Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 6:
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA

Director:
Stephen Nomura Schible

Premiere:
Venice 2017

Select Festivals:
IDFA, CPH:DOX, Tokyo, Tribeca, Belgrade, Singapore, Stockholm, Seattle, Dallas, Nashville, IFF Boston, Berkshire

About:
An intimate portrait of the Oscar-winning composer.

Filmed over a five-year period, Schible’s subdued but engaging profile quietly captures the musician, exploring his history, creative process, and social activism, while he reckons with a diagnosis of throat cancer. At 65, forced to confront his own mortality after his health scare, Sakamoto reflects on a long and varied career, gaining acclaim as an electronic music performer before composing score for films as varied as MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE, THE LAST EMPEROR, and THE REVENANT, as well as a disparate series of influences. While avoiding a strict chronological recitation of his biography, the film presents an appropriate sampling, interwoven with revealing scenes of the master at work, demonstrating his creative process, and, tellingly, how his activism is often intertwined with this creativity, from environmental awareness to the war on terror.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 6:
CONSTRUCTING ALBERT

Directors:
Laura Collado and Jim Loomis

Premiere:
San Sebastian 2017

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hot Docs, Seattle, BAFICI, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, DocPoint, Napa Valley, Newport Beach

About:
After the legendary success of elBulli, chef Albert Adria pursues his follow-ups.

Though known for developing wildly creative dishes as the pastry chef of elBulli, the three Michelin starred Catalonian restaurant where his brother, Ferran, was the head chef, Albert Adria has been referred to by some as underrated, lost in the shadow of his sibling. After they shut down their famed establishment in 2011, Albert took a break to start a family, but just a couple of years later, he re-emerged with an ambitious plan to make his own mark. Over several years, Collado and Loomis’ film follows Albert as he sets out to open five new restaurants exploring different concepts – all within a single year – and trace what happens when they don’t all meet his exacting standards. The filmmakers’ verité approach helps immerse the viewer in the fast-paced world of haute cuisine, but does sometimes skimp on details, assuming a level of familiarity with the culinary world – and with Albert’s various eateries – that not all viewers will share. Despite this, they succeed in spotlighting a creative and determined culinary genius.

Coming to NYC’s Anthology Film Archives this Friday, July 6:
A SKIN SO SOFT

Director:
Denis Côté

Premiere:
Locarno 2017

Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, CPH:DOX, New York, London, Karlovy Vary, Reykjavik, Doclisboa, Vienna, Denver, AFI Fest, Melbourne, Tempo Doc, Vilnius, Singapore, BAFICI, Docaviv, Seattle

About:
A portrait of six bodybuilders.

Like other work by Côté, his latest is a hybrid, but distinctly geared toward the nonfiction side, with only a few scenes ostensibly staged for his camera. Otherwise, the Quebec filmmaker takes a subdued observational approach to his protagonists, a range of French Canadian men who are hyper-focused on their bodies. Eschewing interviews or text cards, the film presents each man in his quotidian routine, often involving working out, preparing meals, eating, or posing, Côté’s camera zeroing in on their muscles as some kind of unearthly terrain. A couple of the men are younger, apparently relatively new to the sport, while others seem to be old pros. One doesn’t exactly fit the same profile as the rest – a bulkier, unchiseled strongman and professional wrestler. Bodybuilding competitions are shown only fleetingly, almost besides the point. Instead, this oddly compelling film turns its gaze on hyper-masculinity and how its subjects self-consciously primp and polish, putting themselves on display to be judged.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 3:
THE CHINA HUSTLE

Director:
Jed Rothstein

Premiere:
Toronto 2017

Select Festivals:
Hamptons, Palm Springs, CPH:DOX

About:
An exposé of a multibillion-dollar stock market fraud centered around China’s economic boom.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 3:
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 film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Uncovering NYC’s neo-burlesque subculture, director James Lester’s film offers a lingering look at several sexy denizens of the nightlife scene, including Gal Friday, Hazel Honeysuckle, and the Schlep Sisters Minnie Tonka and Darlinda Just Darlinda, whose acts range from the classic glamorous striptease to more overtly comedic schtick. Followed on- and offstage, these gifted performers reveal the liberation and empowerment they’ve gained from burlesque, even as they contend with the physical and financial demands of their competitive art form.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 3:
MAYNARD

Director:
Sam Pollard

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017

Select Festivals:
American Black, Sarasota, Martha’s Vineyard African American, Atlanta, New Voices in Black Cinema, Pan African, Full Frame, RiverRun

About:
A portrait of a pioneering African-American politician.

The film premiered at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Director Sam Pollard constructs a portrait of charismatic trailblazer Maynard Jackson, who became Atlanta’s first black mayor in 1973. The son of pastors raised in the segregated South, Jackson entered college at 14 and took office at 35. During his three-term tenure, he led the city through the traumatic Atlanta child murders and triumphantly hosted the 1996 Olympics, all while championing racial equality. Family and colleagues, including Bill Clinton, Andrew Young, and Al Sharpton, tell the epic story of a dynamic leader and his legacy of honor and progress.

Coming to VOD today, Monday, July 2:
HOCKNEY

Director:
Randall Wright

Premiere:
BFI London 2014

Select Festivals:
BAFICI, Doc Aviv, Minneapolis St Paul, Brighton, Vancouver, Palm Springs, St Louis

About:
A portrait of the influential British artist.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, July 2:
BRIMSTONE & GLORY

Director:
Viktor Jakovleski

Premiere:
True/False 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, Docaviv, AFI Docs, Dokufest, DocuWest, Ambulante, San Francisco, Sarasota, Montclair, Guanajuato, Fantastic Fest, Margaret Mead, Antenna Doc, Philadelphia

About:
An immersion into Tultepec, a Mexican city known for its pyrotechnic festival.

I previously wrote about the doc here.