Category Archives: Releases

About a week ago, Nonfics posted the results of their Best Documentary of 2015 poll. The overall results may be found here.

My list appears at the very end of that article, which I’m reproducing below as well. I’ve restricted my list to nonfiction features that have been officially released in 2015, omitting festival favorites that have not yet been made commercially available as of yet.

Before 2015 fades into memory, here are pointers to what I’ve previously written about my top fifteen docs of the year on what (not) to doc. The films are unranked and in alphabetical order:

ALMOST THERE

AMY

BEST OF ENEMIES

CARTEL LAND

DEMOCRATS

DREAMCATCHER

HEART OF A DOG

IN JACKSON HEIGHTS

LISTEN TO ME MARLON

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

MERU

THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER

WESTERN

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?

THE WOLFPACK

Coming to PBS tonight, Wednesday, December 30: IN DEFENSE OF FOOD

Michael Schwartz’s adaptation of Michael Pollan’s bestseller about healthy eating had its world premiere at Mill Valley this Fall. The doc has also screened at the Austin, Life Sciences, and Feast on This film fests.

In interviews and a filmed live stage presentation, the likeable Pollan serves as a guide through the minefield of information, misinformation, and marketing that has served to confuse our comprehension of what we should – and shouldn’t eat – for decades, and, consequently, has led to an obesity epidemic and a litany of health problems for consumers of the typical western diet. Early on, he reveals that the solution is surprisingly simple, concisely put as: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” That’s food, in contrast to what he refers to as heavily processed “foodlike substances;” moderate amounts, rather than fall for super-sized marketing and other more subtle factors; and a vegetable-heavy diet, with meat and other typical staples the exception rather than the rule. The straightforward filmmaking approach, and Pollan’s compelling reasoning, make for an easily digestible, if conventional, public television documentary that might encourage viewers to make some sensible changes in their relationship to food.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, December 28: HEROIN: CAPE COD, USA

Steven Okazaki’s candid profile of opiate addiction in a small community makes its debut on the cable network after preview community screenings in Boston and on the Cape.

A response to the alarming growth of cases of heroin overdose, addiction, and drug-related crimes in a community typically known as an idyllic summer vacation destination, Okazaki’s film takes an intimate look at several locals whose lives have been upended by the drug. Though the director dispenses some disturbing statistics and facts – such as the overprescription rates of opiate-based painkillers like oxycontin and their role as gateway drugs to cheaper, more easily available heroin – the strength of the film is in its frank profiling of users. These young people – reflecting the community, they are nearly all white, some seemingly fairly well-off, with supportive families – cycle through various rehab centers or sober houses on and off the Cape, struggle with recovery, and eventually relapse. Willing to appear on camera at their worst, they express frustration and pessimism as they speak openly about their inability to kick their addiction and the depths they’ve sunk to in order to support it. Occasionally during interviews, without warning, titles appear revealing updates to their stories: relapses, disappearances, and, in a few cases, deaths by overdose. While these shouldn’t be a surprise, they still pack a gutpunch, reflecting the empathy Okazaki is able to build over a relatively brief running time.

Coming to NYC and LA theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, December 23: WHERE TO INVADE NEXT

Michael Moore’s subversive invasion of other nations had its world premiere at Toronto this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, the New York Film Festival, Hamptons, Denver, AFI Fest, and Philadelphia, among other events. The film has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. After this exclusive NYC and LA run, Moore will sneak peek the doc in a state-by-state tour for six weeks starting January 4 before its national rollout beginning February 12.

Moore’s latest begins with an imagined scenario in which the Joint Chiefs of Staff turn to the provocateur, offer a mea culpa for the mess they’ve made in ever war since WWII, and ask for his advice on our next international power play. As a response to this wish fulfillment, Moore agrees to take charge of America’s future invasions. The twist, of course, is that Moore imagines himself as a one-man army corps, heading into other nations to claim their best ideas for the good old US of A, and bringing along a big flag to make his claim. In Italy, he sets his sights on paid work leave; in France, on quality, nutritious school lunches; in Finland, on a revamped public school system that has parted ways with homework and standardized testing; in Slovenia, on a free university program for foreigners; in Iceland, on female leadership; and in Germany, on an honest reckoning with the country’s historical crimes. Along the way, Moore overindulges in the role of the stereotypical ignorant, ill-informed American – essentially spit-taking his way through the utopian factoids offered up here that put the US system to shame – and critics will find it ridiculously easy to point out how one-sided the director’s version of these policies are presented, since there are no dissenting voices here, nor any acknowledgement of the things that are going badly in any of the countries he’s visiting. But that’s fine – for the project that Moore has undertaken, there never is any pretense that he will offer a comprehensive overview of European sociopolitical ills. As facile as his “invasion” may seem, and as much as it’s a distinct case of preaching to the converted, the doc does underscore significant places where our own approaches are wanting and are in desperate need of an overhaul. If Moore’s “gee whiz” approach might wear a bit thin, the general optimism he pushes here is still a welcome change of pace from the more typical strident approach that has gotten to be fairly one-note in the past.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, December 21: BOLSHOI BABYLON

Director Nick Read and co-director Mark Franchetti’s look at the fallout of a ballet world scandal made its bow at Toronto this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Hamptons, CPH:DOX, and IDFA, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc here.