Written & Directed by Jesse Moss Produced by Moss and Amanda McBaine Released by Drafthouse Films USA. 101 min. Rated PG-13 Fracking has come to North Dakota in recent years, and with it came a job boom that has given the state the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Many filmmakers have focused on fracking’s […]
In Iris, world premiering at the New York Film Festival, director Albert Maysles warmly reveals that Iris Apfel is a lot more than her trademark large owlish glasses. The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute touted her fashion collection and idiosyncratic style sense in a 2005 traveling exhibit, “Rara Avis,” when she was 84. Previously, she appeared […]
Directed by Darius Clark Monroe USA. 83 min. Not rated We all make assumptions about what a movie based on the title. In this case, I assumed this documentary would be about how a person becomes a criminal after starting out as innocent. And while the film touches a bit on that, it also suggests […]
Directed by Teodora Ana Mihai Released by CAVU Pictures Romanian with English subtitles Belgium/Romania. 88 min. Not rated As the documentary opens, it’s winter in Romania. In an apartment in a social housing complex in Bacau, Georgiana chops up chicken and potatoes while her younger siblings take turns talking on the phone with their mother. […]
Directed by Nicholas Mross Released by Gravitas Ventures USA. 96 min. Not rated Even after watching this documentary, I’m not sure I completely understand how this product works. As one interviewee states, you need to use Bitcoin before you can understand it completely. In what I’m sure is a poor and incomplete description, it is […]
Directed by Elisabeth Rasmussen Produced by Joachim Lyng Available on Netflix Norway / UK. 72 min. Not rated The Heart of Bruno Wizard opens circa 2004 with Bruno performing his first London concert since 1986. In his element, Bruno commands the stage, ever the rock star. His youthful spirit, formed in the British punk scene, […]
Directed by Alan Hicks Written by Hicks and Davis Coombe Produced by Quincy Jones and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen Released by Radius/The Weinstein Company USA. 86 min. Rated R Keep On Keepin’ On intimately catches lightning in a bottle, for what is usually only talked about but rarely seen on film: how a dedicated mentor can […]
The Fun Starts Here Who would have thought that the funniest moments at the Toronto International Film Festival would revolve around climate change and activism? Ten years ago, the message-delivering pranksters, the Yes Men, first spread their alarming messages in their eponymous documentary. Instead of staging street protests, they pull off media stunts to the […]
Without a doubt, the 52nd New York film festival largely fulfills its mission (as stated on its website) to “introduce audiences to the most exciting, innovative and accomplished works of world cinema.” This holds true thanks to an impressive collection of films in its lineup, many of which caught programmers’ attention at Cannes and […]