what (not) to doc

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, September 3:
BEHIND THE BULLET

Director:
Heidi Yewman

World Premiere:
Slamdance 2019

Select Festivals:
GlobeDocs, Thin Line, Cinequest

About:
An exploration of the impact of gun violence from the perspective of those who used the weapon.

In Heidi Yewman’s thoughtful but somewhat unsatisfying project, she profiles four stories involving gun deaths or injuries. Though it’s not immediately clear until close to the end of the film, all four cases focus on individuals who pulled the trigger, in very different circumstances: gang violence, self-defense during a home invasion, accidental shooting due to unsecured home firearms, and unsuccessful suicide attempt. The latter is a late revelation; for most of the film’s running time, this thread is focused on the long process of Christen’s recovery from disfiguring facial wounds, with the circumstances behind them unstated. Not every thread feels as developed or interrogated as it might have been, and one, dealing with a child’s accidental killing of his younger brother, is particularly frustrating in its displacement of accountability to “God’s will.” While arguably providing an opportunity to reach audiences on both sides of the gun control debate by not actively proselytizing, the film’s near-avoidance of the issue lends an incomplete feel to the project as a whole.

Coming to PBS this Friday, August 30:
BIG FAMILY: THE STORY OF BLUEGRASS MUSIC

Directors:
Matt Grimm and Nick Helton

World Premiere:
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum (July 2019)

About:
An exhaustive look at the history and legacy of bluegrass music.

Often dismissed and viewed through a stereotypical lens, bluegrass has a surprisingly wider and more inclusive reach than might be expected. Filmmakers Matt Grimm and Nick Helton offer a wide-ranging survey of this quintessentially American genre, which developed in the 1940s through a fusion of traditional English, Scottish, and Irish music with African-American blues and jazz, and is named after its acknowledged pioneer, Bill Monroe, and his Blue Grass Boys band. The filmmakers adopt PBS’s typical talking heads- and narration-heavy approach, leading from Monroe’s story to the growing popularity of bluegrass not only regionally, but across the US and overseas, with particularly large fanbases in Japan and the Czech Republic. Weighing in are legends in the genre, historians, music fans, and the next generation of performers, supplemented with ample performance footage. Its informational and conventional approach isn’t likely to net a large number of converts, but for already existing bluegrass fans, the doc will serve its celebratory purpose.

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, August 27:
TASTELESS

Directors:
Jeff Cerulli and Matt Ritter

World Premiere:
White Light City Film Festival 2018

Select Festivals:
Indy, Big Muddy, Tampa Bay Underground

About:
A look at the evolution of comedy through the lens of a controversial joke book series.

In the 1980s, TRULY TASTELESS JOKES, a series of controversial paperbacks became unexpected bestsellers. Full of puerile, crude humor, these humor books lived up to their name, presenting off-color comedy with no limits, with jokes targeting pretty much everyone – women, men, babies, the disabled, gays, and different religious and ethnic groups. Credited at publication to “Blanche Knott,” the books were authored by a young woman named Ashton Applewhite, who, at the time was struggling to make ends meet in an entry-level book publishing position. Here, Applewhite, now a feminist activist, looks back on the origins and surprise popularity of the series, while several comedians reminisce on their impact and discuss how the boundaries of “acceptable” humor have changed since the TASTELESS books’ emergence. While occasionally funny, the film covers fairly well-worn territory in its consideration of outrage culture, and is limited by a mid-length running time and talking heads-heavy visual approach, only occasionally spruced up with some animation.