Documentary

The Painter and the Thief

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Painter and the Thief
  • IMDb: link

The Painter and the Thief DVD reviewThe Norwegian documentary by Benjamin Ree examines the unlikely friendship that develops between artist Barbora Kysilkova and one of the thieves, Karl Bertil-Nordland, who stole paintings from her exhibit. While Barbora is at first mostly concerned with recovering the missing artwork, she soon becomes drawn to Karl as a subject for her work. Barbora’s curiosity, rather than anger, towards the thief sets the stage for all that is to come.

With the lives of both subjects documented, and their time together, Ree uses some creative editing to decide how and when to provide certain information to the audience giving The Painter and the Thief a more narrative structure than most documentaries. The result gives us an inside look into the human flaws of both characters while beautifully showcasing how such an unlikely friendship could blossom under difficult circumstances. One of the most unexpected films of the year, The Painter and the Thief is a story of friendship, humanity, forgiveness, and struggle. It’s an inspiring tale that I’m not sure could have been made anywhere else.

…

The Painter and the ThiefRead More »

The Painter and the Thief Read More »

Dear Santa

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Dear Santa (2020)
  • IMDb: link

Dear Santa movie reviewIn a year of quarantine, social distancing, and both political and social unrest, Dear Santa is the salve we need. Not to be confused with the 2011 film starring Amy Acker, the documentary from Dana Nachman highlights the work being done in several cities around the United States to get Christmas presents to families in need. The documentary focuses on the United States Postal Service Operation Santa program which collects letters sent to Santa and allows anyone to adopt and send gifts on behalf of Santa Claus.

Nachman’s documentary highlights the history of the program, those currently in charge in multiple cities, how the program works, and volunteers from an elementary school classroom to a group of friends to an organized coalition who work every year to identify and offer Christmas cheer to those who need it most. In a year about what pulls us apart as a nation, Dear Santa reminds us of what can be achieved when we come together. If you are looking for some cathardic holidy schmaltz to make you feel better about where we stand, or if you are interested learning more about the program and helping out on your own, Dear Santa might be the right gift for you this Christmas.

…

Dear SantaRead More »

Dear Santa Read More »

Totally Under Control

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Totally Under Control
  • IMDb: link

Totally Under Control movie reviewTotally Under Control is an indictment of President Donald Trump and the national mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s both a chilling and enraging experience to have the months of inaction, series of missteps, casual disinterest, politicization of a health crisis, and frightening ineptitude chronicled with such precision. Interviewing medical professionals, scientists, and whistleblowers from within the CDC to Jared Kushner‘s volunteers, Totally Under Control highlights the many, many places where the United States went wrong in its policies towards COVID while comparing them to South Korea’s far more aggressive early measures which avoided the large death tolls continuing to rise in the United States.

One idea shared by directors Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan, and Suzanne Hillinger is that every health crisis could have been handled better. However, the staggering failure of the United States with COVID runs the gamut from a President not willing to hear the truth, experts fired for telling the truth, and policies put in place making it harder to get life saving masks and drugs to medical professionals until Trump was able to personally profit.

…

Totally Under ControlRead More »

Totally Under Control Read More »

Zappa

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Zappa
  • IMDb: link

Zappa movie reviewAlex Winter (Bill of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure fame) helms the new documentary on musician Frank Zappa. The aptly titled Zappa is most notable for Winter’s level of access to Zappa’s extensive vaults of video and musical recordings (he apparently recorded everything) along with interviews from those who knew him best. A mix of celebration of a genius and portrait of a self-indulgent individual catered to by a small but fiercely supporting base, Zappa explores the musician’s driving force to translate and recreate the music heard in his mind into reality.

What Winter delivers is an unapologetic portrait of a man who would likely have been interesting to meet but impossible to live with. While Zappa loved his wife and children, the documentary shows a man who didn’t necessarily believe in the idea of friendship while being largely obsessed in using people to manifest his own dreams into existence. The documentary also touches on Zappa’s experimental style, his celebrity within the music business, his aversion to making hit records, working as an ambassador for Czechoslovakia, and his growing role against censorship of music.

…

ZappaRead More »

Zappa Read More »

Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band
  • IMDb: link

Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band Blu-ray reviewAs the documentary’s title suggests, Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band focuses on Canadian-American rock group primarily through the lens of guitarist and songwriter Robby Robertson. Filled with terrific music, interviews, and some fun archival footage, the film by director Daniel Roher may not offer much in the way of surprises but does deliver a solid music documentary on how the group came to be.

From their time as a backup band to rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins and later Bob Dylan to The Band’s mainstream success, we get the story behind the band’s inventive nature embracing a wide variety of influences to create their own sound which continues to influence musicians to this day. The film also covers the more common themes of drugs and the fallout of the group. Included here are interviews from Martin Scorsese (who shot the group’s 1978 concert film The Last Waltz), Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, and others.

…

Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The BandRead More »

Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band Read More »