Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 22: K2: SIREN OF THE HIMALAYAS

Dave Ohlson’s chronicle of an attempt to summit the second highest peak in the world had its premiere at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in 2012. Other fest screenings have included Mountainfilm in Telluride, as well as other mountain fests in New Zealand, Poland, Flagstaff, Slovakia, New York, and Mill Valley, among others.

Ohlson follows an expedition of the dangerous mountain in the Summer of 2009, which falls on the centenary of a legendary summit attempt by noted Italian mountaineer, Prince Luigi Amedeo, the Duke of Abruzzi. This gives the film reason to incorporate fascinating archival footage and stills from the 1909 trip, providing a glimpse into the sport at an earlier time, and a contrast with modern equipment and techniques, but the bulk of the film focuses on the contemporary attempt in a fairly straightforward adventure documentary style. Noting the extreme risks faced by alpinists – with a shocking 25% death rate – the film provides thrillseeking viewers with a safer, vicarious ridealong to one of the planet’s most remote and challenging spots.

Coming to Showtime tomorrow, Thursday, August 21: SPARK: A BURNING MAN STORY

Steve Brown and Jessie Deeter’s chronicle of the planning behind the annual desert gathering debuted at SXSW last year. Screenings followed in Seattle, Ashland, and SF Doc before a limited theatrical and VOD release.

I previously wrote about the film upon its release here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 19: A BRONY TALE

Brent Hodge’s exploration of of MY LITTLE PONY fandom debuted earlier this year at Tribeca. It went on to DOXA, Seattle, Calgary Underground, and New Zealand’s Documentary Edge, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc upon its VOD release here.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 19: LA BARE

Joe Manganiello’s look at the world of male strippers had its debut at Slamdance this year. It went on to screen at Maui and at Dallas’ USA Film Festival before its theatrical bow this past June. FilmBuff now releases the doc on a wide range of VOD platforms.

Manganiello’s foray into onscreen stripping in MAGIC MIKE inspired his directorial debut – a largely workmanlike look at the eponymous strip club in Dallas which claims to be the most popular of its ilk. Profiling several of the beefy dancers, while briefly checking in with some of their family members, fans, and other club employees, the film maintains a generally breezy tone as it both dispels and reinforces some of the myths associated with the profession. While the new-ish Russian owner Alex too briefly notes how he reinvigorated the lagging establishment, losing the drug addicts for more serious-minded professionals, several dancers pepper their backstage banter or interviews with braggadocio, commenting on sexual conquests or getting customers to give them extravagant amounts of money. This lends an overall feeling of watching a bunch of overgrown fraternity brothers, which can grow tiresome at times, capped off by an overlong sequence featuring the dancers mocking the club’s mostly inept Amateur Night contestants. Thankfully, a couple of the dancer profiles move away from this to more honest terrain, such as Cesar, a personable former Army Ranger who relates his old-fashioned background – much more effective than the extended hagiography presented for a recently killed fellow dancer – and mentor Randy, the “Master Blaster,” who, his crude bragging aside, offers a sense of history through his three decade career at La Bare, and who shows the lengths he goes to keep his career, taking strange cryo treatments and skin injections to combat aging.