Above and Beyond (2014)

I've been chasing after ABOVE AND BEYOND for the last four months. The film has played at multiple film festivals (including the just concluding New York Jewish Film Festival)and I missed it every time. Finally with the film arriving in theaters this Friday I finally got to see it.

ABOVE AND  BEYOND is the story of how the newly founded country of Israel ended put together an air force in order to hold off the the impending war with the Arab states. With an embargo in place the Israelis, the Israeli's turned to American supporters and pilots who risked jail time and loss of American citizenship to help.

This is a good look at a largely unknown story outside of Israel told by the men who were there. A mix of talking heads, archival footage and recreations the film nicely explains what happened and why. If the film is lacking in some details (there are several times where they don't give enough details)  the film more than makes up for it in  the wonderful stories told by some wonderful men  who recounted their youthful exploits.

I like the film but I really wish the film didn't feel like a History Channel special

The film hits theaters this Friday

Nightcap 11/30/14 The end of the festival year- Looking ahead to Romania and back at SAIFF and DOC NYC, a sucky Stephen King musical, bad films and links

A cutaway look at Madison Square Garden

We are now heading towards years end and all of the madness that it entails.

For me and the other guys and girls at Unseen it's a time to step back, relax and chill since the festival year is pretty much done. It also means that we can get back on our bikes and choose where we want to go since outside of the big Hollywood films there is a bit of a slow down(I'm getting hit with requests for coverage for January films now)

The last festival for us starts Thursday when MAKING WAVES: NEW ROMANIAN CINEMA hits Lincoln Center. The festival is full of good films. I really liked 4 of the 5 films I saw which has me warming more toward Romanian Cinema.

Atypically our coverage will be a single post on Friday covering all five films. This is my own damn fault  since I sat down and binged on the series Tuesday when I was home sick in bed and I didn't make much more then general notes. That says a great deal about the films quality because I got lost in them, but its bad because the films really deserve longer reviews.
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I want to take a minute and just say a quick word on DOC NYC and SAIFF.

DOC NYC continues to amaze me. Its  so good that I almost want to skip seeing documentaries during the year simply because I know I'm going to get the best stuff there.

As I've said there are no truly bad documentaries, only ones that were they not mixed in with the high quality of the others they would have shined. There were a couple of of films this year that had a seen them away from the 42+ films we saw I would have loved and not liked.

I had some magical experiences going to the fest seeing SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY and SALT OF THE EARTH, going to lunch with Mr C and seeing Steve Farhood, and hanging out with Mondo, Chocko and Hubert.

(BTW Brian I still owe you dinner.)

The SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL is now one of my favorites.Every year I walk in not having any idea what any of the films are but I walk out with a couple of new favorites and my eyes opened regarding several others.

The thing I also love is that every year I end up conversing with the filmmakers. This year Sudish Kamath gave me one of the coolest viewing experience when he sent his film X my way. Its a film that shouldn't work but does wonderfully- especially the more I think about it.

I was introduced to the fest by Ted Geoghagen and it's a debt I really can't repay.
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Apropos of nothing- this past Monday Peter and I went to see the Stephen King John Melloncamp musical GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY at the Beacon Theater in NYC.

The show is a weird mix of concert, radio show and traditional musical. It tells the story of two sets of brothers- two who are ghosts and who end up tragically. The other pair are the nephews of the ghosts and they appear to be on the same road to ruin.


The music is great. The performances very good.

The script is the worst thing that Stephen King has ever put forward. Its laughably awful (calling MST3K). Dramatically its inert with nothing much happening (certainly not enough to support two and a half hours of stage time) and there are no characters. I have no idea who any one was. There is something there but it needs to be completely rewritten by someone other than King

Any life in the script is staked through the heart by the staging which doesn’t know what it was. It looks like its chaos on stage as people sort of dance, sort of interact as if it was a play and mostly belt out songs. They should have settled on a style and gone with it. I would have gone for a radio show affair since that would have removed the need to do anything other than stand and talk or sing. It would have also would make the descriptive dialog have a reason to exist.

