Angel Applicant (2023) SXSW 2023

Writer director and subject Ken August Meyer takes us into his obsession with artist Paul Klee, who's scleroderma matched his own.

I was hooked almost instantly. I had gone into the film thinking it was going to be typical art documentary and instead I found my expectations exploded as the film became a portrait of the director, Klee, the disease, life, philosophy and universe. This is a film that transcends definition to be something so much more.

I absolutely love this film. What I love is that Meyer pulls us in from the opening frame, sits us down serves us tea and cookies and then acts like a great raconteur and explains things to us. We get to know about all sorts of subjects, but not only as cold facts, but as living breathing part of his life. Meyer explains to us what Klee means to him and why he painted the way he did. This isn't a cold recounting of facts but the story of life as its being lived. We understand where the changes came from in Klee's art. More importantly, by connecting everything up to his own struggles Meyer shows us how he views his world. A diagnosis that his lungs are the sort of lungs a 146 year old man has him celebrating his 146th birthday. It sounds  corny but its humbling and moving.

By giving us his view of the world, and of Klee Meyer opens doors for us to see the world differently. He gives us ways to connect up the various part of life. Its a grand achievement.

Highly recommended.

MAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES (2023) SXSW 2023

 

Fifteen minutes into MAX ROACH THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES I realized I was going to have to see the film again. The reason is this  biography of the great jazz drummer is so full of music and information that I was kind of overwhelmed. I thought I had a handle on Jazz however this film just gave so much more to ponder and enjoy.

This film is a long time in coming. It was begun before Roach had died when the filmmakers began to do interviews with Roach. Things paused when Roach died and was only recently put together., The result is a film that let’s us into the life of the man and in his music in a way that few films ever manage to do.

This is a great film. Its a must see for fans of the man himself or anyone who wants to understand more about music of all types. I say this because Roach worked in all types of music. Yes, he started in jazz but his curiosity and friends pulled him into other directions.

I was floored by this film. No just because it filled in details of Roach's life and legacy, but because in doing so I came to understand how certain types of music worked.

Forgive me for being brief,  but to truly do this film justice I would have to see it a couple more times. As I said at the top, there is simply too much here to take in and process. As such this is a truly amazing piece of filmmaking.

Highly recommended

This World is Not My Own (2023) SXSW 2023

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY OWN Portrait of artist Nellie Mae Rowe whose work was created across the 20th century and was influenced by all the events happening around her from the civil rights and political movements, war, serial killers and life in general. 

 I love this story but I’m not in love with the presentation. I found the arc of Rowe’s life absolutely fascinating. There is so much here, the life lived that went in unexpected directions that I was riveted by the tale. 

On the other hand I didn’t particularly like the presentation. There was something about some of the recreations and the structure that didn’t work for me. It felt like the film was trying too hard to make something out of a story that was fine and could stand on it’s own two feet. 

 Worth a look for the story and the art.

Deadland (2023) SXSW 2023

 Death is only a horizon. A Horizon is only the limit of our sight.

I am still working on getting a handle on DEADLAND. I’m still trying to work out what the film is and what exactly I think of it. I don’t mean that in a bad way, rather that in the two weeks since I saw the film and when it premiered at SXSW it hasn’t left me. It has instead grown in my opinion and had me thinking about the supernatural thriller genre in general.

The plot of the film as a border patrol agent finding a dying man in a river. Thinking he is dead he is shocked when he sits up in the back of his truck. Despite the man saying he wants to go to El Paso he takes him to his station house where one of his fellow agents is an EMT. Things happen soon after and the man is killed. The agents the decide to cover up his death. However he doesn’t stay dead as the group continue to see him. Things become further complicated when the agent’s long lost father appears at his house.

Possessing a bleak tone this thriller isn’t what you expect. Going in unexpected ways things are not what we think (hence my willingness to give a seemingly more detailed plot). Two weeks on I’m still not sure what it all means or how it all hangs together, however I do feel uneasy about it all. This is a film that isn’t operating on a completely intellectual level but rather on an emotional one. The unease and discomfort are operating on a purely visceral level. I say this because what happens doesn’t really make sense on a intellectual level. I don’t know why these things happen, but then again since it’s the work of someone not of this world I don’t think it has to make sense.

