Category Archives: Recommendations

A living legend in the fashion world, most notably for a long stint at Vogue, Talley cuts a distinctive figure. In an industry that has been dominated by white men and women, Talley, an African-American man from the American South – the grandson of a sharecropper, no less – emerged as an unlikely tastemaker. As he notes in Novack’s admiring retrospective, his ascent was so unusual that many dismissively assumed he had slept his way into fashion circles, calling forth racial, sexual, and homophobic stereotypes that still visibly pain him in their recounting. Despite this, and the awkward focus on the 2016 US Presidential election that serves as an unusual backdrop here, the film largely remains celebratory and positive, offering an overview of Talley’s long career, his close friendships with the who’s who of fashion and celebrity, and how he came to become one of the most recognizable men in the industry. At the same time, though seemingly candid and at ease under Novack’s camera, there’s a strange avoidance of fully addressing Talley’s sexuality and personal life. He quickly closes off the topic of relationships, suggesting an asexuality that comes close to being an erasure of an obvious part of his very public persona – it is, after all, no secret that he’s a gay man, but the film never really explores this facet, or its influence on his career, to any real degree. Leaving this aside, Talley’s strong presence, and his decades-spanning career, make this an enjoyable exploration of the mark one man has left on fashion.

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Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations

May 14, 2018 · 12:01 PM

New York African 2018: Documentary Overview

Festival:
The 25th New York African Film Festival

Dates:
May 16-22

About:
This long-running series celebrates African and African diaspora cinema, and includes four documentaries among its 13 new feature offerings. Continue reading →

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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations

May 10, 2018 · 12:01 PM

In Theatres & On TV: WHAT HAUNTS US

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, May 11 and to Starz on Monday, May 14:
WHAT HAUNTS US

Director:
Paige Goldberg Tolmach

Premiere:
Boston 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Washington West, Boulder, Austin, Sedona

About:
A personal investigation into the reasons behind a string of suicides from the same school.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Why are the men of Charleston SC’s Porter Gaud School killing themselves? Alarmed by the latest in a long-running series of suicides from her high school in 1979, filmmaker Paige Goldberg Tolmach returns to her hometown for answers. Stonewalled by administrators, she mines her own memories, and those of her former classmates, to uncover long-held secrets, revealing a disturbing cover-up centered around a popular teacher and sports coach.

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May 9, 2018 · 3:02 PM

On VOD: TOTO AND HIS SISTERS

New to VOD this week:
TOTO AND HIS SISTERS

Director:
Alexander Nanau

Premiere:
San Sebastian 2014

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Tribeca, Transilvania, Sarajevo, Camden, Flahertiana, Yamagata Doc, DOK.fest Munich, Dok Leipzig, Zurich, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vilnius

About:
In Bucharest, a pre-teen and his sisters cope with their mother’s imprisonment for drugs.

Taking a strictly observational approach, Nanau provides viewers with a remarkably intimate look at the lives of Roma siblings Toto (10), Andreea (14), and Ana (17). Though theoretically in the care of their uncles, the latter’s drug use has meant that the trio basically have been forced to raise themselves while their mother is serving out a seven-year drug sentence. Over the months covered in the film, young Toto seeks some sense of joy in an otherwise harrowing environment through his love of hip-hop dance, while middle sister Andreea takes up the slack in keeping him safe after eldest Ana seems fated to continue the dead end cycle of drugs. While never sugar-coating the bleak circumstances of this marginalized family, this exceptionally crafted film nevertheless is well able to demonstrate the younger children’s amazing resilience despite the uncertainty of their futures.