As a concert interrupted by shitty dialog it wasn’t bad. As a musical entertainment it sucked canal water. ( I wanted to use spew , a word the play is fond of, but the play never quite got me to the point of wanting to puke)
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This week look for a whole bunch of new releases to get reviewed as well as super sized entry on MAKING WAVES on Friday.

After this week we’re doing what has become an annual event- a month of Criterion collection titles.

I should also mention that I’m at work on the year end wrap ups. The festival wrap up is more or less done, now to dive in and deal with the good the bad and the film finds.

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One of the worst films of the year A SPELL TO WARD OFF DARKNESS is getting a release Friday. Its a horrible film that makes no sense unless you read the copious press notes and if then it will leave you feeling like "you must be kidding". I'm considering reposting my review from New  Directors New Films but I don't know if I want to waste the space. (It can be found here)

Another truly awful film THE STORY OF MY DEATH, a film I'd rather skip to have a root canal has started screening at the Anthology FIlm Archives in New York. I can't say anything good about it other than avoid it.

My take on the film can be found here.
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And now Randi's Links

The animated adventures of Firefly- Production diary
Last Lunch with Mike Nichols
Disney Animation Posters
Mutts Behind the Curtain:The Gifts of nothing
David Hare on Mike Nichols
film critic writes on Lego
On Robert Osborne
Alex Gibney is making a film on Scientology
Foriegn Fields
Broadway Flops
William Burroughs-A Thanksgiving Prayer
Shirokite
reasons to be thankful-classic cartoons
70 Bootleg movie posters


(and why a cutaway of MSG? Why not?)

DOC NYC 2014:SALT OF THE EARTH (2014)

The work of photographer Sebastião Salgado is, even on the small size of a coffee table book, awesome. There is something about the way he captures the images of people and places that transcend the ordinary and make it soul stirring or shattering. His images seem to capture the inner truth of whatever he aims his camera at.

I remember 20 years ago, being at Barnes and Noble and discovering his book Workers and being blown away. Who was this guy and why hadn’t I ever heard of him? His pictures didn’t so much speak to me as taught me about things words could never say. I was in awe from that day to this.

When I saw that Wim Wenders had co-directed a film about Salgado I knew I had to see it, and when it was announced as playing DOC NYC I knew I would move heaven and earth to see it.

The film was begun by Salgado’s son Juliano Ribeiro who wanted to get to know his father the wanderer. He wanted to know what he did when he went out to shoot his pictures. He then brought in Wenders to help give an outsider perspective. The film is a structured as a look back, with Salgado looking back over his life as he also is working on his latest project shooting nature and animals. What we see is Salgado’s entire life in photos, both color and his trademark black and white. He talks about each photo and each project telling us about what each photo is and how it was taken and in some cases how it changed his life (The cruelties documented in some of the later projects forced him to stop shooting for years)

The spine of the film is Salgado’s glorious photos. We see the shots we know from his books blown up to the size of a movie screen. We stare into them and they into us. Seeing them twenty or thirty feet tall is beyond awesome. It is one of the most visually overpowering experiences you will ever have. The audience at DOC NYC sat in silence staring at the screen. No one moved. No one made a noise expect to gasp at what we were seeing or to quietly sob at the pain of those in the pictures.

I had wanted to sit up close to really see the pictures but by the half way mark I was glad I was sitting in the back since I would have been turned into mush by the emotion of the images.

The film is largely black and white to match Salgado’s images but there are times when it shifts back to his home in Brazil or into the artic where he is shooting walruses when it change to color. I groaned audibly during the first shift since the black and white was so evocative. I didn’t want to leave the perfect dream of the monochrome.

I don’t know what more to say other than you have to see the film when the film gets a release in the spring.

Seriously this is one of the most awesome (in the truest sense of the word) experiences you will ever have in a movie theater- or anywhere-ever.

Just as Salgado’s photos are some of the greatest images you’ll ever see, so is this movie.

