Hooligan Sparrow
A riveting feat of guerilla filmmaking, revealing much about systems of power in China and the formidable tactics of its burgeoning activist culture.
Film-Forward
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
About as open and probing as a documentary gets, this is a revealing look at an unparalleled entertainer’s professional and personal life.
Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
A testament to the power of fan culture and a celebration of its permanent place in the media landscape.
The Witness
The murder of Kitty Genovese is one of the most famous cases in the history of sociology and criminology, and this documentary accomplishes something remarkable by making us reconsider a story, and a concept, that we’ve long taken for granted as true.
Weiner
During his 2013 campaign for New York City mayor, politician Anthony Weiner allowed two filmmakers to follow him around the clock. Entertaining, revealing, and occasionally funny, the result will give psychotherapists around the country, armchair and otherwise, ample fodder.
The Family Fang
The Family Fang rises above standard family dysfunction fare and is fearless about pursuing some of its darker themes to the fullest.
Elvis & Nixon
A fictionalized meeting that is very funny at times and boasts actors fully committed to communicating the bizarreness of a particular time and place in American history.
H.
Some sort of alien invasion may be transpiring as a result of a meteor strike, but the characters are already peculiar enough to be fairly alien themselves. When weird things happen to weird people, it feels almost expected, rather than unsettling.