Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 19:
THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY

Directors:
Chris Durrance and Jack Youngelson

World Premiere:
PBS broadcast (April 2020)

About:
A far-ranging history of the discovery and research into the human genome.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE COMPETITION (LE CONCOURS)

Director:
Claire Simon

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, True/False, CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, London, Göteborg, Taipei

About:
An inside look at a French film school and its next generation of hopeful filmmakers.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE RAFT

Director:
Marcus Lindeen

World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2018

Select Festivals:
IDFA, London, Melbourne, Chicago, Doclisboa, Sao Paulo, Bergen, Antenna Doc, Dokufest, Haifa, Zurich, Athens, RiverRun

About:
A look back at an unusual social experiment from 1973.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD:
REPEAT ATTENDERS

Director:
Mark Dooley

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017

Select Festivals:
DocEdge

About:
A look at the lives and obsessions of musical superfans.

The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In London, Sally has spent £40,000 watching LES MISERABLES every two weeks for much of her life. German Gudrun regularly cosplays as her favorite STARLIGHT EXPRESS character. In California, Christine has assembled the largest collection of CATS memorabilia in the world. For these superfans, musical theater is an obsession, a refuge, and a place where they belong. They’ve spent years in the audience, and now Mark Dooley’s affectionate profile finally puts them in the spotlight.

Coming to virtual theatrical today, Friday, May 15:
ANBESSA

Director:
Mo Scarpelli

World Premiere:
Berlin 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Durban, Mountainfilm, RiverRun, Maryland, Woods Hole, Cleveland, Cucalorus, Washington DC Enviro, San Francisco DocFest

About:
A young Ethiopian boy turns to his imagination to reckon with the urbanization of his home.

The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Mo Scarpelli’s creative documentary focuses on a lonely, imaginative Ethiopian boy named Asalif. Displaced by condo developments, Asalif and his mother struggle to make ends meet. With sweeping camera work and light-filled frames, the film gently probes the young boy’s interior world as he processes isolation and displacement. Creating an alternative identity as a ferocious lion – the meaning of the film’s title – Asalif learns to survive. Pushing the boundaries of standard nonfiction form, Mo Scarpelli’s portrait is a testament to resiliency.

New to MUBI this week:
TRANSNISTRA

Director:
Anna Eborn

World Premiere:
Rotterdam 2019

Select Festivals:
London, Gotëborg, CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Jihlava, Docs Against Gravity, Visions du Réel, Tempo Doc, Reykjavik, Busan, Yamagata, Sarajevo, Guanajuato, Cork

About:
A portrait of youth living in the unrecognized nation of Transnistria.

Officially considered part of Moldova and located on the border of Ukraine, Transnistria has been a breakaway state since 1990, internationally unrecognized but functioning with its own constitution, government, law enforcement, and currency. Filmmaker Anna Eborn provides a glimpse into life here, following a group of teenage friends. At the center is the sole female, Tanya, with several boys vying for her attention or affection. As they are followed over the course of a year, languidly captured by Eborn in a strikingly cinematic manner, they behave much like teens anywhere in the world – but time and again, the film offers reminders of the setting, subtly highlighting how much of the Soviet era remains within Transnistrian society.

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.