Us Naked:Trixie and Monkey (2014) DOC NYC 2014

I have no idea what to say about the film- I had nothing to say about the film after I saw it so I sent a not to John and Hubert which read as follows:

serious review request-
would either of you guys want to take a pass at US, NAKED:TRIXIE & MONKEY
http://www.docnyc.net/film/us-naked-trixie-monkey/
I have seen it
I have nothing to say about it.
Nothing
except to say I have nothing to say about it-largely because I really didn't care about either Trixie or Monkey
Actually Its not a bad film but the pair struck me as the wrong sort of acrobatic hipsters-whose existence I kind of want to ignore....
I like the people around them and bits but as a whole I could have been doing other things.
If you guys don't take up the review I' guessing this note will be the review.

Salad Days (2014) DOC NYC 2014

SALAD DAYS is a look at the DC punk scene from 1980 to1990(roughly). Made by guys who were there, the director is one the boy journalist we see in the film, its filled with everyone who was anyone in the scene the film documents the days and nights of the various punk bands.

For me the film is annoyingly near great.

Taken on its own terms and as pieces the film is absolutely amazing. You’re placed in the DC music scene is a way that puts you in the clubs and houses where the music was percolating better than most films on any subject. We really are there just as if we were dropped into the say the 930 Club…

…and as good as that is its one of a couple of problems that keep the film from being truly great

First, as I said the film doesn't bring you into the story so much as drop you into it. There isn't a set up so much as a few statements and away we go with little context for things. What was things like before? We don’t know. Having Henry Rollins talk about how music had to be wonderfully produced until he heard the Ramones is okay but it doesn't say enough. What was the music scene like before? What about outside of DC? Were these guys and gals influenced by anything outside of DC? We don't know- the whole thing is a bubble.

Next the film kind of assumes you know what they are talking about. They mention bands and groups and members and unless you have a bit of knowledge you’ll feel a tad lost (more so because the band members moved around). At other times there are times where people are talking about events that I had no context for....

...which brings me to the last point the film will pick up a subject or jump through time with no ground work it just jumps into say the funk band or female bands- without really linking them into the narrative. We're just on to the next thing. I understand they want to stay away from a narrator or intertitles but some links are needed. We need to know more than we do…or at the very least we need the film to pull it all together in the end into a whole, it never does.

To be honest the problems could be solved if the film were longer-lord knows there has to be enough material, I mean dozens of people are interviewed, put more in and make it flow. I won't mind since what is here is so compelling I would have sat for another 100 minutes without a problem.

Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a bad film. It’s nowhere near being a bad film, it’s just that it’s so incredibly close to being a truly great all time classic film that I’m annoyed it just missed the target. Seriously everything that’s here is choice and amazing, with Dave Grohl's kick ass final statement about DIY sending us off with a cheer and being one of the best final statements in any film in the last five years.

Forgive the nitpicking but I want the thrill I had while watching the segments and sequences to carry over to how I feel about the whole film.

The screening at DOC NYC is long done but the film will be hitting theaters soon and is a must see for anyone who loves music especially punk.

DOC NYC 2014:TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER (2014)

Word out of the New York Film Festival press screening for Tales of the Grim Sleeper was that it was Nick Broomfiled’s best film. The people I talked to were bowled over by it. I even had one reviewer try to talk me out of my ticket so he could see it again.

I missed it at NYFF, laid low by an illness that had me missing several films, so its reappearance at DOC NYC made it a must see.

The film is the story of the Grim Sleeper, a serial killer so named because it’s believed to have gone to sleep for 15 years between killings. The problem is he didn’t go to sleep and Lonnie Franklin Jr, now believed to be the killer went on for decades racking up a total that is anywhere from 18 certain victims to a seemingly unbelievable total of well over 400. This is a look at a serial killer amongst us and how the police and society allowed the killing to go on for decades.

I’m in awe.

