DOC NYC 2014: SONGS FOR ALEXIS (2014)

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

No.

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

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

Damn that sounds exciting.

Sadly it's not.

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

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

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

We deserved better.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming Home (2014) DOC NYC 2014

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

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

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

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

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

Last Impresario (2013) DOC NYC 2014

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

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

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

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

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

One of the Must sees at DOC NYC.

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

The film is also hitting theaters and VOD platforms in  December

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Jimmy Wong Yu Q&A from November 11

Last Tuesday Jimmy Wong Yu appeared at Lincoln Center to get his Lifetime Achievement Award from the guys at Subway Cinema and The New York Asian Film Festival.

I previously wrote up the evening (which can be found here) but I know some of you would have liked to see the Q&A so here it is as shot by MrC.

Bad Hair Opens Wednesday

I saw Bad Hair when it played Tribeca. With the film opening Wednesday at Film Forum in New York he’s my review

What an uncomfortable film.

Written up as a coming of age story with a heartbreaking choice in the Tribeca festival listings, the key word in the description is heartbreaking. This is a bleak little film that tries to have you leave the theater happy with an end title sequence that is pure fantasy.

The film tells the dual story of Junior and his mother who are living, barely, in an apartment in Venezuela. Mom has lost her cleaning job, thanks to a bone headed action of her son who takes a bath in a Jacuzzi instead of cleaning it. What follows is a collision of mother and son as Junior wants to straighten his hair for the school ID picture (he wants to look like a rock star) and his mother wants just have a life.

A mess of a film, this film is listing as being about Junior when it's really about his mother as well. about half the film or more deals with the mother trying to get a job or trying to figure out how to deal with her son who she feels maybe gay. Kind of. I say kind of because various plot threads come and go seemingly at random. The continuity is loose and I'm not sure where and how things play out. Frankly I have lots of questions about the whys and hows of the plot line.

Actually I have about ten pages of notes for the film. Taking that many notes- most in the form of whole paragraphs- is not a good sign since it means I'm not in the film but outside kicking it.

This is not a happy film. Life sucks for everyone on every level and it's clear these really are fucked up people. I don't say that lightly-nor will you once you see how the mother seeks to teacher her son proper gender roles.

By the end of the story I wanted to jump in front of a subway... only to be met by the WTF end credits sequence which is light and fluffy and what I thought for a while the end might be. What is it doing attached to the film?

What was I doing watching this film?

I don't know. Thankfully Chocko was at the screening which made recovering from the film easier.

Despite some great, bleak moments, I can't in good conscious recommend the film. Its too jagged and uneven to suggest you pay money for the film.

Yesterday at DOC NYC: HARDY, SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY and KASAMAYAKI

Yesterday was a long day at DOC NYC that had me visiting all three of the festivals locations. I saw two and a half films and interacted with some good people and some bad people.

First up was a trip to Chelea Bow Tie where I was joined by Mr C for a screening of the new film HARDY on boxer Heather “The Heat” Hardy as she tries to make her way in the realm of professional boxing.

Before the film promoter and HARDY executive producer Lou DiBella introduced the film

The film is a look at Hardy as she tries to finish out he rookie contract in such a way that she can get a long term contract with Lou DiBella. She needs to win her final two fights. We watch Hardy as she goes through life, caring for her daughter, trying to make ends meet and training. It’s a very good look at a young woman who is trying to make her way in the world .

While its a good film I do have genuine reservations with it. First the films time line is jumbled. We see the Hardy training and boxing and then we’re thrust into the devastation that is Hurricane Sandy. The trouble is the events of the film take place six months or more after Sandy (Director --- came upon Hardy when she was investigating boxers in the wake of Sandy). The film also plays with the time line in other ways that doesn’t make the things flow smoothly. And that’s another problem with the film, one that’s no one’s fault except the money’s, in that the filming was not continuous. Things were filmed when either big events happened or when a camera crew could be grabbed. The result is that you can feel things are missing.

