Blog Archives

excellent editing in Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present

9/26/2015

Not a small feat to take such a still subject and move it along swiftly and gracefully AND do so for a broad audience. Impressive weaving of present-tense and backstory. It left a stone or two unturned, which bothers some critics but not me. You can only pack in so much before a doc loses focus. Oh to be a fly on the cutting room wall... And this article by Sherry Turkle is a great companion piece.

lately I've come across fascinating stories about twins and doppelgängers.

9/19/2015

I enjoy thinking about different stories at the same time, like these three:

The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá - by Susan Dominus - NYTimes

‘‘It was like staring through a mirror, and on the other side of the mirror, there’s a parallel universe,’’ Jorge would say later.

The Pearl Button on my radar,

9/14/2015

I'm looking forward to Patricio Guzman's latest filmThe Pearl Button because of his previous film Nostalgia for the Light.

good news for the short doc form! Field of Vision.

9/12/2015

Field of Vision is a filmmaker-driven documentary unit that will pair filmmakers with developing and ongoing stories around the globe. Across three seasons each year, we will commission and create 40-50 original episodic and individual short-form nonfiction films. Our first season will begin September 29, 2015.

- Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack, Charlotte Cook

https://theintercept.com/fieldofvision

one of the best tracks for imagining...

9/11/2015

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

9/10/2015

... yup I’m just gonna live here in this little corner, in my coat, with my bag and my burgeoning euros, until my pile of euros grows this high. Then I can go and buy my herd of goats.
- Patti Smith in Patti Smith: Dream of Life by Steven Sebring

some of my favorite moments

surprisingly mesmerized by 'Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait'

9/9/2015

Thought I'd 'get it' after a few minutes and lose interest. Not the case.

This movie is a must-see for everyone interested in football, and anyone interested in how cinema is capable of stillness and portraiture, how it can do without the various conventions of fiction or documentary.
- Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian

still from Zidane: 21st Century Portrait

Alamar is a gem of cinema

9/8/2015

Blanquita the egret and Natan in Alamar

Technically not a documentary, I think this film hovers in the grey zone. The characters are played by non-actors, there are many unscripted moments (e.g. an egret arriving on set), and director Pedro González-Rubio's motivation (cited below) is driven by a very real and urgent matter, i.e. that this particular habitat is vanishing under 'development' along with the lifestyle that it sustains. What I find curious is that a very similar documentary came out in 2014 called Walking Under Water. Trailers for both below:

wildfire smoke from here (west coast) visits where I grew up (east coast)

9/1/2015