I know saying it doesn’t have to make sense goes against what I frequently say, but the reality is I’m against a film not making sense on it’s own terms, and out side of one thing that I can’t mention, this film actually makes sense on its own terms. Its operating in its own confined headspace and it’s claustrophobic and frightening.

I really like DEADLAND. It’s a haunting film in it’s own world two steps off from our own.

Its definitely worth a look for those who are tired of the typical by the numbers presentations of most supernatural thrillers.

Brooklyn 45 (2023)SXSW 2023 Overlook Film Festival 2023

BROOKLYN 45 is one of the best films of 2023. I say that not because I know Ted Geoghegan but because it's true. While nominally a horror film, BROOKLYN 45 is instead something greater. It is a dark sad look at the evil we do while telling ourselves we are only doing it for good reasons. It's a film where our best efforts go terribly wrong and reveal us to be broken and damaged humans/monsters. It is also one of the finest meditations on the effects of war on the human psyche, both of those in the trenches and at home, that I have ever run across in any medium.

The film takes place on December 27, 1945. The war is over, a group of friends go to the home of one of their number nominally to spend the night consoling their host about the suicide of his wife on Thanksgiving morning six weeks earlier. As the group begins to relax things turn for the spooky when a seance is suggested. Everyone is uncomfortable but they go along...until weird things begin to happen, and someone ends up dead. Things go even more wrong when they find they can't leave the room they are in.

The film sports a killer cast of usually supporting actors (Anne Ramsay, Larry Fessenden, Jeremy Holm, Ezra Buzzington, Ron E. Rains, Kristina Klebe) all lifted to leading roles. Because of the great cast the film does what any great film should do out of the box, and that is give us people we care about walking around on the screen. We kind of like everyone. They come on screen fully formed people, so we understand the choices they are making. It’s a singular achievement to have so many great actors in what are truly incredibly demanding roles.   

And these are demanding roles because we have to see the pain behind the eyes and in the soul while they are keeping up a brave face. We need to see the inner turmoil. More to the point the actors needed to play it so that when they crack emotionally, we need to feel it in our guts. And we do it feel it and it wrecks us. (Hey Academy put Anne Ramsey into the Oscar mix-it’s a gutting performance that has been haunting me for days)

Also, by not having any big stars in the film we can't second guess what's going to happen. We can't work out plot twists based on who is in what role. We just have to go for the ride.

While there are ghosts and hauntings in this film, I would not really call it a horror film.  This is a film that is about the effect of the war on good people. It’s a mirror held up to society about how we see each other and how when the war ends, we don't just stop hating. It’s a film that reveals misguided hatred can live on after we die. If you need proof that this isn't a horror film, consider that probably at least an hour of this film has nothing to do directly with scary stuff. Seriously, most of this film is about things other than the supernatural. This is a film that deals with the trauma of what happened to these people. It shows how the need to follow orders and do the “right thing” wrecked them inside as they did the most terrible things imaginable. This is an examination of the national psyche of a country at war. And it is not just about World War 2 but about Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine, Israel, or any other conflict, regardless of who is fighting. BROOKLYN 45 is a way more than just a horror film and as such transcends simply being categorized as a horror film. When was the last time  you saw a film that dealt with hatred on the home front in a real and visceral way?

That isn't to say that the film isn't scary, it is at times. However, what the film is is incredibly tense and suspenseful. The bad things that are happening and the discussions being had are about the evil that we do to each other are in their way scarier than the ghosts. (And yea, there are some ghostly scares)

This is filmmaking of the highest order. Ted has taken what should be a single room stage play and turned it into a highly cinematic film.  It begins with changing aspect ratios. When the film starts and ends it is in Academy ratio, and then goes widescreen when the action gets to the room. And while we never leave the single set, it never feels claustrophobic or limited in scope, instead Ted gives us the world with the in the confines of a single room. The dialog brings the world inside to us. The war, the family down the block and other references open things up simply by turns of a phrase. Watching the film, I ached to see it on a big screen in a theater instead of a small monitor. 

Several years ago, I sat down with Ted to talk about the films he made and the films he was hoping to make. It was interesting talk that haunted me because there was something about what Ted was saying made me feel like he was going to be going really big places. It was clear he knew exactly what he wanted to do and more importantly what he could do with cinema. Everything he told me is here in this film. Having spoken to numerous filmmakers over the years I had never seen a filmmaker be so clear eyed about what he was doing and why.  As a result, I am not being hyperbolic when I say that BROOKLYN 45 is the place where a great filmmaker steps front and center for all to see.  Trust me, Ted will have an Oscar or two and numerous other awards very soon.