On the other hand the film is really good portrait of the drive needed to climb through the ranks as a boxer, especially a female boxer, which in the eyes of many is still considered something of a gimmick or novelty. Its neither as this film makes clear.

After the film director Natasha Verma, Hardy and executive DiBella did a Q&A. The Q&A can be found here-

What I found interesting is that DiBella said that he gave the film the fight footage of Hardy because he liked the film and because he thought it would help promote his fighter. Had he said no I’m guessing the film would have collapsed.

Its also interesting that between the film and the Q&A you really realize how important promotion is when it comes to rising through the ranks. You need good PR people.

After the film MrC and I went to Boston Market across from the theater where we ran into boxing analyst Steve Farhood from DiBella’s boxing shows and Showtime. (My apologies for getting flabbergasted and calling you the Boxing Guy)

Mary Dore introduces her film SHE'S BEAUTIFUL....

The second film was at SVA and that was SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY.

I’ve reviewed the film already (that can be found here) but it if you don’t want to read that know it’s a deeply moving film that had the audience being moved to cheer, applaud and cry all through the film. Seeing it in a theater was a magical experience. I wish I had been able to stay for the Q&A but I had to get to the IFC Center for KASAMAYAKI.

Mary Dore points out people  in the audience

I hesitate to mention the screening of KASAMAYAKI but in fairness I will.

This was not a magical experience.

From a bit of confusion outside from the theater as the lines of the film and another crisscrossed, to the loud guy behind me on line who proceeded to tell everyone the twist of every film currently playing-going so far as to tell one of his “friends” not to read Gone Girl or any book because the movies tell you the story faster (though not as fast as this nimrod who wrecked it in 15 seconds).

Inside the film started about 25 minutes late. I understand there were projection problems but someone really should have said something. I had to meet someone so I could hand off tickets for a 7PM screening and had I known there was going to be a delay I could have made arrangements- as a result I had to leave the screening of KASAMAYAKI half way through in order to meet my friends in a timely manner. (any delays over 10 minutes should be announced to the audience-even if it’s to simply say we don’t know when it’s going to start)

KASAMAYAKI has director Yuki Kokubo going home to see her parents. While she was born in Japan she has lived in New York Most of her life. Her mother returned to Japan when she was 12 and her father when she was 16. Over the intervening years her contact with them diminished. However in the wake of the Fukishima disaster she returned to Japan to spend time with the parents she barely knows.

Yuki Kokubo introduces her film

The film is a series of slices of life as Kokubo observes and interviews her parents. It’s a kind of zen meditation on a family.

What I saw of the film was good. Sadly just as the film was getting more interesting with past strife in the family being revealed I had to leave, Somewhere along the line I want to see how it all plays out.

However with the need to drop tickets I headed off after about 45 or 50 minutes.

It was a good day with some great movies.

(A special thank you to Mr C for the photos and video from the HARDY screening.)

I'm telling you early so you can go see the wonderful VALLEY UPRISING (2014) at Mountainfilm 2014

You must go see Valley Uprising

No stop reading and go buy a ticket for the screening on Sunday so you can see this film on a BIG screen.

This is one of those awesome films that is so much better when seen really really big.

Valley Uprising is the story of the rock climbing community in Yosemite National Park from 1955 to the present. Over the course of the film we watch as the climbing community began to form after the second World War and how in things really took off with climbers such as Royal Robbins and William Harding who’s rivalry pushed the sport forward as they fought to try and do the impossible, from climbing Half Dome or El Capitan. We then watch as the old guard gave way to the Stone Masters of the 1970’s and 80’s and how their antics gave way to the modern day Stone Monkeys who have given up ropes and now free climb and base jump.

Not to put too fine a point on it this is a wickedly cool movie told by the people who lived it.

To put it another way I absolutely loved this film and if I can manage it I’m going to go back and see it when it plays as part of the Mountainfilm series.

