Category Archives: Releases

Coming to virtual cinemas today, Friday, January 15:
FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO

Director:
Lynne Sachs

World Premiere:
Slamdance 2020

Select Festivals:
Doc Fortnight, Sheffield, Docaviv, Doclisboa, RIDM, Indie Memphis, Sarasota

About:
The filmmaker attempts to make sense of her wayward father.

Named in homage to Yvonne Rainer’s FILM ABOUT A WOMAN WHO…, noted experimental filmmaker Lynne Sach’s constructs a study of her father, Ira Sachs Sr, from material shot over four decades. Ira, a hippie-turned-successful real-estate developer, was also an unrepentant womanizer, taking on younger lovers and producing more and more offspring, some kept secret from Lynne and her brother, Ira Jr, the acclaimed filmmaker. While the film is hardly experimental, its construction is somewhat fragmentary and decidedly personal, which initially makes it a bit difficult for the viewer, an outsider to this family affair, to engage. Despite this, the portrait that Lynne Sachs pieces together grows increasingly intriguing, not just of her father, but of his generation, and, really, of the broader idea of family.

Coming to DVD/VOD today, Friday, January 15:
MEAN MAN: THE STORY OF CHRIS HOLMES

Director:
Antoine de Montremy

World Premiere:
DVD/VOD release (January 2021)

About:
Former WASP guitarist Chris Holmes recounts his career while touring Europe.

Chris Holmes is a gruff, bearded, middle-aged rocker who currently lives in Cannes with his French wife, touring around Europe in his new band, Mean Man. His claim to fame is his on-again, off-again career with WASP, the hair metal band from the 1980s-90s. He, former bandmates, friends, and some family members relate Holmes’ background, how he got into music, his volatile relationship with WASP frontman Blackie Lawless, his relationship with ex-wife Lita Ford, how he struggled post-fame before sobering up, and his continuing career in Europe, where fans are still appreciative of his music and WASP background. Holmes is a straight-talking, no-frills guy, who seems meaner than he is but is kind to his fans and to his friends, but he unfortunately isn’t compelling enough to carry a whole film. While his existing fans may check out de Montremy’s film, its structure is too sloppy and repetitive to attract a wider audience.

Coming to select theatres and to virtual cinemas today, Friday, January 15:
ROCK CAMP: THE MOVIE

Director:
Doug Blush

Co-Director:
Renee Barron

World Premiere:
Key West 2020

About:
Music fans sign up to rock out with their favorite performers.

Founded in 1996 by music producer David Fishof, Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp gives people the opportunity to live out their rockstar fantasies – for a price, though Doug Blush and Renee Barron’s film doesn’t explore this not insignificant detail nor how it impacts who is and isn’t able to participate. Leaving that aside, the film instead offers a crash course in the camp’s origins, profiles a handful of participants, and provides a sense of their experience at the camp, where a bevy of rock heavy hitters serve as camp counselors, including Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Nancy Wilson, Slash, Joe Perry, and Jeff Beck. Blush and Barron benefit from one thread involving the camp’s beneficial impact on a young man with autism, but otherwise keep things fairly surface level. Somewhat shambolic in structure, and unfortunately too often feeling overtly promotional, the project’s upbeat tone will nevertheless help it find a welcome audience.

Coming to VOD via OVID.tv tomorrow, Thursday, January 14:
SPACE DOGS

Directors:
Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter

World Premiere:
Locarno 2019

Select Festivals:
RIDM, DOK Leipzig, Torino, Tallinn Black Nights, Mar del Plata, Sao Paolo, Reykjavik, Vienna

About:
A meditation on the fate of the Soviet Union’s animal cosmonauts.

I previously wrote about the doc here.