If you doubt me watch the craft of this film. Watch the shot choices, the use of sound, the shifting aspect ratio, the background details, the writing, the characters, the sense of history and place, everything that makes up this film is top of the line. Seriously half an hour into the film I wanted to see the film again just so I could start to focus on the details in the film. Hell, I wanted to walk around in the place where it was taking place because it was so perfectly realized.

I love this film. I love how it feels like an old film but is very clearly a modern creation. I mean only recently would anyone dare make a film suggesting that anyone in WW2 did anything bad or well into war crime territory. When was the last film you saw that dealt with how people couldn’t let go of hatred just because victory was declared.

And yet again I have to say that this film is great because the film is about more than just ghosts.
While I know Shudder bought the rights to the film and will be screening it, I am frightened that the audiences there will either be turned off by the talk, or fail to see just what a monumental film this is. This film should be in the Oscar mix because of what it really is doing, which unfortunately will get lost behind the ghosts.

Simply put this film is a masterpiece, It is a fucking awesome piece of cinematic art of the highest order. It’s a film destined to be looked at for decades to come.

Highly recommended. 

The Artifice Girl (2022) SXSW 2023 Overlook FIlm Fest 2023

Thoughtful and moving examination of AI and it's place in the world via the story of a computer program built to hunt child predators on line. It may very well be one of the dark horse films for the best of the year viewings.

The film begins when a government agency hauls in a tightly wound man (writer director Franklin Rich) into an interrogation room. They have questions they need answers to. They want to know what he knows about a young girl named Cherry who is trolling the pedophile chat rooms. It comes to pass that she isn't real but a creation of the young man. She is in fact the most advanced AI ever created. What follows is a discussion of all things connected to AI, consciousness and what makes us human.

THE ARTIFICE GIRL floored me. I thought this was going to be a thriller and while it is that in a way, it also revealed itself to be so much more. I honestly didn't expect the the emotion I felt when the film ended. I was so moved that I wanted to go back and see it from the start.

Told in three distinct parts the film ponders the notions of AI and humanity over time. Part one has Cherry just existing on a hard drive. Part two ponders if we should create a robot version. The third part is set fifty years later as Cherry and her dying creator have a heart to heart about all that has happened and may happen in the future. Its a heady mix of emotion and ideas that gets under your skin and gets you thinking and feeling.

Having seen the film I'm totally flummoxed as to why more people aren't talking about the film. I apparently missed the film at several festivals over the last year, and while I had  halfheartedly had it on my possible SXSW dance card it wasn't until Liz Whittemore emailed me to say I HAD to see the film, that I pushed to make it happen. I'm glad I did because this film blew me away.

While I have read some reviews that compared the film to things like Pinocchio, I think doing so is incredibly lazy. Other than a superficial similarity, the truth is THE ARTIFICE GIRL is wholly its own thing. What it does and how it does them makes for a unique viewing experience that forces us to deal with the questions it raises.

I can't recommend this film enough.

Join or Die (2023) SXSW 2023

This is a very good look at the role of clubs and associations in American society. The film reveals how the various clubs, civic association. Sports leagues and other associations and groups of people steered the country. It was through the various groups that leaders were formed and association that leaders rose  up and ideas spread.  The film reveals how the changes in society recently put the clubs in peril as well as alter the way ideas spread.

I really liked this film a great deal. As a historian by training this film offered a look at history and society that I never considered. As the film makes clear we never were truly individuals but a network of interrelated groups. That’s going away now with everyone in their own little universes.

This film gives us much to think about (I’m revisiting after the festival crush) and as such its Highly recommended.

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (2023) SXSW 2023

A who works at the local church and strives to lead a saintly life makes a discovery and aims to make a grand revelation...only to find things get complicated.

 This is a wonderfully off kilter film that you just need to see knowing as little as possible. I say this because there is a point where something happens where I suddenly sat bolt upright and said "WTF". From that point on I was with the film 100% simply because I needed to see where this was going.

No I'm not going to tell you what happens, but it will make you smile. 

