Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 21: LOVE ME
Jonathan Narducci’s exploration of the mail order bride business had its world premiere at the Florida Film Festival last year. It went on to screen at New Orleans, Hot Docs, Hot Springs, CNEX Doc, Newport Beach, and San Francisco DocFest, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its VOD release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Tribeca Film Institute Summer Documentary series at Nitehawk Cinema tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22: VERY SEMI-SERIOUS
Leah Wolchok’s love letter to the cartoons of The New Yorker had its world premiere at Tribeca this Spring. Other festival appearances include San Francisco, Seattle, Montclair, AFI Docs, and the upcoming Traverse City.
Taking a microscopic view of the venerable publication through its popular, though sometimes headscratching – single-panel cartoons, Wolchok takes as her primary subject, sometimes to its detriment, the magazine’s longtime cartoon editor Bob Mankoff. Since he took the reins in 1997, he has invited cartoonists into his office once a week to pitch their gags, often reviewing close to 1000 pieces to find the fifteen he needs for every issue. These brief meetings, and the reflections by both Mankoff and both veteran and newbie artists about the process, offer the best in Wolchok’s film, encapsulating that moment when the viewer either gets the joke or doesn’t, and offering a direct look at Mankoff’s editorial instincts. The film also wisely revisits a greatest hits of the magazine’s cartoon history, briefly profiling a range of popular published artists in addition to aspiring ones. Where Wolchok falters is in placing too much of a focus on Mankoff outside of his editorial role. Sequences recounting his personal life and grief over the loss of a son simply do not belong in the context of this film, no matter how much Wolchok tries to justify them through a consideration of the role of comedy set against tragic occurrences, such as September 11 or the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Similarly out of place is the unnecessary and frankly boring look at Mankoff’s memoir, another instance of losing sight of the film’s more compelling actual subject – the cartoons.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to Los Angeles’ ArcLight Documentary Series tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21: SONG OF LAHORE
Andy Schocken and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s look at Pakistani traditional musicians’ forays into globally-inflected jazz made its bow at Tribeca this Spring. Other fest screenings include Sydney and Melbourne.
Until the advent of Sharia law, the Pakistani city of Lahore served as the nation’s seat of culture, with local musicians kept busy performing in concerts or on the soundtracks of the popular regional film productions collective known as Lollywood. Taboos on artistic expression essentially wiped away generations of musical heritage and appreciation, so much so that even as religious restrictions have since been somewhat lessened, aging traditional musicians find themselves at a loss for a local audience. In response, Sachal Studios was founded to provide a sense of both community and potential livelihood for this fading music culture, but despite founder Izzat Majeed’s best efforts, it too struggles – until he decides to reach beyond Pakistan to try to engage a global audience. Inspired by memories of the US State Department’s Jazz Ambassadors program, a Cold War era cultural diplomatic initiative that saw the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck travel around the world, Majeed has his musician’s record a version of Brubeck’s popular jazz standard, “Take Five.” When a video of their take goes viral, they find themselves thrust into the global spotlight, invited to New York City for a cross-cultural concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Schocken and Obaid-Chinoy’s likeable film is most interesting as it profiles the musicians on their home turf, struggling to adapt their music, and their expectations for their offspring and the local audience, with the times. Once they arrive in America, the film loses steam as it documents fairly repetitive culture and music clash in the rehearsal room as members of the ensemble struggle to keep up with Jazz’s Wynton Marsalis, who looks exasperated enough to cancel the show. Nevertheless, the pay-off, a sold out performance, features some memorable moments, including a playful dueling flutes sequence which underscores the musical exchange at the heart of the film.
Filed under Documentary, Film
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21: WHEN WE WERE BOYS
Sarah Goodman’s portrait of adolescence debuted at Hot Docs in 2009. It went on to screen at Beijing and True/False and to be released on DVD. The doc now comes to iTunes.
I previously wrote about the film out of Hot Docs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, July 20: PACKED IN A TRUNK: THE LOST ART OF EDITH LAKE WILKINSON
Michelle Boyaner’s chronicle of a forgotten American artist had its premiere at Palm Springs at the beginning of the year. Screenings have followed at Provincetown, Frameline, and LGBT fests in Halifax, Kansas City, and Portland, among others.
