Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, November 19 and to VOD this Friday, November 21: HAPPY VALLEY
Amir Bar-Lev’s look at the community most affected by the Penn State scandal had its world premiere at Sundance this year. It has gone on to screen at Nantucket, DOC NYC, Hamptons, Camden, Traverse City, Indie Memphis, BAMcinemaFest, Philadelphia, Sarasota, True/False, Nashville, and Little Rock, 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, Wednesday, November 19: PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS
Florian Habicht’s affectionate ode to the band and to the working-class city that birthed it bowed at SXSW this Spring. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, Sheffield, Film Society’s Sound + Vision, Awesome Fest, Rooftop Films, Docaviv, Sydney, Melbourne, Shanghai, Traverse City, Dokufest, Taipei Golden Horse, Ambulante, and In-Edit Barcelona, among several others.
Habicht’s refreshingly quirky take on the music doc makes for a perfect match with the Sheffield band’s sensibilities. At once down-to-earth and tragically hip, the Jarvis Cocker-fronted Britpop band returns to its hometown to give a final concert, and one that aims to make up for their memorably underwhelming 1988 farewell concert. Rather than mixing the expected concert performance footage with backstage hijinks or snippets of band history, Habicht’s film instead uncovers the key to understanding the band’s appeal in a portrait that captures the city itself, whose residents, old and young, espouse a general, if sometimes muted, admiration for the local boys (and one girl) who made it in the big time in the mid-1990s. Beyond casual interviews with the band, the driving conceit of the film is Habicht’s staging of several elaborate set pieces starring local residents as they enact some of the band’s repertoire, including “Common People” and “Help the Aged,” to create a whimsical, often charming, and very human testament to the connection between the band and the city.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD and VOD this week: LEGENDS OF THE KNIGHT
Brett Culp’s look at the inspirational power of Batman debuted at the San Diego Comic Con this Summer. In addition to other comic convention engagements, the doc has since had scores of benefit screenings around the country.
Culp’s film is not so much about Batman as it is about the influence that character can have on real-world individuals. Forgetting his billions, Bruce Wayne’s story – childhood trauma channelled into a mission to combat crime and serve the public good – in contrast to either Clark Kent’s fantastical background as a super-powered orphan from a destroyed planet or Peter Parker’s accidental bite from a radioactive spider, has a relatively ordinary, relatable core that can resonate with anyone, and that’s what Culp primarily focuses on here. Beyond the love letters to the character offered by Bat franchise film producer Michael Uslan or influential comic book writer/editor Denny O’Neil, the film profiles several ordinary individuals who have theoretically been inspired by the character. Some are quite obvious, such as Petaluma Batman, a college kid who patrols his small California community in a homemade Batman outfit and stages fights with Petaluma Joker to entertain or raise money for charity; or Lenny, a successful businessman who converted his car into a Batmobile and visits sick kids in hospitals around the US dressed up as Batman. Other subjects, however, are too tangentially connected to Bruce Wayne’s alter ego, such as Jill, a young journalist with MS, or Daniel, a young man with one leg, so their inclusion here feels forced. The film’s survey structure and overemphatic score makes this feel a bit long for what it is, but Culp’s overarching idea, that “we are all Batman,” is a likeably earnest, if fairly simple, message. Incidentally, the film is not associated with either DC Comics or Warner Bros, which accounts for its somewhat awkward title, not quite the official Bat-nickname of “The Dark Knight.”
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week: FREELOAD
Daniel Skaggs portrait of modern-day freight train riders debuted at Thin Line earlier this year. It has gone on to screen at Big Sky, DocuWest, Docutah, BendFilm, Sydney Underground, SF Docfest, IFF Boston, and Revelation, among others.
Skaggs spent over a year riding the rails, befriending a loose-knit assemblage of young hobos who, in contrast with their famed forebears, took to boxcars not out of a desire to find gainful employment, but instead to drop out of society. Adopting colorful names like Ponyboy, Blackbird, and Dice that reinforce a fantasy world of no responsibilities, the film’s subjects welcome Skaggs, and, by extension, the viewer, fully into their no-frills existence. This immersion simultaneously highlights the freedom of their fringe lifestyle and reins in any romanticism by exposing its gritty, rough, and often messy underbelly. The film itself evinces a matching rough-hewn nature in both its technical and storytelling aspects. Either unable or unwilling to provide a focused structure, the result is episodic, with too many promising characters inhabiting its barely hour-long running time, and none ever quite being fleshed out enough, making this an intriguing but uneven project as a whole.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week: NEXT YEAR JERUSALEM
David Gaynes’ chronicle of a seniors’ tour of Israel bowed at Sarasota last year. It went on to Montclair, and to Jewish fests in Atlanta, Sacramento, and Hartford before a limited theatrical release this past Spring.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
I covered IDFA‘s competitions yesterday, while today’s looks at the fest’s non-competitive programs. The festival’s 27th edition begins tomorrow evening, and runs through Sunday, November 30. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 18: THE MANOR
Director Shawney Cohen and co-director Mike Gallay’s portrait of a strip club-owning family debuted at Hot Docs last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Karlovy Vary, Zurich, Thessaloniki Doc, Woodstock, Bergen, Goteborg, and Planete+ Doc, among others. FilmBuff now releases the film to VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Xbox, PlayStation, Vudu, and Blinkbox.
I previously wrote about the film out of Hot Docs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 18: 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s Nick Cave docufiction debuted at Sundance this year, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award. Screenings followed at Berlin, Sydney, True/False, Seattle, San Francisco, and IFF Boston, among others, before a limited theatrical release earlier this Fall.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s American Experience tonight, Tuesday, November 18: COLD WAR ROADSHOW
Robert Stone and Tim B Toidze’s look back at the unprecedented tour of the US by a Soviet leader has traveled the festival circuit under the title KHRUSHCHEV DOES AMERICA, with stops at Hot Docs and Hot Springs, among other events.
Toidze and Stone’s film recaptures a clear sense of 1950s America in all of its anti-Communist hysteria, and how Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s two week visit unexpectedly precipitated a cautious thaw in the Cold War. In the Fall of 1959, the leader of the USSR touched down in Washington DC with his family, and his unexpected gregariousness prompted a media circus through the then-relatively new medium of television, with regular news coverage following Khrushchev to NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Iowa, and Pittsburgh before a series of talks with President Eisenhower at Camp David. Though his initial reception in NYC , shown here, saw the Premier greeted by thousands of silent onlookers, unwilling to cheer for the leader of the country’s number one enemy, Khrushchev soon upended the average American’s expectations of the Godless, evil Communist. The rotund, jocular man knew how to turn on the charm for the camera, generating proto-reality television fascination as he visited a farmer’s cornfield or hugged a little girl presenting flowers. Still, as noted in the film, Khrushchev wasn’t one to brook insult, leading to tense exchanges with the jingoistic Mayor of Los Angeles, and exasperation when a trip to Disneyland was cancelled for security reasons. Utilizing fantastic archival footage, as well as interviews with Khrushchev’s son and Ike’s granddaughter, among others, Toidze and Stone present a revealing, unusual slice of Cold War history.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 18: WHAT NOW? REMIND ME
Joaquim Pinto’s intimate exploration of disease had its world premiere at Locarno last year, where it won the FIPRESCI and Special Jury Prizes. Its fest circuit also included New York Film Festival, Rotterdam, Vancouver, QueerLisboa, Hong Kong, Thessaloniki Doc, RIDM, DocLisboa, San Francisco, CPH:DOX, Edinburgh, and Seattle, among others.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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