This is the sort of film that will make you realize that gong outside the Hollywood system is the way to go.

A delight.

GEOFF MCFETRIDGE: DRAWING A LIFE (2023) SXSW 2023

Portrait of artist Geoff McFetridge whose cartoony graphic design style has been used in advertising, in products such as cellphones and it's hung in galleries.

Hagiographic portrait of an artist borders really close to an infomercial sales pitch. You may like McFetridge's style but I doubt you'll be as in love with the man and his art as the filmmakers.  This is an 80 minute mash note.  I don't think a couple at the alter could be this in love with each other as the filmmakers are in love with their subject.

Crazy love aside, this is a really good film. Its a wonderful portrait of the artist and his art. It's really cool stuff and I was absolutely delighted to see so much of it.

If you can get past the mushy love, this is recommended.

Sister & Sister (2023) SXSW 2023

Two sisters travel from COsta Rica to Panama to try and find their missing dad and in between have an adventure, find romance and bond.

This is going to be a short piece. While I really liked this film and love the sense of reality in it (it is based on the director’s own experiences) the film never fully clicked with me. Blame it on my being a guy and my not having sisters. Yes I have two brothers by birth and another via another mother, but the relationship between guys is different than it is between women.

As I said above this is a good film, though I suspect that if you are a young woman and especially if you had sisters this film is going to be great.

Recommended

Satan Wants You (2023) SXSW 2023 (contains profanity)

If you lived through the satanic panic of the 1970’s and 80’s SATAN WANTS YOU is going to put a lot of the bullshit into perspective. Forgive me for calling BS but it was and continues to be bullshit. The film is the story of Michelle Remembers a BS memoir about how one woman was abused for decades by a network of satanic cults. Arriving after films like THE EXORCIST and THE OMEN were in the consciousness, it burned its way into the minds of people who took movies much too seriously and were looking to explain the evils of the world.

The book was the product of Dr Larry Pazder who said he was an expert at recalling lost memory. He became entangled with Michelle Smith who after several sessions seemed to have been repressing stories of being held hostage by a satanic cult. The cult stretched across the world and was responsible for all sorts of crimes. The tale was bolstered by the supposed recovered memories of other people. Sadly Pazder didn’t really know his ass from his elbow and none of it was real, it was all made up. The worst part was lives were destroyed as a result.

Going back to the start of the nonsense, SATAN WANTS YOU is a warts and all look at what happened and why. While it doesn’t speak with either Pazder (he’s dead) or Smith(she refused) it talks to friends, family and effected parties. We see how the river of BS stank up everything it touched. Most importantly it lets us hear what transpired between doctor and patient (later husband and wife) via the recordings made of the sessions. It’s a trip to finally hear how the nonsense was birthed. While the sessions are tough to listen to, owing to Michelle’s agitated state, the content of what she is telling is continuously WTF. I mean the insanity of her story would seem to be bogus on the face of it  but no one ever questioned it.

And the truth is no one really questioned it, not the book publisher, not the news media who amplified the tale and caused the frenzy, no one. It’s sad that this all could have ended just as it started if someone, anyone had done research, such as looking into Michelle’s school record which puts her in classes  when she was supposed to be with the satanists.

If I seem a bit over the top there is a good reason, I had to deal with this crap since it happened. Yea my parents knew it was crap, and we laughed when the stories came out, however other people bought the bullshit and tried made things difficult for us kids because one did not question adults, even if they were clearly being stupid. Worse we watched as the whole satanic panic devoured lives and got spun into things it had nothing to do with (local criminals blamed satan for crimes).  Satan and rock music was a way of not taking responsibility for all sorts of crimes including murder.  You may laugh, and I did, ultimately it stopped being funny. The book caused a riff between my mother and close friends of hers. They were born again Christians who bought the book and the related evilness of rock and roll whole cloth and were upset that my mother wouldn’t follow their warning and stop listening to rock and prevent us from doing the same.

SATAN WANTS YOU is a super film. It goes a long way to correcting the record and showing how utter nonsense destroys life. It’s a warning about how the nonsense of the past can cause all sorts of problems in the future.

Highly recommended.

Arc of Oblivion (2023) SXSW 2023

ARC OF OBLIVION ponders whether anything we do or save will survive forever, or at least longer than next week. Looking at the things we produce, the things we save and what has survived in the past this film gives us a pretty off kilter look at what is going to live on after us.

