The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs (2026) Toronto 2026

This is a lyrical portrait of indigenous artist Sara Flores, her art and her work to help and protect her local community.

This is a stunningly beautiful film. It’s a film that creates a unique head space. Watching the film we drift off into Flores‘ world. To be certain it’s probably a bit more majestic in the film than in real life, but at the same time that is probably how she sees the world. And do yourself a favor and try and see this with a good sound system I say that because the first time I saw a work in progress version with a less aggressive soundtrack and the film didn’t click. However, seeing it again, where I could hear Flores‘ world as well as seeing it made it something magical.

I loved this film.

Recommended. See it on the big screen

Georgia O'Keeffe: The Brightness of Light

This is  a look at the life and art of artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

I'm torn about this film. I like the film, but I am very frustrated by it.

This is a film that has huge amount of information on O'Keeffe. In it's way it is everything you could ever hop to know about her. The trouble is that the film doesn't give us everything we need to know. What it does is that it will mention something like O'Keeffe giving a donations so that Black Americans could see art, but it doesn't explain what that did. Another time the film talks about how O'Keeffe broke with a friend of 50 years because she wrote a biography of the artist. O'Keeffe turned had worked on the book and then simply broke. Why? We don't know. There are other examples, which makes this film really good but not wholly successful.

It's not a bad, it frustrated. I kept wanting to stop the film and email the filmmakers.

If you love the artist, try the film.

Guggi (2026) Tribeca 2026

One of the most delightful films at this year’s Tribeca, Guggi is a must see.

The film is a portrait of Irish artist Guggi (Derek Rowen) who sits and holds court talking about his life and friends (Bono). Less like a formal documentary and more like hanging out with one of the best raconteurs in the world. Halfway   into the film I wanted to do an interview, not so much to talk to him but just listen to him talk about his life and how her creates.

And I love his talk about how he creates. I may write, but everything he said about the visual arts really hit home. I especially loved his talking about his getting in trouble because he wasn’t paying attention to what was written on the board but instead the designs left by the erased chalk. That was something I did in fact and in related ways.

I don’t have a great deal to say other than I love the film and I want to hold it close to my heart. This is good times with great people and a must see.

Brief uncertain thoughts on Astrolatry (2026) Cannes

 I honestly don't know what to make of this film. A weird guy becomes obsessed with a facial cream, and the model pushing it...and monsters.

The pieces of this film are really good. There is a nice surreal/experimental edge to it and the individual scenes work isolated, but there was a point where I stopped asking about what I was watching and just disconnected. There was too much unsaid and unexplained. I never felt they tied together.

But then again, it's got a cool monster and some creepy scenes

Worth a look for those who love weird cinema, all others take a pass

Moss & Freud (2025)

The friendship between super model Kate Moss and painter Lucien Freud.

I am in awe of this film in a lot of ways. This is a film that hit me like a ton of bricks on a purely emotional level. the depiction of creation and of friendship on visceral level got under my skin and moved me in ways few works of cinema ever have. There is, somewhere beyond the words, a greater truth about the act of creation and of connecting to those we love that really hit home. In is one of the best explorations about why we create that I've seen.

Ellie Bamber is excellent as Moss. There is a wonderful sense of the world weariness that she must have felt. You can completely understand how she became close to Freud since he saw her as something more than window dressing. He saw her as herself and she reacted to that.

Derke Jacobi as Freud is wonderful, as always. Every action speaks volumes. We get a sense of Freud and his life not just from his words but by his inflections and gestures. When Freud yells at Moss for being late you can feel the emotion of an addict needing his fix of creation boiling up and out. In Jacobi's hands its more than just an angry moment but a declaration of self. It's a moment that hits home.

This is a brilliantly crafted film.  The editing of the various sequeces, the photo shoots and hectic life of Moss are driving and emotional. The sequences say much more about Moss' life than what they visually depict. At the same time they beautifully contrast with the quieter sequences with Freud. These sequences nicely show that there is another side to life.

To be honest I don't know what I think of this film intellectually. This is not a snide comment, more that my thoughts on the film are more emotional. I am lost in how the movie played me in my gut and not so much as to what I thought. Like any great work of art MOSS & FREUD made me feel something genuine, which is all I need, and which results in words simply getting in the way.

