Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4:
RED PENGUINS

Director:
Gabe Polsky

World Premiere:
Toronto 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, Palm Springs, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Santa Barbara, Miami Jewish

About:
A look back at an American-backed hockey team in post-Soviet Russia.

The film screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Filmmaker Gabe Polsky’s previous film, RED ARMY, was an entertaining history of Soviet hockey players migrating to the United States. Now he examines a reverse trend after the Soviet Union’s collapse, when American hustlers tried bringing capitalism to Moscow by investing in its hockey team. This dark comedy contains strippers, gangsters, and live bears serving beer on ice. It’s a lively history lesson that helps us understand relations between the US and Russia today.

New to DVD today and VOD last week:
EL MAR LA MAR

Directors:
Joshua Bonnetta and JP Sniadecki

Premiere:
Berlin 2017

Select Festivals:
New York, London, IDFA, Indielisboa, Dokfest Munich, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, AFI Docs, Camden, Chicago, Vienna, AFI Fest, San Francisco, Hong Kong

About:
An immersive exploration of life and death in a desert along the US/Mexico border.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 28:
MADE IN BOISE

Director:
Beth Aala

World Premiere:
AFI Docs 2019

Select Festivals:
Margaret Mead, GlobeDocs, Hot Springs Doc, Woodstock

About:
An exploration of how and why Boise ID has become the center of America’s surrogacy industry.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to virtual theatrical today, Friday, July 24:
HELMUT NEWTON: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Director:
Gero von Boehm

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2020 (cancelled)

About:
A portrait of the often controversial fashion photographer.

The work of German photographer Helmut Newton is synonymous with transgression, eroticism, and, for some, a disturbing misogyny. Working for Vogue and other influential fashion magazines beginning in the late 1950s, but truly emerging as an iconic image maker in the ’70s and ’80s, Newton focused on the female body, often nude, more than fashion. Influenced by the imagery of Leni Riefenstahl and his time as an apprentice to the underappreciated but pioneering Weimar era photographer Madame Yva, Newton eroticized and fetishized the body, both celebrating it and holding it at a distance, something to be desired, but also, perhaps, to be feared. Filmmaker Gero von Boehm followed the photographer prior to his accidental death in 2004, while also speaking to several of his muses – beyond his wife and business manager, June, models like Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini, Claudia Schiffer, Hanna Schygulla, and Marianne Faithfull. Their affectionate for Newton – a self-described “naughty boy” – and admiration for his professionalism seem to disavow the charges of objectification and the darker undercurrents of his work, but the film would have benefitted from delving deeper into the criticism. Still, von Boehm’s portrait conveys his subject’s charisma and serves as a fitting showcase for Newton’s striking imagery.

Photographer: Dove Clark

Directors:
Lisa Cortés and Farah X

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019

Select Festivals:
Urbanworld, New Orleans, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Napa Valley, St Louis, Sound Unseen, Woodstock, Bahamas, Sidewalk, Harlem DocFest, Boston Women’s, Doc’n Roll

About:
An exploration of the intersection of fashion and hip hop in the late 1980s and ’90s.

It’s undeniable that hip hop has been wildly influential as a cultural force since its origins in the 1980s. Filmmakers Lisa Cortés and Farah X focus on one specific aspect of its reach – the world of fashion. With the growth of hip hop music also came the development of a wide range of looks and styles, eventually leading to lucrative brands. This entertaining doc reveals some of the individuals behind the fashion, perhaps well known from within the hip hop scene, but not necessarily given the credit or wider acclaim they were rightly due before their creativity was co-opted and appropriated by corporations. Figures like Misa Hylton, April Walker, Kerby Jean-Raymond, and Dapper Dan – pivotal in establishing the iconic imagery of hip hop culture – come out from behind the scenes to claim the spotlight and reveal the sometimes contentious history of their visionary looks.