Category Archives: Releases

Opening in NYC today, February 2: INTO ETERNITY

This stylized meditation on time as it relates to radioactive waste and human existence, directed by conceptual artist Michael Madsen, has screened at a number of international film festivals and made its official US debut at last year’s Tribeca. I wrote about the film in one of my posts about IDFA, saying:

INTO ETERNITY explores the monumental construction of Finland’s Onkalo, a humongous underground depository for nuclear waste that won’t be completed until the 22nd Century. Dealing with spans of time in the hundreds, and even hundreds of thousands, of years, the film offers plenty of food for thought about the limits of our ability to communicate with and plan for a future far beyond our typical musings. If there’s one aspect to Madsen’s approach that I take issue with is his too frequent appearances on camera, interludes in which he tells a cautionary tale. A little of this goes a long way, and what might be viewed as a welcome bit of showmanship in the earliest section becomes a bit wearisome by the end. Despite this quibble, the film is smart and thought-provoking, and worth seeking out.

INTO ETERNITY opens today exclusively at NYC’s Film Forum for a week run.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, January 25: CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER

Earlier this month, I wrote about Alex Gibney’s film here.

Buy the DVD here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, January 18: FREAKONOMICS

I previously profiled the dream team omnibus documentary project upon its theatrical release here.

Buy the DVD here.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, January 18: SINS OF MY FATHER

My profile of Nicolas Entel’s Escobar documentary can be found here.

Buy the DVD here.

Opening in NYC next Wednesday, January 12: I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE

Veteran documentary director/producer Michel Negroponte is perhaps best known for 1995’s JUPITER’S WIFE, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and won Best Documentary Feature at Vancouver later that year; and for 2005’s METHODONIA, which premiered at the New York Film Festival. His latest film premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2009, receiving a special mention from the international jury. It went on to be included in Doc/Fest’s Best of the Fest Tour in the spring of last year, and also screened at Stranger Than Fiction and Hot Docs, among other festivals and series.

I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE focuses on former drug addict and alcoholic Dimitri Mugianis, who became clean and sober through the use of the illegal hallucinogen ibogaine, which comes from Africa and is used in shamanistic rituals. Like the protagonists in Negroponte’s other films, Mugianis is decidedly an outsider, intentionally breaking the law by using the drug to help detox other addicts. Like the experimental treatment he uses, and goes through himself in order to confront his own inner demons, the film is dark and intense, exploring what drives a man on a personal crusade, and how far he is willing to go.

For more information and to purchase tickets to screenings at the IFC Center, click here.

Available on DVD: ONLY WHEN I DANCE

After premiering at Tribeca last year, Beadie Finzi’s infectious portrait of two Brazilian dancers and their dreams went on screen at Edinburgh, Silverdocs, Vancouver and Sheffield, among other festivals. It was released in the US in the summer, and came to DVD earlier this month through Film Movement.

ONLY WHEN I DANCE focuses on two Afro-Brazilian dancers from Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished favelas, Isabela and Irlan, who compete not only against other aspiring ballet dancers, but against the perception that ballet is the domain of the white upper class. Following them over the course of one year through multiple competitions that can make their careers or send them back to the slums, Finzi documents the highs and lows of their challenging art form – Isabela struggles with weight issues and finances, while the promising Irlan pushes his artistic comfort zone in developing an ambitious new piece. Beautifully lensed and smartly constructed, this real-life BILLY ELLIOT captures the poetry of their movement and their drive to succeed against the odds.

Opening in NYC next Wednesday, December 22: THE SOUND OF INSECTS: RECORD OF A MUMMY

Peter Liechti’s unusual, experimental documentary essay premiered at Rotterdam last year and has played a number of notable international festivals, including Hot Docs, Silverdocs, Karlovy Vary, Vancouver, CPH:DOX, SXSW, and Thessaloniki. It won the 2009 Best Documentary Award at the European Film Awards, and was acquired by Kino Lorber films for the US earlier this year.

An audio recording of Shimada Masahiko’s novella “How I Became a Mummy” inspired Liechti to make his film, telling the story of a man who committed suicide by starving himself in the woods over two months. Taking the man’s viewpoint, THE SOUND OF INSECTS visually focuses on his natural surroundings and the shelter he constructed for himself in his last days, while the audio is a haunting mixture of nature sounds and his diary entries. Based as it is on a fictional interpretation of a supposed true occurrence (Shimada Mashiko apparently saw an actual diary which inspired his story, but Liechti never did), it’s a film that some viewers might justifiably see as not strictly a work of non-fiction, or at least not entirely a work of non-fiction. At the same time, like other not-quite-documentaries, or questionable documentaries, the questions it raises about the documentary form, and about the role of “truth” in documentary filmmaker, make for fascinating consideration.