Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6: MATEO

Aaron I Naar’s look at unlikely mariachi premiered at SXSW last year. Other fest screenings have included Hot Docs, Martha’s Vineyard, Sound+Vision, Camden, Hot Springs Doc, In-Edit, Cork, and Rotterdam, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Now in theatres: STRETCH AND BOBBITO: RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES

Bobbito Garcia’s look back at an influential hip hop radio show had its world premiere last month at Urbanworld. It will also screen later this month at BFI London.

Broadcasting from Columbia University’s WKCR, DJ Stretch Armstrong and host Bobbito Garcia created a late-night radio program in the 1990s that has since been heralded as the best of all time. In an age before .mp3s and the widespread adoption of the Internet, in-the-know fans stayed up all night to listen in or recorded the show on cassette tapes to discover the cutting edge of hip hop. Stretch and Bobbito debuted the likes of Nas, the Notorious B.I.G, and Jay Z – before they had record deals, as demonstrated in an impressive body of archival recordings on display here. While Garcia’s film tends to dwell in anecdotes, only briefly detailing the interpersonal issues, and changing tastes, that led to the program’s demise, it’s a testament to the duo’s winning personalities that this remains pleasantly engaging throughout, even to a non-hip hop fan.

Coming to NYC theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 2: BRAND: A SECOND COMING

Ondi Timoner’s portrait of provocateur comedian Russell Brand had its world premiere at SXSW this year. It has gone on to screen at BFI London, Los Angeles, Sarasota, Ashland, Sidewalk, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, and Seattle, among others.

Taking on a subject who has likened himself to the Messiah is no easy task, but Timoner manages to balance his admitted narcissism with insight more often then not, preventing this from being a celebrity puff piece or hagiographic biopic. Her film takes on a lot – not only providing an extended history of the life and meteoric career of the comedian for those who may only know him as a short-lived Mr Katy Perry, but also chronicling his descent and recovery from addiction, his re-invention as a social critic/activist/author, and, if that’s not enough, his global stand-up tour, “Messiah Complex.” Timoner’s ultimately compelling film successfully captures Brand’s ambivalence as he seeks to transcend what’s expected of his celebrity and agitate for something else – even if he’s often a bit hazy on the details.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, September 29: THE CREEPING GARDEN

Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp’s exploration of the strange world of slime mold debuted at Fantasia last year. Other screenings have included Hot Docs, Fantastic Fest, Imagine Science, CPH:DOX, Leeds, Cleveland, New Horizons, Revelation, and DOXA.

Grabham and Sharp go on a wide-ranging cinematic forage for slime mold, the bizarre, mobile organisms that used to be considered fungi, behave a bit like a plant and a bit like an animal, and come in a range of types, most resembling something out of a science fiction film. Rather than taking a straightforward TV nature doc approach, the film refreshingly adopts a distinctly quirky tone, down to its unearthly score, as the directors profile several individuals who work with slime mold in intriguing ways. Beyond scientists or amateur foragers who study the strange lifeform, the film visits with a visual artist who collaborates with slime mold, a computer scientist who has demonstrated their ability to create some rather uncanny mapping of pathways, and a composer who incorporates them into his won creative work. Beyond this, the filmmakers even revisit a fun 1931 film starring slime molds, Percy Smith’s MAGIC MIXIES, and its pioneering use of time-lapse photography. The overall result is a clever, fascinating work of science-nonfiction.