DOC NYC Capsule Reviews: ROLEPLAY and BETWEEN GOODBYES

ROLEPLAY
Students at a college put together an immersive play based on their various experiences on campus.
Similar to a number three or four recent films (including the incredibly raw THE RAPE PLAY) I've viewed recently ROLEPLAY played very different than it would be for someone coming up on the film and ts subject for the first time. While there is nothing bad with the film, it disn't stand out as anything special because of the other similar films about college kids making theatrical art based upon their lives 

BETWEEN GOODBYES
Korean parents track down the daughter they were pressured to give up years before and find her living in The Netherlands.  The reverse story to several fiction films that have been released recently, BETWEEN GOODBYES is a stunner. This is a beautiful and heartfelt film about the coming together of families. This is not a simple story, there are a lot of moving parts and angles to it and director Jota Mun keeps it all perfectly balanced.  I wish I could have seen this away from the festival crush where I would have had time to sit down and consider it more. Highly recommended.

Facing The Wind (2024) DOC NYC 2024

Portrait of a group of women who come together to support each other as their partners slip away to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

This is a solid at what it’s like at ground zero for a those living with a terrible disease. I love that the film gives us a view of a community of women is hopeful. We really get a sense of there being people out there who can help them cope and get by. Too often we see similar stories but it’s always focused on one brave family fighting on.

My only complaint is that this could have been longer than an hour because I would have loved to have spent more time with these wonderful people.

Recommended.

Photos from the World Premiere of ART SPIEGELMAN: DISASTER IS MY MUSE at DOC NYC 2024

 

LEFT BEHIND (2024) DOC NYC

When a group of mothers realize that the NYC school system is not supporting their children with dyslexia they take steps to help their kids even it means suing the school system or starting their own school.

This is an excellent look at being a parent with a child who learns differently.  Having had dyslexia and having been forced through a normal system I completely understood what these kids and parents were going through. While I was lucky and stumbled into teachers who could help me learn, that isn’t always the case and some parents have to take matters into their own hands. Watching the film I could see myself in these kids.

What I like about this film is it makes clear why these kids need to be helped how the extra help makes a difference. We get to see the result of the teaching kids with special needs- and make them so much better and thus make us better.

What a great film

Highly recommended.

SABBATH QUEEN (2024)opens Friday at the IFC Center and December in LA

This is Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie's arc of a life as he finds a path to God as a gay man, occasional drag queen, rabbi, father and founder of Lab/Shul a god optional congregation where everyone is welcome.

This was one of the most moving films at this years Tribeca. It frequently reduced me to tears as we watch one man tries to find his own way to salvation. It's a journey with unexpected turns, some grumpy parts and where everything is full of love. Amichai is nothing if not full of god's love in a way that I have only seen in a handful of people. 

What makes the film so powerful is that there is no clear through line. We don't know where this is going or how it will end up. We are traveling with Amichai as he finds his place. It's a deeply moving journey because unlike in most other biographical docs we get a sense of the life off the screen. We know there is more than we are being told and that somehow makes us love him more. We also don't like him at times which makes him more fully human.

When the film ended I told several friends that they not only had to see the film but go to Lab/Shul because it appears to be the spiritual place they were looking for.

One of the great films of 2024.

OPENING IN LOS ANGELES ON 12/6 - LAEMMLE ROYAL THEATRE

76 Days Adrift (2024) DOC NYC

The story of Steven Callahan whose boat, The Napoleon Solo, sank and was forced to live in a rescue raft for almost 3 months as told by the man himself

Very straight forward retelling of what happened via Callahan sitting in his chair and some POV recreations.  It’s an exciting tale that is interesting but not as interesting as it could have been. Blame Callahan who tells his story a bit too straight forwardly.  Clearly he’s told the story a few too many times over the last few decades. It’s not bad, but its not great.

Quibble aside it is a hell of a tale and as such recommended.

DOC NYC Capsule Reviews : MOTHERS OF CHIBOK and THE BATTLE FOR LAIKIPIA

MOTHERS OF CHIBOK
The mother of the Nigerian village of Chibok  mourn the loss of the daughters taken by Boko Haram and try to go on. 

Solid portrait of shattered lives that gives us a view of the story beyond what the news crews show. Sure, we hear of the kidnapping but what does that mean we never know, until now.  This is an eye opening film and one that should be seen.

