Category Archives: Releases

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Saturday, December 15:
DRUG$: THE PRICE WE PAY

Director:
Jonathan Marshall Thompson

Premiere:
NYC theatrical (December 2018)

About:
An exploration of the power and influence of Big Pharma in fixing drug prices.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 14:
THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…

Director:
Sandra Luckow

Premiere:
Northwest Film Center (May 2017)

Select Festivals:
Hot Springs Women’s, Richmond

About:
The filmmaker is drawn into the financial, emotional, and legal mess of her brother’s mental health issues.

Over several years, filmmaker Sandra Luckow increasingly has to step up to deal with the cascading consequences of her 40something brother Duanne’s untreated mental health problems. Though always something of a misfit, particularly in any matters relating to women, Duanne was a capable small-business owner and talented classic car restorer, owned a home, and had a few close male friends. In a short time span, he lost everything, was pitted against his sister, and was committed involuntarily to the Oregon State Hospital. Before things went totally south, Sandra begins filming him, hoping this would help her make sense of his condition and help him admit his problems, as his own interest in filmmaking as a teen inspired Sandra to work in the medium. Over time, however, he moves from being a willing participant to an adversary, as the scope of his sickness is revealed and his resistance to being classified as mentally ill grows, despite engaging in increasingly damaging behaviors that threaten not only himself but his parents’ financial security. While the story has a number of disturbing and unexpected twists and turns that make it compellingly watchable at times, as well as revealing about the sorry state of our society’s willingness to properly contend with mental health issues, Luckow’s filmmaking approach unfortunately drags the project down. Given that she is a key part of the story, it’s unavoidable that Luckow have an onscreen presence, but she overdoes it by half, excessively and superfluously narrating and filming herself, resulting in an uncinematic documentary.

Coming to Showtime tomorrow, Thursday, December 13:
GG ALLIN: ALL IN THE FAMILY

Director:
Sami Saif

Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2017 (under original title THE ALLINS: ONE HELL OF A FAMILY)

Select Festivals:
Melbourne, Bergen, Cinedelphia, L’Étrange, Doc’n Roll, Rokumentti, Sound Unseen, Sydney Underground

About:
The mother and brother of the infamous punk musician keep his memory alive.

Notorious for his outrageous gross-out behavior onstage, punk rocker GG Allin developed a cult following which was only bolstered after his death by heroin overdose in 1993. Twenty-five years later, fans regularly desecrate his grave to show their appreciation – something that Allin’s mother, Arleta is sick of dealing with. She wants people to know her son’s sweeter, more sensitive side, rather than the extreme public persona he created. Arleta’s other son, Merle, on the other hand, seems more than happy to perpetuate that character and his music through their band The Murder Junkies. Sami Saif’s film is most intriguing when focused on Arleta and Merle, and exploring Allin’s personal side, but gets a bit too caught up in revisiting the by now more familiar public story of the performer, losing focus and its unique perspective in the process.

New to DVD and VOD this week:
SOCIAL ANIMALS

Director:
Jonathan Ignatius Green

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
Newport Beach, SF DocFest, Kansas City

About:
An exploration of the impact of social media on three teenagers.

The only thing that immediately links the protagonists of Jonathan Ignatius Green’s semi-cautionary tale is their interaction with Instagram. The likeable NYC-based Humza has achieved social media notoriety with his urban exploring posts, though he attracts a level of unwanted attention as well. Irritating LA rich girl Kaylyn obsessively builds up her “brand.” Ordinary girl Emma, meanwhile, faces online bullying in rural Ohio. Green’s project is well-produced and fittingly well-shot, but as a whole it suffers from its split focus. While Humza’s thread potentially could have carried the movie on its own, Kaylyn’s is simply vapid, and Emma’s overly familiar, lessening the doc’s overall affect.

New to VOD this week:
3100: RUN AND BECOME

Director:
Sanjay Rawal

Premiere:
Illuminate 2018

Select Festivals:
Queens World, Ottawa Adventure, Lake Placid

About:
A grueling 3100 mile, 52 day race for spiritual transcendence serves as the entry way to profile several endurance runners.

Sanjay Rawal’s film ostensibly focuses on the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, which takes place over 52 days on the same loop of NYC streets in Queens, and was dreamed up by Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual guru and avid runner who saw running as a means to achieve enlightenment. The theoretical main character is Finnish runner Ashprihanal, the current record holder for the 3100 and a longtime veteran of the race and follower of the now deceased guru, but, likely recognizing just how cinematically tedious it is to watch people run the same square block of sidewalks over nearly two months, the film expands beyond the 3100 to profile other long-distance runners elsewhere: Shaun, a Navajo who sets out to run 100+ miles to recreate the journey his father took when he escaped the Indian boarding house program to which he was subjected; Gyoman, a Japanese monk who has pledged upon promise of death to run 1000 days over 7 years for enlightenment; and Gaolo, a Bushman of the Kalahari who defies Botswana government bans to run as part of traditional hunting practices. While they are thematically tied to the idea of running for some kind of greater purpose, they have no direct ties to the endurance race and their inclusion feels somewhat arbitrary. As with most marathon-focused projects, this fails to sustain interest for non-runners, and outside of the spiritual angle – not easily or successfully captured here – covers very familiar terrain, making this project fall far short of its mark.