Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, September 19:
GARRY WINOGRAND: ALL THINGS ARE PHOTOGRAPHABLE

Director:
Sasha Waters Freyer

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
San Francisco, New Zealand, Thin Line, Vancouver, Haifa

About:
A history and appreciation of acclaimed street photographer.

Garry Winogrand was known for a body of work that encompassed street photography as well as acclaimed publications of American life in Texas and California in the 1960s. Though prone to montages, Freyer makes good use of a rich archive of Winogrand’s striking images in this watchable but fairly straightforward artist portrait, while the photographer himself, who died of cancer in 1984, is represented largely through a frank audio interview with fellow photographer Jay Maisel. Admirers help position his work among those photographers who changed popular understanding of photography from a discipline that illustrated magazine articles to an art form. Taking on particular resonance is work that was produced later in his career, including photo books WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL, which was met with scorn, seen as emblematic of the male gaze coming at the height of feminism; and PUBLIC RELATIONS, focused on the creation of images rather than notable events themselves, a sort of harbinger of the selfie generation.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, September 17:
93QUEEN

Director:
Paula Eiselt

Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018

Select Festivals:
San Francisco Jewish, Marfa, Charlotte Jewish

About:
A driven woman faces controversy when she sets out to form the first all-female Hasidic EMT corps.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres and to Netflix today, Thursday, September 13:
REVERSING ROE

Directors:
Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg

Premiere:
Telluride 2018

About:
An exploration of the politicization of the abortion debate over time.

Coming at a sadly all-too-timely moment in American political history, Stern and Sundberg’s carefully composed and illuminating film puts into perspective abortion both before Roe v Wade, when the procedure was generally considered a personal matter between women (or couples) and their doctors, and after, when it quickly erupted into a deeply divisive political issue, spurred on by a highly mobilized evangelical Christian base. While the film covers somewhat familiar ground about TRAP laws already explored in other documentaries on the topic, this makes it no less urgent as it chronicles the coordinated campaigns by anti-choice forces to put ever-increasing restrictions on abortion providers, leading to widespread closures of clinics and reduced access to women in need of such services, with the ultimate goal of reversing Roe via a conservative, anti-choice US Supreme Court. Significantly, Stern and Sundberg don’t rely on preaching to only one choir here, instead giving space for both sides of the bitter debate to have their say, and offering hope that they might watch – though it’s hard to be optimistic that they’ll find any common ground.

Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Friday, September 14:
BASQUIAT: RAGE TO RICHES

Director:
David Shulman

Premiere:
BBC broadcast (October 2017)

About:
An exploration of the life and art of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Basquiat emerged in late 1970s New York, anonymously using the graffiti tag SAMO© together with collaborator Al Diaz. Eventually, he revealed himself, alienating Diaz and launching himself fully into the vibrant arts and cultural scene with his expressive, singular paintings. Using evocative period footage and interviews with Basquiat’s sisters, friends, and lovers, as well as fellow artists and gallerists, Shulman’s thoughtful film traces the artist’s rise to fame, while also exploring formative influences, and the subtle and overt racism that threatened to limit his potential, and, ultimately, contributed to the self-destructive behavior that cost him his life at the age of only 27.