Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Monday, January 9:
SOUTHWEST OF SALEM: THE STORY OF THE SAN ANTONIO FOUR

Director:
Deborah S Esquenazi

Premiere:
Tribeca 2016

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, DocuWest, AFI Docs, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out

About:
Four Latina lesbians seek exoneration for a shocking miscarriage of justice.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tomorrow, Saturday, January 7: BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS

Directors:
Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens

Premiere:
Cannes 2016

Select Festivals:
Telluride, New York, Chicago, AFI Fest

About:
A portrait of the famed mother/daughter celebrities, who recently died just one day apart.

It’s hard not to watch Bloom and Stevens’ loving film as a bittersweet elegy in the wake of Fisher and Reynolds’ passing, though of course there was no predicting at the time of its making that Fisher, at the least, would be dead just days after Christmas 2016. Reynolds, on the other hand, is shown in the film to be slowing down and experiencing some health concerns, lending an air of prescient urgency to this enjoyable celebrity profile. Bloom and Stevens deftly manage to convey the breadth of both women’s lives and careers, while more intimately capturing the messy but loving bond between them. Living next door to one another, they demonstrate a caring, symbiotic relationship, but they also reference past tensions. This is nicely showcased in an early clip in which Reynolds puts a teenage Fisher on the spot to perform, begrudgingly, speaking to the inescapable complexity that came from growing up with celebrity. Ultimately, however, it’s clear that the two legends had long ago made their peace, and audiences are fortunate to have this bouncy, entertaining chronicle of their lives together.

Coming to Netflix this Saturday, January 7: MISS SHARON JONES!

Director:
Barbara Kopple

Premiere:
Toronto 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, Montclair, Dallas, Sarasota, Sydney, DocPoint, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, New Zealand, SXSW, IDFA, AFI Docs

About:
The soul singer struggles to recover after a cancer diagnosis.

I previously wrote about the doc here.