Tuesday, November 19, 2024

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

No comments:

Post a Comment