Tag: Documentary Film Review
Timestamp | 2025 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Schools of Survival: Gornostai Probes the Resiliency of Ukraine’s Education System During Wartime
Despite reflecting the distressing normalization of wartime on an entire generation of...
Youth (Homecoming) | Review
Last Train to Zhili: Bing Brings Youth Cycle to Circular Close
Wang Bing completes his ‘Youth’ trilogy with finale Youth (Homecoming), which features the most...
Youth (Hard Times) | Review
Make the Best of Us: Bing’s ‘Youth’ Cycle Expands Into the Gloom
The middle part of Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy, Youth (Hard Times) perhaps more...
Dahomey | Review
Plunder Years: Diop Reflects on the Complex Realities of Reparation
The spirit of Ozymandias, the classic poem from Percy Bysshe Shelley, might rouse itself in...
Homegrown | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Been Caught Stealing: Premo Watches the Pendulum Swing Right
Utilizing the January 6 United States Capitol attack as the docu’s rousing finale, Homegrown delves deep...
The Invasion | 2024 Cannes Film Festival Review
Life During Wartime: Loznitsa’s Gaze Blankets Ukraine
Director Sergei Loznitsa continues as the ultimate contemporary chronicler of Ukraine’s past and present, his latest, the aptly...
Une Famille | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
A Letter to Daddy: Angot Continues Confrontation of Incest
In short, there is no way to rate a film like Une Famille, the debut documentary...
Architecton | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Judgment in Stone: Kossakovsky Gazes Into the Concrete Jungle
Celebrated documentarian Viktor Kossakovsky explores our complex relationship with concrete in the abstract visual feast, Architecton....
Youth (Spring) | Review
The Workshop Around the Corner: Bing Threads Through Textile Manufacturing
Having filmed from 2014 to 2019 in the city of Zhili, Youth (Spring), one...
Four Daughters (Les filles d’Olfa) | Review
Leave Them to Heaven: Ben Hania Experiments with Form in Anguishing Roleplay
For her sixth feature, Four Daughters, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania takes a...
Lynch/Oz | Review
Follow the Celluloid Road: Philippe Explores the Magnificent Ozsessions of David Lynch
The next best thing to a new David Lynch project has to be...
Par Coeurs | Review
A Matter of Method: Jacquot Surveys the Techniques of Two French Titans in Conversational Doc
“I’m all at sea,” moans Isabelle Huppert at the onset...
The Super 8 Years | Review
Parting Glances: Ernaux Ponders the Past with Intimate Documentary Debut
Although a prominent novelist in France over the past several decades, writer Annie Ernaux has...
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Review
The Nan Movie: Poitras Presents Ravages of the Opioid Crisis Through Portrait of an Artist
Academy Award winning documentarian Laura Poitras’ latest documentary All the...
Casa Susanna | 2022 Venice Film Festival Review
The Enchanted Cottage: Lifshitz Salvages a Segment of Transgender History
Although he began his directorial career in the vein of free-spirited indie narratives navigating the...
Mr. Bachmann and His Class | Review
Teacher Feature: Speth Captures the Complex Alchemy of Education and Empathy in Moving Documentary
What do you remember most about your experience as a student,...
Flee | Review
Flee a Mile in your Neighbor’s Shoes: Ramussen’s Refugee Doc Is A Journey Worth Taking
Evocative animation, first-person pain and a strong dose of hope...
Try Harder! | Review
A Dream Deferred: Debbie Lum’s Masterclass in Self-Esteem
Try Harder! is a supremely moving documentary about high schoolers in the throes of their college application...
The Herd | 2021 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
There's No I in Team: Kotecka and Poryzala's Vaulting Doc is High on Girl Power
Things that amaze us, and quite often scare us, have...
Trenches | 2021 Venice Film Festival Review
Gone to Graveyards: Bureau Mines the Surreal Tragedy of Ongoing Ukrainian Conflict
Ukrainian auteur Sergei Loznitsa has, heretofore, presented the most comprehensive cinematic examinations of...
Returning to Reims (Fragments) | 2021 Cannes Film Festival Review
Blue is the Warmest Collar: Periot’s Projects a Sublime Visualization of Potent Memoir
For his third feature length documentary, Jean-Gabriel Périot tackles the celebrated 2009...
All These Sons | 2021 Tribeca Film Festival Review
Swerve & Protect: Liu/Altman Display Resilience at the Core
Bing Liu and Joshua Altman’s All These Sons is a rousing, hauntingly powerful tableau about the...
The Kids | 2021 Tribeca Film Festival Review
The Kids Aren’t All Right: Martin Offers a Case Study on Exploitation from 90s Cult Film
It’s mind boggling to look back on the not-too-distant...
Gunda | Review
That’ll Do, Pig: Animal Farm IRL
Viktor Kossakovsky brings us an astonishing triptych of pigs, cows and chickens in Gunda, his poignant evocation of life...