Broomfield, drawn to the insanity of the case goes into the South Central LA neighborhood and started to ask questions. Helped by people who wanted to talk or knew someone he should talk to, as well as a woman named Pam who is a great lady, Broomfield begins to unravel the case that went back over thirty years.

Revelation follows revelation as Broomfield really shows how the police did nothing, despite knowing a serial killer was operating thanks to ballistics. They told no one and let the killings go on because all of the victims were black, many prostitutes or drug users. The police cared so little that many times when a body was found it would be tagged NHI meaning no human involved.

Yea they didn’t care.

But some of the women in the neighborhood did and they formed a group to try and get word out. Not many listened…

…and weirdly until Broomfield started to get people thinking and talking many people many of of the friends of accused killer Franklin didn’t think he could have done it, until the stories of his darkness came out…

This film will rock your world as you see how not only institutions failed (well before the killings to the point one woman tells her son if anything ever happens never call the police) but in away so did the people who should have known better- I mean despite professing that Franklin was a nice helpful guy, they all knew he was a sick man.

This film is so good that I really need to see it again to be able to write on it since so much happens and there are so many revelations I didn’t catch everything.

After the film Broomfield did a Q&A.

I asked the first question asking him why he did the film or what drew him to it. He said it was the enormity of the crime. The number of those killed could be so huge that there never will be an accounting since many bodies are believed to be in landfills (Franklin worked as a garbage man for a time)

Other questions deleved deeper into the twists and turns of the case. One woman asked if Broomfield paid anyone in the film. He said Pam was paid because she was doing so much, and he gave some money to other people, but he said most people weren’t or wouldn’t take it. He said that it was opposite to the rich and famous who he dealt with, all of whom wanted to be well compensated.

Broomfield also explained that the reason he’s in the film was that by doing so we took the trip with him. We saw what he did and it makes us part of the film.

He also said that a recent screening in LA brought together the families of the victims, people in the film, the police, prosecutors and legal defense team. Broomfield said that after years of trying to get an interview with authorities they were asking for tickets to the film (prompted he said by needing to see the film that was being extensively written about and causing waves). Broomfield said that one of the retired detectives was impressed with the film.

I’m not only impressed by the film but in awe. The film kicked me all over the place and gave me much to think about.

You owe it to yourself to see this film.

The film is getting a brief run in December for Oscar qualifying before showing up on HBO in early 2015, which means you’ll have plenty of chances to see it.

Wondering how Sex and Broadcasting: A Film About WFMU (2014) will play in Peoria DOC NYC 2014

A radio station should not be a hole in the universe for making money, or feeding an ego or running the world. A radio station should be a live place for live people to sing and dance and talk...and know they they (and the rest of us) are not finally and irrevocably dead- Lorenzo Milam Sex and Broadcasting

This is the story of New Jersey based radio station WFMU, a completely independent and totally unique radio station where anything can happen at any moment. Its a station that has a huge cult following that also includes a huge array of celebrities. The film focuses on station manager Ken Friedman as he tries to get enough money to keep the station going

At times this film is a joyous collection of wonderful moments arranged as scattershotly as WFMU's programming. Things happen all over the place as we watch artists perform, fans, such as Matt Groening and Patton Oswald  wax poetic, and the station tries to get enough money just to stay on the air.

And the scattershot nature of the film is what diminishes the greatness of the parts into a just okay whole. The problem is that it doesn't take shape and have a through line-or at lose its WTF is going on until the last half hour where we get the history of the station and of manager Ken Friedman. Once we're finally told whats going on the film clicks to life and it all starts to make sense...until the momentum is lost in yet another marathon to get money.

I wanted to scream. Worse I was tempted to shut the film off...and I would have had the bits not been so strong. The bits, the musical performances and the great people made dealing with the piss poor organization worth it for me.

The one question I was left with when I finished the film was what will people who don't know WFMU think of the film? I know of it because a number of the writers here at Unseen wax poetic about the station. On the other hand what is this going to mean to those who don't know the station, who say don't know what the Best Show was? I don't know.

