Category Archives: Film

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, December 17: THE SPACE INVADERS: IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME

Jeff Von Ward’s exploration of 1980s video games and their nostalgic collectors debuted last year at fan events and has continued to screen at various conventions since. FilmBuff now makes the doc available via Xbox, PlayStation, and Amazon Instant Video.

As indicated by the film’s subtitle, Von Ward’s film is largely concerned with nostalgia and less interested in providing a comprehensive overview of the rise and fall of the arcade. The latter receives an initial, compressed treatment, but is otherwise sparingly weaved through the reflections of his various interviewees, men who so fondly remember playing Galaga, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong as kids that they’ve spent their time and money as adults purchasing old standup game consoles so they can live out their SILVER SPOONS dream of having a home arcade. There’s a certain charm to the ’80s style title treatment and to the archival footage of the STARCADE! game show and fearmongering period TV news reports about the ills of the arcade, but the bulk of Von Ward’s film consists of static, somewhat rough-looking, show and tell interviews relating the joys and occasional perils of obsessive collecting. Still, there’s no denying that viewers of a certain age will share similar childhood experiences with these subjects, and that will be just about enough to make this otherwise workmanlike look at recapturing erstwhile youthful pursuits worthwhile.

Now on VOD: PUNK IN AFRICA

Keith Jones and Deon Maas’ overview of music and resistance in southern Africa debuted at Rotterdam last year. It went on to screen at the New York Film Festival, Warsaw, Austin, One World, Hot Springs, Rio, and Cork, among others. The film has been available on various VOD platforms since the Fall, but just came to Netflix this weekend via The Orchard.

Jones and Maas trace the seemingly unlikely emergence of the punk subculture out of the underground rock scene of 1970s South Africa, mobilized especially after the 1976 Soweto uprising into a distinctly political, militantly anti-apartheid, youth-focused movement. As the nation’s separatist system became more and more embattled, various bands profiled here demanded freedom from censorship, fought against racism, and challenged societal mores by including both black and white members in their lineups. Moving through the decades to the present, the filmmakers demonstrate how the punk sensibility changed over time, adapting to different musical genres and different concerns in the post-apartheid, new South Africa, while also exploring its more recent spread into other southern African nations like Zimbabwe which are facing their own political and societal challenges. Though featuring musicians and songs unknown outside of the region, Jones and Maas’ survey film is able to convey the universality of music to forge and galvanize communities, and in the process offers an intriguing look at a previously unexplored side of the fight against oppression in southern Africa.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, December 16: PLAYWRIGHT: FROM PAGE TO STAGE

Robert Levi’s chronicle of the development and staging of two new stage plays makes its debut on the popular ITVS supported PBS program.

Levi’s film focuses on two plays made possible by the NEA’s New Play Development Program, which supports emerging playwright, following the efforts of two grant recipients to realize their visions over three years. Cleveland’s Rajiv Joseph crafts an allegorical tale exploring the Iraq War, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” while Miami’s Tarell Alvin McCraney plumbs personal and cultural history to represent African American Louisiana in his “Brother/Sister Plays” trilogy. As their work takes shape, Levi reveals the intense collaborative process these young writers separately engage in, working with producers, directors, actors, and theatres to hone their plays before they make their debut, wrestling with controversial subjects and themes. Of the two, Joseph’s play garners more attention, attracting noted director Moises Kaufman and eventually heading to Broadway. The concessions and compromises needed to support such an endeavor, such as the necessity of recasting a key role with celebrity Robin Williams in order to draw audiences, offer insight on the practical, economic realities of the theatre world, while both writers’ journeys as a whole reveal the painstaking work that goes into the creative process, making it especially resonant for other artists and theatre fans.