international distribution deal."
Filmmaker Magazine: Sundance Issue, Volume 7, #2.

"We were looking for good stories and original vision and Sims' vision was one of the best we'd seen this year, obviously a distributor agreed with Gutter Punks vision. "
Screen Magazine:  Interview with Chicago Alt Film Fest Director Dennis Neal Vaughn on programming Gutter Punks at festival.

"Sims' Gutter Punks is a fascinating street-level collection of portraits that probes deep enough to render vulnerability within faces that are commonly associated only with nihilism and apathy."
San Francisco Bay Guardian; March 11, 1998; by Jesse Malings / Review for True Stories Film Arts Foundation Showing.

"Regardless of how you feel about ''street people,'' Brent Sims' depiction about homeless teenagers and young adults in New Orleans will open your eyes to a world few of us have experienced and even fewer want to…The first-time director, Brent Sims, is 23, but his youth does not mean a lack of maturity. He creates a life-affirming statement about the resilience of youth."
The Times Picayune-June 16, 2000; Review of Gutter Punks premiere showing in New Orleans.  By Michael H. Kleinschrodt.

"Gutter Punks succeeds in capturing its subjects' essential humanity with tales of childhood abuse, mental illness and a hard-won subsistence on the streets. Your heart breaks when several teens make excuses for the parents who had abused them, taking the blame themselves.  This film receives a four out of four stars, Sims' is an up and coming filmmaker to watch."
Indiewire; 2/12/99, by Gina de Miranda.

"You can't get much more low-tech than this documentary but you can't get much more intense. Brent Sims takes us into the world of day by day survival for homeless New Orleans teenagers and young adults: gutter punks. Through candid and moving interviews, Gutter Punks explores the facade of freedom to lay bare a barren landscape of frustration and alienation. Whether abused as children, on the run, drifting or just trying street life on for size, these souls both reject social acceptance and yet crave comfort it has to offer. Sims puts himself in the frontline of raw emotions as his subjects explore their feelings toward each other, their environment and their future. Powerful and honest stuff, moving and wholly absorbing."
Ed Soohoo review of Gutter Punks at Cinequest International Film Festival

Featured in the following media outlets
Variety, Hollywood Reporter, CNN Online, Sundance Channel, Wired Magazine, Millimeter Magazine; New York Post, Washington Post, AP Wire, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Television, Business Report, The Advocate, Screen Magazine, IndieWire, Film Threat, Filmmaker Magazine, Independent Film and Video, Moviemaker, Screen, and MS NBC.