Produced by Werner Herzog and containing his warped sense of reality ARC OF OBLIVION is thought provoking walk through our collective memory and why we save things. It's a film that both makes you wonder why we are trying to save anything and glad that at least someone is making the effort.

Watching the film was a bittersweet experience for me since it's clear to me that despite my pack rat tendencies everything I am saving for a rainy day will eventually fade. AT the same time the film is so full of such cool ideas that I couldn't help but get lost in it.

What a delightful head trip.

Recommended.

KITE ZO A (Leave The Bones) (2023) SXSW 2023

Oh Werner Herzog- your cinematic children are making the most glorious films.

This film is a grand mythic look at the rituals happening in Haiti and it is a cinematic sensory trip the likes of which I have never seen. This film has such a mind blowing collection of sights and sounds that it’s kind of like watching a Werner Herzog documentary that was on a crazed mix of acid and speed.  This is a film I was watching eyes wide, mouth agape except when I put my lips together simply so say “oh my god”

I watched this on a small computer monitor- and I have no idea how it will play on a screen bigger than life- but god damn I want to find out.

I am frequently asked why do I go to festivals or why do I search out smaller films, and my answer is to find films that move my soul, that shatter my being and put it together in an entirely new way.  I want to see films that make me fall in love with the movies and the wonder of life. Basically I want to see films like KITE ZO A.

You must see this film- particularly on the big screen where it can overwhelm you.

Molli and Max In The Future (2023) SXSW 2023

In the future a man and a woman cross each others path over 12 years and multiple planets and dimensions.

I'm not a fan of this film.

This is a version of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY set in future rewritten by a much too clever for words hipster. Its a romance between people that we only see in inde movies because they only exist in the mind of inde filmmakers. Its the sort of a romcom that is usually makes a wave or two on the festival circuit before disappearing. I fully expect it to play a few fests and then get totally lost.

While the film isn't "bad" it isn't really good either. 

The science fiction elements feel more like the work of someone using the trope just to make it different, rather than it needing to be science fiction Worse it's the sort of science fiction that has been cribbed from other better films.  In a way it's there just so some of the secondary characters can appear and tell a witty line or two or to spoof certain scifi films. 

The biggest the main characters are not well written with Zosia Mamet's character seemingly lifted and stitched together from several other similar roles she's played before and  Aristotle Athari's Max barely registering.  We really don't know why they are together.

After a while I wasn't sure why I was watching. I'm not sure you should bother either.

A miss.

National Anthem (2023) SXSW 2023

NATIONAL ANTHEM is the story of Dylan, a young man living at home with his mom. He is helping to raise his younger brother. He is putting money aside to by a RV so he can hit the road and see the world. Working odd jobs, he takes a two week job at a ranch way out of town and falls in with the people of living there. They are a collection of LGBT people who drifted in over time.  Entranced by Sky he slowly becomes friends with everyone at the ranch as he tries to find his place in the world.

NATIONAL ANTHEM is good time with great people. This was like hanging out with some of your best friends over the course of a several weeks. It’s a beautifully crafted collection of people who bleed off the screen in ways that will leave you insisting that these aren’t performances but people you know. Hell, by the time the film was done I wanted to leave the theater and go find the ranch.

Deliberately paced this film takes its time going where it’s going. Honestly I am glad I saw this at a screening instead of via a link because I was forced to allow the film to happen. I couldn’t get distracted in the dark theater so I had the time to fall in love with everyone on screen.

The film has several lines of profound wisdom floating through it which made me love it more. Lines like “She loves you but she needs him” and “You’re not boring you just haven’t found your people yet” kind of put things in my own life into perspective.

On the downside the film doesn’t really have a strong narrative drive. Yes, there are some questions of romance and some family conflict with Dylan, but at the same time there are no big “problems”, life kind of happens and Dylan and friends drift through it. I kept waiting for something big to happen but it never did despite the film constantly angling that it would.

Still I love the film and I would love to show this to any LGBT kid who didn’t think they will find a place.

If you think you can go with its mellow rhythms or if you want to meet some characters who will become your new best friends go see NATIONAL ANTHEM.

