Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed, tonight, Tuesday, October 30:
CHARLIE VS GOLIATH

Director:
Reed Lindsay

Premiere:
Big Sky Doc 2017

Select Festivals:
Workers Unite, Mumbai, Sun Valley

About:
A former Catholic priest makes a bid for the US Senate in Wyoming.

Charlie Hardy is an unlikely politician. Beyond his background in the priesthood, he’s fairly quiet and unassuming, and, more to the point, he’s a Democrat in the historically Republican state of Wyoming. Lindsay’s film tracks Hardy’s 2014 campaign, as he faces off against incumbent Mike Enzi, who has served in the role since 1997. Hardy traverses the whole of the state, speaking out against dark money in politics, noting that the vast majority of Enzi’s campaign financing comes from outside the state and from large corporate interests, chiefly the coal industry. As denoted by the film’s quixotic title, Hardy has an uphill battle – he insists on individual donations from within Wyoming only, so he has no hope of placing any media ads, and his is a decidedly grassroots campaign, with a skeleton crew of supporters. As with any campaign documentaries in an age of instantly searchable results, the point of this scrappy film is not so much who wins but the insight it provides into how challenging the electoral process actually is post-Citizens United.

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, October 30:
ALT-RIGHT: AGE OF RAGE

Director:
Adam Bhala Lough

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Ji.hlava, AmDocs, Poland’s American Film Festival

About:
An investigation into the rise of hate groups under the current presidential administration.

Responding to the emboldening of right-wing radicalism by the ascension of Trump, Lough began following alt-right leaders, as well as the groups fighting against them, eventually basically honing in on two diametrically opposed subjects. On the alt-right, Richard Spencer, the head of white supremacist think tank National Policy Institute, and on the left, Daryle Lamont Jenkins, part of radical left activist organization Antifa. While others weave in and out of this provocative film, these two are the ideological opponents with which Lough spends the most time, culminating in a disturbing, in-the-moment experience of Charlottesville. While not able to, nor attempting to, bring much of a conclusion to the proceedings, the film offers valuable contest and a potent exposé of the beliefs and practices of the alt-right and its continuing deleterious impact on American society.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 30:
THE JONESES

Director:
Moby Longinotto

Premiere:
San Francisco 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, EDOC, Frameline, Dokufest, Hot Springs Doc, Raindance, New Orleans

About:
A profile of an atypical Mississippi family.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Jheri Jones, a lively 74-year-old transgender divorcée, works hard to keep her family together in a trailer-park home in Mississippi’s Bible Belt. After years of estrangement encouraged by her embittered religious ex-wife, Jheri now lives with two of her grown sons. Together, the Joneses attempt to resolve old resentments, reconcile questions of identity, and reveal long-unaddressed secrets in this often-surprising family portrait.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 30:
CALL HER GANDA

Director:
PJ Raval

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Doc Edge, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, Cínemalayà, LA Asian Pacific, DMZ Docs, Sidewalk, New Orleans

About:
The murder of a transgender woman by a US Marine exposes the legacy of imperialism in the Philippines.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, October 29:
WILDLAND

Directors:
Alex Jablonski and Kahlil Hudson

Premiere:
Camden 2018

Select Festivals:
Ashland

About:
An immersion into the training and work of a group of firefighters.

Set in Grants Pass OR, Jablonski and Hudson’s film follows the personal stories of a few men who have elected to take on the challenge and duty of fighting wildfires. Embedding themselves within the training program, the filmmakers capture the rigor and boredom of preparation, but it all leads to the important – and dangerous – work. Some recruits have signed up for adventure, others for duty, and a few as a means to turn their lives around from addiction and crime. At its core, the beautifully shot film explores conceptions of masculinity, more obviously denoted by its original title, YOUNG MEN AND FIRE, and poetically captured here through excerpts of Ray Bradbury’s DANDELION WINE.