Category: Documentary

By Joe Bendel. It was a case of one legendary director replacing another. Billy Wilder was in and Alfred Hitchcock was out, but the project was not a suspense-thriller, like Double Indemnity. It was a Holocaust documentary that was to incorporate devastating footage shot by Allied film crews during the liberation of National Socialist concentration camps. Only years later would a partial, incomplete cut see any sort of meaningful exhibition. However, the British Imperial War Museums have recently reconstructed and restored the intended director’s cut of the bureaucratically titled German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. Yet, there is still more to the story that is finally told in Andre Singer’s documentary, Night Will Fall, which premieres this coming Monday on HBO.

Some Hitchcock completists will be familiar with what was retitled Memory of the Camps when it aired on PBS, but the print was decidedly rough and the final reel was missing. Technically, it had never been completed (a problem the restoration team rectified using the surviving screenplay and cue lists). While it was generally known Hitchcock was more of an advisor than a hands-on director, Singer and company actually make a compelling case his vision largely guided the direction and aesthetic of the planned documentary.

While Hitchcock researchers really should consider it part of his filmography, producer Sidney Bernstein was the man most responsible for its day-to-day production and editing. Unfortunately, he would not see it to completion. With signs of the Cold War already surfacing during the early days of the Occupation of Berlin, the Allies essentially put the project in turnaround. The Americans still wanted a picture to convince Germans of their national guilt, so they recruited Wilder to recut some excerpts into the documentary short subject Death Mills.

As fascinating as the story is, Hitchcock fans will be disappointed he does not factor into Night to a greater extent, but he was only assigned to the project for a month. Nevertheless, they will gain a considerable appreciation for Bernstein, his team of editors, and the brave military cameramen who recorded the nightmarish footage in the first place. Ultimately, it is a tribute to their work, which in many cases left deep psychological and spiritual scars.

There are some dramatic interviews with surviving veterans and the excerpts from the finally finished film are truly horrific. Night also supplies a good deal of explanatory context that ought to be quite familiar to most viewers, but sadly is probably necessary given the declining level of historical awareness among younger generations and the precipitous rise of anti-Semitism abroad. If you have seen the work of Lanzmann and Ophüls, you should already know full well the bigger truths, but there are still telling details to be found throughout.

At just seventy-nine minutes, Night is brisk but surprisingly comprehensive. It also further burnishes Hitchcock’s reputation and gives Bernstein his long overdue acknowledgment. One can imagine it works best screening in conjunction with the restored Factual Survey (as it did at last year’s Berlinale), but it easily stands alone (as it will on HBO). Highly recommended for general audiences and particularly for students of history and cinema, Night Will Fall debuts this Monday (1/26) and repeats on various arms of HBO over the following days and weeks.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 4:05pm.

By Joe Bendel. Manny Pacquiao is hardly the world’s preeminent boxer-politician. Even if his first term in the Philippines’ congress had not been a bit of a “learning experience,” incumbent Kiev Mayor and Maidan supporter Vitali Klitschko would still easily hold that honor (maybe Sebastian Dehnhardt should consider a follow-up doc, soon). However, Pacquiao has become a Horatio Algerish icon for his countrymen, with good reason. Pacquiao’s remarkable success in the ring and his indomitable faith are chronicled in Leon Gast & Ryan Moore’s Manny, which opens this Friday in New York.

Pacquiao’s childhood was everything you would expect, except even more desperately poor. When children his age should have been in elementary school, he worked what jobs he could find and went without meals, so his mother and sisters could eat. Somehow fate delivered him into a boxing ring, where the scrawny kid ploughed through the considerably larger competition. Soon, the only place left for him to find fights was America. Again fate guided him to Freddie Roach’s gym, where the trainer and pugilist immediately clicked. He was not so fortunate with his early management, but that has to be the oldest story in boxing.

Presumably, it would take something special to get Gast to return to the ring, having already won an Oscar for When We Were Kings, considered by many the definitive boxing doc (though we’re obviously still partial to Klitschko), but it is easy to see what drew him to Pacquiao. The boxing congressman had at least two fights in 2011 worthy of Rocky II, one that he won but probably should have lost, and one that he lost but really should have won. Naturally, these bouts constitute a good portion of the film’s third act.

