Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, February 25:
AFTER PARKLAND
Directors:
Emily Taguchi and Jake Lefferman
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Traverse City, Denver, Camden, Martha’s Vineyard, AFI Docs, Key West
About:
A profile of several survivors and family members as they reckon with the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
photo by Guy Le Querrec
Director:
Stanley Nelson
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Sydney, Miami, Cleveland, Atlanta, RiverRun, Montclair, Krakow, Seattle, Munich, Indielisboa, Tallgrass, Milwaukee,
About:
An expansive portrait of the life and work of the jazz pioneer.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
photo by Washington Post
Director:
Jacqueline Olive
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Full Frame, RiverRun, Dallas, Salem, Minneapolis-St Paul, Oxford, Sun Valley, Cleveland, Indie Grits, Atlanta, Freep, Florida, Thin Line, San Francisco, Bentonville, Provincetown, AFI Docs, BlackStar
About:
An interrogation of the disturbing, lasting legacy of lynching in America.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, February 21:
ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND
Director:
Daniel Roher
World Premiere:
Toronto 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Boulder, Miami Jewish, Calgary
About:
A candid recounting of the history of the legendary music group.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
The Band got started as a group of musicians backing up Bob Dylan on tour, but grew into a legend in their own right, starting with the 1968 album Music from the Big Pink (recorded in Woodstock) and culminating in their 1976 farewell concert filmed by Martin Scorsese for THE LAST WALTZ. In the aftermath, The Band members went their separate ways, battling addiction and broken friendships, never recapturing their original bonds.
Filmmaker Daniel Roher focuses on The Band’s founder Robbie Robertson, who started opening up in his candid book TESTIMONY: A MEMOIR. Robertson gives an emotional account of The Band’s history, artistry, and the tensions that divided fellow members Garth Hudson and the now-deceased Levon Helms, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel. We hear other testimonies from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, and Scorsese (also the film’s executive producer) who decode the magic of The Band’s haunting songs such as “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
Even for casual listeners, this film is eye-opening for its portrayal of the magical years when The Band shared a deep brotherhood and created music that left a lasting mark.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD this week:
STRAIGHT/CURVE: REDEFINING BODY IMAGE
Director:
Jenny McQuaile
World Premiere:
June 2017 (EPIX broadcast)
Select Festivals:
Julian Dubuque, Gold Coast
About:
An exploration of the impact of unrealistic standards of beauty on perceptions of body image.
As suggested by the title of Jenny McQuaile’s documentary, her focus on body image is intimately connected to the fashion industry, where “straight” refers to industry standard-sized models – unrealistically thin but supposedly aspirational for the everyday person – while “curve” denotes models outside of this range and closer to the body type of most people. Size itself, however, is not the only industry-wide standard of beauty, of course, as people of color and older individuals have also tended to be excluded. Combined, this extremely limited definition of acceptable beauty has contributed to feelings of inadequacy and worse for those who don’t seem to fit the model, particularly young women whose inculcated insecurities drive multibillion dollar industries of weight loss, cosmetic surgery, and fashion. McQuaile assembles a range of experts, from fashion industry insiders and academics to non-standard-sized models and other advocates, to weigh in on the damaging impact of these unrealistic standards, and, importantly, to fight back with an empowering message of diversity, countering the flood of harmful images with a celebratory fashion shoot and exhibition deliberate in its inclusivity. While addressing a familiar issue, the film offers refreshing positivity and energy that helps to set it apart.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week:
SCANDALOUS
Director:
Mark Landsman
World Premiere:
Hamptons 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Austin, Kansas, Denver
About:
An exploration of the influential tabloid, the National Enquirer.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD this week:
THE TRUTH ABOUT MARRIAGE
Director:
Roger Nygard
World Premiere:
Orlando 2018
Select Festivals:
Kansas City, Worldfest Houston, Cinequest, Breckenridge, Twin Cities
About:
The filmmaker explores why marriages succeed or fail.
Director Roger Nygard, who serves as a superfluous onscreen interviewer as well as narrator, wants to explore why marriages don’t work for half of all newlyweds, and why each couple thinks they’re the exception. He sort of follows three couples over several years, but largely intersperses interviews with numerous others, including friends and therapists/relationship experts. The three couples include a briefly shown older man/younger mail-order-bride who divorce pretty quickly; a polyamorous couple who seem to be doing fine after a few years; and an obnoxious white American rapper who womanizes his way through Brazil only to end up getting a woman pregnant and becoming a dad. Topics covered include the history of marriage and property laws, marriage for love as a modern invention, what causes attraction, power struggles in relationships, the importance of sex, monogamy, cheating, and the deeper reasons why people marry, such as companionship. Unfortunately, the project is incredibly basic and old-fashioned in its non-stop talking heads/survey approach to documentary storytelling, and comes off like a cross between a how-to educational film and subpar therapy sessions.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