I think this film is super. A perfect blend of talking head, photographs, period film and modern day shots come together to form a glorious sense of being there- which in this case puts us in the park and on the vertical walls these brave but crazy individuals climb. This is the only way to approximate what its like to climb the rocks and then jump off them.

What also sold me on the film is that the talking heads that appear are well spoken and manage to explain what it was like to climb and to put it into the context of their time. Often in films like this we get interviews with action sport stars who can’t go beyond the cliché or can’t put it all into any sort of context keeping things at the ‘Hey this is what I do, what more do you want” level. I always want to go “yea, I know that. And its cool to look at but tell me more- really tell me whats going on” More times then not they are incapable.

I had a blast with this. I had to make a certain train home and when the film started late I feared that I would miss the end- so when it got close to time I got up from my seat and stood in the back of the theater getting ready to book to the subway when the film ended…I simply couldn’t leave I had to stay to the bitter end.

Seriously this film is a blast. While it may not be the best of the year- seeing it in a theater on a huge screen made for one of my favorite viewing experiences of the year- get a ticket and go.

Jingle Bells Rocks (2014) DOC NYC 2014

People who really LOVE Christmas music are a strange lot. The mad passion to collect Christmas songs, way beyond the well-known classics can be pathological. I know this from personal experience as a crazy who will buy an album of songs because it looks different or goofy or makes me go WTF.

If you’re like me and love weird Christmas music, or music films or great just documentaries, then you have to watch JINGLE BELL ROCKS a wild and wonton, not to mention very funny and smile producing documentary on the world of Christmas songs and the people who love them. This is just a blast and a half and the perfect film to clear your mind after a heavy day at Doc NYC or life in general.

This is a look at the people who collect the songs and albums and the people who make them. Wanna know who it was who sang the song “Santa Claus is a Black Man”? Here’s your chance. Ever wonder why so many Christmas albums get turned out? You’ll find the answer here. You’ll find the questions to a lot of questions you never knew you had.

I love this film. I want a copy of this film.

When I finished the film I took to the phone and computer and began to tell everyone I knew that they had to see this film. I had to make people aware that this wonderful little film was out there.

You’ll forgive the lack of details but this is one of those films that best you discover on your own. I don’t want it spoiled before you see it. You need to just go and see this on your own.

And yea I know it’s late on a school night but god damn somethings are worth dragging your ass to work the next day to see.

This is one of the must see films at DOC NYC. While I can’t say if this is one of the best films of the year, it’s certainly one of the best times I’ve had at the movies all year.

For tickets and more information go to the film’s festival page.

reporting on what maybe THE film of DOC NYC- SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY

She's Beautiful When She's Angry Trailer from nancy kennedy on Vimeo.

I am beyond beat.

Going back and forth to DOC NYC has really kicked my butt.I'm so tired that I considered skipping the report for today and going for it tomorrow- and then I realized- I had to at least talk about one of the films I saw today because it's what my mom would have wanted.

Had my mom been alive to to see SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY she would have said "Its fucking fantastic". I don't say that for effect I say that because that's what she would have called it. (She was if nothing else always a lady.)

The film is the history of the the Feminist Revolution that began in the 1960's and is still being fought today over issues, such as reproductive rights and child care. Its the story of how the movement started in the 1960's spurred on my the Civil Rights fights and the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Its all told by the women who were there in the trenches, on the streets and everywhere else fighting for gender equality

For a while while watching the film I was kind of like - yea but I know this-I mean this was the way my mom was- she felt the way these woman felt she did  the things these women did, I mean these were ideas about equality that my mom gave her kids"....

...and then it dawned on me that the reason that my mom felt as she did was because of what these ladies did. These women's struggled and made it okay for my mom to become the woman and really cool human being that she was.

Watching the film and the struggles of the woman I suddenly connected again with my mom and what she was going through during that same period. Mom was suddenly there sitting next to me in the theater.

Personal connection aside this is a damn fine film. Filled with tons of archival footage and all the right talking heads, this film lays out the movement in such away that you not only can't help but learn something while you're   deeply deeply affected- I mean that and I know that. I know it because this is the first film in four years of covering films at DOC NYC where there were cheers and applause and the quiet sounds of weeping all through it.

