Fantasia 2020 Review: David Darg and Price James’ ‘You Cannot Kill David Arquette’
“‘You Cannot Kill David Arquette’ is an incredibly moving and life-affirming lesson in following your dreams at all costs.”
Fantasia 2020 Review: Steve Villeneuve’s ‘Hail to the Deadites’
“It may sound strange to call a documentary about fans of a gory horror franchise ‘sweet,’ but that’s exactly what ‘Hail to the Deadites’ is.”
Review: Peter Medak’s ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers’
“If failure is the greatest teacher, then Peter Medak has earned his doctorate with ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers.'”
Review: Alison Ellwood’s ‘The Go-Go’s’
“‘The Go-Go’s’ boasts a treasure chest full of archival content in all shapes and sizes, and the imagery almost always complements the anecdotes told by the subjects with delightful detail.”
Review: Scott Crawford’s ‘CREEM: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine’
“There was nothing else like ‘CREEM’ back then, and there’s still nothing like it now. That’s not only a testament to the importance of the magazine, it’s also a sad commentary on what’s lacking in modern music criticism.”
Different Places: Jeffrey McHale’s ‘You Don’t Nomi’ Dances with the Legacy of ‘Showgirls’
“I was taken with You Don’t Nomi’s comfortable attitude toward the complexity and ambiguity of a text that can support and sustain such wildly opposite readings.”
Review: Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Brigitte’
“‘Brigitte’ is a slight and sweet addition to Ramsay’s catalogue, and it gently leaves its impressions.”
An Interview with ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ Filmmaker Turner Ross
Dominic Erickson Interviews ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ Filmmaker Turner Ross
Review: Spike Jonze’s ‘Beastie Boys Story’
“If you listen to Beastie Boys, Jonze’s technique — a familiar blend of rough and smooth, high tech and low tech — comes correct. If you don’t listen to Beastie Boys, the movie serves as a biographical and musical introduction.”
Review: Laurent Bouzereau’s ‘Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind’
“Trying to free Wood from the enormous shadow cast by her death is no small feat. ‘Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind’ doesn’t quite manage the task…”
Review: Alex Lee Moyer’s ‘TFW NO GF’
“By the time ‘TFW NO GF’ lets the viewer up for air, faith in the facts will have dissipated. It may feel like time to get offline, and stay there.”
World Cinema Project: The Sights and Sounds of a Nation – ‘Trances’ and ‘Redes’
“As with the underlying creed of Trances, the unambiguous intent of Redes’ communal message resonates in its country of origin and around the world, communicating the pleas for justice, egalitarianism and independence that are vital facets of life and are so often central to the best of all cinematic documentaries.”
Tribeca 2020 Documentary Round-Up: Pro Forma(t)
Tribeca Film Festival 2020: Marshall Shaffer on ‘Pray Away, ‘Socks on Fire, ‘499’ and ‘Through the Night’
The Ten Commandments: Observation and Humilty in Kazuhiro Sôda’s ‘Inland Sea’
“By focusing on three elderly Ushimado residents, Sôda has unconsciously managed to both comment on the present and the past, as the subjects seem like relics or museum articles that have come to life through monochromatic photography.”
Review: Steve Elkins’ ‘Echoes of the Invisible’
“‘Echoes of the Invisible’ is both calming and exhilarating in equal measure.”
Review: James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham’s ‘Crip Camp’
“Jened’s real-life teen angst and its participants’ hopes and dreams — from endless makeout sessions to the hysterical aftermath of a crab outbreak — are as horny, heartfelt and human as it gets.”
‘Finding Yingying’: A Search for Answers to an Unanswerable Situation
“‘Finding Yingying’ doesn’t try to offer answers that it can’t manifest in reality, and instead allows the legacy of its subject to lead the way, through intimate diary entries, by pondering the important questions of who we want to be, for each other and for our communities.”
Review: Midge Costin’s ‘Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound’
“‘Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound’ often turns its ears to previously unheard nooks and crannies that will light a fire in the next generation of world-class film artists.”
Interview with ‘Kindred Creatures’ Filmmaker Samuel Sprynczynatyk
‘Kindred Creatures’ is a feature-length documentary that explores the world of farm animals and the sanctuaries that rescue them. Check out VV’s interview with the North Dakota-based director Samuel Sprynczynatyk.
Why Criticism: Berlinale 2020 and the Power of Sound
Swedish Film Critic Jakob Åsell on the Sounds of Berlinale 2020