Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

— Some “mini series” are mini enough that they’re almost a feature film. With a bit of judicious editing, this could easily have dropped the “mini-series” moniker and been a little less scattered. Walker is known as the first female self-made millionaire in the U.S. The story’s fine and its hard to argue about the acting, but it seems like an unwieldy script, as though they worked too hard to make it fun and inspirational, perhaps at the expense of Walker’s historic value. I would have preferred to have eliminated the jazzed-up, fantasy segments that occasionally acted as transitions from one segment to another (they reminded me of the singing and dancing routines in TV’s quirky “Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist”). Even so, it didn’t stop me from watching all four, roughly 45-minute episodes and mostly enjoying them. Episodes 3 and 4, directed by DeMane Davis seemed to run a little less amok than Episodes 1 and 2, directed by Kasi Lemmons. [Netflix streaming.]

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[2020. 189 min. Episodes 1 & 2 directed by Kasi Lemmons; Episodes 3 & 4 directed by DeMane Davis. Starring Octavia Spencer, Tiffany Haddish, and Carmen Ejogo.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/self-made-inspired-by-the-life-of-madam-cj-walker

The Last Thing He Wanted

— Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck, along with Rosie Perez and Willem Dafoe? Based on Joan Didion’s novel? What could go wrong? Well, although Hathaway’s a good actor, it’s hard to make her look bad and that’s a problem for a reporter in Nicaragua who’s caught up in gunrunners, conspiracy and mayhem. It’s a confusing plot to follow, and just a little too fragmented for motivations to ever be clear. It’s hard to see the truth in most scenes, but maybe that’s half the intrigue. There’s an effort to add some clarity at the end for which I was grateful but, overall, this struck me as a complicated, multi-layered novel that just wasn’t well-suited to becoming a film at the hands of any but the most extraordinary scriptwriters. [Netflix streaming.]

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[2020. 115 min. Directed by Dee Rees. Starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Afflect, Rosie Perez, and Willem Dafoe.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-thing-he-wanted-movie-review-2020

Spenser Confidential

— When a couple of cops are murdered, ex-cop Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) and an MMA (Winston Duke) fighter try to figure out who the real murderer is. Helping them along the way is gym owner Alan Arkin, doing his usual anxious, befuddled character. Wahlberg is always likeable, but he’s just going through the motions on this one, and Winston Duke may just be miscast. If you’re a fan of ‘40’s fiction or ‘80’s television, you might not even recognize Spenser as having originated in Robert B. Parker's novels or portrayed by Robert Urich in “Spenser: For Hire.” It’s mild entertainment but nothing special. [Netflix streaming.] 

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[2020. 111 min. Directed by Peter Berg. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, and Alan Arkin.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spenser-confidential-movie-review-2020

Dick Johnson Is Dead

— “Dick Johnson Is Dead” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This is an unexpected blend of fiction and real life, making for a funny journey as father and daughter grapple with the father’s oncoming dementia. It helps that the daughter is the filmmaker and a pretty creative one at that. With humor and poignancy, she manages to get you thinking about the end we’ll all face eventually and the relationships we have. I liked the film a lot and it was recently picked up by Netflix.
      Description from the T/F website: “Every day we get older. We can’t stop time and beat death, but we can change the way we react. In the face of losing her father, Dick, to dementia, Kirsten Johnson takes her dad’s death into her own hands. Through a series of hilarious, heart-wrenching fake fatal accidents, action stunts, and macabre special effects, Johnson and her father collaborate in a grand exercise of cinematic shock therapy in order to confront the end together. Blending fiction (Dick is dead) and nonfiction (death itself), this colorful, wildly inventive follow-up to ‘Cameraperson’ (T/F 2016) plumbs the depths of disbelief and the heartache of grief by insisting on the now. A beautiful, deeply self-reflective film full of questions, anger, vulnerability, and laughter, ‘Dick Johnson is Dead’ will change the way you think about mortality, and bring you closer to the people you love.”

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[2020. 89 min. Directed by Kirsten Johnson.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/dick-johnson-is-dead-review-sundance-netflix-1202205541/

Mucho Mucho Amor

— “Mucho Mucho Amor” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This was another of my festival favorites and it will be available on Netflix “later this summer.” I had no idea who Walter Mercado was, but I guess if you lived in Central and South America or watched Univision, you and 120 million other people didn’t miss his show. What makes it so surprising is that he’s something of a mashup of Joel Osteen, Liberace, and Elvis, having the popularity of a televangelist, the gender fluidity an occasional entertainer exudes, and the loyal following of a rock god. Even in his upper 80s, he could turn on the charm and light up the screen, gathering energy from and giving love and hope to his fans. It’s one of those success stories that’s hard to believe, that comes with a bit of luck and bit of disappointment. Even after his fame subsided, he remained loved and beloved. It’s a wonderful story and the film's well done with gorgeous images.
      Description from the T/F website: “For 15 years, Univision’s news show ‘Primer Impacto’ closed its report not with the weekend weather or local boy makes good but with Walter Mercado, a fabulous, gender-fluid Puerto Rican astrologer who read the stars and told the future to more than 120 million viewers across Central and South America every day. As he read each sign’s horoscope, he peered into their souls and gave them hope. A classically trained Flamenco dancer, medicinal healer, and devout religious syncretist, Walter’s sartorial statements were inspired by opulent Spanish divas and the occult. A pioneering queer superhero in a cape, Walter brought joy, positivity, and magic to everything he did. So why did he mysteriously disappear?”

