Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 10:
SUPERGIRL
Director:
Jessie Auritt
Premiere:
Hamptons 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Big Sky Doc, Cucalorus, Slamdance, Doc Edge, Cleveland, Sarasota, RiverRun, Florida, Montclair, Annapolis, Milwaukee, Woods Hole, Jewish fests in Philadelphia, Palm Beach, Hartford, Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, and London
About:
A portrait of the world’s strongest girl.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, July 9:
THE WORKERS CUP
Director:
Adam Sobel
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Sheffield, It’s All True, Docs Against Gravity, Vilnius, Doc Edge, Human Rights Watch, Sydney, Zurich, Carthage, Cinema Verité, Palm Springs
About:
Migrant workers building Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure compete in their own soccer tournament.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Friday, July 6:
TURN IT AROUND: THE STORY OF EAST BAY PUNK
Director:
Corbett Redford
Premiere:
SF DocFest 2017
About:
An exhaustive chronicle of three decades of punk in California’s Bay Area.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
WHITNEY | Image © Stefano Baroni
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Premiere:
Cannes 2018
Select Festivals:
Edinburgh, Sydney, Munich, Biografilm
About:
A candid exploration of the rise and fall of Whitney Houston.
Kevin Macdonald’s film on Houston is the second within a year, following the compelling WHITNEY. “CAN I BE ME” by Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal. While the latter drew largely from interviews with friends and associates of the late singer, as well as intimate backstage footage, this latest, heartbreaking biography has the participation of Houston’s family and close confidantes, and through them an archive of early recordings of Houston. In the tragedy of the celebrated but troubled singer’s life, there’s ample room for both films, and, to Macdonald’s credit, he hasn’t created a bowdlerized version of Whitney’s story to placate the family. Elements that one might have feared would be excised in a semi-authorized film remain, such as a consideration of the performer’s same-sex relationship with Robyn Crawford, even if given less import or space as in the previous film, and with the homophobic resentment displayed by one of Houston’s brothers left unexplored. The helmer also is provided with a bombshell of childhood sexual abuse suffered by Whitney (and at least one sibling) by a family member, a charged revelation that unfortunately is not unpacked enough and instead is left to linger menacingly and somewhat irresponsibly in the background. While Macdonald’s treatment of Houston’s rise puts to the fore the influence of family members on the development of her talent and career, correcting the long-propagated myth that Clive Davis “created” her, the director seems far more interested in exploring the singer’s sad decline and tragic death at 48 – as well as the even sadder fate of her neglected, troubled daughter soon after. Perhaps fittingly, Whitney is felt more as an absence than a presence as this aspect of her story develops, with only occasional moments of her singing coming through to remind us of what was lost.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 6:
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA
Director:
Stephen Nomura Schible
Premiere:
Venice 2017
Select Festivals:
IDFA, CPH:DOX, Tokyo, Tribeca, Belgrade, Singapore, Stockholm, Seattle, Dallas, Nashville, IFF Boston, Berkshire
About:
An intimate portrait of the Oscar-winning composer.
Filmed over a five-year period, Schible’s subdued but engaging profile quietly captures the musician, exploring his history, creative process, and social activism, while he reckons with a diagnosis of throat cancer. At 65, forced to confront his own mortality after his health scare, Sakamoto reflects on a long and varied career, gaining acclaim as an electronic music performer before composing score for films as varied as MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE, THE LAST EMPEROR, and THE REVENANT, as well as a disparate series of influences. While avoiding a strict chronological recitation of his biography, the film presents an appropriate sampling, interwoven with revealing scenes of the master at work, demonstrating his creative process, and, tellingly, how his activism is often intertwined with this creativity, from environmental awareness to the war on terror.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 6:
CONSTRUCTING ALBERT
Directors:
Laura Collado and Jim Loomis
Premiere:
San Sebastian 2017
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hot Docs, Seattle, BAFICI, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, DocPoint, Napa Valley, Newport Beach
About:
After the legendary success of elBulli, chef Albert Adria pursues his follow-ups.