Only The Good Survive (2023) SXSW 2023

I suspect this is going to be the next big thing. This wild and crazy thriller/comedy is going to tickle the fancy of millions of people and become a big hit. Its the sort of crazy knowing thriller that many filmmakers are trying to do, but failing to stick the landing. ONLY THE GOOD SURVIVE is actually the sort of film that is so good is makes the films you previously liked looked bad.

The plot of the film has a young woman who was rescued by the police telling her story to a sheriff. It seems she was rescued from an certain death after a robbery went wrong and she and her friends ended up in way over their heads.

I'm gonna leave it there because quite frankly to say any more would be telling and give away 90% of the film. This is one of those films where the less you know the first time through the better it is. Just know that there are stories that are told...

...and understand at some point you may realize this isn't making sense...but the film knows as the cop tells the young lady "This isn't making sense" and she replies "It's not supposed to". Clearly the filmmakers are aware, but then again when the lines are spoken there is still a hell of a lot more to the film so they have plenty of time to right the ship. And they do, they absolutely stick the landing.

What an absolute joy

Highly recommended

The SXSW 2023 Curtain Raiser

SXSW starts this week. Unlike the last few years they have returned to in person only so if you want to see the good stuff  you have to go to Austin. Because they weren't certain how they were going to handle remote coverage I did not apply for credentials. Instead I've been working off films I either went to see at local screenings or via screeners sent my way.

I am not going to do a big write up of the festival because I have been busy with a bunch of things that I have had enough time to write up a smoozey piece. Instead I'm just going to talk about the films, because I know that's what you really want.

As this is posting I am still working through my a large stack of films so there will be a a whole bunch more coming, however there is a bunch of films I want to see.

I've seen a a couple of titles you'll want to see:

UNTIL BRANCHES BEND is a solid drama about a woman trying to warn her bosses about an infestation of insects in the fruit they grow. There are some of the most amazing sequences you'll see all year.

LITTLE RICHARD I AM EVERYTHING is the best doc on Little Richard I've ever seen.  It is also one of the best music docs I've seen and one of 2023's best.

I saw ART FOR EVERYONE but was asked only to mention it in the curtain raiser. It is the story of artist Thomas Kinkade. The legendary guy who made a fortune painting sweet landscapes which he turned into a cottage industry. This is a look at his life and art, from his days with Ralph Bakshi to his untimely death including his drunken behavior that caused many to break for him. It's a surprisingly good film that reveals that his best and most interest art was locked away in a vault.

And while I've seen a bunch and I need to see even more  here are a few must sees:

SATAN WANTS YOUis a look at the origin of the Satanic POanic of the 1970's and 80's. It pissed me off big time.
ONLY THE GOOD SURVIVE A twisty turny thriller that will delight you in ways you didn't think were possible. An early candidate for my year end lists.
ANGEL APPLICANT- An unexpected joy. The director explains his disease, his connections to artist Paul Klee and life in general. Wow.
DEADLAND- haunting supernatural thriller isn't at all what you expect-don't read on it, just see it.

All you need to do now is get to Austin and go to the festival.

For tickets and more information go here.

Little RIchard I Am Everything (2023) Oxford Film Festival 2023 SXSW 2023

Magnificent portrait of Richard Wayne Penniman, aka Little Richard. This is a film that covers Richard's entire life and being with an openness and honesty that I've never seen before.

I have seen a lot of biographies of Little Richard over the years but this is the first one to seemingly tell it all. Nothing is left out to the point that more than once I was murmuring that I didn't know that to no one in particular.

Yes we get the music. Yes we get to see him perform and be the wonderful entertainer. I love that we get some amazing talking heads to explain how Richard changed the universe for the better, but there is so much more here that it kind of boggles the mind.

I love that we get a sense of the man beyond the performer. Yes Richard was always open, but there is something about the way director Lisa Cortes brings it all together that we feel like we are touching the man inside the persona. In all the years I've watched interviews or read on Little Richard there was always a sense of a wall between us. Richard was himself some where beyond us. That isn't the case here. Richard is sitting with us, across the table at a diner telling us his story and we are so much better for it. The shields are down so I was deeply moved when late in the film Richard talked about wanting to find love. Yes he knew he was loved but there was a special kind of love he wanted that he never found..

I wanted to give him a huge hug.

Biographical documentaries do not get better than this.

Absolutely one of the best films of 2023 - you must see this film.