Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 14: AS THE PALACES BURN
Don Argott’s unexpectedly dramatic profile of a band had its premiere at Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theatre this Winter before its theatrical release in a series of one-night-only special events.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, October 13: BULLY
Lee Hirsch’s exploration of the impact of bullying debuted at Tribeca in 2011. It screened extensively, including Hot Docs, the Hamptons, Silverdocs, and the Los Angeles Film Festival, among others, and made the Oscar shortlist following its theatrical release.
I previously included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 10: EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL
Darius Clark Monroe’s reckoning with the mistakes of his past had its world premiere at SXSW this year. It went on to screen at Full Frame, Dallas, Los Angeles, BlackStar, BAMcinemaFest, Maryland, and the upcoming New Orleans Film Festival.
When he was sixteen, Monroe and two of his high school classmates robbed a bank on the outskirts of Houston TX. Eventually caught, he was sentenced to prison. While the filmmaker cites a noble cause – a desire to help with his family’s financial troubles – he offers this not as a justification, but merely as the thought process that led his younger self to make a poor life decision that had consequences not only for his future, but for his family and his victims. Woven into this autobiographical tale is a desire for expiation, as Monroe seeks out the bank employees and customers who were traumatized by his action so that he can ask for their forgiveness, even as he interviews family members and friends, who offer the most affecting testimony, despite being filmed in an offputting manner. More problematic than this, however, and where Monroe goes woefully wrong, is in his decision to use re-enactments of the robbery. These scenes are clunky, distracting, unnecessary, and unfortunately suggest a lack of confidence in the power of his storytelling, ultimately cheapening a promising project.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 10: WAITING FOR AUGUST
Teodora Ana Mihai’s appealing observational portrait of a Romanian teen left alone to care for her siblings debuted at Visions du Réel this Spring. Its festival circuit has included Hot Docs, Karlovy Vary, Dokufest Kosovo, Moscow, Camden, Bergen, Vancouver, DMZ Docs, and the upcoming IDFA and BFI London fests, among several others.
Out of economic necessity, unemployed Romanian parents like Liliana see little choice but to seek job opportunities in wealthier European countries like Italy, often leaving their children behind for months on end. While grandparents or other relatives often act as guardians, in the Halmac family’s case, that responsibility falls on fifteen-year-old Georgina, the eldest daughter of seven children. While still little more than a child herself, the intrepid teen takes on the role of surrogate mother and head of household, all while tending to her own schoolwork and interpersonal drama, and fending off threats from neighbors to report the family to the authorities. As Georgina waits for her mother’s return, sneaking parenting advice from Liliana through the occasional phone call or Skype session, Mihai’s fluid camera captures their begrudgingly accepted reality, forced to be separated, at the poignant cost of Liliana’s time with her kids, and Georgina’s experience of her own childhood.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Already on VOD and coming to the IFC Center as part of New York Super Week this Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11: HARMONTOWN
Neil Berkeley’s portrait of an unlikely celebrity writer/showrunner debuted at SXSW earlier this year. It went on to screen at Los Angeles, deadCENTER, Hot Docs, and Napa Valley, as well as at numerous special screenings this Fall. The film came to iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Xbox/Playstation, and other VOD platforms last Friday.
Dan Harmon has attracted a cult following as the creator and showrunner of NBC’s COMMUNITY, a quirky and creative comedy with critical acclaim and a rabid fanbase that responded to the show’s focus on outsiders. A self-proclaimed nerd with self-destructive tendencies, Harmon found himself regularly embroiled in spats with executives and the show’s cast, leading to him famously being fired. Berkeley’s film follows the self-deprecating writer, reeling from this development, as he takes his popular (to those in the know) podcast/talk show on a tour across America. While the show itself is only occasionally amusing, what’s far more intriguing is the self-awareness that Harmon demonstrates about his uncomfortable relationship to celebrity and fan adulation, and his candidness about being, at times, a truly unlikeable person – most notably in a scene in which he and his girlfriend hash out an argument during the course of the show. His realization that, despite being an unabashed exercise in self-promotion, the tour, and this film as a result, is instead revealing him not as a hero, but as a villain, feels organic and refreshing, with Harmon and Berkeley offering quiet fan-turned-tour member Spencer, the D&D dungeonmaster, as a sweet, alternate protagonist in a film that speaks affectingly to the need for (self) acceptance and community within fandom.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, October 10: THE OVERNIGHTERS
Jesse Moss’ portrait of the limits of good Samaritanism debuted at Sundance earlier this year, where it picked up a special jury prize. It’s gone on to screen at Traverse City, Hot Docs, True/False, Tribeca, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Dallas, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 7: WAGNER’S JEWS
Hilan Warshaw’s exploration of the legacy of the composer’s anti-Semitism premiered at the University of South Carolina’s WagnerWorldWide bicentennial symposium last year. Beyond European television outlets, it’s gone on to screen at DocAviv, and at various Jewish fests in San Diego, Houston, Miami, East Bay, and Seattle.
Warshaw’s film uses as its starting point the boycott of an Israeli Wagner concert, prompting an understanding of the complicated relationship the composer had with Jewish people in the 19th century, and, of course, why and how he was embraced by the Third Reich. Viewers with only a casual understanding of Nazi history may be surprised to learn that Wagner wasn’t simply innocently elevated as some nationalistic paragon, but instead had propagated virulently anti-Semitic essays, first under an alias and later under his own name, in his own day. Complicating matters, he paradoxically counted among his patrons and ardent admirers several Jewish people, apparently willing to ignore his beliefs – and later his paranoia about a Jewish conspiracy out to destroy him – because they loved his music. He also initially was mentored and introduced to important music circles by accomplished composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, a Jew, who he later went out of his way to criticize, and also took on self-loathing Jewish assistants who he treated with affection. While the information provided is interesting, Warshaw’s approach is utterly pedestrian, with stentorian narration and a surfeit of talking heads suited most to history-focused TV outlets than to a theatrical setting.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 7: BRONX OBAMA
Ryan Murdock’s look at the life of the president’s double debuted at True/False this year. It went on to AFI Docs, Montclair, Traverse City, Hot Docs, Ambulante CA, Calgary, and Bergen. The doc now comes to iTunes, Vimeo, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, PlayStation, VUDU, and Xbox.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7: KEHINDE WILEY: AN ECONOMY OF GRACE
Jeff Dupre’s look at a noted artist’s shift in focus premiered in a shorter version at the Reel Artists Film Festival in Toronto. It went on to screen at SXSW, Nantucket, deadCENTER, Provincetown, and the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, while the feature version was broadcast on PBS last month.
Painter Kehinde Wiley has won acclaim for recasting historic portraiture with African-American men as his subjects, subverting expectations of both who should be framed in heroic or classical modes, and how African-American men should be depicted. For his eponymous 2012 show, Wiley challenged himself to turn his attention to female subjects for the first time. Dupre follows the artist as he scouts for models on the streets of Brooklyn – some skeptical of his intent – and then crafts his new portraits. Addressing questions of race, representation, visibility, and class, his work is provocative and knowing, and its impact on his models is particularly well captured here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7: THE PROSECUTION OF AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT
David Hagen and David J Burke’s indictment of George W Bush debuted in theatres in the Fall of 2012. It now comes to iTunes and DVD.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
