Coming to Starz tonight, Monday, October 8:
GETTING NAKED: A BURLESQUE STORY
Director:
James Lester
Premiere:
Venice 2017 (Venice Days)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Cleveland, Newport Beach, Berkshire, Greenwich, Florida, SF DocFest
About:
An inside look at the lives of several contemporary burlesque performers.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Doc World this Sunday, October 7:
VISITOR’S DAY
Director:
Nicole Opper
Premiere:
AFI Docs 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Miami, SF Latino, San Diego Latino, Guadalajara, Mill Valley
About:
A runaway tries to reconnect with his father.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Escaping an abusive home, Juan Carlos spent years on the streets of Mexico City before finding his way to a unique group home for runaway boys. As the 16-year-old adjusts to his new surroundings, receives educational and job training, and learns to trust adults again, he still longs for a connection to his father. With visitor’s day looming, will Juan Carlos find what he’s looking for, or only suffer disappointment once again?
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 5:
THE GREAT BUSTER
Director:
Peter Bogdanovich
Premiere:
Venice 2018
Select Festivals:
Telluride, Chicago, Deauville, Mill Valley
About:
A tribute to comic screen legend Buster Keaton.
While most silent film stars have sadly faded into obscurity, Buster Keaton, together with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, has been able to maintain a level of awareness within popular film culture. Peter Bogdanovich presents a fairly comprehensive overview of Keaton’s life and career, in a film that is perfectly conventional aside from its strange structure. Bogdanovich, who serves as a narrator and offers commentary on the several clips of Keaton’s work on display here, splits the film into three parts. The first details Keaton’s early life, marked by a career as a child actor in vaudeville, before his emergence in two-reelers as a partner for Fatty Arbuckle. In an unusual decision, Bogdanovich then skips over the prime of Keaton’s career, the ten features he made, which include THE GENERAL and STEAMBOAT BILL, JR, to instead delve into the performer’s generally sad fate in the post-sound era through to the end of his life. Only after his death does the director revisit and extol the 1920s features through extended clips and commentary that at times feels more like a film school seminar. Supplementary voices throughout the film run the gamut from the obvious – actual friends of Keaton like Dick Van Dyke – to the curious but understandable – physical performers like Johnny Knoxville – to outliers like Werner Herzog or SPIDERMAN: HOMECOMING director Jon Watts.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week:
THE KING
Director:
Eugene Jarecki
Premiere:
Cannes 2017
Select Festivals:
Sundance, Nantucket, Nashville, Seattle, Martha’s Vineyard, London, Sarasota, Chicago DOC 10, Deauville, Zurich, Haifa
About:
A musical road trip across the US in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce explores the rise and fall of the American empire.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
New to DVD this week:
WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL
Director:
Ben Nabors
Premiere:
SXSW 2013
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Virginia, Ashland, Camden, Bahamas, Leeds, SF DocFest, Sydney, BAMcinemaFest, Jerusalem
About:
A portrait of an industrious young Malawian man.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, October 2:
THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS
Director:
Tim Wardle
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Miami, San Francisco, Sydney, Dallas, Montclair, Cleveland, Newport Beach
About:
The surprising, stranger than fiction tale of triplets separated at birth.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
WHITNEY | Image © Stefano Baroni
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Premiere:
Cannes 2018
Select Festivals:
Edinburgh, Sydney, Munich, Biografilm
About:
A candid exploration of the rise and fall of Whitney Houston.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s DARK MONEYPOV tonight, Monday, October 1:
DARK MONEY
Director:
Kimberly Reed
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Big Sky, Full Frame, AFI Docs, Boulder, Martha’s Vineyard, Florida, Ashland, Cleveland, Freep, Montclair, Dallas, Nashville, Telluride Mountainfilm
About:
Montana serves as a case study for the dangerous impact of Citizens United on politics.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, September 28 and Wednesday, October 3:
ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW
Director:
Rory Kennedy
Premiere:
Sarasota 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard, GlobeDocs
About:
A celebration of the pioneering and continuing work of NASA.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
In 1961, President John F Kennedy famously challenged NASA to put a man on the moon by the decade’s end. This year, on the occasion of NASA’s 60th anniversary, acclaimed director Rory Kennedy, JFK’s niece, considers the agency’s breathtaking achievements and ability to inspire wonder: NASA has taken us to the moon, to the surface of Mars, and beyond the solar system, but, just as importantly, it has played a vital, ongoing role in expanding our knowledge of our own imperiled planet.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, September 28:
FREE SOLO
Directors:
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Premiere:
Telluride 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Los Angeles
About:
The chronicle of a man’s attempt to be the first person to scale a notorious cliff wall without ropes or safety gear.
The doc will screen as part of DOC NYC’s Short List this November, for which our program notes read:
Alex Honnold is one of the most accomplished rock climbers ever. This riveting film follows him as he seeks to be the first climber to ascend free solo – without safety ropes – the 3000-foot cliff of El Capitan in California’s Yosemite Park. He also has to navigate the concerns of loved ones over this life-risking pursuit. Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Documentary Award, this film delivers suspense like no other.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 