Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD via Hulu tomorrow, Friday, March 23:
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS 2: THE NEXT STEP

Director:
Luc Jacquet

Premiere:
French theatrical release (February 2017)

Select Festivals:
NY International Children’s, Sofia, Hong Kong, Zurich

About:
A follow up to the 2006 Academy Award-winning portrait of the emperor penguins of Antarctica.

More than a decade since the original film charmed audiences around the world, Luc Jacquet returns to the inhospitable polar breeding grounds of the titular figures for another beautifully lensed look at their lives. Much of what’s presented here is comfortably familiar, from the struggles of new penguin fathers to keep their soon-to-be-hatched offspring warm, to the pleasing resonance of Morgan Freeman’s narration – this English language version once again dispensing with the clunky conceit of anthropomorphic narration that characterized the 2005 French original. Where the sequel slightly differs is in more of a focus on the father penguins’ relationship with the hatchlings and their growth in the latter sections of the film, a consideration of the impact of climate change on their environment, and in taking advantage of advancements in camera technology to offer viewers a crisper view of the birds’ harsh habitat and, especially, their underwater escapades. While hardly reinventing the wheel, this new film serves as an easily watchable update of the story of the emperor penguins for a new generation.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed series on The WORLD Channel tonight, Tuesday, March 20:
THE INVISIBLE PATIENTS

Director:
Patrick O’Connor

Premiere:
Indy Film Fest 2016

Select Festivals:
Cucalorus, Heartland

About:
A profile of a nurse practitioner who cares for homebound patients.

O’Connor’s simple but effective film focuses on Jessica Macleod, PhD, who makes house calls to individuals in Indiana and Kentucky who otherwise would likely be without home care because of mobility issues and/or limited income. Over nearly a year, the straight-talking nurse practitioner is followed as she provides primary care services to four of her patients. These include elderly couple Wink and Patty, who have few options for care after being suspected of selling their pain pills; Ron, an artist confined to a wheelchair following a traumatic brain injury, who Jessica also worries might be being maltreated by his roommate brother; and Roger, a young man with Duchenne muscle dystrophy nearing the end of his life. In between providing compassionate care for these individuals, Jessica reflects on the state of health care in America, the need for more in-home providers, the personal sacrifices made for her job, and the lack of respect she often encounters because she is not a doctor. While not the most artful portrait, O’Connor’s film provides an empathetic look at the lives of isolated and often neglected patients and the efforts of professionals like Jessica to address their needs.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 20:
MISS KIET’S CHILDREN

Directors:
Peter Lataster and Petra Lataster-Czisch

Premiere:
IDFA 2016

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, True/False, DOXA, Munich Dok.Fest, Thessaloniki Doc, Melbourne Doc, Goteborg, St Louis

About:
A portrait of a Dutch grade school class made up of refugee children.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, March 19:
ARTHUR MILLER: WRITER

Director:
Rebecca Miller

Premiere:
Telluride 2017

Select Festivals:
New York Film Festival, Woodstock

About:
An intimate portrait of the filmmaker’s famed playwright father.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Doc World on the WORLD Channel this Sunday, March 18:
ARMED WITH FAITH

Directors:
Geeta Gandbhir and Asad Faruqi

Premiere:
Sheffield 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Atlanta, Vancouver, Salem

About:
A profile of members of a bomb squad on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
After 9/11, Pakistan, an American ally in the global war on terror, is plagued by both homegrown and international terrorism. The small yet heroic Pakistani Bomb Disposal Unit is on the frontline of defense, defusing bombs, navigating land mines, and grappling with suicide bombers, all while dealing with financial hardship and familial pressure. Harrowing and suspenseful, Geeta Gandbhir and Asad Faruqi’s compelling film takes us on the ground with this dedicated squad of men who risk their own lives every day for their country.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, March 16:
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, LOU DIMAGGIO?

Director:
Brad Kuhlman

Premiere:
Santa Barbara 2017

Select Festivals:
Nashville, Beverly Hills, Woodstock Comedy

About:
A former stand-up comedian attempts a comeback.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Lou DiMaggio was a regular performer at Manhattan’s Catch A Rising Star, the same comedy club that helped launch legendary figures like Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Larry David, among many others. After leaving NYC for the lure of Hollywood, DiMaggio soon stopped performing in favor of comedy writing gigs, even winning an Emmy for WIN BEN STEIN’S MONEY. Kuhlman follows DiMaggio as he sets out to return to the stage, twenty years later, and filmed with trepidation that today’s young audience will care what he has to say. To psych himself up, and simultaneously indulge in some enjoyable and often funny nostalgia, the comic visits with old friends from the comedy club circuit, including Larry David, Colin Quinn, Howie Mandel, Susie Essman, and a candid Jeff Garlin, who warns him away unless he absolutely has to perform. When DiMaggio finally does make an awkward attempt, he bombs horribly, but doesn’t let that stop him. While Kuhlman’s largely talking heads-oriented film breaks no new ground, there’s an odd appeal to his protagonist and his fellow comedians’ frank dissection of the pain and work that go into their craft.