Such times would try many a man’s soul, but the glue holding together Pacquiao and his documentary profile is his devout Catholic faith. His sincerity comes through clearly and it is impressive. It might not be on their radar, but Manny is a film Catholic and evangelical audiences should adopt.

Of course, there are lighter moments too, including clips from Pacquiao’s grade Z Filipino action films. For some reason Jeremy Piven is one of several celebrity talking heads paying tribute to the fighter, but the choice of Liam Neeson to narrate makes considerably more sense. Frankly, he has the perfect voice for the job—sensitive, but undeniably badass. Hopefully, he also gave Pacquiao tips on choosing film projects, like say a thriller in which he is searching for a kidnapped loved one.

It almost feels like Manny ends before the big climatic pay-off, but it is still a compelling story of a rousing underdog life. There is good boxing material here, but it is just as much about faith and family. Recommended for sports fans and Christian viewers, Manny opens this Friday (1/23) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 20th, 2014 at 9:47pm.

By Joe Bendel. Strictly speaking, Christopher Kirk was not catfished or anything of the like. He knew the woman he called V. in the flesh, but she still played him for a sap. Truth is a slippery notion when it comes to their odd tale. One murky thing lead to another, resulting in a Brazilian prison sentence for Kirk. It is there María Bühler & Matias Mariani interviewed him for their documentary investigation-meditation I Touched All Your Stuff, which screens during the Museum of the Moving Image’s 2015 First Look (this year’s coverage is brought to you by the letter “I”).

Blame Pablo Escobar or maybe Keith Olbermann. Even if they are not directly at fault, they make the story even weirder. Kirk had done a number of interviews with media types like Olbermann after a house-sitting friend wrapped everything in his apartment with aluminum foil (leaving a note with the titular taunt). Kirk had already grown weary of the rat race (seriously, as an IT guy in Olympia, Washington?), so on a half-planned whim, he set off to visit a buddy in Colombia and see Pablo Escobar’s hippos. As the last remnant of the drug lord’s private wildlife park, the transplanted hippopotamus colony has grown and thrived in their new Colombian climate. At least things turned out well for them.

Kirk lost interest in the hippos when he met V., a more demur and studious acquaintance of his buddy’s party girl friends. Half Japanese and half Colombian, she is by all accountants quite stunning, but viewers will not know for certain, because every surviving picture of her is blurrier than the average Big Foot photo. Of course, that is also part of the film’s intrigue.

For a while Kirk and V maintained a pretty heavy long-distance relationship. Yet, in retrospect, Kirk identifies odd little moments he should have paid more attention to. Regardless, he could not ignore the suspicious circumstances when he started meeting her dodgy friends. Still, she kept him on the hook, because of obvious reasons.

Kirk is a natural born story teller and Bühler & Mariani have a keen sense of the film’s narrative structure, allowing the strangeness to steadily escalate. However, viewers should be cautioned not to emotionally invest in Kirk as a tragic protagonist. After all, he is in prison for something.

Stuff is the darnedest doc. Bühler & Mariani do not exactly connect every dot in V and Kirk’s mysterious lives, but the combination of what they know for sure and their working assumptions feels like ninety percent of the truth. Of course, that confounding ten percent is what fascinates and nags at the viewer.

There are probably a few too many scenes of skype and IM chats in Stuff, but its inherent mysteries and general attitude are quite compelling. Consider it a post-modern excursion into true crime or a documented urban legend. All that’s missing is a man with a hook. Highly recommended, I Touched All Your Stuff screens this Friday (1/16), as part of this year’s First Look at MoMI in Astoria, Queens.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 16th, 2015 at 12:58pm.

I COMME IRAN de Sanaz Azari | CVB AUTEUR | BANDE-ANNONCE from CVB-VIDEP on Vimeo.

By Joe Bendel. You can find some rather unpleasant images and references in the text books of post-Islamic Revolutionary Iran. Nobody understands that better than an Iranian-Persian filmmaker’s Persian tutor. However, he still uses a problematic text due to a lack of better options. His language lessons will illuminate deeper truths in Sanaz Azari’s I for Iran, which screens during the Museum of the Moving Image’s 2015 First Look.

