A collection of reviews of films from off the beaten path; a travel guide for those who love the cinematic world and want more than the mainstream releases.
Portrait of Miriam Shaar and Soufra, the company she started to provide women living in the refugee camp where she lives a better way of live. The film follows Miriam as she attempts to build the company via the purchase of food truck.
Good film about a great bunch of ladies follows the typical feel good arc. While you can kind of sort how how this is going to go you really don't mind because these are such great people that you truly love to spend tie with them...
...And say what you will about the film in the end you will get misty and feel good which is all that matters.
Recommended SOUFRA opens in select theaters tomorrow
Portrait of an autistic man named Ron who has been nicknamed Mole Man. Ron has a love of building and has built a huge maze of structures and tunnels on his parents property in rural Pennsylvania. However as everyone gets older Ron's family is faced with what is best for Ron now that is moter is well past 90 and he has his own way of doing things.
Very good documentary is part Ripley's Believe It or Not (because what Ron has done is unbelievable) part examination of the life of autistic adult and part celebration of the human spirit. Mixing the the various parts together makes for an occasional bumpy ride since there are times where we aren't sure what the point of it all is. I suspect that that is in response to Ron himself since over the course of the 85 minutes we never get any sense of Ron being anything other than Ron. Its a feeling that makes the ending very bittersweet since we know the world will change for him, but at the same time you can't help but he happy that he lives and exists and is one truly unique in all the world.
I have no idea what I truly think of it all but damn if it isn't something to see.
When Attiya Khan was 16 she met a boy named Steve who was 18. They were together for 2 years, and lived together. He violently abused her. 20 years later she sits down with her abuser to talk about what happened and in hopes of him taking responsibility, and getting some answers. Attiya was scared of Steve for years after leaving him, having nightmares, PTSD, bad anxiety, and now here she is able to come face to face with him and talk to him about what happened all those years ago. It takes strength. It also takes strength for Steve to agree to have their encounters filmed. She speaks openly about the abuse he inflicted on her, they visit a domestic violence counselor together (as well as apart), and go back to the apartment and high school they attended.
I don't want to say much but the film was was definitely very heavy. At the beginning of the documentary, there is a warning that it might be too upsetting for some. Some of it was hard to listen to. It was honest and raw, and I'm still thinking about it a week later. I've never seen a documentary like it, and I recommend it, but given the context it might not be for everyone.
The Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament has turned out more champion boxers than any other event including the Olympics. The competition is so fierce that even great boxers of the caliber of Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson lost at one time or another in the Golden Gloves. Of all of the Golden Gloves tournaments held across the country the best known and most highly regarded is the one held in New York City. It takes boxers from across the Tri State New York area and has them compete for the glory and a necklace of actual gold gloves. CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS follow three fighters as they begin the process of competing for the title of the best amateur fighter in New York,
The fighters are Titus Williams who has already won a multiple Golden Gloves Championships and who wants to win one more before turning pro. James Wilkins, an up and coming prospect with killer hands and Nisa Rodriguez who is going for her sixth Championship, something very few fighters, male or female who have ever done. We follow them over the course of the Golden Gloves season as they go on their hopeful march to the finals (perhaps).
This is a great film. It is one one of the best films to have played at this year's DOC NYC. It is a you are there portrait of three fighters trying to better themselves not only in the ring but in life. Having been a Golden Gloves fan for years I can assure you that what we see is what it's like. They hold nothing back and we see it all including the struggles many boxers face to do the thing they love.
One of the things that I love about the film is it very clear is that despite calls by some to end boxing, the gyms, the tournament and the sport itself are all vital to the survival of many of the fighters. Listening to the people talk about how the various boxing programs have changed the lives of thousands for the better is moving. The sport is not really just about fighting but finding discipline and a family who will help to keep kids and adults off the street and on the straight and narrow. It is a sentiment we see expressed by ex-fighter and trainer Teddy Atlas before one of the cards of boxing. His words were moving and I was touched seeing it play out over the course of the film's 100 minutes.