The forgotten artist at the core of Boyaner’s scrappy doc is Edith Lake Wilkinson, a late 19th/early 20th century painter and printmaker whose career was cut short when she was committed to an asylum in 1924 by an unscrupulous attorney. Just as important to her story is Edith’s great-niece, Emmy-award winning writer/director Jane Anderson, who serves as the audience’s guide here, and whose obsession with Edith’s story has compelled her for four decades. When Jane was just a child, her mother discovered a trunk full of Edith’s canvases in the attic of a relative’s home in the artist’s native West Virginia and was given some of the work. Growing up surrounded by Edith’s paintings, Jane drew creative inspiration from the relative she never met, and, as she learned more about her, found eerie similarities to her own life. Chiefly, like Jane, Edith was a lesbian, with a longtime female companion, Fannie – a fact may have led to Edith’s institutionalization. Seeking to give her great-aunt her due, Jane partners with a gallery in Edith’s beloved Provincetown to stage an exhibition of her work, discovering curious details that cement her formative place in the venerable Cape Cod artist haven’s history. While the film never loses sight of its focus on Edith, Jane emerges as a feisty, genuine, and appealingly goofy presence, emotional and at times giddy at finally realizing her decades’ long mission. If there are some clunky bits – a visit with a psychic to try to fill in some blanks about how Edith ended up in her predicament, an overused folksy score that wears out its welcome quickly – Jane’s welcome presence makes up for it.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Tribeca Film Institute Summer Documentary Series at the Nitehawk Cinema tomorrow, Tuesday, July 21: (T)ERROR
Lyric R Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s behind-the-scenes look at an FBI informant debuted at Sundance, where it won a special jury award. Other screenings have included Nantucket, True/False, Hot Docs, Tribeca, Full Frame, Nashville, and Human Rights Watch, among others.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, July 20: RETURN TO HOMS
Talal Derki’s immersion into the Syrian civil war made its debut at IDFA in 2013. It came stateside at Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, and went on to screen at New Directors/New Films, Human Rights Watch, ZagrebDox, Thessaloniki Doc, Full Frame, It’s All True, Hot Docs, San Francisco, Krakow, EDoc, Sarajevo, Dokufest Kosovo, Docs DF, and Abu Dhabi, among several others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, July 17: TWINSTERS
Samantha Futerman and Ryan Miyamoto separated-at-birth tale bowed at SXSW this Spring. It has also screened at LA Asian Pacific and Maine before embarking on its theatrical release around the country.
Just about two and a half years ago, Futerman, a Los Angeles-based actress, was contacted through Facebook by Anais Bordier, a young French woman studying fashion in London who had seen a YouTube video featuring Futerman and was surprised by their uncanny resemblance. Comparing notes, they realized that their shared birthdate and birth place, Busan, Korea, most likely meant that they were twins, separated at birth through international adoption. Futerman began documenting their communication, and her own response to this unlikely situation, as the pair seek out answers and eventually meet in person. Fittingly for a relationship enabled by social media and modern technology, Futerman and Miyamoto’s film is swimming in Skype sessions, texting, and emojis, lending it a light, youthful feel while it draws the viewer into their immediately absorbing new sibling bonding. While there’s a lot of self-indulgence on display here – seemingly endless scenes of the sisters giggling, a too-rigid attempt to let the story play out in the moment when it’s not really necessary – the film nevertheless manages to pull off the feat of resonating on a genuine emotional level. If there is too much false build up of mystery or questioning over the foregone conclusion – they are clearly twins, despite supposed doubts – later scenes uniting the twins and their families, and a trip to Korea, pack more of an authentic punch – and a sweetness – that will connect with audiences whether they have been impacted by adoption or not.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, July 17: STEAK (R)EVOLUTION
Franck Ribière’s quest for the world’s best steak had its world premiere at San Sebastian last year. It has gone on to screen at Tribeca, Seattle, Göteborg, Vilnius, and BAFICI, among other events.
This ode to beef takes the first-time director, whose family raises cows in eastern France, on a trip around the world to countdown the top ten steaks he encounters, motivated by a palate-awakening experience after sampling a Peter Luger porterhouse. In contrast to his nation’s obsession with lean beef, Ribière comes to understand the need for fat marbling to impart flavor, and soon sees that perhaps the French way has been off all along. Traveling with Parisien butcher Yves-Marie Le Bourdonnec, he investigates famed beef from Argentina to Spain, Japanese kobe to Scottish Angus, learning of the loving care and regional techniques that help account for variations in taste. While overlong and too often slowly paced at close to two hours, this doc accomplishes its simple objective: providing a tour for meat-loving foodies and a personal, idiosyncratic ranking that is sure to inspire those viewers to conduct their own taste tests.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Tribeca Film Institute Summer Documentary series at Nitehawk Cinema this coming Monday, July 20: LIVE FROM NEW YORK!
Bao Nguyen’s tribute to the pop cultural power of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE premiered at Tribeca this Spring. It has gone on to screen at Nashville, Maui, Hot Docs, and Provincetown, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its limited theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film
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