An Interview with ‘Ladies Only’ Filmmaker Rebana Liz John
‘Ladies Only’ Interview: Dipankar Sarkar discusses the 2021 documentary with filmmaker Rebana Liz John.
The Eternal Substance of ‘Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death’
“‘Into the Night’ is a valuable resource for the ‘connoisseur of fear.'”
The Milk of Kindness: Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow’
“‘Cow’ strikes just the right balance between the filmmaker’s self-awareness, which punctuates the movie’s soundtrack selections, and Arnold’s long-game feminist commentary.”
Review: Ryan Marley’s ‘Candidato 34’
“‘Candidato 34,’ a documentary short by filmmaker Ryan Marley, raises important questions about disability ethics and sociopolitical norms.”
Review: Pedro González Bermúdez’s ‘A Forbidden Orange’
“The side trips in ‘A Forbidden Orange’ are more tantalizing than the sights on the main highway.”
Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u’
‘Driving Home 2 U’ Soundtrack: A Vague Visages guide for every featured song in Stacey Lee’s Olivia Rodrigo film on Disney+.
Review: ‘Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You’
“Tomlinson doesn’t hit the trendy talking points of so many comedians her age. Instead, she figuratively peels a rotten orange in ‘Look at You’ and asks the audience what they see. The damage is evident, and yet there’s still beauty in the bright color that remains.”
Review: Christian D. Bruun’s ‘Calendar Girl’
“‘Calendar Girl’ is charming but meandering, a film torn between being a historical documentary and a character study that never ends up successfully being either…”
Review: Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler’s ‘Vinyl Nation’
“‘Vinyl Nation’ accentuates the positive, but the documentary can also be commended for at least raising questions about industry downsides to the record boom.”
Review: W. Kamau Bell’s ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’
“Bell is as masterful a listener as he is an interviewer, fully honoring the presence of those whose lives were changed after crossing paths with Cosby.”
Soundtracks of Television: ‘Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy’
‘Jeen-yuhs’ Soundtrack: A Vague Visages guide for every featured song in Coodie and Chike Ozah’s 2022 Kanye West docuseries on Netflix.
Time Machine: Bianca Stigter’s ‘Three Minutes: A Lengthening’
“Stigter’s direction transforms ‘Three Minutes: A Lengthening’ into so much more than a historical lesson on atrocity and genocide.”
There Is No Try: Documenting the Silicon Valley Mindset
There Is No Try: Documenting the Silicon Valley Mindset | D.M. Palmer on ‘The Inventor, ‘Fyre,’ ‘Fyre Fraud’ and ‘WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn’
The Ontology of ‘Ferroequinology’
“‘Ferroequinology’ is a magical piece of self-reflexive work that arguably reveals more about the documentarian than its subjects.”
IFFR Review: Alberto De Michele’s ‘The Last Ride of the Wolves’
“More moralistic viewers might question if ‘The Last Ride of the Wolves’ is in reality glamorizing these men, but I think Di Michele is a couple of steps ahead, both embracing that glamorization and distancing the audience from it.”
On Sundance FOMO, Classic French Cinema and ‘The Last Tycoons’
“‘The Last Tycoons’ is a helpful guide for the multi-tasking cinephile who wants to better understand French cinematic movements, such as La Nouvelle Vague, and the industry as a whole.”
Sara Dosa Shares the Light and the Heat in Volcanology Doc ‘Fire of Love’
“Dosa, like Wes Anderson in ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,’ seizes on the stylish allure of entrepreneurship in ‘Fire of Love.'”
Portrait of a Photographer on Fire
“‘Searching for Gerda Taro’ shows a photographer on fire, a fearless woman who knew that she could do anything by focusing on the present rather than the past.”
Interview with ‘Borderlands’ Filmmaker Samarth Mahajan
‘Borderlands’ Interview: Dipankar Sarkar discusses the 2021 documentary with filmmaker Samarth Mahajan.
The World Is Working: Michael Glawogger’s Trilogy on Poverty and Labor
“The real horrors of Glawogger’s films are the moments when people, having been given an opportunity to open up, are crushed by their own words.”