I've managed to preview three films that will screen at the upcoming DocFest (two of them Bay Area-based). Here's what I thought of them: A- Public Sex, Private Lives Skip this movie if you're simply looking for titillation. But if you're really curious about the performers who make a living (and apparently a good one) … Continue reading DocFest Preview
Category: Documentaries
Cambodia, India, and the Cloud: SFIFF Documentary Sunday
I saw three films at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Sunday--all documentaries. That wasn't planned. It just worked out that way. B+ A River Changes Course Kalyanee Mam's ethnographic documentary follows three struggling families in modern-day Cambodia. And while no river literally changes course, the modern world forces the film's protagonists to severely … Continue reading Cambodia, India, and the Cloud: SFIFF Documentary Sunday
SFIFF Saturday: Koreans in Japan, Geek Nostalgia, and a Surreal Documentary
Here's what I saw Saturday at the San Francisco International Film Festival B Our Homeland For second-generation ethnic Koreans living in Japan, going "home" was once very important--even though "home" was the living nightmare of North Korea. In this calmly heart-breaking drama, a man in his early 40s who migrated to a Korea he'd never … Continue reading SFIFF Saturday: Koreans in Japan, Geek Nostalgia, and a Surreal Documentary
The Source Family
B+ Documentary Directed by Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos Hippies, drugs, free love, meditation, spiritual quests, and Los Angeles-based vegetarian restaurants. You'll find all of that in The Source Family. For me, the movie was downright nostalgic. No, I was never a member of Jim Baker’s "family," called The Source and the subject of this … Continue reading The Source Family
SFIFF Sunday: Fishy Documentary & Resisting the Nazis
Much of what I end up watching at the San Francisco International Film Festival is a matter of pure serendipity. I pick the film that's about to start playing. But there are also times when I very much want to see a particular movie. Saturday afternoon and evening, I did one of each. And serendipity … Continue reading SFIFF Sunday: Fishy Documentary & Resisting the Nazis
SFIFF Friday: Chilean Black Comedy, Russian Whodoneit, and American Rockumentary
Here's what I saw at my first almost-full day at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. I caught all of these films at the Kabuki. B- Night Across the Street Writer/director Raúl Ruiz was dying of cancer when he made this strange, surreal comedy. Not surprising that it's all about death. A moderately elderly … Continue reading SFIFF Friday: Chilean Black Comedy, Russian Whodoneit, and American Rockumentary
The Central Park Five
A documentary Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon In 1989, a white woman was brutally raped and left for dead in Central Park. New York's finest arrested five black and Puerto Rican teenage boys, all of whom confessed under police interrogation. Their confessions contradicted each other, and they all contradicted the physical … Continue reading The Central Park Five
The House I Live In
B Documentary Directed by Eugene Jarecki The United States has 5% of the world population, but 25% of the world's incarcerated prisoners. African Americans make up 13% of the country's population, and an estimated 13% of its drug users, yet 90% of those jailed for non-violent drug offenses are black. Those are just some of … Continue reading The House I Live In
My Day at the Mill Valley Film Festival
I spend Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Here's what I saw and what I thought about it: New Movies Lab: Industry Panel I started the day not with a movie, but with a panel discussion on how independent filmmakers can promote their films and get people to see them. Much of it concentrated … Continue reading My Day at the Mill Valley Film Festival
Somewhere Between
B- Documentary Directed by Linda Goldstein Knowlton Approximately 35,000 Chinese girls have been adopted by American families since 1985 (reference). Linda Goldstein Knowlton, herself the new mother of an adopted Chinese daughter, follows the lives of four now-teenage adoptees to discover how their split Chinese and American identities work out. Her uneven film is often … Continue reading Somewhere Between
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