See this film.

Fantasy (2025) NDNF 2026

The write up of the film talks about a young woman losing her notebook on a train, a young man finding it and their ending up in a forest. The truth is the film is something else entirely with a large chunk of it is watching a young lady go through her life smoking, bathing, brushing her teeth, complaining, pining for a lost love  and sitting. We hear a voice over some one reading from a notebook. A guy appears  about half way in and they are in the forest... Why? I'm not sure. I do know the cat who occasionally appears is the most interesting thing on screen.

A film desperately in need of a cheat sheet, FANTASY is a bore. 

Arranged to look meaningful and with the occassional smutty confession dropping every now and then to keep the art house snob who won't look at porn hooked, the film wanders around for 79 minutes trying to say something. Yes, the film looks great and the performance by Louise, which one write up says is the basis of the film, is wonderful, but the truth is the editing is a mess and instead of giving us handholds to move through the tale we get banal sequences that just exist and make us wonder why we are being asked to endure it.

Give it points for looking great and sequences that in different hands might have played better, but take them away for not giving us an arrangement that makes this anything we want to endure

Jimmy & The Demons (2025) Opens Friday

This film is so much fun, which I think its, subject James Grashow would be happy about.

The film is about artist Grashow as he works to finish what he fears might be his final work. He's 79 and knows the clock is ticking. The work is a giant sculpture in volving a cathedral, demons and assorted other things. Along the way we get the know, the man, his work, his life and most importantly his view of life and fun.

Ths film made me smile. Grashow is just a wonderful guy. His sense of fun and of life really connected to me. I completely could relate to his art, which if you've ever seen my monster bag or the work of my brother makes perfect sense.

There is something about Grashow's view of life and his insistence on never stop having fun that we need intodays world. Its an infectious world view we all need to experience.

I loved this film a great deal. Seeing it after several very heavy films for Tribeca it was a wonderful palette cleanse and it ended up being one of my favorites to this point.

I can't recommend it enough.

See it.

Artists in Residence (2025) DOC NYC 2025

This is a portait of three women who live in one house and create art. 

I'm not going to say a great deal on this film. Not because it's bad but because you need to meet these  ladies yourself.  They are absolutely joys to sit and listen to.  I don't want to ruin the stories.

What I absolutely love about this film is that this is the best sort of documentary, one that doesn't do anything and just lets the story/subject tell itself. In this case Katie Jacobs simply turns on the camera and just lets the ladies go. There are no bells and whistles, there is simply great story telling.  Jacobs knew the way to make us fall in love with her subjects was just introduce us.

I'm not selling the film short. There is a great deal going on here. Not only is this a look at artists, but its also a wonderful look at women who fought like hell to simply get by. Yes, they wanted to make art but they had to fight to do so because of their gender.

What a delight.

If you want to see one of the hidden gems of DOC NYC the see this film.

Brief thoughts on PANORAMIC VIEW: Portrait of the Artist Francine Tint (2025) DOC NYC 2025

Portrait of artist Francine Tint as she prepares for a show and the release of a book on her work.

This is a much too short look at an artist whose career has spanned 60 plus years. While we get a taste of her life, there is a sense that there is a great deal more to say. I say that because Tint seems to just take her life in stride and drop hints to potentially larger story. Don't get me wrong, whjat here is very good, but this could be great if it was longer.

Reservations aside- this is a solid film that is worth your time.

Being Seen Makes Us Happy (2025) DOC NYC 2025

This is a great look at several women who are graffitti artists.

There is a great deal in this film and I would absolutely love to see this expanded into a feature. It isn't fair that the ladies have a short when so many male artists have had features made about them.

What I loved about the film is that we get to see the art from a different perspective. Having the women tell us what the form means to them means that we are not hearing similar stories. The new perspective lets us reconsider what we are seeing. While hearing that one of the women began tagging things to get over a broken heart  and to stick her name in the face of the lothario who broke her heart, it also means that we see the emotion that drives the art. Guys tend to intellectualize.

This is a super film and you will want to spen more time with the ladies and their art.