A full confession, this is the second review of the film I've written. Because of the large number of DOC NYC films and how I wrote some of them up three reviews go lost this year. One I found a draft for however two others, CRADLE being one, I've had to go back and rewrite.
Before I rewrote the piece I decided to rewatch the film. I needed to take new notes and be more aware of the details of the film. Sitting down to do so I realized just how good the film really is. Freed of the need to have to watch it, retain everything before writing it up and rush on to the next film I found that CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS improved in my eyes as I saw it for what it is a great film. Seeing it a second time I realized that this is a film that I want to see again...and again.... not because I will ever again write on it but because the film is just so damn good. Director Bartle Bull hasn't made a just documentary, he has made a grand narrative. This is a film that is an uplifting film about three people trying to overcome circumstances. Its a narrative that doesn't stand on it's own but mirrors the mythic tales of antiquity that we still listen to because they help us chart our lives.
This is grand filmmaking.
Before seeing the film a second time I as a fan of the film, now upon seeing it a second time I am kind of in awe of it because it is so unexpected in how it's simply telling the tale has made something momentous.
Highly recommended, this was and is one of DOC NYC's best films.
ERIC CLAPTON LIFE IN 12 BAARS is a loving portrait of the man that doesn’t shy away from the darkest periods of his life. It is a film that will delight his fans and probably win him many more. It was a super way to end this year's DOC NYC.
The film was directed by Lili Fini Zanuck who was brought in by Clapton to organize all of the material he had been collecting. Knowing something had to be done with the story of his life, he turned all the material to Zanuck whom he had met when they worked on the film RUSH together. She agreed to do it, warning him that she was not going to shy away from the bad parts of his life. He was fine with that since that was part of the road that brought him to the here and now.
And the whole road is on view here, from his being raised by his grandmother when his mother ran off, to the finding a home I the blues, the Patty Boyd romance, the drugs, the alcohol, the truly horrible behavior, the birth and death of his son, the sobriety and the finding of a family in the wake of tragedy. It’s a moving tale that is firmly focused on the man who is revealed in ways most people probably have never seen, including Clapton who said in a post screening Q&A he has no memory of some of what is revealed in the film.
Thom Powers, Lily Fini Zanuck and Eric Clapton (Photo courtesy of Chocko)
While filled with glorious music, the film, outside of the Derek and the Dominos album and an odd bit here and there the film is not a recollecting about how his albums were made. This a portrait of the man and his head space. A recounting of all of the music is not specific to that journey. However Layla and the other songs on the album are musical resprentations of his heart and soul at the time so we get the deeply moving story of the album's creation. It is a glorious, and, ultimately, doomed love story that moved some to tears.
We get details on how Clapton brought the blues to attention of generations of people. Bookended by BB King ,who influenced Clapton, the film is in love with old school blues artists who Clapton revered so much since the film always keeps them in sight. As BB King says Clapton opened doors for many artists by simply making audiences accepting of the music and over the course of the film we see how that happened.
I have to applaud Zanuck from not shying away from the darkness. We see Clapton stoned, drunk and ugly. We get a real sense of how bad things got via video, news clippings and personal testimony of friends and family who suffered at his hands. On a personal level I got a real sense of why friends of mine who loved Clapton in the early days drifted away from him only to return to him when he became sober once more. It’s clear that he understands that while he regrets all of the bad things he did in the past.
Lily Fini Zanuck has done Clapton proud and made a film that makes us feel the long road he has traveled. I was moved and I freely admit I got misty a couple of times. I love that by the time the film ends there is an earned cathartic release. We’ve traveled with Clapton through the good and bad times and are happy for him and the happiness he’s found.
One of the best music documentaries of the year, it was a hell of a way to end DOC NYC.
The film will be released to US theaters next week. It his theaters in the UK in January 2018. It will play on Showtime in February 2018
A look at the rise of anti-semitism in Europe and France in particular. We follow an attorney who battle anti semitism, a family in Israel, another in France preparing to leave, a comedian who got into trouble making jokes, and a few others. Stitched together with anti-Jewish comments and videos the film hopes to give one a sense of what is going on across Europe.
