Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 19:
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT

Directors:
Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu

Premiere:
CAAMFest 2017

Select Festivals:
LA Asian Pacific, DisOrient, Philadelphia Asian American, Austin Asian American

About:
An in-depth consideration of the discriminatory US law that targeted Chinese nationals.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, June 18:
IT WILL BE CHAOS

Directors:
Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo

Premiere:
Seattle 2018

Select Festivals:
Berkshire

About:
An intimate look at the refugee crisis.

Filmed over several years, Luciano and Piscopo’s exploration of the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of WWII confines its focus to two stories, one tracking the fate of refugees from Eritrea through Lampedusa and finally Sweden; the other of the extended Orfahli family from Syria through Turkey and eventually Germany. Aregai made the treacherous journey from Eritrea with his cousins, but the latter didn’t survive, losing their lives when their boat capsized on October 3, 2013 – an event that drew the world’s attention to the growing migration crisis. In addition to following Aregai’s story, the filmmakers survey Lampedusans involved in the rescue effort or otherwise facing the impact of the onslaught of asylum seekers, like the island’s sympathetic mayor. The other thread of the film concerns Wael Orfahli and his large clan, who already fled Syria for Turkey two years prior, and continue their journey to Europe through underground networks of smugglers and bureaucratic asylum procedures. Though well-meaning and sympathetic, the rough-hewn film’s weaving together of these separate profiles feels fairly random rather than deliberate, and the stories themselves are sadly all-too familiar, with very similar tales told in other recent documentaries about the migration crisis. Still their experiences remain an important reminder of the ongoing chaos facing millions of displaced individuals.

Coming to Starz tonight, Monday, June 18:
STRANGER FRUIT

Director:
Jason Pollock

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Traverse City

About:
A controversial re-examination of the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson MO.

Jason Pollock’s debut of his film at SXSW last year set off a media frenzy with significant interest in the incorporation of previously unrevealed surveillance footage of the convenience store implicated in the police’s version of the Michael Brown story. In what became the final, official narrative, Brown’s fate rested on the belief that he had been involved with the robbery of that store. The new footage, in Pollock’s interpretation, demonstrates that Brown was not involved with a robbery but instead a low-level drug deal with convenience store employees – something that Pollock places a great deal of significance in altering the meaning and justification of Brown’s death. Before the film was released commercially, earlier this year, Pollock expanded it to include the controversy that stemmed from the film’s initial screenings, including the spin that police officials placed on the material, and the charges that Pollock manipulated the footage. While it’s understandable that Pollock seeks to unpack and dismiss how the authorities wished to paint Brown’s character in implicating him in a robbery, the focus on the video is not the clear vindication that the filmmaker suggests, and ultimately feels like a distraction from the larger questions around the murder and its justification, such as the conflicting accounts provided by officer Darren Wilson about whether he was or was not aware of the robbery when he engaged Brown. Pollock’s film is undeniably a passionate attempt to address injustice, but it’s marred by his approach, particularly an excessive use of personal narration that is out of place and unnecessary, and which sticks out even more when it takes on the meta level of addressing the fallout from the film’s debut.