Yea the audience had many people connected to the film, but it had many more who were not and they too were cheering and applauding.

Seeing this film today was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in a theater.

Even I was crying my the end-something I continued to do as I dashed out before the Q&A to make another screening (yes Randi I was fighting tears when I tried to call you about this wonderful film).

What I like  about the film, and one of the big strengths of the film is it takes all the stories of all the women, and takes all the struggle threads from equal pay, to sexual harassment and rape, to lesbianism to child raising to abortion and ties them together in to the magical whole.  I love that the film manages to take all these parts and make them into this magical tapestry.

That may not seem like much but there have been a couple of films at DOC NYC and  elsewhere where the whole never materialized. On Friday I saw SALAD DAYS at DOC NYC and the film had all these threads about Punk music in DC. And the threads were all great, but the film never pulled them together, so the film, while interesting, never felt like a complete whole. By the end of SHE'S BEAUTIFUL... not only is it a whole it's a triumph where we understand where we were, how we got to now, and where we may be heading tomorrow- and why the fight still has to be fought.

As I was leaving the theater I was stopped by one of the women in the film, who was also leaving and she asked me what I thought. "I loved it" I said. After I gathered my self and my stuff together and headed out the woman was heading back into the theater and she again asked me "What did you think?"  Again I told her "I loved it, I really loved it"

I don't know what else to say. I loved it.

Its a celebration of those who went before and a rallying cry for those who must come in the future. Its a film that should be shown to every little girl or anyone who doesn't think that causes and movements and political action can change the world-because it can- as one of the women says "Don't tell me things can't be changed, I know it can I saw it happen"

So did I, here's the proof.

The screening is done at DOC NYC but it's coming out shortly into theaters and is an absolute must see.

(dedicated to my mom where ever she is)

Director Mary Dore introduces her film to the DOC NYC audience

Nightcap 11/16/14 - Randi's Sunday Night Videos Part 1

I’m too busy with DOC NYC to do a proper Nightcap so instead I’m going with some of the videos Randi has been sending me over the past couple of weeks.

















Music video as political statement and short film

Heaven Adores You (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Complicated people simultaneously resist reduction while inviting questions, which makes biographies and bio-docs difficult propositions. They're even more difficult when the subject is dead and can't offer any sort of present self-reflection, even if it's equivocal--sometimes those guarded responses are just as revealing as candor. Heaven Adores You wants to celebrate the music of the late Elliott Smith while avoiding the complicated life that underlies his work. The film winds up so politely mute about the unfortunate aspects of Smith's life and so politely unfocused about his music career that the documentary feels like a well-meaning gesture rather than a well-made portrait of a person.

The off-balance feel is present from the outset. The first music that appears in Heaven Adores You is not Elliott Smith's. Instead it's this middle-of-the-road incidental music on electric guitar that isn't even reminiscent of Smith's work. Director Nickolas Rossi opens by covering some of Smith's performance of "Miss Misery" at the Oscars in 1998 (we don't get to hear any of the song at this point) and the makeshift memorial in LA following his apparent suicide in 2003 (again, no Smith music for now). It's not until maybe 10 minutes into Heaven Adores You that we finally hear the melancholic intro to "Angeles." From then on the film doesn't let up on Smith songs. For a movie that's supposed to be a celebration of Smith's songs, it's an odd decision to not have his music present from the outset.

Rossi at least finds a trove of rare material, unreleased demos, and alternate takes to scatter throughout his documentary. While the lone-guitar version of "Baby Britain" (a fragile ancestor of the big, polished, full-band version that appears on the album XO) and the early demo of "King's Crossing" were great to hear, the standout find is "I Love My Room," a song written on the piano when Smith was just an early-to-mid teen. The lyrical introspection was still years away--it's a simple song, the title repeated ad nauseum, and it sounds half like a joke-track and half like a kid's first nod to Brian Wilson--but the talent oozes from it as Smith croons.

