what (not) to doc

Coming to select theatres and to VOD today, Tuesday, November 7:
CHARGED: THE EDUARDO GARCIA STORY

Director:
Phillip Baribeau

Premiere:
Santa Barbara 2017

Select Festivals:
Big Sky Doc, Sidewalk, Newport Beach, Rome, Woods Hole

About:
A man survives a freak electrocution.

While hiking in a remote stretch of Montana wilderness, Eduardo Garcia, a promising young chef, came across a bear carcass. Curious to see what happened, he made contact with the bear, only to have 2400 volts pass through his body because the animal was unexpectedly electrically charged due to some freak accident. Remarkably, Garcia was able to stagger out of the woods and find help, eventually undergoing more than 20 surgeries, losing multiple ribs, muscle mass, his hand, and part of his arm – and more bad news was to come. Baribeau retells this story, as Eduardo’s ex-girlfriend Jen becomes his caretaker and helps him through the challenging recovery and rehabilitation. While the film has a tendency to take on a bit too much – a thread involving Jen’s bid to pursue comedy, for example, just doesn’t belong here – both Eduardo and Jen are appealing figures, and demonstrate an uncanny ability to face a difficult situation with hope rather than despondency.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 7:
UNCLE GLORIA: ONE HELLUVA RIDE!

Director:
Robyn Symon

Premiere:
Miami/Ft Lauderdale LGBT 2016

Select Festivals:
DocUtah, Atlanta DocuFest, Southern Comfort, Chagrin Doc, Raindance, Outfest, NewFest, LGBT fests in Palm Springs, Seattle, Rochester, and Fresno

About:
A criminal finds her true gender after crossdressing to escape the law.

Symon’s rough-hewn portrait introduces the viewer to the undeniably fascinating Gloria Stein, formerly known as Butch. As he matter-of-factly tells it in this project which often feels more like reality TV than a traditional documentary, the notoriously homophobic Butch disguised himself as a woman while on the run from the law and surprisingly found that it resonated far more than expected. Soon, Butch was identifying as Gloria, and though not claiming to have felt like she was trapped in the wrong body, eventually elects to have sex-reassignment surgery at the age of 67. Gloria is a brassy, memorable subject, even if Symon’s storytelling is often shaky, not always succeeding in filling in Gloria’s backstory clearly, and incorporating obviously staged scenes in addition to awkward re-enactments.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 7:
SERVED LIKE A GIRL

Director:
Lysa Heslov

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Bentonville

About:
Participants in the Ms Veteran America competition bring awareness to the plight of homeless female vets.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, November 7:
ON A KNIFE EDGE

Director:
Jeremy Williams

Premiere:
SF DocFest 2017

Select Festivals:
AIM Film Fest, Tulsa, Santa Fe

About:
A Lakota teenager becomes politicized as he witnesses injustices against his people.

While focused on young George Dull Knife, from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Williams’ film ultimately also serves as a profile of his father, Guy. The latter’s perspective, nicely represented via animated treatments of his artwork, offers generational history that informs how the elder man has raised his children, including George, to embrace the strength of their heritage as warriors. The younger Dull Knife, who is 14 at the outset of this project, sees the importance of claiming his legacy by turning to activism, joining AIM, the American Indian Movement, and its local efforts to address negative influences on Pine Ridge. Notably they take a stand against the local white community of Whiteclay, which sells alcohol to Lakota, coming into conflict with local law enforcement and its disproportionate targeting of Natives in arrests. The film benefits from providing a focus on the Dull Knifes rather than going for an overly broad look at the larger community – while limited in scope by design, the result is an intimate, personal exploration of modern day Native identity and activism.