Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to PBS’s American Masters in an unabridged director’s cut tomorrow, Friday, December 29:
THIS IS BOB HOPE…

Director:
John Scheinfeld

Premiere:
American Masters (Nov 2017, abridged version)

About:
An in-depth look at the life and eight-decade career of the comedian and performer.

Popular across a broad spectrum of entertainment, from his early years in vaudeville through popular music, radio, stage, and screen, Bob Hope happily lived most of his 100 years in the public spotlight before his death in 2003. Once a cutting edge comic talent, he was viewed as old-fashioned by the 1970s, and fell out of favor. Scheinfeld’s affectionate portrait reminds audiences of his prodigious comic abilities and showmanship, drawing from Hope’s personal archives as well as a wealth of performance footage and interviews with family members and celebrity friends and fans like Billy Crystal, Conan O’Brien, and Margaret Cho. The well-constructed and comprehensive film details Hope’s rise to stardom, buoyed by his popular song “Thanks for the Memories,” and his lasting contributions to comedy, including his development of the topical monologue and conversational humor that influenced generations of stand-ups. In addition, Scheinfeld explores Hope’s charity work and long association with the USO, providing entertainment to military audiences for decades – and, in the case of his appearances during the Vietnam War, painting him as a hawk politically, further underlining that he was out of touch with younger audiences. Still, as demonstrated in the ample examples here, there’s no denying Hope’s talent.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 22:
A GERMAN LIFE

Directors:
Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer, Olaf Müller, and Roland Schrotthofer

Premiere:
Visions du Réel 2016

Select Festivals:
Munich, Jerusalem, DMZ, Docslisboa, Docpoint, Zagreb Dox, One World, It’s All True, CNEX Doc, Bergen, Jewish fests in San Francisco, UK, Washington, and Barcelona

About:
Joseph Goebbel’s secretary looks back on her life.

In Krönes, Weigensamer, Müller, and Schrotthofer’s captivating portrait, Brunhilde Pomsel is presented in stark black and white, her wrinkled face framed in close-up, underlining her 103 years, as she recounts how she came to work for the notorious Nazi Propaganda Minister. Intercut with these reflections are quotations from Goebbels and footage from the period produced by both Germany and Allied forces. Pomsel notes that she was apolitical and, beyond that, “one of the cowards,” and that, despite what viewers might want to think about themselves, they too would likely have complied rather than resisted when faced with the Nazi regime. At the same time, Pomsel offers contradictory views about what she did and didn’t know about the actions of the Nazi high command for which she worked – she claims not to know what was being done to the Jews in concentration camps, but her friendship with a Jewish friend who suffered under the Nazis is a recurrent thread here. Still, the filmmakers aren’t engaged in some kind of trial here – instead, they allow the centenarian’s words to underscore the human costs of compliance and expose the moral complicity in unquestioningly permitting hatred and persecution to become the new normal.

Coming to Investigation Discovery tonight, Thursday, December 21:
THE FAMILY I HAD

Directors:
Katie Green and Carlye Rubin

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Docaviv, Camden, Hamptons, Melbourne

About:
A mother reckons with the aftermath of her son’s horrific crime.

In 2007, 13-year-old Paris brutally killed his four-year-old half-sister Ella, stabbing the child to death and then reporting the incident to 911. Left to pick up the pieces was their single mother, Charity, grieving for her lost daughter while facing separation from her clearly troubled son. Green and Rubin revisit the terrible crime while also combing through the family’s archives to try to make sense of Paris’ violent action, revealing along the way a surprising history of tragedy in Charity’s own upbringing. As the resilient woman starts over, having another child pointedly named Phoenix, Charity balances her fear of Paris and his potential future actions with a genuine forgiveness for him and a drive to help others impacted by crime. While offering no easy answers to this family tragedy, the film sensitively explores the complex ties of family and love.

Coming to VOD via Sundance Now tomorrow, Thursday, December 21:
CIRCUS KID

Director:
Lorenzo Pisoni

Premiere:
Mill Valley 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Florida, Woodstock, Berkshire

About:
The director reflects on his unorthodox upbringing in the circus.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
The Pickle Family Circus was founded by a young couple in 1974, paving the way for the New American Circus Movement. Their son Lorenzo became a performer from a young age. Now an actor, he looks for answers to a lifetime of questions as he explores an unconventional relationship with a father who was also his coach, employer, and clown-act partner. In his compelling personal film, Pisoni captures the spirit, lunacy, daring, and dynamics of growing up in a circus family.