Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to PBS’s Reel South tomorrow, Thursday, May 16:
THE WELL-PLACED WEED

Directors:
Steve Bransford and Cooper Sanchez

Premiere:
Indie Grits 2018

Select Festivals:
Macon

About:
A portrait of an eccentric Southern gardener.

The subject of Steve Bransford and Cooper Sanchez’s film, Ryan Gainey, was a well-known local figure in Atlanta and other parts of the American South, and achieved a small measure of wider renown via appearances on PBS gardening specials. Filmed over several years, this portrait captures the garden designer as he reckons with damage to his Decatur home, well-known for its expansive garden, and sets up a more modest environment in Lexington GA. Interviews with Rainey and friends reveal a sometimes friendly, sometimes cantankerous eccentric, born to a poor South Carolina family, ostracized for being gay at school, but who came into his own as a garden designer to the rich in 1970s Atlanta. Gainey comes off as performative at times, and the film has a rough feel, never quite finding a compelling central thread, resulting in an acceptable but not particularly memorable profile.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, May 15:
PARALLEL LOVE: THE STORY OF A BAND CALLED LUXURY

Director:
Matt Hinton

Premiere:
Covellite 2018

Select Festivals:
Newport Beach, St Louis, Southern Circuit

About:
The unusual history of alt-rock band Luxury, from its 1990s origins to the present.

The members of the band that would become known as Luxury met in a Christian college in Toccoa GA. Though they signed with independent Christian rock label Tooth & Nail Records, their music was not particularly concerned with religious or spiritual messages, and, instead, pushed the boundaries of acceptable content, with lyrics suggesting ambiguous sexuality. Gaining attention and an audience locally, the band saw their dreams of stardom be upended after a major vehicular accident while touring, and within a few years, the bandmates went their separate ways. When they reunite several years later, three of the five musicians have become ordained Orthodox priests in the intervening years, the accident having had a major impact on their worldview. Matt Hinton’s film takes a loving, if at times somewhat insular, view of Luxury, with which most viewers likely will not be that familiar. Still, the bandmates come off as very appealing, charismatic subjects, particularly lead singer Lee Bozeman, and the unusual path they took to embracing religion, while not as central a topic as it could have been, makes this an intriguing portrait that elevates it beyond the typical rock band doc.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, May 14:
CIRCLE UP

Director:
Julie Mallozzi

Premiere:
Rhode Island 2017

Select Festivals:
GlobeDocs, Peace on Earth, Sedona

About:
A woman whose son was brutally killed practices restorative justice.

In 2001, Janet Connors learned that her 19-year-old son, Joel, had been stabbed to death. A low-level drug-dealer, Joel had been targeted by a rival gang. As Julie Mallozzi’s project shows, rather than allow her grief to turn to vengeance, Janet sought a more positive solution, even after one of the four young men who were charged with Joel’s murder was set free. She reached out to the perpetrators and offered not only forgiveness, but hope that they could turn their lives around. Over the past 18 years, Janet has formalized this kind of restorative justice by borrowing from Native American traditions and setting up peace circles – forums in which individuals impacted by violence can discuss their feelings and look for better ways to move forward. Mallozzi’s earnest film is best when it’s focused on Janet, stumbling when it instead expands its own circle to try to include other perspectives without providing enough space to fully explore these additional stories.