Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, November 2: THE DIPLOMAT
David Holbrooke’s tribute to his ambassador father debuted att Tribeca this Spring. Screenings followed at San Francisco, Traverse City, Sarajevo, AFI Docs, Telluride Mountainfilm, and Jerusalem, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 30: MAKING ROUNDS
Muffie Meyer’s immersive look at a cardiac care unit makes its debut today at NYC’s Cinema Village. Meyer, of course, is best known as one of the directors/editors of the iconic GREY GARDENS.
Set within Mount Sinai, Meyer’s film focuses on cardiologists Herschel Sklaroff and Valentin Fuster as they lead a group of young doctors and medical students in a good, old-fashioned round of bedside visits, a practice viewers soon learn is growing increasingly rare as doctors instead rely on technological advancements in testing for diagnostic assessment. Drs Sklaroff and Fuster demonstrate, however, that a few minutes spent establishing an empathetic connection with people who are frihtened to death, and, critically, actually listening to their experience of symptoms, yields dramatic results. Patients who have experienced frustration time and time again during past visits are discovered to have been misdiagnosed and finally receive treatment that helps their quality of life. Meyer’s film is strongest when she accompanies the physicians to the bedsides, putting the viewer in the shoes of the eager medical students learning from these acclaimed mentors. It’s less effective in a couple of brief, more conventional, interview sequences which feel tacked on. Regardless, the film’s simple yet important premise – that doctors shouldn’t lose sight of the patient as they try to treat their symptoms – is on the whole conveyed quite well.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 30: THE PRICE WE PAY
Harold Crooks’ investigation into the impact of corporate tax havens debuted at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at Vancouver, Planete+ Doc, Open City, and CPH:DOX, among other events.
Covering similar terrain as 2012’s WE’RE NOT BROKE, but taking a more international perspective, Crooks’ film looks at the origins and widespread employment of tax havens by multinational corporations in places like the Cayman Island, the Bahamas, and even Canada and Ireland. While the companies are well within their legal rights, and stand by the oft-used justification that they are legally obligated to maximize profits for their shareholders, critics rightfully call this behavior what it is: corporate tax avoidance. The film explores the economic impact of offshore finance, not only in making the rich richer, but in keeping tax revenue out of circulation, jeopardizing federal financing for social services and other public projects. While restricting himself to too many talking heads, Crooks occasionally livens up the proceedings with some fiery footage of congressional and parliamentary hearings that try to take the likes of Google and Amazon to task. The film also presents potential correctives, like the proposed Robin Hood tax on financial transactions, but the prospect for real change looks daunting in the face of infuriating corporate legal, political, and economic muscle.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 30: THE ARMOR OF LIGHT
Abigail Disney’s look at the intersection of evangelical faith and gun rights made its world premiere at Tribeca. Other fest screenings have included Traverse City, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Galway, Montclair, and SF Jewish, among others.
Disney’s directorial debut sees her taking on two hot-button conservative issues that oddly aren’t typically linked: abortion and gun rights. Wondering how it is possible to hold both the belief that all life is sacred and that one has the right to bear lethal arms, the perhaps too tentative but thoughtful film focuses on an evangelical minister who has wrestled with what he sees as a contradiction. Reverend Rob Schenck, a long-time pro-life activist, was raised in a secular Jewish household before converting to Christianity, and was among the mass of evangelicals who switched political affiliations in the wake of Ronald Reagan, forming his Religious Right conservative base. Despite his leanings, Schenck has ruffled fellow conservatives and evangelicals by taking a stance for gun control after witnessing the too-frequent occurrences of mass shootings in recent years. Disney follows the reverend as he meets with other conservatives, questioning the morality of putting firearms before Biblical strictures against killing. Joining him as a secondary character is Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, who features prominently in another documentary this year, 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS, underscoring the racial element that often haunts pro-gun rhetoric. In a smart move, recognizing the need to reach out to audiences beyond the already converted, Disney is offering free tickets to NRA members at select venues throughout the country.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 30: THE ROYAL ROAD
Jenni Olson’s essay on nostalgia and history made its debut at Sundance this year. Other festival screenings have included Ann Arbor, Art of the Real, BAFICI, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, Galway, Dokufest Kosovo, Vancouver, and a slew of LGBT events in London, Boston, Torino, Toronto, Vienna, and Los Angeles, among others. I’ll be hosting the Q&A with Jenni for the 5:30pm screening this Sunday at Anthology Film Archives.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD this Friday, October 30: GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF
Alex Gibney’s inquiry into the controversial group made its bow at Sundance this year. It has also screened at True/False, Big Sky, Martha’s Vineyard, Camden, Zurich, Sydney, and New Zealand, and is part of DOC NYC’s Short List next month. It now comes to VOD via FilmRise, and will be available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Google Play, Sony PlayStation, and Xbox.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres this Friday, October 30: COMING HOME
Viko Nikci’s portrait of a newly-freed man debuted at Galway in 2014, where it won two awards. It came stateside for DOC NYC, and also screened at Dublin, Indie Cork, and Newport Film, among other events.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
At the age of 25, Angel Cordero, an innocent man, was arrested and convicted of attempted murder following a stabbing in the Bronx. Viko Nikci follows him as he is released from prison after thirteen years into a new world of smartphones and social media. Readjusting to life on the outside, Angel has two goals: confronting the man who actually committed the crime for which he was punished, and repairing his relationship with the daughter he was forced to leave behind.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 27: GTFO THE MOVIE
Shannon Sun-Higginson’s look at the hostile treatment of women in gaming debuted at SXSW this Spring. It went on to screen at DOXA, IFF Boston, Global Visions, and SF DocFest.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its VOD release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, October 26: HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO
Alexandra Shiva’s profile of a Spring formal through the lens of autism had its world premiere at Sundance this year. It went on to screen at Nantucket, AFI Docs, Melbourne, Margaret Mead, Nashville, deadCENTER, and Full Frame, among others.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 23: INDIA’S DAUGHTER
Leslee Udwin’s account of the national response to an infamous crime made its debut on the BBC earlier this year. In addition to broadcast in other European nations, the doc has screened at Sheffield, Biografilm, AFI Docs, Tallgrass, and will appear at next month’s Denver film fest.
The gang rape of Jyoti Singh on a bus in India in December 2012 was particularly notable not for its reprehensible brutality, but in its unexpected role in catalyzing a movement against sexual violence in the nation. Where women previously were expected to remain silent and bare the blame for rape and other abuses, in the direct aftermath of the discovery of Singh’s mutilated body, Indian women and their allies rose up to demand justice. Udwin’s film, which has generated no shortage of controversy on the subcontinent, lays out the simple particulars of the crime and offers a sense of the victim via emotional interviews with her parents and a close friend, but largely focuses on the paradigmatic shift that her tragedy engendered. Most eye-opening here is an extended interview with one of the perpetrators, Mukesh Singh, who claims he just drove the bus. Expressing not a shred of remorse and instead actively blaming the victim, he, like the defense attorneys commenting here, represent the outdated, and clearly dangerous, view of gender disparity that lay at the heart of sexual violence. While the filmmaking here is, for the most part, fairly conventional, in capturing these sentiments with such disturbing frankness, Udwin creates a striking, cautionary call to action.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