THE BATTLE FOR LAIKIPIA
The battle in Kenya over water and land rights in the wake of on going drought. The farmers and herders need the land and water and the ranchers don't want to give up what little they have. Can a solution be worked out.

A complex and an increasing important issue is put into sharp focus. Wonderfully fair to both sides of the issue we get a sense of what is possible and what will have to be done in the future.

Worth a look

Photos from the DISCO'S REVENGE screening at DOC NYC 2024 by Wendy Feinberg

 

Gladiator 2(2024)

The sequel to the Oscar winning Gladiator picks up 16 years later with the son of Russell Crowe’s character being captured and brought to Rome to fight in the arena. He ends up in the middle of political machinations looking to remove the corrupt and insane twin emperors on one side and a force looking to completely destroy the empire on the other.

This is perfectly okay historical action film that probably would have been better served being its own thing then bending over backwards to give very tenuous ties to the first film. Other than  a couple of characters everyone here is completely new, so why bother to connect them? (Oh yea no one would have gone).

The plot line is more a pencil sketch with lots of references to things we never see. Characters are so obviously drawn and presented that you know who is going to live, die, betray or step up as each one takes the stage. Only Denzel Washington has a real character, which he presents with a fury that makes you certain that he will be in the Oscar hunt at year’s end. As for the rest of the big name cast they are fine but are largely not given to do anything with Paul Mescal  basically just looking strong (the time frame is so f-ed up that we never given a reason as to why anyone would follow him) , and Pedro Pascal looking like a world weary man of good conscious, and Derek Jacobi here just to be a link to the previous film.

The action is adequate, but not always exciting, hurt by wildly uneven CGI (the opening sea attack), modern wrestling moves or odd things they hoped we would never notice (The ship in the arena spinning like it was a top).

While I can pick the film apart I did have a good time, though to be honest the fact I was seeing it unexpectedly in IMAX with free soda and treats helped my enjoyment greatly.

Worth a look if you so inclined

DOC NYC Capsule Reviews: MOSES - 13 STEPS, WE ALL BLEED RED, and TWICE IN OBLIVION

MOSES 13-STEPS
Nominally this is the life and times of Edwin Moses who went unbeaten in the 400 meter hurdles after he worked out mathematically how to do it. In actuality it is a look at the arc of Moses' life  in every corner of his life.

Set p to be just a sports doc, the film covers so much more such as the changes in society that were welling up all l around him. The film transcends being just a portrait of a man to become something greater

WE ALL BLEED RED
Photographer Martin Schoeller best known for taking photographs of famous people also takes photographs of less famous people and the disenfranchised. Most importantly he listens to their stories.

Magnificent film is not so much a film about Schoeller, but instead it's about all of humanity. Listening to the tales that go with the pictures makes them even more Beautiful.  This is one of the great finds of the festival.

Highly recommended.

TWICE INTO OBLIVION
Actors from both Haiti and The Dominican Republic come together to do a theater piece on the 1937 massacre of 20,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

I'm honestly mixed on this film. I was very interested in the history and the discussion of the events surrounding the massacre, but is didn't much care for the theatrical piece being put together. To me that was the least interesting thing here.

DOC NYC Capsule Reviews FLAVORS OF IRAQ, LIGHT DARKNESS LIGHT and EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS YOURS

FLAVORS OF IRAQ
Journalist Feurat Alani tells the story of his life and his connection to the homeland of his parents, Iraq.

One of the great discover at this year's DOC NYC, FLVORS OF IRAQ makes the case as to why some docs should be animated. While what Alani is telling us is the truth as far as we know, the images we see add so much more to the visceral impact of the tale because that help bring a better understanding to what we are seeing. Yes the images are often manipulated, but at the same time the art allows for faster moment through time and space that you wouldn't have with any other medium.

More importantly the film tells the story of Ira over the last half century, not shying away from things that we would not see on the nightly news. The result is a film that stuns us and makes us really think about what we are seeing

One of my favorite films at DOC NYC.

LIGHT DARKNESS LIGHT
This is the story of a blind Anglican priest Ian Nichols, who  is given an electronic eye to help him see.

This is a magical film that for a short while seems like it's going to be a pretentious feel good film. But not long into the film Nichols begins to charm the pants off you and the films pretensions change into something else. Suddenly this isn't a distant tale, but an intimate portrait with a genuine sense of wonder at seeing the world in a new way.  Trust me, when you get  to the end  and he can see and the sense of wonder that he radiates will make you feel good all over.

