Around India with a Movie Camera (UK, 72 min.) Dir. Sandhya Suri Was there a random box of archival footage at the British Film Institute labelled Odds and Ends – India? One can only wonder how such a haphazard assortment of bits and pieces from film history landed in such an unwieldy heap. These clips and
Hal (USA, 90 min.) Dir. Amy Scott Is there a director with a winning streak better than Hal Ashby? Perhaps rivaled only by early career Woody Allen in his prolific output, but far more consistent in the quality of his formative years, Ashby delivered one influential film after another in the 1970s. From the box
Ryan Emacora and Jessica Johnson's Uneasy Panoramas kicks off Vertical Features' 2019 series.
A Thousand Thoughts is a “live documentary” about the avant-garde contemporary music ensemble the Kronos Quartet, which comprises an onstage musical performance by the group, narration by Green and carefully assembled footage projected on a screen behind the participants.
Finding Hygge (USA, 93 min.) Dir. Rocky Walls I’ll admit that work/life balance is an alien concept to me, partly because I simply enjoy what I do. However, I have definitely never experienced hygge, a term (pronounced hoo-gah) that the people of Denmark use to conceptualize happiness. Admittedly, hygge remains an elusive thing after watching the
Pugly: A Pug’s Life (Canada, 44 min.) Dir. Michael McNamara, Aaron Hancox If cats have nine lives, how many chances do dogs have? After strutting with the feline friends of the catshow circuit in Catwalk: Tales from the Catshow Circuit, Michael McNamara and Aaron Hancox are going to the dogs with Pugly. This cute companion piece to Catwalk shares
What is Democracy? (Canada, 107 min.) Dir. Astra Taylor If Astra Taylor wanted to find some easy answers, she could have travelled the world and asked people, “What is a lemon?” Her interviews might have yielded answers such as: “It’s that yellow fruit,” or “It’s a tangy citrus,” or “It’s the basis of lemonade,” or
“Given my job,” writes MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in a review of Michiko Kakutani’s new book about the Trump era, The Death of Truth, “I am forced to ask myself every day: Is it possible to say anything truly profound or new about Donald Trump at this moment in time?” Near as I can figure, the answer is no.
Call 2018 the year of the documentary. One story for docs this year was their incredible box office success with four non-fiction films cracking the $10 million mark. Those films, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? ($22 mil), RBG ($14 mil), Three Identical Strangers ($12 mil), and Free Solo ($11 mil and counting), helped prove that an audience for docs is alive and well
The Great Buster: A Celebration (USA, 104 min.) Dir. Peter Bogdanovich “What you see is what you get,” says film critic Leonard Maltin while appraising the works of Buster Keaton in The Great Buster. “To me, the best special effect in his films is Buster.” Maltin is one of many notable figures in the film world