Then again I get the sense that the film wasn't made for them or for people like me with only a passing knowledge of the station.

Do I think you should see the film? If you're an WFMU fan, absolutely. If you're not a fan or have no knowledge of the station I say you can give it a try, if only for the wonderful moments.

Of note -watching the screener with headphones on- I noticed there are a lot of police sirens in the background I doubt you'll hear them in the theater, but they are there if you listen

Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2014) DOC NYC 2014

A look at Studio Ghibli, it's staff and creators, as they prepare a couple of their most recent films THE WIND RISES and THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA and promote them. Its  loot at how their films are put together and sent off into the world.

How you react to the film will depend upon how much you know about Studio Ghibli and their films
- If you don't know a great deal about either but love them then odds are you'll enjoy this a great deal. - If you know nothing about the studio and their films you may feel a little lost since the references come fast and furious.
- If you are a huge fan of Ghibli and know the studio and the films you'll enjoy it but you'll wonder why is this two hour long.

I'm in the last group. I've seen all the films they've produced (except KAGUYA), I've also  seen several documentaries, tons of clips, read interviews and books. I'm reasonably well versed in things Ghibli, though I'm not obsessive compulsive. I like the film, but I'm still wondering why the film runs just under two hours.

You have to forgive me but the details of running the studio and promoting the films only held  my interest to a point. I did  enjoy watching Miyazaki drawing and being cranky. I love his discussion of what he does and how he puts his films together-there is no script it seems he simply draws and lets the stories flow.

This isn't a bad film, but I'm not sure who the audience for this is. You really have to have a certain love of Ghibli for this film to work.

I can neither recommend nor dismiss this film since this is one of those films you'll have to decide for yourself if you want to see it.

The film is being released in the US by GKIDS and opens November 28th

DOC NYC 2014 Q&A JINGLE BELL ROCKS

Video thanks to Chocko

The DOC NYC Q&A for THE RETURN

Video thanks to Chocko

DOC NYC 2014 Q&A for MEET THE PATELS

Video thanks to Chocko

DOC NYC 2014 Q&A for SALAD DAYS

Video thanks to Chocko

The DOC NYC 2014 Q&A for BANKSY DOES NEW YORK

Video Thanks to CHocko

A very few words on Haunters (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Documentary on the making of the Phobia House haunted house attraction in Michigan follows the people behind it from July through the opening. We watch as the group tracks down their new location, put it together and then open it up.

Profoundly bland and unremarkable film about the making of a haunted house is easily the weakest film I've seen at DOC NYC this year. Its also the weakest film on the making of a haunted house I've seen- and I've seen a bunch of them. The only area where it scores over better films like MONSTERS WANTED, is in showing bits from inside the attraction. Outside of that this is a big yawn, thanks in large part to its scattershot  march through time and showing of events. There is no order to anything things just happen.

I'm so glad I didn't go see this at midnight.

As much as I hate to say it you can skip this one.

Before I do full reviews- Quick word on TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER and SALT OF THE EARTH at DOC NYC 2014

I have to write up both films I saw tonight but I need to say a couple of quick things

Thom Powers and Nick Broomfield talk to the audience

TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER has one screening tomorrow (11/20) left at DOC NYC and it's a must see.

The story of a serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper because they thought there was 14 years between killings-there weren't and while they have him for 18 murders the totals could be over 400. The film is an indictment of the LA Sheriff, Police and government as well as some others.

Its gripping, disturbing and quietly devastating.

I had heard it was a fantastic film when it played the New York Film Festival and it turns out it's true.

If you can go-do so...especially since director Nick Broomfield will be there as he was tonight and if the Q&A is as good as it was tonight you're in for something special.

For tickets go here

The other film is SALT OF THE EARTH.Its a look at photographer Sebastião Salgado by his son and Wim Wenders.

Seeing it on a BIG screen was one of the most visually awesome things I've ever seen. Seeing Salgado's photos the size of a movie screen was simply over powering. The audience sat transfixed and didn't move, breath or utter a sound other than to gasp at the power of the images.