Though known for developing wildly creative dishes as the pastry chef of elBulli, the three Michelin starred Catalonian restaurant where his brother, Ferran, was the head chef, Albert Adria has been referred to by some as underrated, lost in the shadow of his sibling. After they shut down their famed establishment in 2011, Albert took a break to start a family, but just a couple of years later, he re-emerged with an ambitious plan to make his own mark. Over several years, Collado and Loomis’ film follows Albert as he sets out to open five new restaurants exploring different concepts – all within a single year – and trace what happens when they don’t all meet his exacting standards. The filmmakers’ verité approach helps immerse the viewer in the fast-paced world of haute cuisine, but does sometimes skimp on details, assuming a level of familiarity with the culinary world – and with Albert’s various eateries – that not all viewers will share. Despite this, they succeed in spotlighting a creative and determined culinary genius.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Anthology Film Archives this Friday, July 6:
A SKIN SO SOFT
Director:
Denis Côté
Premiere:
Locarno 2017
Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, CPH:DOX, New York, London, Karlovy Vary, Reykjavik, Doclisboa, Vienna, Denver, AFI Fest, Melbourne, Tempo Doc, Vilnius, Singapore, BAFICI, Docaviv, Seattle
About:
A portrait of six bodybuilders.
Like other work by Côté, his latest is a hybrid, but distinctly geared toward the nonfiction side, with only a few scenes ostensibly staged for his camera. Otherwise, the Quebec filmmaker takes a subdued observational approach to his protagonists, a range of French Canadian men who are hyper-focused on their bodies. Eschewing interviews or text cards, the film presents each man in his quotidian routine, often involving working out, preparing meals, eating, or posing, Côté’s camera zeroing in on their muscles as some kind of unearthly terrain. A couple of the men are younger, apparently relatively new to the sport, while others seem to be old pros. One doesn’t exactly fit the same profile as the rest – a bulkier, unchiseled strongman and professional wrestler. Bodybuilding competitions are shown only fleetingly, almost besides the point. Instead, this oddly compelling film turns its gaze on hyper-masculinity and how its subjects self-consciously primp and polish, putting themselves on display to be judged.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
RESISTANCE IS LIFE
Director:
Apo W Bazidi
Premiere:
Cleveland 2017
Select Festivals:
SF DocFest, Hot Springs Doc, Dances With Films, San Diego, Mallorca, Heartland
About:
As Kurdish resistance fighters struggle against ISIS, refugee life is demonstrated through the eyes of an eight-year-old.
In the Kurdish city of Kobane, located on the border of Syria and Turkey, resistance fighters managed to defeat encroaching ISIS forces. Refugees from the conflict include Evlin and her family, who are shown in daily life in the refugee camp they’ve called home since. While the Kurds there celebrate the resistance fighters of the YPG and YPJ – male and female forces, respectively – Evlin snaps amateur photos of camp life, and offers wise-beyond-her-years thoughts on the conflict. The film cuts between these at times poignant but largely uneventful scenes and the resistance fighters, still defending their city, particularly the YPG, which saw the majority of victories. While quietly engaging and even hopeful in its celebration of Kobane’s resistance, the crisscrossing between refugees and resistance feels fragmented, and Evlin, while precocious, unfortunately isn’t compelling enough to serve as a focal point for an entire feature.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week:
WACKEN
Director:
Norbert Heitker
Premiere:
German cinemas (July 2014)
Select Festivals:
In-Edit, Belfast, Docville, Athens, Bergen, IndieLisboa, Krakow
About:
A 3D concert doc about a massive four-day heavy metal music festival in a small German town.
Filmed during the 24th annual Wacken Open Air metal festival in 2013, Heitker’s massive undertaking consists of several performances by both name bands – Henry Rollins, Motörhead, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Rammstein, Anthrax, Anvil, Lamb of God – and less-widely known ones, intercut with footage of the campgrounds and brief profiles of a handful of fans and of unknown international bands who won local contests to face off in a competition in Wacken. Amongst the general music fest partying is a lot of talk of and appreciation for the sense of community engendered by the event. It’s a self-selecting project – non-fans of the music genre or performers features won’t likely be interested or get much out of the film – but it’s professionally done for what it is.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 3:
THE CHINA HUSTLE
Director:
Jed Rothstein
Premiere:
Toronto 2017
Select Festivals:
Hamptons, Palm Springs, CPH:DOX
About:
An exposé of a multibillion-dollar stock market fraud centered around China’s economic boom.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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