what (not) to doc

Coming to theatres this Friday, May 16: AI WEIWEI: THE FAKE CASE

Andreas Johnsen’s look at the celebrated Chinese artist/activist’s life under house arrest had its world premiere at IDFA last year. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, One World, Istanbul, Tempo, Tampere, and DocsBarcelona, among others.

Johnsen’s film picks up, essentially, where Alison Klayman’s 2012 AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY left off. Having been detained for 81 days, the artist is placed under house arrest, monitored constantly, and subjected to ever-present harassment by authorities – not to mention the interest of the worldwide media. Already on edge, Ai comes under catastrophic legal trouble – served with a lawsuit by the government that threatens his reputation and his finances. While Johnsen unquestioningly has fantastic access to his subject, his treatment remains frustratingly surface and episodic, seemingly content to merely chronicle the artist’s quotidian existence, rather than offering a clear, purposeful trajectory. While Ai generally engenders fascination, given his headline making resistance to government suppression, there’s nothing particularly new here, making this more of a curiosity piece than a full-fledged portrait.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 13: GAHAN WILSON: BORN DEAD, STILL WEIRD

Steven-Charles Jaffe’s portrait of the subversive cartoonist debuted at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2011. It received a limited theatrical release last Fall in NYC and LA, and now comes to various VOD platforms via FilmBuff.

Between biographical details, such as Wilson’s near-still birth, as suggested by the documentary’s title, and copious examples of his artwork, Jaffe’s film serves as a love letter to the octogenarian cartoonist, whose mordant scribblings have regularly appeared in the pages of Playboy, The New Yorker, and National Lampoon, among other magazines. They’ve attracted a broad range of admirers, who lend their voices to the film, from Hugh Hefner and Stephen Colbert to Stan Lee and Guillermo del Toro, resulting in a fairly straightforward artist profile that seems largely suited for Wilson’s extant fanbase. A memorable exception that broadens the film’s reach is an edifying and entertaining sequence set in the office of The New Yorker‘s cartoon editor, Robert Mankoff, who reviews and rejects cartoon pitches for the venerable publication.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 13: BOTTLED UP: THE BATTLE OVER DUBLIN DR PEPPER

Drew Rist’s look at a David and Goliath soft drink controversy debuted at Dallas’ USA Film Festival last year. It also screened at Santa Barbara in advance of today’s FilmBuff release of the doc on iTunes and other major VOD platforms.

For over a hundred year, until January 2012, Dublin TX had developed a successful cottage industry manufacturing and distributing the original formula of the niche soda, Dr Pepper, within a local franchise region. Originally developed in Waco TX in 1885, Dublin was the site of the first independent bottling company, in operation since 1891. Tradition and popular support maintained the use of cane sugar even after corporate Dr Pepper had long switched to high fructose corn syrup for their sweetening agent, creating a passionate regional following, with stories of customers driving hundreds of miles to pick up a case of what became semi-officially known as “Dublin Dr Pepper.” As Rist’s film reveals, through a not unappealing folksy narrator and interviews with primary players, all that changed when Dr Pepper Snapple, suddenly protective of their corporate trademark, sued the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company, eventually settling the dispute by ending the longtime franchise agreement, eliminating the regional variant altogether. Despite its title, Rist’s simple doc is less about the legal battle – the result is all too quickly revealed – and more about its impact on the town of Dublin, which grew economically dependent not only on the bottling company, but also on the ancillary benefits that came from being so closely associated with the soft drink.