Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD this Friday, November 10:
MANSFIELD 66/67

Directors:
P David Ebersole and Todd Hughes

Premiere:
Rotterdam 2017

Select Festivals:
BAFICI, Docs Against Gravity, Provincetown, Sitges, Gent, Am Docs, Frameline, Inside Out

About:
A campy exploration of the life, death, and legend of Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield.

In her heyday in the late 1950s, Jayne Mansfield was a popular Hollywood sex symbol who accepted publicity at any cost, a polyglot who happily took on a dumb blonde persona for fame. Arguably known more for her personal life than notable screen roles, she became infamous after a gruesome 1967 car accident took her life at the age of 34. Ebersole and Hughes focus on her public persona and its legacy in this playful investigation into the wild rumors that have colored her life and death, particularly Mansfield’s connections to fellow publicity hound Anton LaVey, founder of the infamous Church of Satan. Rather than seek out family participation, the filmmakers deliberately instead interview celebrities and cultural commentators like John Waters, Kenneth Anger, and Mary Woronov, as well as academics for their take on the fascination engendered by the ill-fated actress. Upping the inherent camp value are several dance sequences featuring male and female models in Mansfield-like wigs, as well as a near-ever-present score – while both should have been pared down, the project as a whole is entertaining and unique.

New to DVD this week:
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE

Director:
Patrick Shen

Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2015

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Atlanta, Cleveland, Ashland, Full Frame, Dallas, Docville, DOXA, Sheffield, San Francisco Green

About:
A meditation on silence in the cacophony of modern life.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD this week:
STRAD STYLE

Director:
Stefan Avalos

Premiere:
Slamdance 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Denver, Antenna Doc, Biografilm, Dallas, Sonoma, Martha’s Vineyard, Salem

About:
An amateur attempts to reproduce a world-class violin.

A project somewhat in the vein of AMERICAN MOVIE, Avalos’ project focuses on Daniel Houk, a man who lives in a rural Ohio farmhouse who has somehow convinced a celebrated violinist that he can build for him a perfect replica of Guarneri’s Il Cannone – one of the most valuable violins in the world – despite having no apparent instrument-making experience. The film follows Daniel’s trial-and-error approach to replication as the clock ticks down to the promised delivery date and a performance by Romanian violinist Razvan Stoica to which the DIY craftsman is invited. While the filmmaker might skimp on some background, and introduces Daniel’s mother and oddball cousin but fails to flesh them out enough, he has found an unlikely underdog who remains eminently watchable, even if some viewers may stay tuned in out of schadenfreude.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 7:
THE WAR SHOW

Directors:
Obaidah Zytoon and Andreas Dalsgaard

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, Bergen, Reykjavik, London, Dubai, Goteborg

About:
A group of friends capture the de-evolution of Syria’s revolution into civil war.

I previously wrote about the doc here.