One of the great discoveries of this years DOC NYC.

EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS YOURS
This is a look at choreographer and dancer Hadar Ahuvia who prepares a piece that looks at the Zionist myths.

How you react to this film is going to be determined by how you connect to the dancing. If you enjoy watching the behind the scenes footage of Ahuvia putting the piece together  cup of teathen you are going to enjoy the film. If you are like me and want a bit more meat this may end up a tough haul.

Not my

Death By Numbers (2024) DOC NYC 2024

Sam Fuentes prepares to face the school shooter who shot her in the leg and who killed 17 of her classmates with bullets and 3 by suicide after the fact.

Mediation on the rash of school shootings and the carnage they leave behind via the word of one of the survivors who has kept an accounting of the damage caused. It's a bracing look at something that has become all too common over the last few years.

Worth a look.

Janis Ian at DOC NYC 2024 Photos from Wendy Feinberg

 

DOC NYC 2024 Capsule Reviews: STONE MOUNTAIN and THE PEOPLE'S WAY

STONE MOUNTAIN
Punch in the face film about the Stone Mountain George State Park which has a recreation of an old plantation and a giant portrait of three heroes of the Confederacy on the side of the a mountain. 

This film has a lot going on and I'm still unpacking it. I wish I had seen this outside of a festival where I could have had time to fully sit with it before moving on. Containing conversations with people on all sides of the discussion about how we should deal with Confederate monuments, the film opens the door on a lot of unpleasant questions about how we view our past and reshape it.  

One of the most thought provoking films at this year's DOC NYC

THE PEOPLE'S WAY
This is a look at three people in Minneapolis looking to try and change how things are done in the wake of George Floyd.

This is a very good look at how people are looking to change the broken system for something better. It's a hopeful film that will make you think about the work that has to be done. While the film is similar to other films looking at people hoping to change things for the better in the wake of the too many police killings, there are enough nuances and specifics to make it worth seeing.

BONES OF CROWS (2022) is on Hulu

 

With BONES OF CROWS now on Hulu here is my review from 2022's Toronto Film Festival

Bones of Crows is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year. It has some truly stunning sequences that have haunted me since I saw the film. 

The film tells the century long life of Aline Spears an indigenous woman living in Canada. She was separated from her family by government officials and the church who thought it was best for the children to be forcibly assimilated as part of their attempt to wipe out any and all trace of their culture. She was also assaulted sexually and otherwise by the staff at the orphanage.  During the Second World War she became an asset because she could speak Cree, a language that the government wanted to wipe out but which the military was using as code. After the war she raised her family and became an advocate for the rights of her people.

This is a hell of a story beautifully told.  

If there is any real problem with the film is that pushes too hard regarding the mistreatment of Aline. It’s not that the film deals with it rather it has a to do with how the film portrays it. The film seems to be trying to make sure we get the  that the characters are racist but it seems out of place. For example  at one point Aline is in the room during a meeting or dinner at the orphanage  where terrible things are said. In a film as beautifully crafted as this mostly is it, and similar moments feel artificial. Apologies if that was what was really said but with in the context of the film it comes across as polemical instead of real.

If you can get past the awkward dialog, this is a killer film about a wonderful woman.

BONES OF CROWS is recommended.

DOC NYC Capsule reviews: BALOMANIA, BAD REPUTATION, SING SING CHRONICLES and BORN TO BE WILD THE STORY OF STEPPENWOLF

BALOMANIA
One of the great discoveries of the people who make giant hot air balloons with faces of famous people or works of art on them and clandestinely release them into the skies of Brazil. It's an awe inspiring sight that will leave you staring at the screen with you mouth hanging open. I don't have the words to truly do this film justice so just see it.

BAD REPUTATION
Nominally this is a portrait of a woman named Karina, who works to create a union for sex workers in Uruguay in the hope that it will keep them safe. In reality this is portrait of a one of a kind woman who is marching through life the only way she knows how. It's a grand portrait of a great lady and odds are even if her line of work makes you uncomfortable, the sheer force of her personality is going to win you over. An absolute delight.

