Category Archives: Recommendations

New to iTunes and Vudu this week:
VERY RALPH

Director:
Susan Lacy

World Premiere:
Rome 2019

About:
A biographical portrait of pioneering fashion designer Ralph Lauren.

I previous wrote about the doc here.

Coming to CNN this Sunday, May 17:
SCANDALOUS

Director:
Mark Landsman

World Premiere:
Hamptons 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Austin, Kansas, Denver

About:
An exploration of the influential tabloid, the National Enquirer.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to Netflix tonight, Monday, May 11:
HAVE A GOOD TRIP: ADVENTURES IN PSYCHEDELICS

Director:
Donick Cary

World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (cancelled)

About:
Celebrities and other notables share their often funny experiences with mind-altering substances.

Despite promising therapeutic studies conducted in the 1950s and early 1960s involving psychedelic drugs like LSD, they were still classified by the federal government as illegal substances. That status, of course, hasn’t stopped people from taking them, or from talking about their trips. Assembling stories from a wide range of famous folks from Sting and Sarah Silverman to Deepak Chopra and Carrie Fisher, filmmaker Donick Cary takes a comedic look at the history, science, and potential of psychedelics, as well as how they have been (mis)represented in popular culture. The result is a light-hearted survey of often very funny celebrity storytelling, illustrated through fun animated sequences, re-enactments, and an extended AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL parody.

Coming to PBS tonight, Monday, May 11, and tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12:
ASIAN AMERICANS

Series Producer:
Renee Tajima-Peña

World Premiere:
PBS broadcast (May 2020)

About:
A sweeping overview of the Asian experience in America.

Presented over two nights and in five episodes, this PBS series takes on the daunting task of exploring more than 150 years of American history through the lens of diverse communities of Asian and South Asian origin. Episode one explores Asian immigration to the US, the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act, legal and cultural fights over race, representation, and education; episode two focuses on the disgraceful treatment of Asian Americans, and specifically people of Japanese descent, during WWII, disguised as tests of American loyalty; episode three examines the contradictions of model minority status in the post-war years, and the dawning of Asian American political activism; episode four looks at the 1960s and 1970s, as a new generation claims the Asian American identity, fighting for ethnic studies programs, spearheading the farmers’ rights movement, and speaking out against the war in Vietnam, while a new wave of refugees make America their home; and episode five speeds through a range of topics, from the murder of Vincent Chin and the Korean/African American tension that erupted in the LA riots to Asian American connections to the dot com boom, the DREAM Act, and post 9/11 hate crimes. While the series is impressive in its breadth, even if it were twice its current length, there would be far much more to cover, and in greater depth. While it’s at its best when it slows down to profile individual stories, its mandate to cover so much terrain too often forces it to be too general, sometimes also awkwardly straining to note parallels with present-day issues. As it stands, ASIAN AMERICANS is fully of a piece with PBS’s typical informational and historical fare, driven by narration and talking heads, and functions as a necessary and useful primer that will hopefully inspire future work that delves deeper into its myriad stories.

Coming to VOD today, Friday, May 8 and to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, May 11:
REWIND

Director:
Sasha Joseph Neulinger

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019

Select Festivals:
BFI London, Traverse City, Palm Springs, Denver, Mill Valley, Nashville, Rome, Heartland, Big Sky Doc, Atlanta Jewish

About:
A filmmaker confronts his traumatic past.

When filmmaker Sasha Joseph Neulinger was a boy, his father, Henry, bought a video camera – he missed his own daughter’s birth to do so. From that point forward, Henry would document his family’s life. Eventually, Sasha asked to use the camera himself, and it’s upon this trove of family home movies that he now draws to reveal his troubling past. Gradually, as Sasha interviews his parents, sister, therapist, and, eventually, law enforcement, a picture emerges of a vibrant young boy who suddenly exhibited a complete personality transformation, inexplicable to his parents until Sasha himself alerted them to a suspicion he had about his baby sister and their uncle. What follows devastated the family, unearthed disturbing generational trauma, and exposed deep flaws in how childhood victims of sexual abuse were treated by the judicial system. Sasha’s film is deeply personal – and profoundly upsetting – but at the same time both affecting and therapeutic.

New to VOD via Amazon Prime this week:
TRE MAISON DASAN

Director:
Denali Tiller

Premiere:
San Francisco 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Cleveland, IFF Boston, Montclair, AFI Docs, Rhode Island, Heartland, Raindance, Cucalorus, Big Sky Doc, Thessaloniki Doc, NewportFilm

About:
A profile of three young boys whose parents are in prison.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to virtual theatrical, benefitting Maysles Cinema, tomorrow, Thursday, May 7:
MOSSVILLE: WHEN GREAT TREES FALL

Director:
Alexander John Glustrom

World Premiere:
Full Frame 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New Orleans, Hot Springs Doc, Washington DC Environmental, BendFilm, Raindance, Durban, Indie Grits, Montclair, Wild & Scenic, Planet in Focus

About:
An intimate profile of one man’s struggle against environmental racism.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to Netflix today, Monday, May 4:
CRACKED UP

Director:
Michelle Esrick

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festivals:
Aspen, Reel Recovery NY, Reel Recovery LA

About:
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE veteran Darrell Hammond opens up the impact of his childhood abuse.

I previously wrote about the doc here.