Heartfelt and honest in it's intentions SPIRAL never truly catches fire. While the subject is vital and important, the presentation is too low key as to spark action or interest. I know there is a problem and I know that the world must be aware but at the same time we need more than people talking quietly in rooms or gorgeous landscapes to get the point across.
To be honest I'm not entirely sure what director Laura Fairrie is going for with some of sequences where little happens.Scenes of people sitting around talking, walking in court house halls or standing in the landscape, while beautiful and allow a moment of reflection don't really add much. If they are to be bridges between moments there are too many of them. Somewhere about the half way point I found my interest waning.
When Indiana Brinton passed away all of the material, books, posters and movies that she had collected over the years was taken by her executor who had hoped to sort out its historical significance. It seems she and her husband has spent decades touring the Midwest of America screening films in the true infancy of motion pictures. What she left behind was a vast collection that related to film prior to 1910. When the executor died he still had the collection which was taken over by Michael Zahs who kind of sat on the material for another 30 years. With the need for room Zahs turned the material over to the University of Iowa’s Special Collection and wondrous things were discovered.
SAVING BRINTON is a curate's egg of a film. On one hand it is a beautifully rendered portrait of Michael Zahs who happened upon the belongings of the Brintons, but on the other hand the film doesn’t show us a hell of a lot of what was in the collection. I absolutely loved the film but was left kind of unsatisfied the film.
As a film on its own terms it’s a kick ass film. A wonderful portrait of Zahs, a gregarious raconteur with a drive to collect, the film is a film fans delight. Watching Zahs talk about the collection and its history is just damn awesome. As a film lover and a man with celluloid in my veins I ate up everything that was on screen. This is the sort of a tale that film fans always talk about. I mean we watch the discovery and restoration of a lost George Melies film, which is just incredibly cool. I mean it even impressed the legendary film historian Serge Bromberg who is seen being physically moved by the discovery. If you love film this film will make you want to dive into the collection with wild abandon to see what else is there...
Which brings me to the problem with the film, we don’t see a hell of a lot of the collection. We see some posters, some photos, a projector and a couple of clips. We are not allowed to really wade into more of the material. We see the covers of the various books, catalogs and pamphlets but we don’t see inside them. There are posters but we only get a look at a few. And then there are the films which are discussed as being ripe with possibilities, but what are they exactly? We really don’t know. While we get to see the missing Melies, we don’t really see anything else, worse I don’t think we’re even told much, if anything about, any other films other than in passing. . There is a moment where a historian describes the find as not just finding gold on a shipwreck, but also the bills of lading and all of the backstory it as well. The problem is we see one bar of gold and none of the backstory
And before anyone points out that the condition of the items and the films in the collection I have to say that know some stuff is in rough shape. At the same time we should have been shown as much of the collection as possible and not just followed Zahs around. He’s an interesting guy but how many times do we need to see him eating at a social?
Of course I’m nitpicking. I mean I love the film, but there was this point about an hour in when I suddenly realized that the one thing I wanted, which was to see more of the collection, wasn’t going to happen and I kind of deflated. I wanted to feel like Serge Bromberg and look at these wondrous things but we didn’t get the chance.
Despit my reservations SAVING BRINTON is a must, more so if you’re like me and bleed moving images.
SAVING BRINTON has finished its run at DOC NYC, however it will be getting a theatrical release in 2018
KNIFE SKILLS
Portrait of Edwins a restaurant in Cleveland where almost all of the staff is made up of men and women who have just gotten out of prison. The restaurant acts as school giving the staff skills that they can use to put their lives back together and break the circle of jail release jail. This is a wonderful heartwarming tale about people trying to change their lives for the better. Its a super film, that is more satisfying in it's 30 odd minutes than most feature documentaries,
Highly recommended.
DE COLORES
Portrait of Aura, a woman who has been cleaning houses for 30 years. However she soon will have houses of her own. A very nice portrait of a woman most people would never give a second look to.
SKULL FRACTURE OR ‘AREN’T YOU RATHER YOUNG TO BE WRITING YOUR MEMOIRS?’