And yet while the music is great once Smith kicks in, Rossi doesn't seem to know how to present it. So much of Heaven Adores You features shots of Portland streets over Smith's music, and more shots of Portland streets, and more shots of Portland, and more shots of Portland. Much of it is this repetitive collection of lateral tracking shots and helicopter shots. At its worst, the first third of the movie feels like a Portland tourism video. Late in the movie as the film tragically chronicles the final months of Smith's life, we watch a duet of "Everything Means Nothing to Me" that Smith did with Jon Brion, the footage shot by Paul Thomas Anderson. Rather than hold until the end of this duet, Rossi cuts back to a helicopter shot of Portland.

Sure, Smith lived in Portland and the Portland music scene is important to cover, and Rossi has a solid compositional eye, but at a certain point it feels like Heaven Adores You loses sight of its subject even as his music is playing over the imagery. Why not some more footage of Smith in Heatmiser or at shows around Portland, or photos from the early days, or more imagery of the man we're supposed to be celebrating? There's so much communicated in a single baby picture of Smith, and so little in a minute of shots of Old Town Portland. And oddly, the music is played almost non-stop, which made me long for a few more moments of quiet between the songs so I could chew on what the interview subjects were saying, or on what Smith himself was talking about in archival footage.

Part of this issue may be Rossi's background as a cinematographer. When writing about David Lean's Great Expectations, Roger Ebert noted that Lean was an editor for seven years before he directed his first film. Ebert said that Lean's career may be the best argument that editors may make better directors than cinematographers, adding, "The cinematographer is seduced by the look of a film, while the editor is faced with the task of making sense out of it as a story."

To that, some structural faults are apparent as well. After the awkward introduction, Heaven Adores You moves chronologically through Smith's discography, from self-released cassettes through his days with the band Heatmiser and then through his solo career. This structure is fine, yet the movie spends too long on shots of various environs and playing full songs rather than really delving into Smith's life and songwriting. When the film arrives at 2004's From a Basement on a Hill, a posthumous Smith album completed by producer Rob Schnapf and ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme, it skips over the entire process of producing, finishing, and releasing the album and instead hurtles toward a pat conclusion.

This isn't the only missed opportunity of Heaven Adores You either. So many of the snippets from interviews that make it into the film are redundant or self-evident. For a movie about a songwriter, there isn't as much focus on the lyrical content as a Smith fan would hope for, or the evolution of a song. The same goes for an exploration of Smith's relationship with his stepfather (which fueled so much of his music), or Smith's struggles with depression and addiction that affected his ability to create, or a meaningful glimpse into the pressures of fame. There's not even a mention of Jennifer Chiba, Smith's girlfriend at the time of his death. On the one hand I can understand not wanting to mention Chiba or Smith's stepfather, and yet they feel like major blindspots.

Maybe the most frustrating thing about Heaven Adores You is that in the handful of sections that work, Rossi makes Smith's music feel more present. Every now and then Rossi captures the loneliness and frailty found in so much of Smith's work, these dark sensations that we all experience and that are broken occasionally when we're reminded that there are people out there who love us. Maybe it's too difficult to delve too much, which is why Heaven Adores You stays mostly on the surface of Smith, unwilling to explore the deep hurts of his life or the lack of closure surrounding his death. It's more comfortable on city streets, easier at a distance removed.

For more information and tickets see the festival's film page.

Miss Tibet:Beauty in Exile (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Doing what the best documentaries do, namely showing us something we've never seen or expected and pulled us into a new world, MISS TIBET is a real delight. While film is nominally the story of Tenzin Khecheo, a young Tibetan woman living in Minnesota who enters the Miss Tibet contest in India, the film  is so much more becoming an examination of Tibetan exile culture, what it means to be Tibetan and how the country and it's people are perceived, by the world and by Tibetans.