This film will still be wonderful on a smaller screen- but on a BIG screen it's beyond words and when the film finally gets a release in the spring you MUST go see it.

Okay off to bed. Full reviews will follow in the next day or so,

In Brief: The Return (2014) DOC NYC 2014

The story of four young Jewish women in  Poland. Three of the women discovered in their teens that they were of Jewish ancestry after being raised Catholic.(the families had converted during the Second World War and then remained hidden during the Communist era)

Good but not quite great look at the state of Judaism in Poland. The film's central question of what is to become of the reemerging Jews  of Poland when they are being drawn elsewhere? Will they stay and rebuild the community or will they go to Israel, or perhaps the United States either out of wanting to join their people or for a job. Its not an easy choice, just as trying to find a place in a community that one wasn't raised in.

While the film raised some interesting questions and introduced us to some nice people the film never really drew me in enough that my mind didn't wander. Watching the film I found that instead of paying attention I stopped taking notes and started to doodle. Not a fatal flaw since I still sat and listened, but it was a sign I wasn't full engaged.

Is it  a bad film, no, it is good. I suppose I was looking or hoping for something more. I suspect that had I not seen this as the 17th film at DOC NYC I would have liked it more.

Worth a shot if the subject intrigues you.

For more information and tickets go here.

DOC NYC 2014: SONGS FOR ALEXIS (2014)

The wait to get into SONGS FOR ALEXIS made for an interesting evening when I was told to go up to the second floor lounge where we were to wait. I was a bit confused since there were an odd mix of young adults, many gay and transgendered and lots of people well into their 70's,80's and 90's. Was the screening going to be a sell out thanks to everyone being relatives and friends of the filmmaker?

No.

Half of the very full of people for SONGS and half full of people for STILL DREAMING which was playing downstairs. The older people were the stars of the film. Until you knew that it seemed like it was going to be a really weird night.

SONGS FOR ALEXIS is the story of Ryan Cassata, an 18 year old transgendered man who met the love of his life, a 16 year old named Alexis. Ryan lives on Long Island, Alexis in California. When the film opens Alexis is getting ready to head back home after some time with Ryan and his family. Sometime after that Ryan goes to San Francisco to play the Gay Pride Festival, things are tense between the lovers and its revealed that Alexis's dad is not happy about the relationship.

Damn that sounds exciting.

Sadly it's not.

What the film really is is a hagographic look at Ryan (Alexis is largely is a cipher here, I mean I know she smokes...and?) who sings, writes songs and spends months moping around because of  being separated from Alexis. Wait, Ryan also whines a bit when Alexis isn't forth coming about details of the guy, Quinn, who is texting her, or the trouble with her parents.

To put it another way had Ryan not been transgendered this film would never have seen the light of day or at the very least it would have been cut down to a great 20 minutes.

Don't get me wrong I do like the film, but I have lots of issues with it. And the problem is if I tell you about them its going to sound like I'm ripping the film apart-which  I am.  But at the same time there is enough good here that the film should have been better.

We deserved better.

There should have been more than the the doe eyed looks and puppy love between two people who are more or less adults.  It doesn't help that the pair both look to be about ten and not 18. Who are these people really?

What annoyed me was that I saw Ryan in the theater, I watched him interact with his friends, family and the festival staff and he wasn't as narcissistic as he is in the film. I know break ups can be bad but in the film he comes off as an obnoxious kid who only exists for the Alexis, who he then smothers. There is nothing to his life but moping and writing an occasional song- there has to be more to him then that-no I know there is.

Alexis is as I said a cipher, though she reminds me of a long ago ex-girlfriend who was much too young to be dating anyone never mind me.

Also getting my nose out of shape was that the film feels staged at times, Ryan's mom talking to her friend in such a way as to get all of the exposition out in a seemingly realistic fashion. It may be real but it never rings true. This is especially true of the late in the film trip to Alexis's house- could it have been staged any more than it is? (And while circumstance keeps the split between Alexis and her family off camera, I'd have liked some thing more- say from Alexis about it since such a crucial event is only seen in the waves it creates for Ryan)

Is this a bad movie? No,but it's not the great feature it should have been. As it is now so much happens off screen that this should have been chopped down to a short film because there is too little real material to support a feature.