Director Mads Hedegaard ponders the role of memory and perception in our lives as he looks a traumatic injury he suffered and asks various people connected to it to tell him what they remember about it. An excellent film that requires multiple viewings to full comprehend what it is showing us about how our memory works and how perception of those outside us alters how we see events. A must see.
NANTUCKET
The director and his mother recall his estranged father.
It looks good but beyond that the film eluded me
THE SANDMAN
Portrait of Dr Carlo Musso an emergency room physician who helps to oversee executions by lethal injection in Georgia. It is a moving and thought provoking film, regardless of where you tand on the issue of capital punishment. Very recommended
BILL FRISELL: A PORTRAIT is an excellent look at the man and his music. However despite being a great look a the guitarist the film is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.
Nominally your typical bio doc with long discussions of Frisell and the people he's worked with and influenced (that's pretty much everyone) mixed with tons of music the film pretty much lets you know everything you want to know about the man.We hear stories about his working with everyone in every type of music as we hear the music that they made together. Its a wonderful celebration of the man.
The trouble is if you don't know Frisell, and even if you do, this can be a long haul. Sequences go on and on. Discussions with various people seem to repeat points and the whole thing takes a leisurely pace. Each piece is wonderful on its own terms but together the films almost two hour run time seems to stretch out. I found that watching the film on Festival Scope Pro I was turning off the film and walking away. It wasn't that the film is bad it's just I was drifting off.
Don't get me wrong I don't not like the film, I think it's super. Hell, sequences such as the opening one with artist Jim Woodring where they talk about how some things such as art and music being beyond words are stunning. However I just found that at times it's simply too much (and maybe some of it is too inside).
Still the film is really good and it is recommended especially for fans.
Elizabeth de Leon Bhargava, Esq, Deputy Secretary of Labor and Workforce, activist Ellen Bravo, one of the subjects in the film, and writer/director Ky Dickens
ZERO WEEKS is such an important documentary for everyone to see. How is it that the US and Papa New Guinea are the only two countries with zero weeks of paid family leave (paid leave for maternity leave, leave to take care of an aging family member, or if you are very sick). Every other country has paid leave. Russia has 28 weeks, China has 16, Ethiopia has 25, and the US has none. Now certain states are starting to have paid leave (CA, NJ, RI) and finally NY which begins it's paid leave starting January 1, 2018. (& Washington just started it as well).
Bill Clinton had passed a law that people can get unpaid leave. However, this only works if there are 50 or more people in your company. 40% of people don't qualify for unpaid leave. Furthermore, a lot of people can't afford to take unpaid leave.
Only 14% of people in the US have jobs that do give paid time off.
The film focuses on several people who are jeopardized because of the lack of no paid leave in the US. One was a very sad story about a woman with cancer. She has to get radiation on her lunch break, and because she only has Saturday and Sunday to relax and heal, her cancer is taking a lot longer to recover from, and she's in constant pain. (She also has a daughter to take care of).
Another couple dealt with the loss of their babies and only got a handful of days off for their bereavement. They later have another child and have to deal with the father's lack of paternity leave.
I think this documentary was really well made. It will leave you angry and frustrated at our country. It definitely held my interest the whole time. I teared up quite a bit, which I didn't expect so bring tissues if you see this! I definitely think this is a must see, as so many people in the US assume they will get time off if needed, and are unaware that that this isn't the case, so it's important to find out when starting a job if your job has time off if you get very sick, pregnant, or have to deal with an aging parent.
This documentary focuses on three people who aren't happy in the Hasidic community and are trying to break away. (Hasidim are a close knit of ultra orthodox Jews who live by very strict laws. They don't believe in anything secular). There's a woman named Etty with 7 children, who has an abusive husband who she is trying to divorce. There's Ari, who isn't sure about if God exists and is excited to learn about secular things. He talks about discovering Google and Wikipedia and feeling like he was in heaven. Lastly, there is Luzer, who was married with two children, who just wasn't happy, he learned about the outside world from watching movies in his car. He wanted to act and left his family to move to California.