Azari was born in Iran, but lived in Brussels since early childhood. As a result, she did not speak Persian until she enrolled in classes as an adult. During her studies, she was struck by the way language carries cultural specific codes and meanings. This was particularly so with respects to Persia and Iranian identity, even and especially following the revolution. As he bemoans their textbook, Behrouz Majidi will expound on the beauties and ironies of Persian culture in a series of improvised lectures.

That might sound rather academic, but Majidi is the sort of screen presence who could read the Brussels phone book and keep the audience riveted. His delivery is sort of like vintage Mark Twain—drily witty and deceptively elliptical. Just when you think he is hopelessly off point, he brings each mini-monologue home with panache. At times he waxes nostalgic for lost Iranian treasures, like the storied Shirazi wine the Islamist government has long since forbidden. When he addresses current events, such as the 2013 presidential elections, his analysis also sounds pretty darn spot-on.

Unfortunately, that means Majidi is more of a realist than an optimist. However, his love for Persian culture and nostalgia for the Iran that once was is wholly engaging and at times quite touching. In between his improvised riffs, Azari presents a sort of visual free association based on the particular Persian letter under discussion. Frankly, these seem to work better over time, with the latter chain of images taking on far more evident meaning. Still, for the most part, they just take viewers away from the heart of the film.

I for Iran might sound simple and in terms of its formal structure it certainly is. However, despite its mere fifty minute running time, it overflows with thoughtful insights on human nature and grand themes like freedom, cultural survival, and human dignity. For such an unassuming film, it really sticks with viewers. Even though it is hard to define its cinematic category and the exact nature of Majidi’s performance, it still ought to be a star-making turn. Surprisingly moving, I for Iran is very highly recommended when it screens this Saturday (1/17), with the equally difficult to classify International Tourism as part of this year’s First Look at MoMI.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on January 14th, 2015 at 11:10pm.

By Joe Bendel. Wrap your head around this—Giuseppe Andrews has made more full length features than either Terrence Malick or Quentin Tarantino. Andrews would consider Garbanzo Gas his tenth “proper” feature, but there were ten or so earlier films that just didn’t come together the way he hoped. Of course, Andrews will be the first to admit “proper” is a decidedly subjective term in his case. Adam Rifkin documents Garbanzo’s whirlwind preproduction and two day shooting schedule in Giuseppe Makes a Movie, which opens this Thursday at Anthology Film Archives.

Andrews lives in a Ventura trailer park, next to his producer-father, Ed, a former back-up musician with the Bee-Gees. After previous stretches of veritable homelessness, both men feel they have finally put down roots. The experience gives them a clear affinity for their regular cast-members, most of whom are either homeless or living a half step away. Yet, they have made lasting friendships and scored quick pocket money through their work on Andrews’ films.

Based on the behind-the-scenes footage of Garbanzo and the judiciously selected clips of his precious movies, an Andrews joint looks darned near unwatchable. Yet, despite his obvious eccentricities, the micro-budget auteur comes across quite well adjusted and even sort of insightful. Unlike Ed Wood or American Movie’s Mark Borchardt, Andrews harbors no illusions about the level of his artistry. Nor would he argue he just needs some time to hone his craft, like the ambitious filmmaking duo in Journey to Planet X. Instead, Andrews more or less acknowledges he is a Z-grade filmmaker, but he is okay with that, which is cool.

In fact, Andrews is clearly well versed in European auteurs like Fassbinder and Buñuel, has a normal girlfriend, and maintains an obscenely healthy diet. Naturally, lunacy is inescapable on his sets, but his shoots are considerably calmer than you would expect. Frankly, aspiring micro-budget filmmakers should check out his technique, because he must be doing something right, considering how prolific he is. Arguably, he is a real professional, at least by some weird standard. Maybe Martian.

There are plenty of head-shakingly insane moments in GMaM, but for the most part, it is Andrews’ earnestness and energy that propels the film along, as well as the camaraderie of his ensemble players, such as Vietnam Ron, Sir Bigfoot George, Walt Dongo, and “Spit.” It is pretty hilarious watching “the magic” happen, but Andrews’ affection for these outsiders’ outsiders is rather endearing. Recommended for idealistic cineastes and those who appreciate the micro-budget scene, Giuseppe Makes a Movie opens this Thursday (1/15) in New York, at Anthology Film Archives, where they are also screening Andrews’ Garbanzo Gas and In the Garden, so good luck with those if you’re going.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 14th, 2015 at 11:07pm.