Should you see it? If you run across it you can give it a try.

Though to be honest I don't know if you will have a chance since I can't see the film getting much play outside of the LGBT community or fans of Ryan's (Ryan does have a following and is a low level celebrity in some circles). Ultimately this is not a film that is really going to go beyond it's core audience the way that truly great documentaries should.

Coming Home (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Angel Cordero was arrested when he was 25 and sent to prison for attempted murder. 13 years he gets out of prison into a very changed world. Not only has the world changed but so has his relationship with his daughter  Will Cordero be able to put his life back together and repair the damage between his daughter and himself?

Viko Nikci's look at a man returning to society after years away is a deeply moving film. Angel's troubles are very real. How do you restart your life after so long away? Is there a happily ever after or just a maybe tomorrow? Mikci is smart enough not to give us easy answers or false hope. The result is a highly compelling film that sucks you in and carries you along.

If the film has any flaws it's that it is a very slick production Frequently using multiple camera set ups it's filmed in a such away that the film looks like Hollywood production. Interviews look staged  or something you might find on say 60 Minutes. Watching the film there were times when I wondered not so much how much of the film was real but staged. While it's a minor flaw , thanks largely to Angel being such a strong  personality,  it does keep the film from achieving the classic status it reaches for.

Flaws or no- this is definitely a film you'll want to see when the film gets it last screening at DOC NYC or when it hits screens afterward because it will get your mind going and force you to feel something.

The film played DOC NYC this past Saturday and it has one more screening Thursday afternoon.at 1230. For more info and tickets go to the films festival page.

Last Impresario (2013) DOC NYC 2014

Michael White- a man your average person would not know but the man that every celebrity wanted to talk to.

Coming together after director Gracie Otto met this quiet old man  at Cannes, the film is the life and times of  Michael White who managed to pretty much change popular culture by producing shows and films that brought Monty Python, Rocky Horror, Pina Bauch, Yoko Ono, My Dinner With Andre and lord know who else, to English and American audiences.

Amazing film that can not help make you go wow as you realize how much one man managed to know everyone and do everything and yet remain complete unknown.  Its a hell of a story about a hell of a man told by one hell of an amazing collection of famous people.

I really don't know what to say other than this is a really cool look at one guy who changed culture as we know it. Its an an amazing film if for no other reason that it kind of seems like "oh I know what this is" in the first couple of minutes and you're a tad dismissive only to find by the end it's sucked you in and made you want to start it all over again as you ponder-how the hell such a great film is getting so little attention.

Or to put it another way- who the hell has been hiding one of my favorite documentaries of the year. I have no idea if it's great, but it is great fun which I think is all that matters in this case.

One of the Must sees at DOC NYC.

The film plays Thursday night at 730. For details and tickets go to the films festival page.

The film is also hitting theaters and VOD platforms in  December

Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine (2014) DOC NYC 2014 11/20

Michele Josue's portrait of her friend Matt Shepard was made in an effort to make him more than just a person who died. It's an effort to make the tragedy more about a person than a symbol. The film also shows what happened in the wake of his death.Its the story of how the love of one young man changed the world (though as one friend says at the end in a way that no one really would have wanted).

This is a really good and deeply moving film about a young man who's life was cut short.

While the film can be a tad too loving, no one who knew Matt says anything bad, the film is honest enough to show all of the ups and downs of Matt's short life, we see the good things that happen and the bad. The film also doesn't shy away from dealing with Matt's death which is gone over in great detail, nor the hatred that some people express toward gay men and women.

Its a solid little film that will make you understand why Shepard became a symbol and is still a symbol of what can happen when hatred goes unchecked.

The film plays on the 20th at 945 at the IFC Center. For tickets and more information go here.