The film begins with Tenzin Khecheo driving around her home town talking about her place in the world and how she feels about her ethnic culture. She was born to Tibetan refugees who had fled to India. They then moved to the United States.Because of the way life went, her parents divorced and she spent a great deal of time taking care of her sisters in mom's stead, she feels that she hasn't fully connected with being Tibetan. She hopes that by trying to get into the contest she can somehow reconnect with it, and maybe perhaps help other young people.  What follows is our heroine's path back to India and into the contest. What she finds once she gets there is both good and bad and not what you expect.

Where did this film come from and why isn't there more buzz on it?This is easily one of the best documentaries I've seen in 2014. This is one of those films that I want to show to documentary filmmakers as an example of what to do when you make a film- make a film that is all about your subject and yet speaks volumes on other subject matters and speaks to a larger audience. While its possible that the filmmakers lucked into some of the larger resonances contained in their story, the people running the Miss Tibet pageant  take the time to actually educate the girls in their native culture, history, religion and politics, they were ultimately smart enough to include it all.

Over the course of the films 70 minutes not only do we get the great story of Tenzin but we get a primer on the history of Tibet, the refugee situation, an examination of beauty pageants and pondering of the question as to how much any displaced ethnic group really knows their own culture. There are a lot of things going on and the filmmakers handle them brilliantly.

I'd also like to risk a spoiler and say best of all say where it all goes and how it all ends is not what you expect-trust me.

One of the best films at this years's DOC NYC, this may also very possibly may end up on my best of the year list.

Go see this film when it plays later today and tomorrow. For tickets go here

Brief word on Some Kind of Spark (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Ben Nile's look at the Juilliard Musical Advancement Program, which takes inner city kids and mentors them into being better musicians and transforms the kids and their families is a wonderful look at the transformative nature of music.

The film follows six kids and their families as they go through the two year course.We watch the ups and downs as the kids change, becoming better musicians.

I'm going to be completely honest here and say I don't have a great deal to say about the film. While it is quite wonderful and quite moving,the film has gotten lost in the wave of films from Doc NYC.  The film's only real flaw- that it's similar to any number of other similar films-would be fine if I was seeing this as a one off, the film recedes  when being seen in the middle of three or four dozen other films all fighting to stand out with their uniqueness.

I know I should take this film on it's own terms but sometimes in covering a festival you can't...

On it's own terms its a touching look at kids and music and really should be seen.

For tickets and more information go to the film's festival page

DOC NYC 2014: ENQUIRING MINDS (2014)

This is going to be fast. I don't have much to say about tonight's film ENQUIRING MINDS

The screening was either the NYC premiere according to the DOC NYC website or the first time the public had seen it according to director Ric Burns, either way its the weakest film that I've ever seen from Burns.

The film is the story of Generoso Pope Jr who was  his father's favorite son, despised by his mother and brothers. He took all he learned from running his father's Italian Language newspaper to take the floundering New York Enquirer and turn it into the National Enquirer. The film documents the life of father and son as they both rose from adversity to create influential newspapers.

The story of the Popes is a long and complex one, so much so that the film should probably be two films one on the father and one on the son. Actually there should be a third film as well which would be the story of the paper itself. The trouble is that despite having all of the right people the film breezes through all three stories, There is way more to the lives of both men then we are getting here and as for the ups and downs of the Enquirer the story is minimally told. I wanted to know more.

I'm a huge fan of Ric Burns, to be honest I think his films tend to be better than his brother Ken, but here things have slipped. The detail is not there and I felt empty at the end.  For the first time seeing one of his films I felt ripped off and wished I had waited until this showed up on PBS or cable or somewhere I didn't have to pay 14 bucks for it.

Its not bad but its not great.

I was so disappointed I left when the credits started to roll instead of staying for the Q&A.

Soul Boys of The Western World (2014) DOC NYC 2014

This history of Spandau Ballet is completely unremarkable. Devoid of detail, background information or any sense of the band members as people the film is the sort of hour long story of the band that music video channels used to run but stretched to almost two hours.