The documentary is well made and it's a sad glimpse of the lack of freedom that the Hasidim have. Etty's story in particular was very upsetting. Her whole family turned against her for wanting a divorce. People stalked her and harassed her. The husband wanted full custody of the children. These Hasidim seem to live by different laws that the rest of the world doesn't. How is this allowed in the US?
The film states that only 2% of people leave the Hasidic community. One man in the film mentions that most people are content with their lives. But how many really are? How many are miserable and too scared to break away? Breaking away, means leaving your family.
This documentary was a good glimpse into lives we don't hear about often. I would be interested in finding out where these three individuals are a few years from now.
ONE OF US plays again at DOC NYC Thursday, for tickets and more information go here.
SMALL TALK
More essay or experimental film then documentary, SMALL TALK is a kind of waking dream filled in Havana Cuba. I have no idea if it means anything but it sure is damn interesting to try and work out what that might be. Recommended.
(ALMOST) FREEDOM
The life and times of four ankle monitors and the people wearing them.
This intriguing film fills in what exactly it means to have to wear an ankle monitor, which is something we've all heard about but very few of us have actually seen. I was riveted since the film fills in small little details about everyday existence with one that I never considered. Recommended.
JORDAN CASTEEL PAINTS HER COMMUNITY
Portrait of Jordan Casteel who paints portraits of black men. A wonderful look at an artist and her work that does what the best art bios do which is give an understanding of both the artist and their work. One of the best shorts at DOC NYC.
KITTY AND ELLEN
Wonderful portrait of Kitty and Ellen two survivors of the Holocaust who have been friends for almost 75 years. WHat can I say about this film other than its glorious time with two charming ladies. A must.
MORE ART UPSTAIRS
An almost too breezy look at ArtPrize, the world’s most attended art show. The show, held in Grand Rapids Michigan, turns the city into a giant art gallery as artist from around the world descend upon the city in the hope of winning the half million dollar prize- which is decided by both critics and the general public. The film looks at several artists, organizers and members of the public in an effort to reveal that art can sometimes be a democratic endeavor. Highly entertaining the film is wonderful, if not particularly deep, look at the state of the art world. Recommended.
12th AND CLAIRMOUNT
A bracing document of the Detroit riots of 1967 told by the people who were there using home movie footage, photos and archival recording mixed with present day remembrances. This is a you are there film which beautifully explains what happened and why. Recommended.
This is a portrait of architect Bjarke Ingels, who won numerous awards while still in his thirties and was chosen to design 2 World Trade Center. The film follows him over the course of six years as he designs, builds and goes through his life.
Wonderful frothy film is a portrait of a man you can’t help but like. Playing as kind of porn film for architecture junkies the film is a celebration of the man and his work. This film is full of some stunning buildings and explains why Ingels constructions are so magical.
I really liked the film a great deal. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it was a bit meatier so that I felt like I had something to write about other than saying the film is really good and you should see it. Seriously I had a good time watching the film and I plan on revisiting it again down the road, away from the crush of DOC NYC (probably when the film opens December 1 for a week-long theatrical run in the Landmark at 57W, which Ingels designed)
During the Great Depression nutria, 20 pound rat like creatures (they are the size of small dogs) were imported to Louisiana from Argentina with the idea that their pelts could be used for fur clothing. That was all well and good until they broke free and took up residence in the swamps. With no natural predators they began to flourish, devouring everything in their paths putting the ecosystem in danger.
Both amusing and scary, the damage the nutria are causing is wiping out the wetlands, the film explores what can be to stop the tide of that are essentially giant rats. They had been kept in check for decades by fur trappers, however now that fur has taken on a negative connotation the population has exploded and there are now tens of millions of the beasts running about. The state of Louisiana and environmentalists are struggling to find a way to stop them so now they offer a bounty for each tail turned in. Meanwhile others are trying to find a way to use them commercially including as food (they taste like rabbit).
This is a real life environmental nightmare that seems like a bad science fiction film (NIGHT OF THE LEPUS?), except that it's not. It is ultimately a dire warning of what we are doing to our planet. Directors Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer manage to walk the fine line between tragedy and humor without falling to off.with the result that I alternately laughed and cringed all through the film. They clearly see both the horror and the humor of the situation and make sure that we see it too.