Cabali And The Tiki Mug Obsession(2025) New Port Beach 2025

This a dual portrait- one part is the history of tiki bars, the mugs they spawned and the people who love them, and the other part is the story of Fini, who took his love of tiki and his collection of mugs and decided to create a tki bar of his own.  The result is everything you wanted to know about tiki and hundred times more.

This is a solid little film about a niche way of life that I am kind of attached to, I am after all Parrothead and visited many a tiki bar chasing Jimmy Buffett. This film goes into great detail about everything tiki with a large portion of the film focusing on the mugs. What was once a disposable item is now worth thousands depending on who the artist was (a severed head one is the holy grail one). It’s wild.

Honestly this is a near perfect documentary whose only flaw is that it is over whelming. .  When I say that the film is a hundred times more than you’ll want to know I’m not kidding. This film will tell you pretty much everything, including going into great detail about the creation of the mugs. Yes the mugs are amazing, but there was a point where I just wanted to raise my hand and tap out. It doesn’t mean the film is bad, but it’s more along the line of needing a break to step outside and get a breath of fresh air.

Overwhelming nature of the film or no, I liked it. I had good time watching it. It’s the sort of film that I want to revisit when I can see it without expectations (I kept waiting for more things to click with my tiki experiences and waiting for certain tiki songs I know and love)

Highly recommended, especially if you can’t take a trip to the islands.

Brief thoughts on Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers (2025) Japan Cuts 2025 Fantasia 2025

My brain exploded early in this film. There is too much here for any normal human to take in.

It's glorious.

This a look at the artists who define the Japanese Avant-Garde. It is a film film that blends scholarly discussion with the various artists talking about their art. It is also a film so full of images that my brain turned to liquid and leaked out my ears. I never expected to see many of the images as big as a movie screen and in some cases animated.

I am beyond words.

This is exactly what art documentaries should do- inform us about the art and then make us a fan- or a bigger fan of the artists on screen.

This is a singular cinematic experience and must be experienced.

Highly recommended.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (2025) Tribeca 2025

This is a look at artist Jens Haaning who scammed the Kunsten Museum out of $84,000 by giving them two empty frames instead of the cash in the frames. This caused a fire storm as the museum tried to get the money back, Hanning tried to stay out of trouble and leverage the controversy to his advantage.

Say what you will, Haaning is a scammer. He is the sort of artist that I have known for years who take advantage of rich stupid people and institutions by telling something cheap is worth a fortune. While I have a deep love of art I don’t like many artists and I’d like to pop them in the face.

Haaning is one I want to hit. He is clearly running scams and some times he makes money and more often he doesn’t has the vast  number of unsold works he still has. That he spent the money as soon as he got it isn’t surprising.  That he freaks out when he realizes things are not going to go his way is even less surprising.  

I was amused and horrified that we let con men like Haaning get away with his nonsense.

Worth a look.

THE QUINTA’S GHOST(2025) Tribeca 2025

This is one of the most terrifying films you will see all year. The film is an animated telling of Goya painting the dark paintings known as the Black Paintings, which are full of beasties and terrible things, The tale is recounted by the house where Goya painted the iages.

I have no notes. This is just a chilling film about a decent into madness and return that scared the snot out of me. This is the story of a man lost in his head who has to paint to get the darkness out. I was chilled.

Told with shifting styles the images mirror Goya's art, with even the "real" world looking Goya-esque. Watching the f.ilm my jaw hung open, rarely have I ever seen a short, much less one that isn't nominally a horror one, be so scary

I fear for what would ever happen if director James Castillo ever  made a full length horror film, we may not survive.

One of the best films at Tribeca and detined to be on my year end lists, it is highly recommended.

Brief thoughts on Maintenance Artist (2025) Tribeca 2025

This is a portrai of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles—the firstArtist-in-Residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation. Ukles uses garbage and left over materials to make her art.  As she looks toward "retirement" she looks back at her life.

This film didn't work for me. The problem is not the art or the filmmaking, rather the problem is Ukeles herself. Her mannered, almost formal way of speaking makes he sound like a bad lecturer. Watching her interact with the garbage guys in some of the archival footage had me laughing. There is no sense of her being natural and she comes off as bad actress.  In a weird way her presentation makes her seem almost like a human Marcel Duchamp/ Avant Garde work of art. She is the least natural person I've ever run across in a documentary.