Told from the band's POV the film the film is straight on history of the band from it's forming in school onward to today. Its full of music, interviews, TV appearances, home movies and videos, but not a lot of detail outside of that. I'm serious outside of the history of the band there isn't much here and even that is superficial. Granted it doesn't help that all the TV shows and all the interviews are staged almost identically, but someone somewhere must have said something interesting.

I guess not.

Watching the film I kept wondering who are the guys who make up the band? I had no idea. As each speaker spoke a name would appear identifying the voice that was telling us how they changed their sound several times, where they played and who they hung with, but there is nothing about them as people. Unless you know the band you'll be asking "Who are these guys?" because they film makes no attempt to portray them as anything other than the band. The big personal revelation of the first hour of the film was that one of them got married. The marriage is never mentioned again.

Actually it really strange in that no one talks about anything other than being a band.

I turned off and stopped caring. So much so I just got up 75 or 80 minutes into the film and walked out. There was another half an hour of nonsense and I realized I had better things to do so I went off to do them.

Unless you're an uber-fan I suggest to skip this.

Happy Valley (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Surprisingly fair minded look at the insanity of what happened in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky arrest at Penn State. The film is not concerned with the crime itself, rather it's concerned with how people reacted to it and what it means for the future.

I was not prepared for what I got with this film. I mean that in a good way. I thought that this was going to be rehash of the crimes of Sandusky and then a little finger pointing at the media and the people involved with the cover-up. What I got instead was a film that doesn't really deal with what happened to the boys, rather it deals with issues like, the role of the media at times like this, hero worship, the rewriting of history, whether doing what is required is enough and the whole notion of protect the winning team practiced by many colleges.

If I'm completely honest I should say that I can only write so much about this film because in order to really discuss this film I need to see it a third time, or maybe a fourth. I say this because When I sat down to watch the film I did so with notebook in hand and ten minutes into the film I had stopped writing and had just watched. The second time through I did take notes but found that I wanted to go back and replay sections of the film to see how they reconnected with other pieces. I'd have gone through again but there were other films at DOC NYC  to see.

The film seems to cover every base with the exception of speaking with Sandusky himself or some one official from Penn State's Board of Trustees. Students and faculty of the college are interviewed. Alumni get to say their piece. Joe Paterno's wife, children and biographer are interviewed. We hear from Sandusky's adopted son and victim of his father's crimes. Representatives from almost every category are interviewed. News footage and news out takes are included in the reporting. It all seems to be here...

And when the film ends so many questions will be running around in your head- chef among them will be how are we supposed to react to a man who does what he's supposed to, even if that isn't enough. That's the question that hangs around Joe Paterno, did he do enough by doing only what was required? His family says yes, many others say no. And the split as to the rewriting of his legacy is also a matter of debate- even by those who think he didn't do what they feel he should have.

I have no idea what to say about the film except see it. I say this not as a cop out or short hand but rather because I need some one to discuss this with. I need some people to bounce ideas off and until you see the film I can't do that.

I also say this because this is not the sort of film one reviews, rather this is a film one discusses, for hours over dinner or drinks. So take some friends and make some post film dinner plans and go see one of the most truly thought provoking films of the year.

The film plays on November 17th and 19th (with the director in attendance) at DOC NYC (and opens in theaters on the 19th)and is a must see. For tickets and information go here.

South Asian International Film Festival starts Tuesday

The South Asian International Film Festival, the last of my favorite film festivals of the year, starts Monday with the private dinner for the jurors. For the rest of us it starts on Tuesday with the premiere of X

I never really had interest in the festival other than the odd film until writer, director and all around good guy Ted Geoghagen told me I should be covering the festival and sent me some films. I was hooked. Every year since then I’ve made an effort to cover the festival always finding some truly special gems. The films, for good or bad, always were a revelation showing me things that I never considered or framed things I knew in a new way. If films festivals are supposed to broaden our cinematic horizons then this festival does it in spades.

