Category Archives: Documentary

New to VOD via iTunes this week:
I DO?

Director:
Joe Brandmeier

Premiere:
Montreal World 2016

Select Festivals:
Green Bay, Twin Cities, Singapore

About:
Interviews about marriage, ranging from the newly engaged, couples married seven decades, and divorcees.

Brandmeier, serving as a chatty narrator and interviewer, embarks on a film about marriage after the divorce of his own parents following 30 years together. With the exception of one couple personally tied to the filmmaker, other interview subjects appear chosen at random, and are asked to offer insight into the joys and struggles of their relationship, addressing their pre-wedded expectations and the realities of married life in a series of loosely-themed titled chapters. As with most survey projects of its ilk, there are few surprises or revelations here – marriage is hard work is the consensus – and leaving aside some of the clunkier aspects – chiefly the unnecessary on-camera presence of the filmmaker – this straightforward doc at least manages to keep things on the lighter side.

New to DVD this week:
HILLEMAN: A PERILOUS QUEST TO SAVE THE WORLD’S CHILDREN

Director:
Donald Rayne Mitchell

Premiere:
Scinema 2016

Select Festivals:
American Documentary, New Hope

About:
A profile of Dr Maurice Hilleman, credited with developing most childhood vaccines.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 8:
SEA GYPSIES: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

Director:
Nico Edwards

Premiere:
Telluride Mountainfilm 2016

Select Festivals:
Napa Valley, Banff Mountain, Lone Star, Wild and Scenic, Washington DC Environmental, Oxford, Newport Beach, BendFilm

About:
A ragtag group of adventurers set sail from Australia to Patagonia.

Edwards joins the international crew of the Infinity, a refurbished 1977 yacht captained by Clemens, a German who has traveled the open seas for years with his young family. The latter sit out this particular voyage, which is intended to last for a couple of months through the rough, icy waters of the Ross Sea, conducted without permission or insurance and just for the sheer fun of it all. Although Edwards uses an excess of narration and includes some fairly extraneous footage at times, he does convey the warmth and camaraderie of the handsome crew as they enjoy their time on the water, while also facing dangerous weather and even assisting the efforts of radical environmentalists, the Sea Shepherd, in frustrating an illegal Japanese whaling expedition.