Tag: Documentary Film Review
Cartel Land | Review
Good, Bad & Ugly: Heineman Embeds in the Borderlands
Towards the end of Matthew Heineman's remarkable Cartel Land, which sees the filmmaker embedded deep within two...
A Poem is a Naked Person | Review
Taste of Starlight: Blank’s Debut a Fascinating Time Capsule
Highly regarded documentarian Les Blank’s 1974 debut finally sees an official theatrical release over forty years...
The Look of Silence | Review
Examining Eyes, Hearts & Minds: Oppenheimer Sees This Time From The Viewpoint of the Victims
Joshua Oppenheimer rocked the world of cinema with his groundbreaking...
Stray Dog | Review
Still Learning New Tricks: Hall Heals Via Empathy & Remembrance
Much less cinematically invigorating than Akira Kurosawa's noir of the same name and miles away from Tsai...
What Happened, Miss Simone? | Review
Writing on the Wall: Garbus Offers Compressed Portrait of Soul-Gospel-Jazz Queen
Nina Simone, a prominent musician-turned-civil-rights-activist, left behind a legacy in which the latter part...
The Wolfpack | Review
Voyeuristic & Bizarre: A Look Into a Litter of Brothers and Their World of Movies
As an exemplar of the term “stranger than fiction”, The Wolfpack’s...
Above and Below | 2015 Hot Docs Review
Both the title and premise of Swiss director Nicolas Steiner’s latest documentary mildly echoes the recently released and quickly disregarded found footage horror schlock...
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story | Review
8 Feet Tall and Light as a Feather: Walker and LaMattina Chronicle the Life and Love of a Puppeteering Legend
You’d be hard pressed to...
Iris | Review
Summer Hours: In Life's Twilight, Maysles Looks at a Late Life Fashion Icon and Finds Love in Work, Marriage & Stuff
Watching Iris, a...
Crocodile Gennadiy | 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Review
Soviet Nostalgia: Hoover's Complex Portrait of a Ukrainian Vigilante Pastor Opens Cultural Can of Worms
Steve Hoover’s sophomore feature opens on a Ukrainian industrial landscape...
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr. Moreau | Review
To Go On Two Legs: Gregory’s Fascinating Recapitulation of a Cinematic Train Wreck
Documentarian David Gregory graduates from an extensive history of shorts with his...
My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn | Review
Portrait of an Artist: Corfixen’s Familial Doc an Interesting Conversation Piece
There everyone was, in high anticipation at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, with Nicolas...
The Visit | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
It’s a story that hasn’t happened yet. The Visit is advertised as a documentary but the label is rather limiting as it that dabbles...
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine | Review
Far Away So Close: Josue Pays Personal Homage to Memory of Murdered Friend
His name now synonymous with progressive social policy, Matthew Shepard, the young...
Prophet’s Prey | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
False Prophet Illuminated by Berg and Former Prey
Ironically premiering at Sundance, not too far from the lieu where the real life events occurred, Prophet’s Prey is...
Chuck Norris vs Communism | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
VHS Revolution: Calugareanu Shoots For Docu-Thrills
Much of the time, American imperialism is a culture destroying force that denigrates through sheer, unwieldy bloat, but in the case...
Pervert Park | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
Sex Offender Stigma: Barkfors Take Taboo Tour
It’s not an easy subject to broach let alone discuss. The scarlet letter burns bright as sex offenders...
City of Gold | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
Eating One's Way To Enlightenment: Gabbert Follows Gold Down A Rabbit-Hole Of Crucial Cultural Cuisine
Everyone in Los Angeles knows that Jonathan Gold is the...
The Search for General Tso | Review
And Tso It Goes: Cheney’s Cuisine Opts for Sugar over Spice
It should go without saying that cuisines considered Chinese in the United States are...
A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness | Review
The Brothers Ben Find Supernal Solace On The Fringe
There are creative collaborations and there are perfect unions. The newly born cinematic relationship between experimental...
21 Years: Richard Linklater | Review
Just alright, alright, alright: Friends Laud Linklater's Adulthood
Traditionally speaking, retrospectives of prominent people tend to transpire as an ode after the fact or as...
National Gallery | Review
Museum Hours: Wiseman’s Tour through London’s Famed Museum
If you’ve never been to The National Gallery in London, England, one of the most preeminent museums...
All You Need is Love | Review
Off the Map: Cameron’s Well-Meaning Doc Explores Plight of Displacement
Focusing on the thousands of displaced families and children that languish in poverty around the...
Hockney | 2014 London BFI Film Festival Review
Eight Days a Week: Hockney Doc Shows Artist's Colorful Life
Guiding auds through his career from his early days growing up in Bradford, to moving...
The Overnighters | Review
Love Thy Neighbor: Moss Finds Faith In Oil Boomtown
In the small town of Williston, North Dakota, a modern day boomtown is growing exponentially as...
