I couldn't decide whether I wanted to talk about the dreadful state of the documentary, the fact that I find Julian Schnabel's public persona off-putting, or bell hook's review of Basquiat that I read in a Z Magazine many years ago. I couldn't muster the energy for any of these points of departure. I mean yes documentaries are formally a lot less ( Read more... )

What's really remarkable about Thierry is what a confusing and unlikely mix of different extreme personality traits he is: traumatized OCD (endlessly and indiscriminately making tapes that just get hoarded), raw enthusiasm (to seek out new subjects), technical skill (not a great composer of shots, but able to use the equipment), shallowness (there ( Read more... )

I finally finished the last of The Battle of Chile I figured that since I've waited 5 years for it to become available I can stand to take my time watching it. The first two disks are the best and most astonishing. I liked how energetic the beginning was. The camera crew would run onto buses, stop traffic and shove their cameras into windows, and ( Read more... )

My favorite part was when Thurston Moore is talking about how in the No Wave days they went to galleries every night. He says, “That’s just how we survived in those days. We were living off the free booze and h'orderves.” That was the best. Times were so tough he was forced to live off of the foodstuffs of nightly gallery openings!! Amazing.

I don’t know how to explain this in words but I think I enjoyed this film more because of the fact that the anarchists in this squat were hardcore Christians. I don’t think I’d be too interested in a doc about the types of anarchists that I would know repeating the same types of principles that I' already familair with. This was different. And I’m ( Read more... )

This was the most original film I saw at Hot Docs and probably the most original thing I’ve seen this year. This reminds that not only are there new and interesting things you can do with the documentary form but also that even digital video can be beautiful. I just wanted to high five Hafstad after I saw this (but I actually just said, ‘Hey ( Read more... )

Mark was a animal rights activist, cyclist, and video editor who used to edit Hoolboom's work. This video documents Mark's life through video images, still images, and through conversations with those close to him. Mark took his own life at the age of 35 ( Read more... )

It's probably best to talk about this in relation to the succeeding film Mark because we can look at both films trying to do the same thing: re-connect with an absence. In this case it’s trying to cross oceans and also culture to connect with her parent’s country. He mother tells her right off, “you know nothing about the cultural dynamics of China ( Read more... )

"I have the feeling that I'm an animal," Varda muses aloud, "Worse, an animal I do not know ( Read more... )

Follows the lives of Cuban boat people who try to start better lives in the US. The cinematography and framing in particular, is very poor in Balseros. I worried it would have some ideological axe to grind against Cuba and show the US as this great savior. But there's no mistaking that every single successful Cuban transplant that made it to the US ( Read more... )