Category Archives: Film

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 7: FANTASTIC LIES

Marina Zenovich’s look back at the infamous 2006 Duke lacrosse sexual assault case made its debut at SXSW this Spring. The ESPN 30 for 30 doc was then broadcast on the 10th anniversary of the team’s party that resulted in the scandal.

Zenovich lays out the particulars of the case as they were initially understood: During a house party held by Duke University’s champion lacrosse team, there was an argument being the white players and the African American strippers they hired for entertainment. Racial slurs were levied against the women, and, according to some reports, threats of sexual violence. Hours later, one of the dancers reported to the police that she was sexually assaulted by three of the team members while at the party. Against a backdrop of tension between the affluent, Northern, white Duke University community and its working-class, Southern, black local neighbors, the accusation set off a firestorm. Fanned by the media, public outrage denounced the culture of privilege and supposed impunity among the lacrosse players and demanded swift action from university officials against the athletes, before any charges were brought against them. When the district attorney finally did name three players party to the crime, Zenovich shifts gears, and, with the cooperation of the parents of the accused, as well as others involved with the case, demonstrates how they were exonerated, and that, eventually, the accuser recanted, at least at the time. More recently, she has affirmed that she was assaulted that night, but due to an unrelated case that finds her imprisoned and unable to appear on camera here, the filmmaker instead paints a not entirely convincing picture of mental instability through third person reports. Regardless, what Zenovich’s cautionary film does demonstrate successfully is the prosecutorial misconduct that led to the DA being disbarred, and, more importantly, the dangers inherent in the presumption of guilt in the court of public opinion.

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, June 7: YALOM’S CURE

Sabine Gisiger’s portrait of a psychiatrist had its premiere at Locarno in 2014. The doc also screened at Mill Valley, Docs Against Gravity, São Paulo, and Jewish fests in San Francisco, Boston, and Vienna, among other fests.

Gisiger’s subject is Dr Irvin Yalom – apparently America’s most popular psychotherapist, according to the film, though it’s not entirely clear how that’s judged – it’s likely a general audience would have little idea who he is. Unfortunately, the film assumes that Yalom needs very little introduction, making this feel very much like it’s pitched to the already converted. Despite the film’s tagline – “a guide to happiness” – while Yalom emphasizes that he lives a life free of regrets, the film offers viewers little insight as to how and why. For those not already familiar with his body of work, the film offers a thoughtful but unfortunately not particularly engaging reflection on the existentialist psychotherapist’s views on life, death, marriage, and family, as well as his professional breakthroughs in using writing and group therapy to help his patients.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 7: LENNY COOKE

Joshua and Benny Safdie’s look at a would-be pro athlete debuted at Tribeca in 2013. Screenings followed at Venice, Poland’s American Film Festival, Vienna, and Geneva, among other fests. It now comes to VOD platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Vudu, Microsoft, Vubiquity, and Vimeo.

I included the film in my Tribeca coverage here.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7: COLLEGE WEEK

Derek Grace’s look at an inner-city Chicago grade school’s efforts to inspire its students debuted at Black Harvest last year. The doc also has screened at the Oak Park and Chi-Town Multicultural fests.

The setting for Grace’s project is Spencer Elementary Technology Academy, located in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, an area known for high rates of crime and poverty. Dedicated to using the love of learning, particularly technology-enabled education, to help their charges better their futures, Spencer annually devotes a week each year to tasking students in each class, from pre-K to 8th grade, to learn about a college and present their research as part of a mandatory competition. With high school graduation and college matriculation rates alarmingly low within the African-American community, Spencer’s College Week functions in an aspirational manner, giving the students hope and a sense of the possibilities education can provide. Various administrators, teachers, students, and parents comment on the importance of the exercise, with a dose of friendly competition thrown in for extra-motivation. Grace’s film is a very homegrown production, full of show-and-tell sequences, slideshows, talking heads, and very basic filmmaking that limit its reach to public television, but it’s undeniably well-intentioned in its offer of a positive message about the potential of education to make a real difference in children’s lives.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 3: ART BASTARD

Victor Kanefsky’s portrait of an unheralded artist had its premiere at the Orlando Film Festival last year. Other fest screenings have included Newport Beach, Manchester, and Julien Dubuque.

The titular subject, Robert Cenedella, accidentally learned at a young age that his mother’s husband wasn’t his actual father, but that alone doesn’t explain the wry title of Kanefsky’s film. Early in his career, the artist – now in his seventies – positioned himself as an outspoken rebel to the art world establishment, and disdained both Abstract Expressionism and Pop. Unsurprisingly, swimming against the zeitgeist, Cendella went overlooked – the worst thing that can happen to an artist with a lot to say, who thought of himself as the Anti-Warhol. Kanefsky offers this film as a corrective, but at times it feels more like a cross between a hagiography and an extended show-and-tell session. With the frustrated artist leading the charge through an appreciation of his body of work while railing against the mediocrity of the art world, he risks growing tiresome – which is a shame, because the art on display here is not without interest and humor, suggesting that he does merit reconsideration.