Beautifully made the film does everything right from the use of animation, humor and everything else. with the result that this is a film that hangs with you for days after seeing it.
This is a film that manages to something almost impossible a thought provoking film about a potential environmental tragedy that is a lot of fun. Its sounds counter intuitive but the directors have pulled it off brilliantly. Trust me it works and then some.
RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE is recommended when it plays Wednesday at DOC NYC.
Chad Freidrichs' film THE EXPERIMENTAL CITY is a stunning piece of work A visually and aurally intriguing film it i part essay, part historical document and a true work of art.
The film is a recounting of the life and work of Athelstan Spilhaus was trained as an oceanographer and geophysicist and all around genius who strove to to make the world a better place. Spilhaus put forward his ideas in the comic Our New Age which ran for almost two decades where he told of the wonders of science and the promise of the future. Spilhaus realized that the way we lived was not sustainable and thought that in order to help bring change that people should build an experimental city where new ways of living could be explored. Some people loved the idea, others were terrified by it.
A mix of new interviews, old recordings (we hear Spilhaus' own words in tape recordings), recreations and archival footage we are sent down the rabbit hole of a world than might have been. Cut together in such a way as to create a unique head space THE EXPERIMENTAL CITY is very much a film unto itself. The closest thing I could compare it to is the wonderful THE WORLD OF TOMORROW from 1984 which was made up of films from the 1939-40 World's Fair in New York. In that film Jason Robards narrates events as if they are a memory.
Here the present day interview sections keep us rooted in the present while the film seems to drift back in time thanks to the deft handling of the archival material. The result in both films is a kind of wonderful dislocation where we feel as though we are reliving a memory of an event we've never experienced. That may sound bizarre but it's true since as the film plays out we can't help but feel we've stepped back in time.
What is intriguing about the film is the fact that Spilhaus clearly could see the future. Many of the the things he was trying to do urban planners are now trying to do. Additionally he knew many of the dangers we'd face as revealed in his comic where it talks about pollution changing the climate.
Watching the film I was moved. Onone level by the nostalgia for something I never knew about and another by the loss of things that might have been.
I love this film a great deal. Never mind that the film is informative, more importantly it does what all good films do and that is transport the viewer to somewhere else, another reality that only the movies can create. And in this case this is true, we are back in time in a world that never existed despite the best efforts of all those involved.
THE EXPERIMENTAL CITY is one of the gems of DOC NYC and a must see when it plays Thursday night.
THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING
Director Mila Turajlic interviews her mother, Srbijanka, about life in Yugoslavia and Serbia from before the communist revolution to the present day. It is a haunting, unexpected and complex portrait of the country currently best thought of as a place where war crimes were committed and crime boss live. Revealing the life of a dissident and her family it is slice of life that the majority of people in america are not really familiar with. At the same time as hard as life was, there is also a sense of disconnect in that it seems that she was always slightly above the fray as if in an upper middle class existence. There is a split nature to the tale that makes the film intrigue but not always wholly satisfying as if there were more to the story like the lives on the other side of the locked doors of her apartment.
RECRUITING FOR JIHAD
Portrait of Ubaydullah Hussain a Norwegian Islamist who was helping people to to go to the Middle East and join ISIS. This is a frequently chilling portrait of a man and his mission to spread the violence of ISIS across the globe. While on some level the film is exactly what we expect from the story, it is still disturbing to see how Hussain goes about spreading his ideas and getting people to sign up to go fight.
THE BEATLES, HIPPIES AND HELLS ANGELS: INSIDE THE CRAZY WORLD OF APPLE
This is an unauthorized look at the life and times of Apple, the multimedia company set up by the Beatles as told by former employees. This is a good but not entirely satisfying look at yet another aspect of Beatlemania. While the film is at times great because it has a ton of great stories, it still slightly disappoints because the the lack of authorization reduces the use of photos art and music. There is a sense that something is missing. Its worth a look, especially for Beatles fans, but I doubt you'll ever give it more than the one.