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[2020. 96 min. Directed by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch.]
https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/mucho-mucho-amor-review-1203477886/

Crip Camp

— “Crip Camp” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This was one of my festival favorites and it will be on Netflix starting March 25, 2020. It’s begins as a remembrance of a camp in the Catskills for teens with disabilities that, in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, looked more like a hippie commune than anything as its campers experienced the freedom to be themselves. The film eases into an exciting review of activities and protests that ultimately led to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The personalities are captivating. The stories are amazing. The film is wonderful.
      Description from the T/F website: “Summer camp is where hijinks, freedom, sexual awakening, and self-discovery flourish. Director Jim LeBrecht uses hilarious and tender archival footage to bring us back to the summer of ‘69, in the leafy green Catskills where he first attended Camp Jened. More than just a traditional sleep-away camp, Camp Jened was a radical refuge for teens living with physical and developmental disabilities that became the springboard for an intersectional, intergenerational movement for civil rights. Set to the revolutionary soundtrack of Woodstock, ‘Crip Camp’ offers incredible access to the first protests, co-ops, and sit-ins that changed our nation. Together with co-director Nicole Newnham and a whole cast of campers, counselors, and activists, LeBrecht’s ‘Crip Camp’ is a powerful story of a revolution of the mind, of attitudes, and of the heart.”

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[2019. 107 min. Directed by Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/crip-camp-review-netflix-sundance-1202205370/

The Mole Agent

— “The Mole Agent” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This was a perfect mix of humor and seriousness with an unlikely, likeable star, an 83-year-old gentleman who answered an ad to go undercover in a Chilean nursing home. The film’s pretty to look at, fun to watch, and still manages to keep a serious thread throughout, reflecting on old age, loneliness, and familial responsibility, and reminding us of the continued need for companionship, conversation, and caring as our bodies and emotions become more frail. This was one of my festival favorites.
      Description from the T/F website: “A woman hires a private detective to investigate rumors of elder neglect in her mother’s nursing home. The detective, in turn, enlists Sergio, a kindhearted recent widower, to infiltrate the facility and gather evidence. He learns how to operate spy cameras and moves into the home, where he quickly discovers he is one of only three men in this community ... and by far the most appealing bachelor. Director Maite Alberdi (‘Tea Time,’ T/F 2015) is there as well—she has convinced the nursing home to let her follow the new resident as he acclimates to his surroundings—as Sergio forges friendships, navigates the emotions of his suitors, and attempts to gain the trust of the client’s mother. This documentary spy thriller blossoms into a warmhearted consideration of how we treat one another.” https://filmmakermagazine.com/people/meredith-zielke-yoni-goldstein/#.XmFU6ahKg2w

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[2020. 90 min. Directed by Maite Alberdi.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/the-mole-agent-review-sundance-1202205522/

A Machine to Live In

— “A Machine to Live In,” directed by Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke, was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      I like architecture and am an Oscar Niemeyer fan, so I thought this film would be right up my alley. Not so. Brasilia’s architecture is featured as one view of utopia, but alongside other cult and mystical utopian structures and landscapes. There’s a blending of real and mythic with the film viewing Brasilia as a “generative domain for imagining alternative cosmologies” and creating individual utopia and new visions for the future. It’s all very mystical and a little hard to follow. Since it was a showing that started at 10:00 p.m. I gave up and left about an hour into it, before I was fully accepting of the possibilities.
      Description from the T/F website: “In this wildly inventive hybrid documentary, the feature debut from experimental film and installation artists Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke, viewers are transported to the space-age city of Brasília. A modernist architectural marvel, the city is a sparkling wasteland of machine dreams and aging monuments to a utopian future. Highlighting the sacred geometry of triangles and symmetry of lines, this sci-fi flick interrogates the semiotic structures that undergird the Martian outpost. With striking visuals and a thumping, electronic soundtrack, ‘A Machine to Live In’ is a transcendent, transcendental voyage through Brazil’s cosmic capital.”