SING SING CHRONICLES
Full disclosure. The festival is only running two episodes of four of this MSNBC series about a reporter working with an NYPD detective in order to get justice for some men they know were wrongly convicted at the public screenings. When I sat down to watch this I discovered that this wasn't the 90+ minutes promised but a massive three hour cut of what appears to be the whole series. I did not watch the whole series. I watched roughly half of it before I turned it off and went on to other things. What I saw was excellent and I can't wait until I can revist it and go from start to finish.

Recommended.

BORN TO BE WILD: THE STORY OF STEPPENWOLF
Portrait of the rise and fall and fragmenting of one of the most influential rock bands in the world. It's a trip that goes from the psychedelic days of the 1960's until only a few months ago with footage of what happened when the film played in Germany at a film festival. While the telling is a bit formulaic, the story itself isn't and as such is worth your time

Brief thoughts on the brief THE BOY AND THE OCTOPUS (2024)

 Quick word on the 4-minute holiday short THE BOY AND THE OCTOPUS from Taika Waititi. It’s the best film he’s done since WILDERPEOPLE. It’s absolutely charming and wonderful and free of the Waititi nonsense that got in the way of his recent films.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Randi for sending it my way.

DOC NYC capsule reviews: JANIS IAN BREAKING THE SILENCE and DISCO'S REVENGE

JANIS IAN: BREAKING SILENCE
This is a look at singer song writer Janis Ian who began to get noticed when she was 13 and ended up changing how millions of people saw the world.

Produced for American Masters, this look at the life and career of Ian is awesome. This film is everything you could want to know about her and then some. Full of great music and great stories it's sure to please fans and non-fans alike.

DISCO'S REVENGE
This is a look at the rise and fall and eventual rise of Disco told by the men and women who were there.

Good look at the music many people love to hate (except for the songs that they love) has a lot of stories you probably have never heard before. At the same time this film suffers from much of this having been told before in other forms. If you are a music doc junkie like me this film is not going to be as fresh as you would like. At the same time that's quibbling because some of the tales are choice.

Worth a look.

DOC NYC Capsule Reviews: The Crimes of Putin Edition: THE BASEMENT and AFTER THE RAIN: PUTIN’S STOLEN CHILDREN COME HOME

THE BASEMENT
400 residents of the Ukrainian village Yahidne we round up and forced to stay in a basement for a month. as the Dead were stacked up in a corner like wood, the residents waited to find out their ultimate fate. Freed they tell their story for the camera as we listen to the words from a diary written during captivity with the expectation it would be found after everyone was dead. A slap in the face film, this is a you are their document of war crimes committed by Russian Soldiers. It is also a moving look at how people can survive terrible things and come out on the otherside.
Recommended.

AFTER THE RAIN: PUTIN’S STOLEN CHILDREN COME HOME
The children of Ukrainian parents stolen by the Russian army and rescued are sent to a farm in the country in order to decompress and begin the healing process. Low key doc  about the trauma of war quietly sneaks up on you and hits you over the head. While things seem largely okay at the start we quickly realize that isn't the case and we watch as the healing begins. This is a small gem of a film.

DOC NYC Capsule reviews :Iranian Edition GOOGOOSH MADE OF FIRE and MY STOLEN PLANET

GOOGOOSH – MADE OF FIRE 
Portrait of actress and singer Googoosh who was one of the biggest performers in the world until she was placed under arrest by Iranian authorities. Eventually freed she moved to the US and staged a come back. She is an outspoken opponent to the Iranian regime. This is a really good portrait of a woman who has been struggling to lead her life in her own way. It's a film full o f great music and conversation as Googoosh performs and sits down and talks to the filmmakers of her life.

Recommended.

MY STOLEN PLANET

Director Farahnaz Sharifi charts what life was like after the Iranian revolution. Using old home movies, recollections and recreations she shows the hidden life of women in the repressive country. It's a heady mix of a world most of the world was unaware of. It's a stunning piece of filmmaking that will make you ponder the furture not only for Iran but the rest of the world.

Recommended.

Brief thoughts on NATURE OF THE CRIME (2024) DOC NYC 2024

Three men sent to prison decades ago have to deal with the parole system in prison and show how they changed and have remorse for the crimes committed when they were teenagers.

Another home run from HBO. A Deeply thoughtful and moving film about how our system of justice is broken in that it creates impossible hoops for the people it is suppose to rehabilitating (work with me in regard to that term) so they can get out of prison. It's a film that makes it clear that we really don't know how to treat those we lock up.

I was moved.