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World | 2021 Sundance Film Festival Review
Bjorn Again: Lindstrom & Petri Examine the Plight of the Beautiful and the Damned
For those unfamiliar with the name Bjorn Andresen, the documentary The...
Notturno | Review
Darkest Nocturne Before the Dawn: Rosi’s Vision of War-Torn Lives
Filmed on the borders of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Kurdistan over the past three years,...
76 Days | Review
76 Days Later: From the Frontlines of Wuhan
As one of the earliest documentaries to cover the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China, Hao Wu’s 76...
Collective | Review
The Fire Next Time: Nanau Finds Homegrown Corruption in Scandalous Expose
The importance of actual investigation journalism is presented in all its full-blown glory with...
Going for Gold | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
From Hero to Traitor: Szczepanik Focuses on Gestures that Alter History
Going For Gold is the fourth docu item by Polish director Ksawery Szczepanik. His...
Time | Review
Lost in Time: One Family’s Decades-Long Battle Against Injustice
How do you measure lost time? At once elegiac and lyrical, Garrett Bradley’s documentary Time explores...
American Murder: The Family Next Door | Review
Marriage Story: Popplewell Explores Watts Family Tragedy
If Tolstoy asserted through his opening statements in Anna Karenina an adage of all happy families being the...
Space Dogs | Review
Every Dog Will Have Her Day: Kremser & Peter Create a Canine Ghost Story in Moody Doc
One mustn’t love dogs, per se, to enjoy...
You Don’t Nomi | Review
Eyes Without Versace: McHale Explores the Cult of Camp with Doc Debut
What constitutes camp and how it can be created has long been an...
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind | Review
This Property is Condemned: Bouzereau Recuperates an Icon with Familial Portrait
Her death by drowning at the age of forty-three while vacationing on Catalina Island...
Never Happened | 2019 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Rewriting History: Bereznakova Presents Fresh View on Two Decade Poli-Scandal
After working short documentaries, experimental and television film formats, Slovak director and video artist Barbora...
The Proposal | Review
Bargaining for Barragan: Artist Jill Magid Offers Mystery-Thriller-Docu
Jill Magid is the director, subject, narrator, but above all else, she is a provocateur of a...
Hail Satan? | Review
The Politics of Evil: Lane makes Satanists of Us All with Amusing, Thought-Provoking Doc
Docu filmmaker Penny Lane explores the contradictions of society, religion and politics...
I Am Mother | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
They Call Me Mother: Sputore Examines What It Means to Be Human in Sci-Fi Debut
Australia’s Grant Sputore makes an impressive directorial debut with the...
The Magic Life of V | 2019 Sundance Film Festival Review
V for Vanquish: Hristov Showcases Role-Playing as Trauma Therapy in Intimate Doc
For his seventh documentary feature, Finland’s Tonislav Hristov returns to his home country...
Bathtubs Over Broadway | Review
One Man’s Quest to Spotlight the Unsung Stars of Industrial Musicals
Comedy writer Steve Young’s fascination with a peculiar oddity takes him on a personally...
Distant Constellation | Review
Time Is Not On Our Side: Mizrahi Mesmerizes And Bemuses With Meditative Doc
The nature of time is undoubtedly one of the most abstruse themes...
Putting Lipstick on a Pig | 2018 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Show Me The Money: Karrento Investigates the Hidden Side of Online Gambling
While the Nordic way of life is famous and possibly admired worldwide, some...
The Price of Everything | Review
The Difference Between Price And Value: Kahn Seeks Answers To Unanswerable Questions
The modern art world has been inexorably bound to the whims of collectors...
On Her Shoulders | Review
Carry That Weight: Bombach Bares The Whole Yazidi Soul Through Murad’s Personal Hell
The copious trove of data involving the millions afflicted by the crimes...
Dark Money | Review
Follow The Money: Reed’s Financial Exposé Is Highly Significant Yet Somewhat Clumsy
The rise of unregulated campaign finance in American elections coinciding with the collapse...
Hal | Review
My Friend Hal: Scott Redefines the Showbiz Doc With Show-Stopping Debut Feature
Hal Ashby was one of the finest cinematic craftsmen who ever lived, with...
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection | Review
It’s Your Serve: Faraut Extends the Cut With McEnroe Metacinematic Retrospective
John McEnroe has been considered (and possibly always will be) one of the greatest...
Minding the Gap | Review
Skating on Thin Ice: Bing Liu’s Powerful, Autobiographical Domestic Abuse Doc
Bing Liu’s documentary Minding The Gap contains more entertainment—and more authenticity—than most narrative features...
The King | Review
Who Anoints The King? Jarecki Demystifies Elvis And The American Dream
It isn’t common to see the likes of Chuck D, Ethan Hawke, James Carville,...
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist | Review
Pants And Punk: Tucker Stitches A Unique Though Patchy Portrait Of Fashion Icon
The core concept of punk, and its origins, have been the cause...
