Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, November 2: THE DIPLOMAT

David Holbrooke’s tribute to his ambassador father debuted att Tribeca this Spring. Screenings followed at San Francisco, Traverse City, Sarajevo, AFI Docs, Telluride Mountainfilm, and Jerusalem, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 30: MAKING ROUNDS

Muffie Meyer’s immersive look at a cardiac care unit makes its debut today at NYC’s Cinema Village. Meyer, of course, is best known as one of the directors/editors of the iconic GREY GARDENS.

Set within Mount Sinai, Meyer’s film focuses on cardiologists Herschel Sklaroff and Valentin Fuster as they lead a group of young doctors and medical students in a good, old-fashioned round of bedside visits, a practice viewers soon learn is growing increasingly rare as doctors instead rely on technological advancements in testing for diagnostic assessment. Drs Sklaroff and Fuster demonstrate, however, that a few minutes spent establishing an empathetic connection with people who are frihtened to death, and, critically, actually listening to their experience of symptoms, yields dramatic results. Patients who have experienced frustration time and time again during past visits are discovered to have been misdiagnosed and finally receive treatment that helps their quality of life. Meyer’s film is strongest when she accompanies the physicians to the bedsides, putting the viewer in the shoes of the eager medical students learning from these acclaimed mentors. It’s less effective in a couple of brief, more conventional, interview sequences which feel tacked on. Regardless, the film’s simple yet important premise – that doctors shouldn’t lose sight of the patient as they try to treat their symptoms – is on the whole conveyed quite well.

Coming to theatres this Friday, October 30: COMING HOME

Viko Nikci’s portrait of a newly-freed man debuted at Galway in 2014, where it won two awards. It came stateside for DOC NYC, and also screened at Dublin, Indie Cork, and Newport Film, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
At the age of 25, Angel Cordero, an innocent man, was arrested and convicted of attempted murder following a stabbing in the Bronx. Viko Nikci follows him as he is released from prison after thirteen years into a new world of smartphones and social media. Readjusting to life on the outside, Angel has two goals: confronting the man who actually committed the crime for which he was punished, and repairing his relationship with the daughter he was forced to leave behind.