Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 14:
THE CREEPING GARDEN

Directors:
Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp

Premiere:
Fantasia 2014

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Fantastic Fest, Imagine Science, CPH:DOX, Leeds, Cleveland, New Horizons, Revelation, DOXA

About:
An ode to the wonderfully weird slime mold.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, March 14 and to theatres this Wednesday, March 15:
TICKLING GIANTS

Director:
Sara Taksler

Premiere:
Tribeca 2016

Select Festivals:
BFI London, Just for Laughs, Bergen, Vancouver, DocPoint, Glasgow, Big Sky Doc, Stockholm, Salem, Human Rights Watch London and Toronto, Movies That Matter, Cleveland

About:
A heart surgeon-turned-comedian tests the limits of free speech in post-Mubarak Egypt.

Emboldened by the social changes made possible in the Arab Spring, Dr Bassem Youssef began exploring his gift for comedy, first making humorous YouTube videos before being graduated to his own network television show. Al Bernameg – literally translated as The Show – was consciously modeled after Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, and quickly became a sensation, averaging a massive 30 million viewers at its most popular. Taksler, herself a producer on The Daily Show, follows Youssef as he tries to navigate the thorny realities of satire while facing the scrutiny and, soon enough, the displeasure of the new Egyptian government. Courting controversy and unwilling to kowtow to authority, Al Bernameg begins alienating pro-government fans, as well as cautious network heads, and potentially places Youssef and his staff in danger. Taksler immediately captures Youssef’s appeal, and cleverly makes use of animated sequences to fill in some background and convey the David vs Goliath aspects of Youssef’s efforts.

New to VOD via Vimeo on Demand this week:
THE LEGEND OF SWEE’ PEA

Director:
Benjamin May

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2015

Select Festivals:
Milwaukee, Flyway, Portland, deadCENTER, Maryland

About:
The story of a talented basketball player’s unusual road to the NBA.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Lloyd Swee’ Pea Daniels was a legend on the highly competitive playground basketball courts of NYC, and one of the top college basketball recruits of the late 1980s. Before he was able to play a single game at UNLV, a drug bust ended his college career. But this was far from the end of his story. Benjamin May recounts the unexpected twists and turns in the life and career of the flawed but ever-charismatic sports prodigy in this engaging portrait.

Coming to theatres today, Thursday, March 9:
UNCERTAIN

Directors:
Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands

Premiere:
Tribeca 2015

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Seattle, AFI Docs, Tempo Doc

About:
A Southern Gothic study of three residents of a small Texan town.

Named after the Texas/Louisiana bordertown, population 94, McNicol and Sandilands focus their attention on three distinct stories centered on three men at different ages, all in some way haunted by past or present concerns: 74-year-old Henry, a recently widowed fisherman and tour guide; middle-aged Wayne, a former addict with a prison background, currently on a quest to kill his sworn enemy, a wild boar named Mr Ed; and 21-year-old Zach, a diabetic heavy drinker who recently had his troubled mother committed. Their stories slowly play out against a shared background portending a greater existential threat – an aquatic weed is wreaking havoc with the fragile ecosystem of the community’s lake, potentially destroying the town’s only real source of livelihood. Capturing their setting with evocative lensing and an unhurried pace, the filmmakers deftly craft a humanistic, and surprisingly hopeful, portrait.

New on VOD via Google Play and VUDU this week:
THE SWIRL (EL REMOLINO)

Director:
Laura Herrero Garvín

Premiere:
Ambulante 2016

Select Festivals:
Locarno, Camden, Washington DC Environmental, DocsMX, Oaxaca, Morelia

About:
A trans farmer and her sister navigate life in an oft-flooded Chiapas village.

The small community of El Remolino – literally translated as “the swirl” – annually faces extreme flooding, located as it is along a raging river in Chiapas, Mexico. Trying to maintain their precarious existence here are Esther, a mother who documents her life via camcorder, and Pedro, her openly MTF transgender sister, a farmer. Garvín’s observational slice-of-life portrait is well made, presenting her subjects as fleshed out individuals while also taking on larger social issues that have an ongoing impact on their lives, from climate change to gender and sexuality.