Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 5: POVERTY, INC

Michael Matheson Miller’s exploration of the downside of global charity debuted at Anthem, the Libertarian Film Festival, this Summer, where it won the audience award. Other festival stops have included Austin, Docutah, Chagrin Doc, Savannah, Denver, and Leeds.

Miller’s film questions whether the good intentions of international aid actually do more harm than good in the long run, encouraging dependence rather than self-reliance, and propagating paternalism that inevitably positions the recipients of relief as lesser or incapable nations. While altruism in and of itself is not viewed as a problem, the film instead suggests that the way it has historically been employed bolsters an inefficient, if not wholly broken system. Not unexpectedly, a major focus is Haiti, where the immediate humanitarian response to the devastating 2010 earthquake was certainly necessary and warranted, but continued past the point of emergency to disincentivize the local community from rebuilding. When rice is provided for free, and numerous NGOs provide free services, the argument goes, the local populace sees no need to take the lead in shoring up their community, developing entrepreneurially to solve their own problems, and thereby creating capability on a local level that sustains the community as a whole. While the film may not be able to offer comprehensive solutions, the essential message is to assist in more thoughtful ways, integrated with the needs of the community, and presented in a way to empower them to take over and build on it, rather than to simply grow dependent on the assistance. As a whole, while there’s nothing objectionable about this concept, the film’s approach, while straightforward enough, is also a fairly flat and artless survey, with weak narration and a parade of expert talking heads that are more suited to television than to a theatrical context.

Coming to Showtime tonight, Thursday, December 4: PAULY SHORE STANDS ALONE

Shore’s self-directed standup road trip doc debuted at the Los Angeles Downtown Film Festival this Summer, where it picked up an award. It went on to screen at Woodstock this past October.

Decades past the height of his MTV and bro comedy popularity, the now middle-aged comedian contends less with celebrity and more with the challenges of an ailing mother, an aging body, and earning a living as a standup. While known for early 1990s comedies like ENCINO MAN and SON IN LAW, the film makes it clear that he didn’t just pop up out of nowhere – his father, Sammy, was himself a comic, and his mother, Mitzi, founded and ran the celebrated Comedy Store in Hollywood, a venue which saw some of the most notable comedians of the past several decades hone their craft, from Richard Pryor to Roseanne, Robin Williams to Sam Kinison. While Hollywood may not be turning to Shore with star vehicles any longer, he maintains a healthy fanbase that shows up to his comedy club appearances. As he travels to mostly small towns in the Midwest to perform, Shore’s film catches audiences up to his present activities – living with his mother, who suffers from advanced Parkinson’s, renting out his own home to help with finances, contending with an enlarged prostate, and half-heartedly considering whether he should finally grow up, settle down, and start his own family. While Shore is able to tap into some of his old “Weasel” stoner persona, he tends more toward a quieter, often self-deprecating humor, at least for the purposes of this unapologetically self-promoting behind-the-scenes portrait. While it may not resonate as strongly as its obvious forebears JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK or ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME, which benefit from performers with far more history behind them, this fairly conventional road trip doc is appealing enough for what it aims to do, presenting a different side of a figure who is otherwise often quickly dismissed out of hand for having presumed to continue beyond the peak of his mainstream celebrity.

New to DVD this week: INREALLIFE

Beeban Kidron’s fearful exploration of the Internet debuted at Toronto last year. It has also screened at DOXA, One World, Rendezvous with Madness, Vilnius, and Planete+ Doc.

I previously wrote about the doc here.