New to DVD this week:
JULIAN SCHNABEL: A PRIVATE PORTRAIT
Director:
Pappi Corsicato
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Long Beach, Art & Design
About:
An affectionate profile of the maverick artist and filmmaker.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to VOD this week:
NOT A WAR STORY
Director:
Tim O’Donnell
Premiere:
Academy of United States Veterans event, June 2017
Select Festivals:
Rhode Island, Portland
About:
A crew of veterans makes a zombie comedy film.
O’Donnell’s film goes behind the scenes to detail the making of RANGE 15, a project written, produced, directed, and largely starring veterans. Tired of stereotypical portrayals of wounded warriors, a group of vets set out to make a film they believed the military and veteran community would embrace. Their major problem: they’re amateur filmmakers, and have no luck in securing financing from traditional sources. Tackling the film like a military mission, they find workarounds, primarily by seeking help from within their own community. While the doc doesn’t quite find a balance between showing behind-the-scenes footage and showcasing the individual participants’ personalities, opting to instead largely serve as a promotional vehicle for the silly, over-the-top RANGE 15, it does succeed in offering a counternarrative to typical portrayals of veterans, and, notably, highlights both a refreshing embrace of dark humor and the camaraderie that helps military personnel survive in the field and back in civilian life.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD this Friday, November 10:
MANSFIELD 66/67
Directors:
P David Ebersole and Todd Hughes
Premiere:
Rotterdam 2017
Select Festivals:
BAFICI, Docs Against Gravity, Provincetown, Sitges, Gent, Am Docs, Frameline, Inside Out
About:
A campy exploration of the life, death, and legend of Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield.
In her heyday in the late 1950s, Jayne Mansfield was a popular Hollywood sex symbol who accepted publicity at any cost, a polyglot who happily took on a dumb blonde persona for fame. Arguably known more for her personal life than notable screen roles, she became infamous after a gruesome 1967 car accident took her life at the age of 34. Ebersole and Hughes focus on her public persona and its legacy in this playful investigation into the wild rumors that have colored her life and death, particularly Mansfield’s connections to fellow publicity hound Anton LaVey, founder of the infamous Church of Satan. Rather than seek out family participation, the filmmakers deliberately instead interview celebrities and cultural commentators like John Waters, Kenneth Anger, and Mary Woronov, as well as academics for their take on the fascination engendered by the ill-fated actress. Upping the inherent camp value are several dance sequences featuring male and female models in Mansfield-like wigs, as well as a near-ever-present score – while both should have been pared down, the project as a whole is entertaining and unique.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD this week:
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE
Director:
Patrick Shen
Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2015
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Atlanta, Cleveland, Ashland, Full Frame, Dallas, Docville, DOXA, Sheffield, San Francisco Green
About:
A meditation on silence in the cacophony of modern life.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
STRAD STYLE
Director:
Stefan Avalos
Premiere:
Slamdance 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Denver, Antenna Doc, Biografilm, Dallas, Sonoma, Martha’s Vineyard, Salem
About:
An amateur attempts to reproduce a world-class violin.
A project somewhat in the vein of AMERICAN MOVIE, Avalos’ project focuses on Daniel Houk, a man who lives in a rural Ohio farmhouse who has somehow convinced a celebrated violinist that he can build for him a perfect replica of Guarneri’s Il Cannone – one of the most valuable violins in the world – despite having no apparent instrument-making experience. The film follows Daniel’s trial-and-error approach to replication as the clock ticks down to the promised delivery date and a performance by Romanian violinist Razvan Stoica to which the DIY craftsman is invited. While the filmmaker might skimp on some background, and introduces Daniel’s mother and oddball cousin but fails to flesh them out enough, he has found an unlikely underdog who remains eminently watchable, even if some viewers may stay tuned in out of schadenfreude.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 7:
THE SETTLERS
Director:
Shimon Dotan
Premiere:
Sundance 2016
Select Festivals:
New York, DocAviv, IDFA, Biografilm, Sheffield, SF Jewish, Bergen, Heartland
About:
A wide-reaching exploration of the impact of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to select theatres and to VOD today, Tuesday, November 7:
CHARGED: THE EDUARDO GARCIA STORY
Director:
Phillip Baribeau
Premiere:
Santa Barbara 2017
Select Festivals:
Big Sky Doc, Sidewalk, Newport Beach, Rome, Woods Hole
About:
A man survives a freak electrocution.
While hiking in a remote stretch of Montana wilderness, Eduardo Garcia, a promising young chef, came across a bear carcass. Curious to see what happened, he made contact with the bear, only to have 2400 volts pass through his body because the animal was unexpectedly electrically charged due to some freak accident. Remarkably, Garcia was able to stagger out of the woods and find help, eventually undergoing more than 20 surgeries, losing multiple ribs, muscle mass, his hand, and part of his arm – and more bad news was to come. Baribeau retells this story, as Eduardo’s ex-girlfriend Jen becomes his caretaker and helps him through the challenging recovery and rehabilitation. While the film has a tendency to take on a bit too much – a thread involving Jen’s bid to pursue comedy, for example, just doesn’t belong here – both Eduardo and Jen are appealing figures, and demonstrate an uncanny ability to face a difficult situation with hope rather than despondency.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 7:
UNCLE GLORIA: ONE HELLUVA RIDE!
Director:
Robyn Symon
Premiere:
Miami/Ft Lauderdale LGBT 2016
Select Festivals:
DocUtah, Atlanta DocuFest, Southern Comfort, Chagrin Doc, Raindance, Outfest, NewFest, LGBT fests in Palm Springs, Seattle, Rochester, and Fresno
About:
A criminal finds her true gender after crossdressing to escape the law.
Symon’s rough-hewn portrait introduces the viewer to the undeniably fascinating Gloria Stein, formerly known as Butch. As he matter-of-factly tells it in this project which often feels more like reality TV than a traditional documentary, the notoriously homophobic Butch disguised himself as a woman while on the run from the law and surprisingly found that it resonated far more than expected. Soon, Butch was identifying as Gloria, and though not claiming to have felt like she was trapped in the wrong body, eventually elects to have sex-reassignment surgery at the age of 67. Gloria is a brassy, memorable subject, even if Symon’s storytelling is often shaky, not always succeeding in filling in Gloria’s backstory clearly, and incorporating obviously staged scenes in addition to awkward re-enactments.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 7:
SERVED LIKE A GIRL
Director:
Lysa Heslov
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
Bentonville
About:
Participants in the Ms Veteran America competition bring awareness to the plight of homeless female vets.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 7:
THE WAR SHOW
Directors:
Obaidah Zytoon and Andreas Dalsgaard
Premiere:
Venice 2016
Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, Bergen, Reykjavik, London, Dubai, Goteborg
About:
A group of friends capture the de-evolution of Syria’s revolution into civil war.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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