Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 23:
FIDDLER: A MIRACLE OF MIRACLES

Director:
Max Lewkowicz

World Premiere:
Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2019

Select Festivals:
Jewish fests in San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Miami, Atlanta, and Denver

About:
A wide-ranging look at the origins and enduring legacy of the musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

Since its debut in 1964, the Broadway musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF became first a sensation and then a classic, notably, if the end of director Max Lewkowicz’s tribute to the show can be trusted as not mere hyperbole, having been performed somewhere around the world each day since then. This doc gathers creators, cast and crew from the original run as well as subsequent stagings, in addition to individuals connected to the 1971 film adaptation, and cultural critics for good measure, creating an expansive close reading of the show, detailing its inspirations, parsing each song, and relating the whole to sociohistorical developments including feminism and civil rights, as well as, of course, the Jewish experience. While musical theatre fans and Jewish audiences are the natural audiences for Lewkowicz’s fim, this broader contextualization helps make the argument for a wider and more diverse viewership, and informs the show’s perennial appeal. The latter is demonstrated through brief looks at stagings in places like Thailand and Japan, as well as the story of a controversial 1970 African-American and Latinx high school version. Although the doc’s survey approach makes it feel on the longer side, the film should still connect with an appreciative audience.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 16:
WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE?

Director:
Roberto Minervini

World Premiere:
Venice 2018

Select Festivals:
Toronto, New York, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Busan, London, Rotterdam, Göteborg, Mar del Plata, Valdivia, Vancouver, Vilnius, DocPoint, Docs Against Gravity, Munich

About:
An exploration of race in the American South.

Following his focus on marginalized white Louisianans in THE OTHER SIDE, Italian director Roberto Minervini turns his attention to African American subjects, weaving together four separate strands and once again employing his usual hybridized storytelling, where subjects at times may be performing versions of themselves for his camera. The most impactful of the storylines centers on Judy Hill, a woman who has pushed past addiction to try to start over, opening a bar that functions as a de facto community gathering place, only to see gentrification snatch it back from her. Quieter but also effective are the scenes devoted to the protective relationship between brothers Ronaldo and Titus, as well as their mother, worried about the fate of young black men in American society. Had Minervini stopped there, and further fleshed out these characters, the project might have been more compelling as a whole. Instead, the film brings in two lesser threads that are either jarringly incorporated or feel like an afterthought – the former, a look at the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and its leader Krystal Muhammad; the latter, underdeveloped, almost throwaway scenes with the Mardi Gras Indians. Given that the four strands never intersect, the film already has an uneven and not wholly satisfying feel, but the incorporation of these additional strands unfortunately exacerbate the disconnect and draw the project out to an unnecessary length without providing any additional revelations.