B+ Documentary Directed by Jessica Yu How do you judge a political documentary? Artistic and technical merit? How well it argues its case? Is it entertaining? How important is the subject? Do you agree with what it says? Jessica Yu’s examination of the water crisis looming over the human race does reasonably well on all [...]
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This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival ended with a blast of rock and roll. B+ Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey I’ve never been a fan of Journey, but this music documentary made me a fan of the band’s new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. He’s charismatic, energetic, down-to-earth, and funny. He also has a great [...]
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I got a surprise when I stepped out of the Montgomery BART station on my way to the San Francisco International Film Festival. I ran into a Occupy-themed May Day protest blocking Market St. That provided two dilemmas. First, should I go to the festival, or take part in the protest? Second, when I decided [...]
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I closed out the second San Francisco International Film Festival weekend with another documentary. This one wasn’t about our horrifying future, but our wild past. B+ The Source You’d expect a documentary about an early 70s LA-based cult and hippy commune, centered around a charismatic leader, to be an exposé–names like Charles Manson and Jim [...]
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My first movie today at the San Francisco International Film Festival wasn’t exactly fun, but it’s arguably the most important film I’ve seen at this year’s festival. B+ Last Call at the Oasis Water covers most of this planet’s surface, yet the human race is rapidly running out of safe drinking water. Unless you’re deep [...]
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Within minutes of getting out of Unforgiven, I was back in the same auditorium for this documentary. B+ Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present I’ve never seen the point of performance art (as opposed to the performing arts, which I love), but Matthew Akers’ documentary on this particular performing artist won me over. It follows [...]
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It’s been an unusual day at the festival. Here’s what I’ve seen: Master Class: Malcolm Turvey: Tati, Chaplin and the Democratization of Comedy I started the day with professor Malcolm Turvey, lecturing on Jacque Tati and how his comedy related to what he described as the “classical comedy” of Chaplin, Keaton, and other silent clowns. [...]
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B Pop-culture documentary Directed by Morgan Spurlock Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary will disappoint his fans, which is odd because it’s all about fandom. In this documentary, Spurlock doesn’t experiment with diet or sell himself to corporations. He doesn’t even put on a Batman costume. In fact, Spurlock never appears on camera and you never hear [...]
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A Tibetan Buddhist master and his westernized son clash over the young man’s place in the old man’s cultural and religious world. It’s a story as old, or older, than The Jazz Singer. But in My Reincarnation, a documentary by Jennifer Fox, it’s made new again. B+ Documentary Directed by Jennifer Fox Chögyal Namkhai Norbu [...]
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B- Documentary · Written and Presented by Robert X. Cringely · Directed by Paul Sen Even an Apple cynic like myself must admit that Steve Jobs drastically changed the world we live in, and mostly for the better. I’m writing this on a Windows computer, I have a Creative Zen music player, and my smartphone [...]
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