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[2020. 87 min. Directed by Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke.]
https://filmmakermagazine.com/people/meredith-zielke-yoni-goldstein/#.XmFU6ahKg2w

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

— “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      I really liked Bill & Turner Ross’ “Western” when it showed at True/False 3-4 years ago and I agree the Rosses are phenomenal. “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” was good and the images were glorious, and the editing nicely done. It was self-contained and non-judgmental, evolving naturally, and even ending up someplace I kind of liked—where “families” form in all kinds of ways and people look out for each other—but I just wasn’t sure I liked its role as a genre-stretcher. I am not sure I want to stretch “documentaries” so far into the “fictional” world. In this case, it’s my understanding the film appears to take place at a Las Vegas dive bar on its the last night of business, with regulars coming to say their goodbyes. In reality, the bar never existed and a bar in New Orleans was used to film people hired to play unscripted characters over a 3-day shoot, including an 18-hour session that was the basis for the “documentary.” I’m still coming to grips with how fluid the definition of “documentary” should be and at what point it’s really a “docudrama.” Regardless, it’s well done and well worth seeing.
      Description from the T/F website: “The Las Vegas skyline is littered with unfinished high-rises, ostentatious displays of wealth from unknown developers. In the shadows of the cranes, a beloved neighborhood dive bar is closing its doors. Shot on the final day of operation, coincidentally (or not) right after the 2016 election, ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ watches with equal parts love, recognition, and amusement as a small but devoted clientele stop by for the final night of drinking. The festivities are lovely and low-key at first, but emotions heighten as the liquor keeps pouring, and soon the camera is dancing with the barflys, listening in on their intense conversations, and tagging along for delightful shenanigans. A tour de force of construction, this magical, atmospheric film operates simultaneously as a moving portrait of a bar family, a bittersweet state of the nation, and an ecstatic simulation of inebriation.”

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[2020. 98 min. Directed by Bill and Turner Ross.]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/bloody-nose-empty-pockets-review-1272822

Feels Good Man

— “Feels Good Man” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      Before I saw this film, I knew nothing about Pepe the frog or 4chan the message board. Had the film only been about Pepe, the star of the “Boy’s Club” comic uploaded to 4chan, with the catch phrase “feels good man,” I would have lost interest pretty quickly. But Pepe became an intellectual property issue when he took on a life of his own in the cyber world, “meme-fied” by his followers until his creator lost all control. In cyber space, he became less likeable, adorned with swastikas, associated with 9/11 and Donald Trump, and all sorts of vile and hateful things, eventually earning him a place in the ADL’s list of Hate Symbols. It’s a glimpse into the dark side of internet popularity, and the potential ”cost of ceding control of one’s work to the public at large.” The film seemed a little long, but it was worth seeing.
      Description from the T/F website: “In 2005, artist Matt Furie posted a cartoon strip to Myspace starring four stoner friends—Andy, Brett, Landwolf, and Pepe. Inspired by impish humor and boyhood mischief, Furie’s story about a little frog who likes to pee-pee with his pants down became wildly popular on new social media platforms such as 4chan, Reddit, and Twitter. As users adapted Matt’s image to fit their own playful or polemical ends, the meme began to mutate and Pepe the Frog was co-opted by an army of anonymous trolls. A rollicking horror flick about the zombie afterlife of images online and off, this film is a must-see for Walter Benjamin acolytes and anyone who lives on the internet – or wants to understand those that do.”

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[2020. 95 min. Directed by Arthur Jones.]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/feels-good-man-review-1273693

Mayor

— “Mayor” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This was a welcome surprise and ended up being one of my favorite films of the festival. I worried that following the mayor of Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital, might be a dose of too much global conflict. What I got was a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall look at the daily life of a second term, Christian mayor who’s calm and purposeful, worried about park benches and fountains and making Ramallah a nice place to live even in the midst of endless occupation. He’s constantly moving, meeting constituents, brokering deals, worrying about branding and presenting the best image to the outside world, and all the other details of running a city, even if its a city without a country. The film was shot in 2017, just as the U.S. announced it would be moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, complicating things even more by adding a global dimension to the job. Although the mayor’s focus is always on making things better for the citizens of Ramallah, he knows ending the occupation of Palestine is the ultimate goal. For me, it was helpful to see a small piece of the issue, to visualize the place, and to know the similarities we share. It opened my eyes. Although the mayor was flexible about many things, he was clear about where a line must be drawn: “It’s about dignity. And when it comes to dignity, I think it’s something non-negotiable.”
      Description from the T/F website: “Musa Hadid is the wry, level-headed mayor of Ramallah, a historically Christian city that has become the de facto capital of Palestine. Set during the Christmas season, ‘Mayor’ observes Hadid, e-cig in hand, as he traverses Ramallah to meet with constituents and manage the quotidian predicaments facing the city, all the while working toward a day when his nation will be truly free. Director David Osit’s patient camera reveals moments of absurd humor, lyricism, and even white-knuckle tension, all while allowing the less newsworthy aspects of oppression to be felt in indelible, organic ways.”

