Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres and to VOD today, Wednesday, November 1:
FRANK SERPICO

Director:
Antonino D’Ambrosio

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Traverse City, Martha’s Vineyard, Poland’s American Film Festival, Athens, Vancouver

About:
A portrait of the famed 1970s police corruption whistleblower.

Immortalized by Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet’s 1973 film SERPICO, the titular subject of Antonio D’Ambrosio’s documentary emerges from decades relatively out of the public spotlight to share his story personally. As recounted in that classic street drama, Frank Serpico, an Italian-American cop morally opposed to the extensive corruption within the NYPD, reported his fellow officers only to face retaliation in what he considers to be a set-up that nearly cost him his life and left him with bullet fragments in his head. As a result, the Knapp Commission was set up to investigate police corruption, and, after testifying there, Serpico left for Europe to deal with the aftermath of his travails, including PTSD. D’Ambrosio has the charismatic Serpico’s full cooperation for this real-life retelling of the story, which also features a surreal reunion with one of his partners, who still denies that he was involved in any kind of set-up or cover-up. Ultimately, the doc serves not only as a candid supplement to Lumet’s dramatized version but also a reminder of the ability of ordinary individuals to affect change, no matter how systemic or daunting the issue may seem.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 31:
DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME

Director:
Bill Morrison

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
New York Film Festival, London, Rotterdam, Göteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, BAFICI, It’s All True, Docs Against Gravity, Seattle, Melbourne, EBS Doc, Sydney

About:
Lost films discovered preserved in the Yukon permafrost are used to tell the story of their origins.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31:
NO MAN’S LAND

Director:
David Byars

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Montclair, Denver, St Louis, Mill Valley, Ashland, Camden

About:
An inside look at the controversial occupation of Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge by right-wing militants.

Last year, when an armed group of self-styled “patriots,” frustrated by the policies of the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management, occupied Malheur, they cagily drew the attention of both traditional and social media, quickly becoming the subject of a national debate that encompassed concepts of state rights, federal over reach, gun control, and racial and religious bias in how “homegrown terrorism” is defined. Director David Byars managed to embed with the militants, led by Ammon Bundy, and is well-positioned to present their personalities and rationale for their extreme action, though as the days pass, both take on a desperate, paranoid air, with over dramatic macho posturing unable to disguise a lack of a clear plan. Balancing out their anger and discontent are the viewpoints of journalists who covered the story, as well as the nearby community of Burns OR, who are fearful of the protestors and the violence they expect will come in their wake. Byars film emerges as a remarkably intimate chronicle of the 41 day standoff, and of the disturbing anti-federalist sentiment at its heart that continues to reverberate across the country today.