Tales of the Grim Sleeper | 2014 TIFF Review
In Broomfield We Trust: Docu-helmer Hits the Pavement on Decades Sprawling South Central Serial Murder Case
Harkening back to his fascination with the backwoods serial...
I Am Here | 2014 TIFF Review
Wherein We Learn that Both Money and Karaoke are the Real Roots of All Evil
Lixin Fan, director of the Chinese migrant worker doc, Last...
National Gallery | Review
Museum Hours: Wiseman's Three-Hour Documentary Is a Riveting Essay About Narrative Construction
The latest entry in Frederick Wiseman's tireless career project, which attempts to capture...
To Be Takei | Review
Living Long and Prospering: Kroot Recounts the Star's Trek From Internment to the Internet
Thanks to his witty and sincere presence on various social media...
Expedition to the End of the World | Review
Dencik Sails For Science and Existentialism
At first glance, Danish director Daniel Dencik's Expedition to the End of the World seems a blatant ripoff of...
Dinosaur 13 | Review
Miller Asks: Who's Dinosaur Is It Anyways?
Before 1990, only twelve Tyrannosaurus Rex had ever been discovered. As you may have guessed, Dinosaur 13 documents...
The Dog | Review
Dog Eat Dog: Berg & Keraudren’s Doc an Intriguing Portrait of a Famous Bank Robber
Destined to be a compelling double feature event with Sidney...
Interview: Andrew Rossi (Ivory Tower)
Andrew Rossi's prior film, Page One: Inside the New York Times, delved into the newspaper industry while it began to teeter on the brink of...
The Kill Team | Review
Kill or Be Killed: Krauss Meticulously Reassesses the Situation
Part courtroom drama, part frontline footage film contextualized by Morris-esque investigative interviews with those on trial...
112 Weddings | Review
We Are Gathered Here Today To Reconsider: Block Delves Into The Meaning of Marriage Via 20 Years of Wedding Videography
Over the years, director Doug...
Point and Shoot | 2014 AFI Docs Review
Motorcycle Diaries: Curry Sees VanDyke Grow From Boy To Rebel
As kids, nearly everyone falls in love with the idea of throwing caution to the...
Citizen Koch | Review
Corporations Are People: Lessin and Deal Question Why
Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Citizen Koch looks to shine a light on the political upheaval going...
Burt’s Buzz | Review
Shapiro Follows Honey Trail; Enigmatic Shavitz is the Bee's Knees
The bearded-face of Burt’s Bees, a pioneering company in the commodification of “all-natural” personal care,...
Elena | Review
Float On: Costa Laments Sister In Intimate Portrait
Petra Costa has been trying to process the suicide of her older sister for over two decades...
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon | Review
Don’t Menschion It: Myers’ Debut a Loving Tribute to a Notable Friend
Those that savor uncomplicated glimpses into the oft castigated entertainment industry will most...
The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga | 2014 Hot Docs Review
Of Forest and Folklore: Oreck Lenses Extraordinary Essay on Eastern European Relationship with Land and Myth
Recently, Jessica Oreck has been settling into a more...
For No Good Reason | Review
Paul Has Precision But Less Purpose Than Steadman
Anyone familiar with Hunter S. Thompson surely knows the work of his gonzo visual counterpart, Ralph Steadman....
DamNation | Review
River Runners: Knight & Rummel Ruminate On Damming Evidence
Just as directors Ben Knight and Travis Rummel’s Red Gold firmly yet astutely opposed the mining...
Fed Up | Review
David vs. Goliath: Soechtig Takes on the Food Industry with Child Obesity Exposé that Begs to Differ on the Pizza as Vegetable Issue
It’s no...
The Last Season | 2014 Hot Docs Review
Fungus Among Us: Dosa Makes Friends With The Matsutake
Though the name Sara Dosa may be new to some, the fledgling director already has some...
Everything Will Be | 2014 Hot Docs Review
Kwan Finds Tradition and Trasfiguration in Chinatown
No major city is without a Chinatown, each with its own cast of colorful characters, their shops stocked...
Joy of Man’s Desiring | 2014 Hot Docs Review
All Work and No Play Makes Côté Toy With Factory Observation
After a sultry opening monologue from a mystery woman that resonates with a statement...
Who is Dayani Cristal? | Review
Body Talk: Bernal & Silver’s Doc an Empathetic Experiment
A three pronged approach to uncovering the identity of an illegal immigrant’s corpse in the Arizona...
Finding Vivian Maier | Review
Photo Bomb: Maloof and Siskel Rewrite Modern Art History
Tales of buried treasure have long been the stuff of cinema gold, from The Treasure of...
Mistaken For Strangers | Review
Bound By Blood, Not Band: Berninger Tails Brother
The life of touring musicians has long been a favorite subject of documentarians the world over, but...
