Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to NYC’s Museum of the Moving Image tomorrow, Friday, November 18: NE ME QUITTE PAS (DON’T LEAVE ME)

Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden’s profile of a pair of alcoholic friends debuted at IDFA in 2013. It went on to screen at Tribeca, Sydney, Traverse City, London, Chicago, Talinn Black Nights, Cleveland, and One World, among other events.

Living in a remote Belgian village, Marcel and Bob are old friends, and they’re both prone to excessive drinking and long, often very funny, conversations. As the film opens, the middle-aged Marcel’s marriage has just ended, and he turns to the older Bob for companionship and, it’s clear, an escape from his deep depression. Even as the pair provide unexpected onscreen comedy, their talk turns to joking about suicide methods, and Marcel recognizes his problems with drinking. The filmmakers maintain just the right balance between humor and pathos, finding genuine comedy in the men’s rapport without either condescension or pity as they craft an indelible portrait.

Coming to VOD via Sundance Now today, Thursday, November 17: MISSING PEOPLE

David Shapiro’s portrait of a driven art collector with a tragic past had its world premiere at Hot Docs last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Hamptons, Atlanta, and Sarasota, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Martina, the director of a prominent NYC gallery, is an obsessive collector of the work of late outsider artist Roy Ferdinand, which chronicled a violent, sexual pre-Katrina New Orleans. When she meets Ferdinand’s sisters, they are drawn together by common experience: Martina too is haunted by the spectre of her own brother, the 14-year-old victim of an unsolved murder in 1978 Queens. David Shapiro intricately weaves together the stories of these two brothers in this indelible nonfiction mystery.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, November 18: OFF THE RAILS

Adam Irving’s chronicle of a man’s obsession with NYC transit made its debut at Full Frame. Screenings have also included DOC NYC, Hot Docs, Sarasota, RiverRun, Newport Beach, San Francisco Doc, Provincetown, Sidewalk, Woods Hole, DocUtah, Hot Springs Doc, Savannah, Denver, and St Louis.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Irving’s film tells the stranger-than-fiction story of serial MTA imposter Darius McCollum, who has been jailed more than 30 times for illegally driving buses and conducting subway trains. After finding sanctuary from childhood bullies in the subway, McCollum, who has Asperger’s syndrome, developed an obsession with the transit system. Though he has never missed a stop in his unorthodox 35-year “career” operating mass transit vehicles, unforgiving authorities have damned him to the revolving door of the criminal justice system.

New to DVD this week: DEMON ON WHEELS

Christina Eliopoulos’ tale of a man and his classic Mustang premiered at the Carlisle Ford Nationals auto show last year before its VOD release.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed today, Tuesday, November 15: BY BLOOD

Marcos C Barbery and Sam Russell’s look at the contested identities of freed slaves had its world premiere at New Orleans in 2014. It also screened at Big Sky, Cleveland, deadCENTER, and the San Diego Black film fests.

I previously wrote about the doc here.