This year I’ve got coverage of five films coming- and I can heartily recommend every one of them. I was hoping to do at least all eight features (I wanted to see the opening night film X) and some of the shorts but I had committed to some other things that are keeping me from wading into the trenches. Then again miracles sometimes happen.

Don’t let my inability to get down and dirty stop you from going, pick a film or three and go. Information on the films and tickets can be had at the SAIFF website.

Also look for reviews on the mornings og the 19th, 21st and 22nd

Opposite Field (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Damn near perfect baseball documentary about how a Ugandan Little League team made a run at going to the US to play in the Little League World Series. Say what you will, and I will say some stuff in a moment, this film had me getting misty several times over its 75 minute run time.

Baseball was introduced to Uganda in the 1990's when missionaries brought the game to the country. The game took enough of a foothold that in 2010 an American millionaire in the country was asked to help set up a training program. A field was built and training facility was constructed. What happened then was a team was fielded and sent off to Poland to play in a qualifying round in order to go to America. What happened then is the story.

If this film was slightly edited and the pace of the first half picked up this could very well be considered one of the truly great baseball documentaries you're likely to see. The problem with the pacing results in a feeling about 40 minutes in that the story is done. Its not There is a great deal more to go-unfortunately it feels rushed (it's really  not) compared to the leisurely first half.

You have to stay with this film, you have to make it to the second half and if you do I think you're going to be richly rewarded.

A beautifully told film about the way that sports can change people for the better and bring people together, OPPOSITE FIELD is a film that will make you misty.  It won't be in big moments but in small ones, a wonderful play, the game played against Dubai, and what follows after the team goes to Poland will move you and make you feel pretty damn good. If you're coming in cold and don't know the whole story the twists and turns of the final 25 minutes are going to really surprise you.

The film plays on the 17th and 18th. For tickets and more information go here. (The screening on the 18th is at 10:45am and is the perfect excuse to play hooky)

DOC NYC 2014 -Banksy Does New York and Salad Days

I got in after 1AM and I'm tired.

This was my first night at DOC NYC and it was a good night with Mondo, Chocko and Mr C at SVA. After meeting at a bagel place (where the lovely Sotoko was waiting with the guys) we headed over to the SVA Theater for the evenings films.

BANKSY DOES NEW YORK is an HBO documentary premiereing Monday night on the channel. The film is a look at Banksy's New York residency in New York last October when he gave the city anew piece of art every day- which had to be found.

Assembled largely from the video of the people who were chasing the art, the film is a New Yorker's eye look at the art scavenger hunt.

For me it's a wonderful way to see all of the art as well as get caught up in the hunt once more. Its definitely worth seeing on HBO.

Interestingly, during the very brief Q&A the director and producer said that Banksy wasn't involved in the film (which was done after the fact) until they were halfway done.They said he gave them notes and supplied some images and video to them

After the film went outside and got on line for SALAD DAYS.

As we waited to go in Carroll Spinney, his wife and Oscar had come out of the evenings I AM BIG BIRD screening and were now holding court under the marquee talking to everyone who approached him. I,as well as several others went over to see him. Other arrivals stormed over to him excitedly from the line taking out the ropes that kept us corralled.

SALAD DAYS is a look at the DC punk scene from 1980 to1990(roughly). Filled with everyone who was anyone in the scene the film documents the days and nights of the various punk bands.

For me the film is annoyingly near great.

The problem for me is that the film is missing some key things that would make it perfect for everyone-

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

Next the film kind of assumes you know what they are talking about. There are times where people are talking about events that I had no context for....

...which brings me to the last point the film just jumps to a new segment-say the funk band or female bands- with out really linking them into the narrative. We're just on to the next thing. I understand they want to stay away from a narrator or intertitles but some links are needed.

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

Whats here is choice and amazing (with Dave Grohl's kick ass final statement about DIY sending us off) its just missing a little something

Okay- Its 217AM as I finish this- Time for bed

More reports and reviews tomorrow

More pictures from today can be found at our Tumblr page.