Coming to theatres this Friday, December 1:
THE NEW RADICAL
Director:
Adam Bhala Lough
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Sidewalk, Philadelphia, Indie Memphis, Stockholm
About:
A profile of two crypto-anarchists as they face off against systems of control.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD this Friday, December 1:
MADDMAN: THE STEVE MADDEN STORY
Director:
Ben Patterson
Premiere:
University of Michigan (October 2017)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC
About:
About the successful shoe designer, before and after prison.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Ben Patterson tells the unlikely rags to riches story of Steve Madden, who went from selling shoes out of the trunk of his car to becoming the mogul of a billion-dollar designer footwear empire. Then, at the height of his success, he was sentenced to prison because of his entanglement with Jordan Belfort, the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street,” as recounted in the Martin Scorsese film. This candid film offers a look at how the colorful, genuine Madden rebuilt his empire and his life following his release.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, December 1:
32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE
Director:
Hope Litoff
Premiere:
Hot Docs 2017
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Provincetown, Biografilm, San Francisco Jewish, Woodstock, Denver, Cork, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Boston Jewish
About:
A filmmaker confronts her grief over the loss of her sister.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Years after the suicide of her sister Ruth, a talented but troubled artist, director Hope Litoff tries to make sense of her loss. Renting a studio, Hope begins a meticulous forensic investigation of the belongings Ruth left behind, filling the space with her artwork, diaries, datebooks, and a pharmacy’s worth of prescription-drug bottles. Confronting her grief yields no simple answers and instead threatens to lead Hope on a precarious collision course with her own inner demons.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 28:
MACHINES
Director:
Rahul Jain
Premiere:
IDFA 2016
Select Festivals:
Sundance, Thessaloniki Doc, Hot Docs, DocsBarcelona, Docaviv, Beldocs, Documenta Madrid, Docs Against Gravity
About:
On the lives of Indian textile factory workers.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to Starz tonight, Monday, November 27:
WOMAN ON FIRE
Director:
Julie Sokolow
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2016
Select Festivals:
Thessaloniki Doc, Atlanta, Bentonville, Kansas City, Oxford, Florida, Workers Unite, Frameline, LGBT fests in Boston, Toronto, Austin, Seattle, Memphis, Fresno, Chicago
About:
A profile of a pioneering transgender firefighter.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, November 27:
METH STORM
Directors:
Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nashville, Geneva
About:
A candid, on-the-ground exploration of Arkansas’s meth epidemic.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the Renaud brothers’ compelling look at the dark realities of America’s war on drugs, DEA agents face the Sisyphean task of curbing the influx of Mexican ice, a more potent form of meth, into poor, rural communities in Arkansas. On the other side of the law, the film profiles Veronica, a longtime user, as well as her addict sons, providing unforgettable, candid insight on the devastating personal impact of addiction.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
© Apple Corps
Director:
Francis Hanly
Premiere:
BBC/PBS (June 2017)
About:
An in-depth analysis of The Beatles’ influential 1967 album.
Originally debuting this Summer, timed to the 50th anniversary of the release of SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEART’S CLUB BAND, this made-for-TV project returns to PBS as a companion to the public television debut of Ron Howard’s THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK – THE TOURING YEARS. Structured like a musicology lesson overseen by on-air host Howard Goodall, a composer and music historian, the film serves as a deep dive into seven key songs from the revolutionary album, developed right after the end of those touring years. Freed from the need to create music they could perform live, the band let loose with experimentation, pushing the limits of studio recording technology at the time to create an album unlike any other. While some of the visual effects used during Goodall’s on-screen commentary tend toward the cheaper side, the historian presents a treasure trove of audio material and background information that ably demonstrates the innovation and inspiration at the heart of songs “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite,” “Penny Lane,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Lovely Rita,” “A Day in the Life,” and “She’s Leaving Home,” even if the insidery detail provided might be best appreciated by musicians more than the casual viewer.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
© Apple Corps
Director:
Ron Howard
Premiere:
London (September 2015)
About:
A look back at the heyday of Beatlemania.
Taking on an iconic band about which virtually everything already has been uncovered and dissected in countless books, articles, films, and television programs, Ron Howard inevitably will not please all viewers. As clearly signaled by its title, his film is limited in scope to a few short years, 1962-1966, which saw the Fab Four move beyond the UK and take America, and the rest of the world, by storm, until the chaotic nature of their live performances proved to be too much for the band. As an official Apple Corps project, Howard benefits by being able to use notoriously difficult to license music and footage, but also understandably avoids any real controversy with which die-hard Beatles fans – the primary, nostalgic audience here – are already very familiar anyway. What the film does, and does well, is serve as an engaging and enjoyable reminder of the scale of Beatlemania and its unprecedented impact on popular culture.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 24:
WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS
Director:
Ramsey Denison
Premiere:
Cinequest 2017
About:
An exposé of corruption within the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
When filmmaker Ramsey Denison witnessed members of the LVMPD abusing a handcuffed suspect, he reported the incident. In return, he was beaten and arrested himself, and later discovered that evidence that could corroborate his version of events was suspiciously unavailable. Spurred by a sense of injustice, Denison wisely broadened his scope beyond his own story to launch an investigation into other abuses of police power, focusing on several cases where suspects lost their lives to law enforcement under questionable circumstances. Looking into these deaths, and the subsequent police response, the film posits the existence of a disturbing pattern of corruption and cover-up that should give viewers pause when they think about the supposed carefree reputation of Sin City.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week:
SAVING JAMAICA BAY
Director:
David Sigal
Premiere:
Queens World 2016
Select Festivals:
Berkshire, Environmental fests in Washington DC and Princeton
About:
A profile of an underacknowledged section of NYC that was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Jamaica Beach is located on the edge of NYC near JFK and, until Hurricane Sandy, was a working class community that took pride in itself and its environment. Accessible by subway, it includes a National Wildlife Refuge and is a huge open green space, larger than any other area in NYC. Sandy devastated the community, ruining homes and leading many residents to move away. Others have stayed, pledging to rebuild, and take on the mission to fight for the replenishment of the marshes that could have helped to mitigate the power of the storm. Various residents, riverkeepers, scientists, and others are profiled in this earnest environmental project, which remains of primarily local interest.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 