Barbara Kopple’s latest film A MURDER IN MANSFIELD is a film that sneaks up and hits you from behind. It is a simply told tale about a man named Collier Landry trying to finally lay to rest all of the emotions that resulted when his father killed his mother.
The film is a mix of archival footage (news reports, court room testimony by the young Landry and police crime scene video) and Landry's return home where he is trying to put the demons to rest. We watch as he attempts to contact the sister he hasn’t seen in almost 3 decades, talks to his adoptive family, friends, police and most chillingly the father who he hasn’t seen in decades.
On the face of it this would seem to be a typical victim tries to make peace with a tragedy tale. In its way it isn’t any different than many of the films that fill the various cable TV channels. However the person telling the story is Barbara Kopple, a master storyteller, and she subtly works overtime on your emotions building everything up until the last act when -Landry goes to prison to confront his father. What happens is not what anyone really expected with the result the film has a quiet power that is amplified by how things are not resolved neatly. I was kind of waylaid by the emotion and thoughts that were kicked up. I was left staring at the screen trying to make sense of it all. It is in this final section that the film goes from a good to great.
You will forgive me for not going into the greatest detail or discussing what happens in the film but this is a film that builds in intensity as it goes. It’s all about the trip from start to finish and I don’t want to clue you in to anything especially since thing hinge on what we think we know as opposed to what we discover the reality is. I’m certain all of the other reviews and pieces on the films will go into more details. I don't want to do that since knowing too many details may lessen the films impact.
As good as the film is the one thing that troubles me is that I don’t know what I think of Collier Landry. Watching him testify as a child he almost appears to be playing a role. His testimony is better than a Broadway actor could probably manage. And while its clear he had nothing to do with what happened he seems coached. I suspect it’s a need to be liked or loved now that his mother is gone and his father is in the dock. The adult Collier also seems to be on. Watching him he always seems to be aware of the camera and seems to be playing to it. While there is nothing really wrong with it, it is simply the way he is, it kept me from fully giving myself over to the film. And while I was moved by the film the fact that I didn’t really like him kept me from completely going gaga for the film.
Reservation aside, this is a killer film by one of the best documentary filmmakers working today.
In Islamic history, no woman has ever been a judge before. Kholoud Al-Faqih started as a lawyer, but wanted to be a judge in the Shari'a court, which is the family court. Kholoud parents have a 6th and 8th grade education, but they have 12 kids and they paid for them all to go to university. They wanted them to have a good education, and believe that woman should have just as much education as men, so that they don't have to rely on anyone else.
Kholoud broke gender roles. Most people in the culture didn't believe she should be a judge. They believe woman and men have certain roles. Many believe woman are just there to have kids and pleasure men, and woman aren't educated and don't know their rights. Kholoud feels we live in the 21st century, not the 10th, and she won't live like we are in the 10th century.
I loved this documentary. It showed several cases that Kholoud had to deal with, as well as the sexism in Islamic culture. One of the crazier things I learned was how many men get away with murdering the wives. They call it an honor killing, and often when a woman is killed, people will say "what did she do to get herself killed?"
Khouloud shows that woman can do anything men can do. It's a very empowering film, and a must see documentary.
THE JUDGE screens for the last time November 13th at 10:30 AM. For more information and tickets go here.
This is story of the Nabi clan a Syrian-Kurdish family who fled Aleppo and struggle to make their way from the Greek/macedonia border to Berlin where other members of their family live.
Good look at what is required by refugees to sneak across Europe to get safe haven. Where other films give us bits and pieces of the journey SKY AND GROUND shows us the entire trip.
While the film is to be applauded for it's detailing of the journey of refugees, the film suffers due to the high volume of films detailing the refugee crisis. We've kind of been here before and directors Talya Tibbon and Joshua Bennett don't give us enough to make the film stand out. While never bad the film never is completely gripping enough.
Recommended for anyone who wants to know what the journey of refugees is like.
SKY AND GROUND world premiered nigt at DOC NYC and it rescreens on November 16. FOr more information and tickets go here.