Honestly I can't wait to see it again away from the festival where I can give the film the full attention it deserves and not have it be something that I have to rush pondering before I move on to the next thing.

Recommended.

DOC NYC 2024 Capsule Reviews: FARMING THE REVOLUTION, BLACK SNOW, HOMEGROWN and ISLA FAMILIA

FARMING THE REVOLUTION
This is a look at the farmers protests that happened in India in 2020 during the height of the covid epidemic. This is a you are their account of the mass rallies that occurred in connection to the protests with filmmaker Nishtha Jain allowing us to take in what was being said via long takes.

BLACK SNOW
Mother Natalia Zubkova puts her life on the line by being the only voice openly challenging the destruction that  open pit mining is doing to destroy the city and surrounding area where she lives. Another frightening look at life in Russia where the common people are merely either an inconvenience or a means to get more money for the rich leadership of the country.  This film deserves and needs to be seen - and a much longer piece than this much too short capsule review. It is one of the great finds of this year's DOC NYC

HOMEGROWN
A look at three right wing supporters of Donald Trump in the months up to the January 6 insurrection. We get a chance to see them as regular people as they look to the future, explain why they feel what they do and then take part in the events in Washington. It's a bracing look at the right that we don't get in any mainstream media. The problem with the film as it is is that recent recent events and the re-election of Donald Trump colors the film and makes you wonder what is coming next.

ISLA FAMILIA
Co-directors Abraham Jimenez Enoa and ClaudiaCalviño  chart their decision to leave Cuba and go into exile in Spain.  He is a well known journalist and she is a filmmaker but their conflicts with authorities  and the arrival of a baby make it so they decide to leave for a better life.  This is a very personal look at what it takes and costs to move your whole life somewhere else.

Flow (2024) opens Friday

FLOW is one of the great films of 2024. It’s probably one of the greatest animated films ever made. I suspect in five years it will be hailed as a classic.

A kind of fable, the film is the story of a cat who ends up on a boat with some other animals raveling across the world during a flood.  It’s a tale of life on a grand scale told without dialog.

This is a a grand adventure. Set somewhere else at some other time and place where people are no longer around the film creates a world where anything is possible. Animals that shouldn't be together are. There are references to places here on earth, but nothing concrete. There are some magical creatures, and fantastic turns but it all makes absolute perfect emotional sense. 

I know that everyone is going to have their say about the film. Countless podcasts and You Tube videos explaining a film that doesn’t have to be explained, but simply experienced, will be popping up soon. That we live in a time where everyone has to put out pieces where they explain what the director meant, or more likely saying how their take is the only right one, is a sad one. Everyone should be able to have the film mean what ever they want it to mean. FLOW needs to thrive however it thrives in the hearts of everyone who sees it.

As a work of art, this film is of the highest order. The images and storytelling are near perfect, not always in a brain logic sense but in a dead on heart sort of way. This film moved me viscerally and I wanted to to stop the film several times just because I was so overwhelmed that I wanted to just cry at the beauty of it all. (Several people behind me at the screening were loudly sobbing)

Cinema does not get much better than this.

Similar in some ways to director Gints Zilbalodis’ earlier AWAY because of the mystical journey, this is a vast jump in quality. This is film is a film where the student becomes the master. Everything here is nigh on perfect with the character design and animation being of a quality that few animators ever achieve. All you need to is watch  the eyes of the cat, or any of the characters and you’ll be amazed. Its so good that you’ll wish that the filmmakers could get special Oscars for their work- or compete in the best performance category. I’m serious-the best performances of the year are all computer generated.

In some ways the film nay remind you of some questing computer games. Some games like MYST came to mind (and one person I spoke with after the screening listed others).  And while I can see the influence perhaps in image referencing, I can’t say that the it is more than an influence. I say that because films are not games. We do not have control. The questing structure is as old as humanity. Additionally I have never been as invested and connected to a video game story or characters as I am here. There is a realness here that makes FLOW something greater than it’s influences. 

In a weird way the film also feels like Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld. I can't say why, largely because it's been years since I last read the stories, but there is still something haunting me.

This film is any, and every, superlative you can think of. It is a film at the highest level of cinematic art. It will move you in ways you didn’t think were possible.

Highly recommended.

Look for FLOW to have  a long life.

(And it should be noted that the film does have a post credits sequence. It’s brief but explains what happens to one character)