Film-Forward

Documentary

Kids for Cash

Directed by Robert May Produced by May and Lauren Timmons Released by SenArt Films USA. 102 min. Rated PG-13 Kids for Cash is a Frontline-style documentary that adds considerable behind-the-headlines insight from the perspectives of the families, the investigators, and the accused, despite the frustrating blank holes that are filled with rage against the machine […]

The Standbys

Directed by Stephanie Riggs Produced by Blair Erickson & Rigs Released by Sunchaser Entertainment USA. 76 min. Not rated Pay attention to the man behind the curtain. He may be just as talented as the wizard you’re watching onstage. Such is the thesis of The Standbys, which follows three Broadway hopefuls as they perfect the […]

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me

Directed by Chiemi Karasawa Produced by Karasawa & Elizabeth Hemmerdinger Released by Sundance Selects USA. 81 min. Not rated In the twilight of her career, veteran actress Elaine Stritch has won both an Emmy and Grammy for her 2002 one-woman Broadway show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, her tell-all song and dish about this broad’s life […]

Where I Am

Produced & Directed by Pamela Drynan Released by MPI Home Video Ireland. 70 min. Not rated In 1999, Robert Drake was a promising young gay American author and editor who went to Ireland partly in pursuit of what he calls that “whole Yeats thing.” He was also looking to find promising new authors to include […]

Mitt

Produced & Directed by Greg Whiteley Streaming on Netflix USA. 91 min. Not rated Get ready to like Mitt Romney. The new documentary Mitt may make some of us regret how easily we dismissed him during the 2008 and, especially, the 2012 presidential campaigns. It’s a somewhat bitter catch-22, as it couldn’t have been released […]

The Last of the Unjust

Directed by Claude Lanzmann Produced by David Frenkel, Jean Labadie & Danny Krausz Released by Cohen Media Group German, French and English, with English subtitles France/Austria. 218 min. Rated PG-13 Historical facts, interpretation, and blame are strikingly embodied by Benjamin Murmelstein. His singular life and experiences, during and after the Holocaust, have inspired magic realism […]

Mercedes Sosa

Written & Directed by Rodrigo H. Vila Released by First Run Features English, Spanish, Portuguese & French with English subtitles Argentina. 93 min. Not rated The biographical documentary Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America is a fine introduction to—or, for those who are familiar with Mercedes, a welcomed reminder of—the major turning points of […]

Peter Brook: The Tightrope

Directed by Simon Brook Produced by Mr. Brook, Ermanno Olmi, Luigi Musini & Jean-Pierre Eklou Attisso Released by Brook Productions, Cinemaundici & ARTE France in association with the International Center for Theatre Research English & French with English subtitles Italy/France. 86 min. Not rated Theater legend Peter Brook sprang to international prominence decades ago by […]

Tim’s Vermeer

Directed by Teller Produced by Penn Jillette & Farley Ziegler Released by Sony Pictures Classics USA. 80 min. Rated PG-13 Hailing from the Iowa cornfields, high school graduate, self-taught techie inventor, and self-made millionaire Tim Jenison turns his life over to a wonky but accessible pursuit. He spends his considerable resources and time traveling the […]