New to VOD this week: DON’T BLINK – ROBERT FRANK
Director:
Laura Israel
Premiere:
New York Film Festival 2015
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Palm Springs, Berlin, Portland, Hong Kong, Full Frame, IndieLisboa, Munich Dokfest, Provincetown, Jerusalem, Melbourne, London
About:
An impressionistic portrait of the pioneering documentary photographer and filmmaker.
Frank is best-known for his provocative, candid 1958 book of black-and-white photography, THE AMERICANS, produced over the course of a nine-month trip through 30 states, and as the director of the notorious unreleased 1972 Rolling Stones documentary, COCKSUCKER BLUES. Like that chronicle of the band’s 1972 tour, Israel takes a somewhat freeform approach here, rather than a traditional, strictly biographical one. As signaled by its title, the film barrages the viewer with examples of the artist’s striking work – sometimes too quickly, frankly – and otherwise peppers the proceedings with background and present-day scenes showing the still very active nonagenarian at work. While sometimes not wholly satisfying as a result, the effort is distinctive and matches its subject quite appropriately.
what (not) to doc 