Another Body (2023) at Globe Docs 2023 and in theaters in LA and NYC

Taylor Klein is sent a link to a porn video from a friend. She thinks its someone pretending to be her friend- but she quickly realizes that it is her friend and they have bad news- someone has created porn videos with her face in them. She is the victim of deep fakes, computer generated images and sounds that  are being used in various places, such as porn and politics to nefarious ends.

One part mystery as to who was behind the deep fake and one part social exploration of the use of deep fakes  ANOTHER BODY is largely going to keep you glued to the screen. You are going to want to know how things like this is happening as well as well as who was responsible for  doing this to Taylor...and other women.

I'm not certain how much to say about this film narratively. There is a reason having to do with its construction which is kind of like the layers of an onion with revelations as you go. I don't want to spoil the surprises.

On other levels this film is a killer. The fact that someone can make false versions of ourselves and out them out there is frightening. People blindly believe anything they find on line, hence much of the pain and misery we see cropping up as people blindly believe what they see. The film will open your eyes to what is being done...and in the case of our lawmakers, not done since there are not many laws to prevent this from happening or punishing anyone who uses deep fakes. It's frightening. I was shocked at how little can be done. 

You really have to see this film which is playing on the Globe Docs Streaming Platform and in theaters in NYC and LA.

THE STONES AND BRIAN JONES (2023) plays Globe Docs tonight then A Special ONE NIGHT ONLY Event, November 7 and EVERYWHERE On November 17

Nick Broomfield takes a look at the life Brian Jones and his role in the Rolling Stones. It’s a bittersweet and sad tale of a lost soul who helped changed the world through the music he helped create.

This is a good if conventional look at the man and his music. Telling the story in the words of the various people who knew him, including recording  from Mick and an interview with Bill Wyman, the film paints a portrait of a young man who loved the blues to the exclusion of all else. He was going to play music come hell or high water and as a result he was able to help create classic recordings that are still crowd favorites over a half century later. Not shying away from the dark side the film reveals how  Jones’ early battles with his disapproving parents gave him a cruel side. It was side that was said to be intensified by girlfriend Anita Pallenberg who pushed him to do unkind things.  It was something by his alcoholism and drug use.

Since most people are not aware of Jones’ role in the early days of the Stones, this film wonderfully sets the record straight. We see that the group was more than just Mick and Keith.  There are some great stories here, say Paul McCartney talking about how Jones showed up to a recording session with a sax when thought he'd bring his guitar. It shocked everyone when Jones rocked it with the sax.

What I’m less enamored of is the conventional telling of the story. Basically a birth to death telling of Jones’ life the film  takes a while to full click. A third to half of the film over before I truly connected. It’s not a bad, but as a fan of Broomfield I was hoping for something a tad more exciting in construction.

However that’s a quibble and anyone interested in the Stones of the history of popular music should make an effort to see this

Nightcap 10/22/23: Globe Docs starts this week, random thoughts and random notes of the 2023 NYFF

Before I get to some  unvarnished notes that I made in my note book while covering this year’s New York Film Festival a couple of quick notes.

First up Globe Docs starts this week.  The Boston Globe Documentary festival is killer. It’s small but it has a lot of great films slotted.  I’m supposed to be covering the festival so expect some coverage of the films.

I’ve already covered PIGEON TUNNEL which is starting in select markets as well. If you are a fan of John LeCarre, it’s a must. Another must is BREAKING THE NEWS about the start up of a news service where the reporters are primarily women and members of the LGBTQ community.  Reviews can be found by clicking on the links in the titles.

I have seen THE STONES AND BRIAN JONES. If you are a fan of the Stones or the music of the late 60’s it’s a must see. A review will run later in the week.

The festival is running both in person and virtual so go to the website and get tickets.

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Just a reminder more coverage of the Brooklyn Horror Festival is coming. Reid Ramsey was going back and forth to Brooklyn so he hasn’t had any time to write up all of the films yet.

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New correspondent Wendy Feinberg will be dropping some thoughts on the Hamptons Film Festival. Wendy is great people and getting her is coup. I'll have more when her first pieces go up.

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I’ve started to  work on DOC NYC.  We will have multiple people covering the festival so get ready to be overwhelmed with coverage.

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Now some very honest stray notes taken during this years NYFF:

Lots of newbies this year. Standing outside Alice Tully there were a lot of people asking where they had to go and how they could get tickets. It's a good sign that people were interested, though a lot of people wanted to walk up and buy tickets and they were disappointed at the sellouts.

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Sitting in the West Side Diner after THE BOY AND THE HERON when a big table of people arrived excited about going to the festival. Looking more toward the artier films they discussed the art house fare.

I was amused - though I smiled to myself as they excitedly discussed the new Hong Sang-soo film that was shot out of focus. They found the idea so brilliant, they couldn't understand why it hadn't been done before. I didn't have the heart to tell them it had been done, even recently by Sang-soo.

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Saddened that during the intro for JANET PLANET Dennis Lim said out loud the part they always kept silent, namely that they were not really interested in new  filmmakers but were going toward big names and returning filmmakers. 

It's a sad admission since it means that unless you can go elsewhere and get festival buzz there is no point in submitting to NYFF. It also explains why we've gotten 18 Hong Sang-soo films in 19 years and why so many other filmmakers return year after year.

I've discussed my suspicions before but I never expected them to be confirmed.

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The problem with just following directors is that you begin to assume that their films are good and mean something even if they don't.

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Related to that, too many films this year did not belong at the festival. I'm not talking "bad" films, I could make a case for a couple of the films I didn't like being there, but I'm talking about  films like JANET PLANET and FERRARI which weren't that good or ground breaking and only had a director's name attached.

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There were lots of rumors going around about why certain films were at the fest and others were not. For example much of the speculation (all unconfirmed) was focused in Netflix pumping cash into the festival and thus keeping the new Scorsese (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON) out and only playing a premiere at David Geffen Hall days before the festival. It's also why there were fewer Amazon films at the fest. 

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There was a lot of talk during the MAESTRO press screening that it wasn't quite as packed as we expected because a lot of tickets were given to members of the press to fill out the undersold audience at the the expensive gala screening the night before.

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Because it was done in several films at the fest I found that I hate handheld camera work that seems to be POV but isn't

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I was left pondering outside of the Q&As why are we paying so much money to see the films at the festival when if we wait a week or two many of the films will be in theaters or streaming. I'm guilty of doing it too and I don't have a clear answer.

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Frequently during the festival I had the sense that this is going to end up being an in between year with big changes coming next year. I have no idea why, there was no indication or speculation, it just felt like a transition year.

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It was weird this year with so many people looking to go to the "BIG" films and willing to wait on blocks long standby lines when the odds are they would not get in. POOR THINGS, THE BOY AND THE HERON, ZONE OF INTEREST, THERE IS NO EVIL all had impossibly long standby lines

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I was not happy with the guy vaping weed at THE BOY AND THE HERON. 

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I was amused at several press screening watching young male writers trying to make time with beautiful non-American women in order to score their phone numbers

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