Room 237
It’d be hard for a cinephile to not find at least something enjoyable in Rodney Ascher’s new documentary Room 237. The film is a deep dive into Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining—arguably the strangest movie within the strongest filmography of all time. It’s so strange, in fact, that five individuals have had their lives turned upside-down […]
Detropia
If the 1920s were the best of times for the city of Detroit, Michigan, the late 2000s were absolutely the worst of times. Detropia, a marvelous documentary by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, isn’t exactly a tale of two cities. It’s interested exclusively in profiling the worst of times in the Motor City, which is […]
Searching for Sugar Man
Searching for Sugar Man definitely contains elements of mystery, and it represents the concert documentary well, but more than anything, this incredible film shows the power of the human interest story. It’s such a broad term—”human interest”—but there’s no better way to describe the life and career of Sixto Rodriguez—a manual laborer in Detroit, Michigan, […]
How to Survive a Plague
How to Survive a Plague gets its title from the film’s standout moment, near its midpoint, when AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer shouts down two quarreling activists with one word: “PLAGUE!” “40 million deaths is a fucking plague,” Kramer tells them, admonishing them for their incivility. It’s a wake-up call to those around him, […]
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare has the power to enlighten and frighten. It’s a compelling call to action for a nation that’s wasting its potential. It’s arguments are based on seemingly irrefutable facts and figures, yet it’s not quite a home run—more like a ground rule double. Its thesis is like the […]
The Queen of Versailles
The Queen of Versailles depicts a train wreck. Not an actual train wreck, mind you; It’s actually about a family struggling through the 2008 financial crisis. But it’s as horrifying as the most horrifying train wreck, and director Lauren Greenfield gives it to you without censors and in extreme slow-motion. The “Queen” of the film’s […]
9.79*
9.79* represents precisely why the 30 for 30 series is essential viewing for sports fans. Is it the most penetrating documentary one could make about steroids in sports? Of course not, but it comes at the massive issue from an underreported angle. Ben Johnson is a name a 24-year-old sports fan like myself would only […]
The Ambassador
As a film, The Ambassador is fascinating. Danish provocateur/journalist Mads Brügger embeds himself in the dangerous and twisted world of the African business diplomat. With sketchy, black market credentials, the character he’s playing moves from Monrovia, Liberia to Bangui, Central African Republic in search of blood diamonds but under the pretense of building a third-world-saving […]
Side by Side
One wouldn’t necessarily expect Keanu Reeves to be as much an expert on the art of filmmaking as folks like James Cameron, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, David Lynch, Danny Boyle, Steven Soderbergh, and Martin Scorsese, but in the documentary Side by Side, he’s a very knowledgable window into the artistic and technical processes […]
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
There isn’t a sushi chef in the world more accomplished and admired than Japan’s Jiro Ono. The 85-year-old’s 10-seat Tokyo sushi bar, Sukiyabashi Jiro, is one of the world’s smallest establishments to be awarded three Michelin stars (the highest honor for restauranteurs). Director David Gelb’s documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi follows the chef and gets […]
The Island President
The tiny island nation of Maldives is rapidly vanishing thanks to rising sea levels, and its leader—now ex-leader—Mohamed Nasheed is doing everything he can to coerce the world’s superpowers to do something about it. That’s the story behind Jon Shenk’s documentary, The Island President. It’s a David vs. Goliath tale of epic proportions and of […]
Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story
The story behind Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story begins in the intensely racially segregated South of 1965. An NBC News documentarian named Frank DeFelitta went to Greenwood, Mississippi to gently prod its residents on the subjects of race and racism. He ended up turning a black waiter, Booker Wright, into an “accidental activist,” when he […]
The Revisionaries
Anyone who’s watched The Daily Show or The Colbert Report knows there’s a humorous side to even the most poisonous political battles. In The Revisionaries, director Scott Thurman skewers the Texas State Board of Education in a similar vein and to great effect. Unless you’re a “young-earth creationist” like board member Don McLeroy (pictured above), […]
The Russian Winter
John Forte was once on top of the music world, helping write and produce songs on The Fugees tremendous, Grammy-winning album The Score. Just a few years later, however, Forte was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison for cocaine trafficking. In 2008, his sentence was commuted by President Bush, and though he’s still […]
Town of Runners
Who knew the world capital of running was the small rural village of Bekoji, Ethiopia? In Town of Runners, documentarian Jerry Rothwell takes us to this place, where the roads are made of mud, where phones have yet to be introduced, and where children know their only chance at a future outside Bekoji is through […]
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, the latest documentary from Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock, opens with the titular convention’s founder expressing hope that 500 or so will attend the inaugural event. Cut to hordes of costumed men and women frantically descending on San Diego. The entire history of Comic-Con would have made for […]
