Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 14:
BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTE

Director:
Sophie Huber

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
IDFA, CPH:DOX, Palm Springs, Vancouver, Sound Unseen, SF Jewish

About:
A look back at the influential jazz label.

Founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, German Jews with a love for jazz, Blue Note Records became the premier label for the giants of the genre, issuing work by Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, and Herbie Hancock, among several others. Director Sophie Huber recounts Blue Note’s early days, its visionary leaders’ support of art above commerce, and the elements that made the label so memorable, beyond the music, including the bold, evocative album photography and artwork. The project loses its focus, however, when it moves to the present day in an attempt to link the work Lion and Wolff championed with a new generation, resulting in a too cursory look at large portions of the label’s history. Blue Notes has been the subject of several docs, underscoring its influence and the affection music lovers have for the label, and this one no doubt will find some admirers, even if its treatment hits a few wrong notes.

New to VOD this week:
DO SOMETHING: THE JEFFREY MODELL STORY

Director:
Lisa Binns

World Premiere:
VOD release (June 2019)

About:
A couple reflects on the impact of their son’s rare disease on their lives.

As an infant, it became clear to his parents that Jeffrey Modell was suffering from some kind of health issue. After numerous consultations with doctors and hospital stays, he was diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency, a rare condition that made him susceptible to life-threatening illness. Though Jeffrey was a fighter and maintained optimism about his odds, he died at the age of 15. His parents, Fred and Vicki, decide to honor his memory by starting a foundation to support research into his disease, reaching out to pharmaceutical companies and senators to support legislation and research, and doing a lot of promotion, taking a small initial investment and turning it into a sustainable charity to hopefully find a cure. While there’s certainly some power in the Modells’ recounting of their son’s life and death, once the focus turns to the foundation’s story, the film becomes self-promotional, underlining that the project is a fairly standard awareness doc best used as a fundraising tool rather than for general audience exposure.

New to VOD this week:
THE BULLISH FARMER

Director:
Ken Marsolais

World Premiere:
Cinequest 2017

Select Festivals:
Berkshire, Macon, Woods Hole, United Nations Association, Sedona

About:
An investment banker gives up Wall Street to become a sustainable farmer.

After more than a decade as a successful Wall Street banker, John left behind the money and the pace of NYC to purchase 185 acres of land in upstate New York and take a different path. Now known as “John Boy,” he builds up a small-scale farm, growing crops and raising livestock, gaining a reputation for his traditional methods learned by veteran farmers. In this earnest and modest project, director Ken Marsolais profiles John Boy as he reveals how he was motivated to begin speaking out against industrial farming methods, GMOS, and other threats to the kind of small-scale, sustainable farming – and food production – in which he so passionately believes. While John Boy is a likeable enough figure, the film’s placid, straightforward approach makes it fairly unmemorable and best suited to a specialized audience already interested in the topic.

Coming to theatres across the US for one night only, tonight, Wednesday, June 12:
FREE TRIP TO EGYPT

Director:
Ingrid Serban

World Premiere:
New York City limited theatrical release (May 31, 2019)

About:
A Muslim Egyptian-Canadian seeks Americans to confront their preconceptions about the Arab world by offering them a free trip to Egypt.

In an effort to explore cross-cultural understanding during a time of severe xenophobia, Tarek Mounib, a self-described entrepreneur who grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, hatches a modest plan: He will bring a small group of Americans to Egypt on an all-expenses paid trip, pairing them with locals to upend stereotypes and foster one-on-one connections. Director Ingrid Serban follows him as he sets out to fulfill this goal, from searching for participants, through the trip itself, and, to a limited extent, its impact. By its nature, the film is intentionally (and somewhat annoyingly) meta in approach, with a great deal of time spent on the set up: Mounib interviewed about why he’s doing this, and followed in his frankly naive if not willfully inept initial attempts to reach potential recruits, including a visit to Trump rally in Louisville and sending an agent to NYC’s Union Square to hold up a hand-written sign. He makes for a far less compelling subject than do a couple of his eventual trip-takers, notably an older Jewish couple who have found themselves to have drifted into irrationally racist views despite a proudly liberal background. Other participants are too briefly sketched, but include a cop, a female veteran, a male Marine, and a couple of his born again Christian friends who tag along expressly to spread their love of Christ. Once in Egypt, the Americans have the expected eye-opening experience of seeing real-live Muslims, with only some brief moments of friction, which seems underplayed. Some months later, Mounib visits with the group to discuss the trip’s lasting effects, but shies away from discussing political views to instead focus on an unexpected tragedy. As a whole, Mounib’s project – and Serban’s film – is well-intentioned but simplistic, with the doc struggling with pacing and focus, making it less impactful than it appears to believe it is.