There is some good material here and it is worth trying, but just be aware you may not connect to the film's subject.

How Dark My Love (2025) Tribeca 2025

This is a portrait of artist Joe Coleman as he paints his wife Whitney Ward over several years.

I have always been a fan of Joe Coleman. I have books and recordings of his works. I love his art and the dark sense. I love the details in the things he paints. They are works of art you can spend years looking at and still not see anything.  I have always liked to listen to Coleman talk. I find him talking about his art and his world facinating.

Or I did until I saw HOW DARK MY LOVE.  For the first time in decades I was kind of bored by all the talk. It's not that what was said was bad or un interesting, its more that Coleman speaks in such a low key manner I drifted off. 

I want to see it again, but at the same time I'm not certain how this is going play for non-fans.

JIMMY & THE DEMONS (2025) Tribeca 2025

This film is so much fun, which I think its, subject James Grashow would be happy about.

The film is about artist Grashow as he works to finish what he fears might be his final work. He's 79 and knows the clock is ticking. The work is a giant sculpture in volving a cathedral, demons and assorted other things. Along the way we get the know, the man, his work, his life and most importantly his view of life and fun.

Ths film made me smile. Grashow is just a wonderful guy. His sense of fun and of life really connected to me. I completely could relate to his art, which if you've ever seen my monster bag or the work of my brother makes perfect sense.

There is something about Grashow's view of life and his insistence on never stop having fun that we need intodays world. Its an infectious world view we all need to experience.

I loved this film a great deal. Seeing it after several very heavy films for Tribeca it was a wonderful palette cleanse and it ended up being one of my favorites to this point.

I can't recommend it enough.

See it.

Freeman Vines (2025) Tribeca 2025

Portrait of 82-year-old Freeman Vines has been hand-carving guitars. He is trying to replicate a sound he once fleetingly hear, but along the way he has been creating works of art and confronting the racism of his home town.

This is a wonderful film. Its a wonderful portait of a great craftsman and his life and art. There are stories here that will haunt you.

Why is this just a short? This magnificent film seems to indicate that there is so much more to Vines. I want a feature.

I loved this film so much that I was sending emails to friends saying that they need to cover it and to some programmers I know to say program it.

Highly recommended,.

LARRY THEY THEM (2025) BROOKLYN 2025

 

Portrait of trans artist Laurence Philomene as they work on their first book and promote its release. 

This is a good but by the numbers look at an artist trying to get their art out to the public and seen.  It's a solid look at a trans artist trying to chart their journey.  It's an eye opening film that is probably going to play best for those who connect to Larry.

The Great History of Western Philosophy (2025)

I discovered  THE GREAT HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY when I was looking at the Festival Scope website and discovered the trailer. I was so taken by the film I reached out to the filmmakers and asked them to see it. I had and have no idea where this film is playing but I had to see it.

Director Aria Covamonas has crafted a tale about a a cosmic animator who is forced by the Central Committee to make a philosophical film under the gaze of Chairman Mao. The result is a film that bounces through the history of philosophy, Chinese history and with aLooney Tunes style madness. It's done via cut out and collage animation mshed up with public domain images and sound.

Think what would have happened if Monty Python had a political Terry Gilliam make animation shot through vat of concentrate hallucunogenic drugs and magic mushrooms, with a dialog track largely in Chinese, an absurd sense of reality and the sensibility of Salvador Dali while mimicing  Eastern European animation during the Soviet years.

This may be the greatest midnight movie ever made... made some 50 years after the heyday of midnight movies. Watching this I was transported back to the mind melting years when I went to see the wild and wonton films that are now legends.  Watching this was like being trapped in midnight cinema when wrong drugs kicked in.

WOW.

I am not going to lie, but I have no idea what is going on in this film but it bent and broken my brain in the best sort of way.

This film is cinematic ART (the capitalization is intentional) of the highest order. 

To be certain this is not going to work foreveryone (squares need not apply) but for those who want something to open your mind without drugs (or even with drugs) THE GREAT HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY is required viewing.

This is one of the greatest films I've seen in 2025...and maybe ever. You need to see this- you may not like it, but I'm damn sure that even as you stagger out into the day light you will know you have seen something.

Track this film down