Category Archives: Film

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, February 5: SIDE BY SIDE

Chris Kenneally’s look at the pros and cons of digital cinema premiered at last year’s Berlinale. Its festival circuit has included Hong Kong, Tribeca, Maui, deadCENTER, Sydney, and Galway, among others, and the doc has enjoyed a limited theatrical release as well as VOD via Tribeca Film.

I wrote about the film out of Tribeca here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, January 29: THE MAYOR

Jared Scheib’s look at the lives of a trio of seniors had its world premiere at DocAviv in 2011. It went on to screen at Lone Star, Documentary Edge, Little Rock, and the Dallas VideoFest. FilmBuff releases the film on iTunes and Amazon today.

The titular star of Scheib’s film is Sam Berger, a good-natured octogenarian who’s on a first-name basis with just about everyone in his Texas retirement home. After the death of his wife, Berger rediscovered the need for human connection in his new community, and transformed into a latter-day casanova, happily running around with various women, but not without generating his fair share of jealousy, gossip, and drama. In counterpoint to Berger’s escapades are fellow residents Dorothy and Ceil, two senior women who reflect on their long-standing relationships to their husbands, the nature of love, and the impact of aging on their lives and sex lives. The strength of these three characters’ personalities move the viewer through Scheib’s loosely structured, but often very entertaining, and sometimes quite poignant, portrait of love and companionship in the twilight years.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Wednesday, January 30: KINGS PARK

Lucy Winer’s personal exploration of America’s mental health care system premiered at Woodstock in 2011. Other screenings have included Stony Brook, Film Columbia, and Hamptons Take 2, as well as numerous mental health conferences, academic, and institutional appearances.

In 1967, as a teenager, Winer was committed to Long Island’s Kings Park State Hospital. Half a century later, she returned to the now-shuttered institution to face the traumas of her past. In the process, Winer expands beyond her own story to reveal those of other former residents, employees, and Kings Park itself, crafting a record of not only her own experience of mental illness, but of how mental health care has changed – and faltered – in the decades since her treatment. Deftly balancing the personal and the public, Winer allows the viewer to experience the decrepit yet still foreboding building where she was locked away, and to share in others’ troubling memories of their own or their loved ones’ incarceration, offering these reflections as a means to make sense of how we as a society deal with mental health. As a result, the documentary becomes a powerful tool that not only provides a catharsis for anyone who has been touched by similar experiences, but also presents an opportunity to explore and debate the current state of treatment.

Coming to theatres nationwide for one night only tomorrow, Wednesday, January 30: ONE NIGHT STAND

Elisabeth Sperling and Trish Dalton’s behind the scenes look at the creative process made its world premiere at NewFest in 2011, where it also picked up the documentary audience award. Its festival circuit has since included Austin, Denver, Miami, RiverRun, Nashville, and Image Out, among others.

Featuring a celebrity cast familiar to fans of television and the stage, including Cheyenne Jackson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rachel Dratch, and Richard Kind, and talented musical writers, composers, and directors, Sperling and Dalton’s fun and engaging film follows their attempts to create four original short musicals for a benefit performance in the span of 24 hours. All of the participants meet at 8pm, split up into teams, and begin throwing out ideas to create their individual fifteen minute pieces, which will premiere at 8pm the next day for the one-night-only benefit. Dalton and Sperling jump between the four groups, tracing the frenetic development of their vignettes, from blank page to initial ideas, from casting to rehearsals to final performance. The time constraints bring out a range of emotions, from adrenaline-fueled excitement to abject terror, as the infectious project offers the audience a window into creativity across a number of disciplines, pushed to the limits.

Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29 and to theatres this Friday, February 1: KOCH

Neil Barsky’s portrait of the iconic and controversial New York City mayor had its world premiere at the Hamptons last Fall. Since then, its festival run has included Palm Springs and a number of Jewish fests, including Boston, New York, and Atlanta, among others.

Framed around the 2010 elections, Hizzoner is followed around, endorsing candidates, speaking publicly on TV and radio programs on various issues – including the so-called Ground Zero mosque, spending Jewish holidays with family members, and witnessing the dedication of a bridge in his name. Against this backdrop, Koch relates the story of his three contentious terms as mayor, aided by former staffers, supporters, and detractors, as well as copious archival material, expertly edited together. Rarely seen footage of Koch on the campaign trail shows him working his would-be constituents with the showmanship that helped make him an internationally recognized political figure. Barsky covers a lot of territory, from savvy political deals with allegedly shady figures, to missteps that cost the mayor the African-American community’s trust, and even gets Koch to discuss why he refuses to address the constant speculation about his sexuality – the result is an engaging, balanced, and well-constructed profile of a man and of his city, during some of the most turbulent times in its history.