Review: Rob Garver’s ‘What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael’
“Rob Garver’s ‘What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael’ is a worthwhile biography of a fascinating life led with purpose and conviction.”
‘Gauguin’ and ‘Guernica’: Alain Resnais Comes Unstuck
“If ‘Gauguin’ and ‘Guernica’ shine a light on their respective subjects, they also present a key part of Resnais’ own development as an artist.”
Review: Mia Donovan’s ‘Dope Is Death’
“‘Dope Is Death’ could’ve benefitted from more cultural context and a broader examination of the Shakur family legacy, but the 78-minute film succeeds with its specific focus on holistic healing.”
Interview with ‘1232 KMS’ Director Vinod Kapri
Dipankar Sarkar Interviews ‘1232 KMS’ Director Vinod Kapri
Review: Samantha Stark’s ‘Framing Britney Spears’
“The best aspects of ‘Framing Britney Spears’ are implicit while the least effective parts are explicit. And in the absence of a direct commentary from Spears, Stark surely could have used more evenhanded and considerate interview subjects.”
The Master’s Voice: Gregory Monro’s ‘Kubrick by Kubrick’
“‘Kubrick by Kubrick’ has the effect of placing the notoriously particular and media-shy subject in the room with the eager listener/viewer.”
Netflix Review: ‘This Is a Robbery: The World’s Greatest Art Heist’
“With ‘This Is a Robbery,’ Barnicle manages to pinpoint what probably happened at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on St. Patty’s Day 1990 while amplifying the long-term mystery.”
North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival Review: Shannon Kring’s ‘End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock’
“End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock’ belongs to a tradition of activist filmmaking that draws from investigative journalism as well as from artistic principles and techniques.”
How Questions of Exploitation Stain the Triumph of ‘Grey Gardens’
“The utter sadness of Little and Big Edie’s story is why ‘Grey Gardens’ is so moving — direct cinema allowed this story to be explored with a level of intimacy previously unavailable.”
Review: Taylor Morden’s ‘The Last Blockbuster’
“Too often, the tongue-in-cheek tone veers into the empty calorie territory of VH1’s cable television time-filler ‘I Love the ‘80s,’ as subjects like Doug Benson and Ron Funches can’t resist using their screen time to test what feels like standup material.”
BFI Flare Review: Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer’s ‘Cured’
“It’s unrealistic to expect every queer film to tackle all aspects of queer life and history, but ‘Cured’ presents its narrative in a way that’s too clean and neat, too much of a happily-ever-after.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Bryan Fogel’s ‘The Dissident’
“Bryan Fogel’s new documentary about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is unsurprisingly hard-hitting, but it’s the context for macro-scale geopolitics that ‘The Dissident’ communicates so well.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Frederick Wiseman’s ‘City Hall’
“‘Reality fiction’ contours everything in ‘City Hall,’ from the microscopic level of scene transitions to the macroscopic level of entire sequences given deliberate framings…”
Review: Jill Li’s ‘Lost Course’
“The most powerful aspect of ‘Lost Course’ is how it portrays the struggle of the Wukan citizens as a general metaphor for political corruption and the futility of activism.”
Interview with ‘Dad Made Dirty Movies’ Author-Director Jordan Todorov
Yoana Pavlova Interviews ‘Dad Made Dirty Movies’ Author-Director Jordan Todorov
Netflix Review: Barry Avrich’s ‘Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art’
“When viewed as a character study, ‘Made You Look’ is the rare art documentary that has a re-watchable quality.”
Review: Iara Lee’s ‘Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse’
“Despite Stalking Chernobyl’s clear position on the dangers of expanding nuclear power, Lee does not shrink from the otherworldly allure that draws so many to Chernobyl and Pripyat.”
Pandemic-Era Prophecies of Godfrey Reggio’s ‘Koyaanisqatsi’
“Nearly 40 years after its release, ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ continues to send signals.”
Considering Reality: Rodney Ascher’s ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’
Greg Carlson Reviews Rodney Ascher’s ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’
Review: Matie Alberdi’s ‘The Mole Agent’
“Only 37 years old, Alberdi is a dynamic figure in documentary studies and practice.”