Category Archives: Recommendations

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.

Coming to PBS’s American Experience in two parts, today, Monday, May 4 and tomorrow, Tuesday, May 5:
GEORGE W BUSH

Director:
Barak Goodman

World Premiere:
American Experience (May 2020)

About:
A two-part biography on the life and career of the 43rd president of the United States.

Part of the storied PBS program’s ongoing series of presidential profiles, director Barak Goodman’s portrait chronicles Bush’s life and unlikely ascendancy to the White House, telling the story of a maverick seeking to come out from the shadow of his father and to assert the legitimacy of his uniquely contested election even as he was forced early in his term to turn from domestic matters to international concerns following the 9/11 attacks. While Bush, his family, and most of his close associates do not participate in the biography, Goodman does secure notables including mastermind Karl Rove. While not as critical of the administration as some viewers might wish, the portrait does confront its various controversies, outright lies, and blunders, often rightly placing the blame on the Commander in Chief, while still making an argument for the complexity of Bush’s presidency.

Coming to virtual theatrical today, Friday, May 1:
CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Director:
Justin Pemberton

World Premiere:
Sydney 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Melbourne, New Zealand, Jerusalem, Hamburg

About:
An adaptation of the unexpected international bestselling economics book.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Based on economist Thomas Piketty’s groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, this accessible and enlightening adaptation explores the history of wealth, power, and inequality from the French Revolution to the present day. Is today’s ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor an aberration, or just the way capitalism is meant to work? Drawing on experts, historians, and even THE SIMPSONS, Justin Pemberton’s film offers a thought-provoking reframing of global economics and a caution for the future.

New to Netflix this week:
A SECRET LOVE

Director:
Chris Bolan

World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (cancelled)

About:
A portrait of a lesbian couple facing aging and change after six decades together.

Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel met in 1947, beginning a lesbian relationship in a dangerous pre-Stonewall world that necessitated secrecy in public. In private, however, they cultivated a rich social life with other gay people in their home in Chicago, the Canadian couple having relocated there to enable Donahue’s career in the All-American Girls Baseball League – her own A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN story, too briefly touched upon here. Living together through the decades, family members largely accepted that the two women were good friends and roommates, not learning the truth about their love until relatively recently. Filmmaker Chris Bolan, Donahue’s grandnephew, reveals the story of the women’s longstanding relationship against the backdrop of a more contentious development – Bolan’s mother, Diana – Donahue’s favorite and most supportive niece – is on a mission to bring the couple back to Canada to enter an assisted care facility to better handle their health issues, an idea to which Henschel is extremely resistant. This central conflict tellingly reveals the tensions often felt between queer and biological families, though it’s notable that no one here is painted as a villain. Ultimately, Bolan’s film is a sweet, poignant, and affecting tribute to Donahue and Henschel’s enduring love.