Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to theatres and VOD tomorrow, Friday, September 4: STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE

Alex Gibney’s exploration of the pioneering Apple co-founder made its debut at SXSW earlier this year. Other fests have included Nantucket, San Francisco, Seattle, AFI Docs, and Melbourne, among others.

I previously wrote about the film for Nantucket’s program, saying:
When Steve Jobs died in 2011, he left behind not only the Apple empire, with all of its MacBooks, iPhones, iPods, and iPads, but millions of devoted – if not rabid – followers of his cult of better living through technology. An iPhone devotee himself, Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney sets out to understand the world-shaping genius and why he continues to engender such reverence. In the process, Gibney offers not only a candid look at the iconoclast’s many successes, but a critical examination of his failings, both professional and personal. Drawing from a wealth of archival interviews with Jobs, as well as new footage of former colleagues, the film crafts an engrossing portrait of a complex, influential, and flawed figure.

Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Friday, September 4: ALTHEA

Rex Miller’s portrait of a sports pioneer had its premiere at DOC NYC last year. Since then, it has screened at Full Frame, AFI Docs, Palm Beach, Athena, and the American Black Film Festival, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the 1940s and 50s, long before Arthur Ashe or Venus and Serena Williams, Althea Gibson was the first African-American tennis player to become World Champion. Her singles wins at Wimbledon and Forest Hills drew worldwide attention and was celebrated with a ticker-tape parade along Broadway. Reintroducing the pioneering athlete to a new generation, Rex Miller’s bittersweet tribute reveals how a street kid from Harlem reached the pinnacle of an unlikely sport during the height of racial segregation.

New to DVD this week: THE DECENT ONE

Vanessa Lapa’s portrait of infamous SS commander Heinrich Himmler made its world premiere at Berlin last year. It went on to screen at Documenta Madrid, DOK.Fest Munich, Planete+ Doc, Jerusalem, Telluride, Bergen, Rio, Reykjavik, Vancouver, and ZagrebDox, among others.

Uniquely constructed around a cache of personal letters and documents discovered in Himmler’s home at the conclusion of WWII, Lapa’s film foregoes outside perspectives to present the life and crimes of the Nazi leader through his own and his immediate family’s words. Beyond the extensive archival period footage employed, the film makes use of voiceover actors to enact letters between Himmler, his mistress Hedwig, his wife Marga, and their daughter Gudrun – while they occasionally over-emote, once the conceit is firmly established, it generally works to provide a candid sense of the administrator’s reprehensible beliefs and self-serving sense of morality. At one moment enumerating his duties in overseeing genocide, and the next sending love letters to his mistress, expressing concerns for the well-being of the concentration camp operators while hand-waving mass murder as a service to racial purity, Himmler presents himself as a master compartmentalizer who is somehow able to rationalize his actions, and those of his party, as inexplicably “decent.” Where Lapa makes a critical error is in doubting the stark power of the archival footage at her disposal – rather than present it undoctored, she instead unwisely employs sound effects and music that gravely cheapens its impact.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 1: DIOR AND I

Frédéric Tcheng’s inside look at the legendary fashion house made its debut at Tribeca in 2014. Its extensive fest circuit also included Seattle, Sydney, Provincetown, Outfest, Jerusalem, New Zealand, Rio, Hamptons, Warsaw, Abu Dhabi, CPH:DOX, Tallinn Black Nights, and Madrid Fashion among others.

Tcheng’s point of entry to the storied brand is the arrival of Raf Simons, Dior’s new artistic director of the haute couture line. Having built his reputation as a menswear designer before moving on to Jill Sander, the Belgian is considered a minimalist, making him an unusual choice to take over the Dior legacy. With much to prove, he sets out to complete his first collection in a scant eight weeks, providing the necessary countdown tension that serves as the impetus here, compounded with the challenge of navigating the demands of an in-demand atelier and its staff of seasoned, and often charming, veterans. While there’s friction at times, Tcheng’s thoughtful approach is much more concerned with detailing the creative process than with focusing on interpersonal drama, for example by showing how Simons develops a preoccupation with the paintings of Sterling Ruby into an innovative thread-printing process. Simons largely remains fairly buttoned-up – all business, all the time – allowing occasional interludes from Christian Dior’s memoirs to serve as a somewhat more personal and revealing thread through the film, which does double duty by imparting a sense of history.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 1: JFK & LBJ: A TIME FOR GREATNESS

Alastair Layzell’s focus on civil rights across two presidencies made its bow at the Annapolis Film Festival this Spring. It made its broadcast debut on PBS last month.

I previously wrote about the doc here.