Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, March 22: THE WINDMILL MOVIE

A film more than twenty-five years in the making, THE WINDMILL MOVIE began as an autobiographical project by filmmaker Richard P Rogers, but was left unfinished upon his death in 2001. His former student, photographer Alexander Olch, was brought on to construct a film out of Rogers footage, and the result, his feature debut, had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in 2008 before going on to a theatrical run at Film Forum in the summer of 2009.

Given this background, THE WINDMILL MOVIE is nothing if not unusual – an autobiographical documentary created by someone else, using a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction to tell Rogers’ story – that of a skilled filmmaker who was nonetheless tortured by unfulfilled success, who carefully documented his life yet still managed to stop short of truly revealing himself. With the help of Rogers’ wife, photographer Susan Meiselas, Olch skillfully found a way to shape the hundreds of hours of footage into an intriguing, poignant, and evocative portrait – one that Rogers might frustratingly have been unable to create, but likely would have approved of. At the same time, the film offers a metacommentary into the construction of fact vs fiction, making it essential viewing for other documentary filmmakers.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday March 15: WASTE LAND

I offered my thoughts on Lucy Walker’s Oscar-nominated documentary upon its theatrical release here.

Coming to DVD this coming Tuesday, March 15: THE PARKING LOT MOVIE

Director Meghan Eckman made her documentary feature debut with this look at Charlottesville, VA’s Corner Parking and its many attendants through the years. The film premiered at SXSW last year and went on to screen at Hot Docs, BFI London, and RIDM, among others. It had a limited theatrical release via the reRun Gastropub Theater this past August and also screened on Independent Lens in the Fall.

THE PARKING LOT MOVIE is an incredibly likeable film – Eckman ‘s subjects, the owner and past and present employees of the small business, are an eclectic group, perhaps unified in a general slacker nature. Beyond that, with the film’s small college town setting, many of the attendants are or were students, hailing largely from the anthropology and sociology department, and as a result are prone to philosophizing about their experiences, even as they relate anecdotes about cheapskate customers and drunk frat boys looking to pick a fight while they’re on duty. After all, as the film’s tagline reminds us, “It’s not just a parking lot, it’s a battle with humanity.” It’s a doc that anyone who’s ever suffered the tedium of and frustration with an unskilled job can relate to, and bears a look now that it’s coming to DVD.

Now available on iTunes: OCTOBER COUNTRY

The ubiquitous filmmakers Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher are a welcome sight at whatever festival they come through – I just saw them at True/False this past weekend. I’ve previously written about their beautiful film here.

To access OCTOBER COUNTRY via iTunes, click here.