Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to NYC’s Cinema Village this Friday, April 19: HERMAN’S HOUSE

Angad Singh Bhalla’s exploration of life in solitary confinement made its debut at True/False last year. It went on to screen at Full Frame, Hot Docs, Harlem, Camden, Hamptons, Antenna, New Orleans, RIDM, and Big Sky, among others.

I included the film in my Hot Docs coverage here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, April 16: SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH

Mark Hall’s exploration of the impact of the global appetite for sushi made its world premiere at Seattle in 2011, where it won a special jury prize. The film scored additional wins at the Hawaii Ocean Film Festival and the San Francisco Green Film Festival, in addition to screening at IDFA, Vancouver, Planete Doc, Biografa, and Tallgrass, among others. FilmBuff now makes the doc available on iTunes, Amazon, Movies on Demand, PlayStation, XBOX, Vudu, and CinemaNow.

Recognizing that sushi has long ago moved from its original home in Japan to become a worldwide cuisine of choice, the film details some of the consequences of its expansive appeal. Culturally, when it traditionally took long years of apprenticeship to become a sushi master, the demand has led to shortcuts and surprising regional-driven variations on the food. Economically and environmentally, the situation is decidedly more troubling, as Hall demonstrates with a particular focus on bluefin tuna. With the growth of sushi consumption in new markets – China in particular is singled out, but Russia and Brazil aren’t far behind – there’s a significant threat to even the short term sustainability of this species of tuna, not to mention other sealife that lives with it in a delicate ecological balance. While the film perhaps aims to be too comprehensive and suffers by spreading its net too wide, it brings up thoughtful points about sustainable production and responsible consumption, profiling different initiatives and their advocates, while simultaneously presenting viewers with engaging history about the cuisine.

Coming to NYC’s Film Forum this Wednesday, April 17: DECEPTIVE PRACTICE: THE MYSTERIES AND MENTORS OF RICKY JAY

Molly Bernstein and Alan Edelstein’s ode to the magicians made its premiere at the New York Film Festival last Fall. It will screen at the upcoming San Francisco International Film Festival and expand its theatrical run to other cities next month and into June.

I wrote about the doc out of the NYFF here.

Coming to PBS tomorrow Tuesday, April 16: THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

Sarah Burns, David McMahon, and Ken Burns’ examination of the Central Park jogger case made its debut at Cannes last year. It went on to screen at Telluride, Toronto, and DOC NYC, and had a theatrical and VOD release.

I included the doc in my Toronto roundup here.

Now on VOD: PORTRAIT OF WALLY

Andrew Shea’s engaging look at the international controversy over a stolen Egon Schiele painting had its world premiere at Tribeca last year. It went on to screen at Silverdocs, DocAviv, Philadelphia, Melbourne, Vancouver, and the United Nations Association Film Festival, among others, and to have a limited theatrical release. It came to iTunes and cable VOD earlier this week, and will expand to additional digital platforms over the next couple of months.

I previously wrote about the doc out of Tribeca here.

Coming to NYC’s Maysles Cinema for a one-week run beginning this Friday, April 12: THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA

Marten Persiel’s look back at skateboarding in 1980s East Germany made its world premiere at last year’s Berlinale, where it picked up a jury award. It went on to screen at Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, CPH:DOX, Tempo, and Rooftop Films, among others.

Seamlessly blending non-fiction and fiction, Persiel’s film revels in the subversive freedom a group of GDR teens found in skateboarding, and the close-knit, family-like community they helped found around the underground sport in the repressive Eastern Bloc nation. Structured as a memorial to the wild boy “Panik” (by some accounts a composite character based on real skaters who were part of the group), the film gathers a number of former skaters more than twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as they reflect on their turbulent youth. Utilizing Super-8mm footage (some re-created, other contemporary), Persiel wonderfully translates the gleeful joy in the stories his subjects share of resisting authority and attempting to adopt the trappings of Western popular culture within their tightly constrained, Soviet-controlled bubble – a form of political defiance despite their surface apoliticism. Though the film has come under fire for not explicitly announcing its hybridized form – and perhaps it does take too many liberties with the audience in this regard – it remains an eloquent, ridiculously enjoyable depiction of a singular time and place, and to the power of subcultures to unite individuals and leave an indelible impression on their life experiences.