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[2020. 87 min. Directed by David Osit.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/mayor-review-ramallah-musa-hadid-1202215500/

Boys State

— “Boys State” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      This is just a nicely done documentary, focusing on a few key participants at Texas’ 2018 Boys State. It’s easy to get caught up in the political pressures and root for one candidate over another. Some candidates value honesty and sincerity while other target their messages and shift priorities, but that's to be expected since Boys State is a microcosm and national politics operate similarly, encompassing all kinds of values and strategies. It’s a glimpse at the generation about to enter the political arena and a reminder they may not be all that different. It’s also very well done and worth seeing. (Apple and A24 have acquired all global rights)
      Description from the T/F website: “What will the United States look like in 30 years? Over a single summer week, an ambitious and accomplished crop of teenage boys from across the state of Texas assembles at the state capital. Some plaster their bedrooms with portraits of Reagan; others look to Bernie as they imagine revolution. Strangers to one another, each is randomly assigned to one of two fictional political parties. Together, they must reach consensus on a platform and nominee to run head-to-head with the other party’s choice for the title of 2018 Texas Boys State governor. ‘Boys State’ is a miracle of documentary production, with a perceptive camera crew that happens to be everywhere at just the right time. We’re there as stars are born and campaigns come crashing down (monitor your Instagram accounts!). This delightful, insightful, and rousing film watches as its charismatic subjects figure out if it’s possible to unite a divided house.”

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[2020. 109 min. Directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss.]
https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/boys-state-review-1203489812/

So Late So Soon

— “So Late So Soon” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      I was enchanted by this tender look at two artists living in a home they’ve shared and embellished for decades on Chicago’s north side. Over the years they've also settled into all sorts of routines and married ways, but a tenderness shines through even when they bicker, and there's beauty to behold in every corner of their house and their hearts. As they near the end of the life they've made with each other, it’s hard not to hold your breath just a little, wanting to witness their energies a bit longer before the film ends. I like this sort of tender, little film.
      Description from the T/F website: “Chicago artists Jackie and Don Seiden are a half-century into their marriage, time spent creating distinct yet congruous bodies of work. Jackie makes art of everything around her. Central to her practice is a recognition of the fragility of materials. That conceptual interest has turned into daily reality, as both her body and one of her most ambitious art projects, her canary-yellow Victorian house, start to fall apart. Don’s work reveals a mind resigned to death. He has always been interested in the rules of nature, and now he finds himself facing inevitable health scares. ‘So Late So Soon’ is a sensitively constructed, playful character study that honors Jackie and Don’s art, and even becomes a part of it, while also locating in it glimmers of their essence.”

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[2020. 70 min. Directed by Daniel Hymanson.]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/late-soon-review-1282758

The Viewing Booth

— “The Viewing Booth” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      I am always interested in films that consider the effects of perspective on truth and reality, and in the gray edges that exist in so many things thought of as black and white. A viewing booth becomes an interesting contrivance to drive the point home at a time when so many people are pulled to the left or the right, polarized and set in their own perspectives and truths, where opinions shouted at cameras and across the social network are viewed as “news” instead of opinion or propaganda. It’s good to have films like this to remind us that we all see through different lenses and we all wear our own blinders.
      Description from the T/F website: “A student’s face is bathed in blue light as she sits alone, scanning YouTube. She is instructed by a researcher to watch a series of carefully curated videos designed to evoke a political or emotional response about international human rights issues, but the images take on new meaning under the scrutiny of a different perspective. As the researcher attempts to test belief, fact, and fiction, this film reminds us that anything is true from the right angle. A psychological thriller directed by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, whose previous films ‘The Law in These Parts’ (2011) and ‘The Inner Tour’ (2001) each concern the Israeli occupation of Palestine, ‘The Viewing Booth’ explores the production, consumption, and proliferation of media in polarized times.”

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[2019. 70 min. Directed by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz.]
http://ubiquarian.net/2020/02/film-review-viewing-booth-2019-raanan-alexandrowicz/

The Metamorphosis of Birds

— “The Metamorphosis of Birds” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      A day after I saw this film I overhead a conversation in which someone said it was their favorite film of the festival. I can only shake my head and say that's proof “there’s something for everyone” at True/False. I didn’t even make it through this mess of story that must have existed in layers hidden to me. Whatever value it has is packed in a film that often looks more like a slide show than a film, and an amateur slide show at that. When there was motion, it often should have been severely edited. I think it may just have been too intimate a tale or too Promethean a telling of the tale. Maybe it was just outside my cultural grasp. Whatever it was, it was wordy and subtitles flew across the screen continuously, to the point that you could miss the visuals entirely, particularly when trying to read white subtitles on white. All I can say is that some people loved it, and I didn't.
      Description from the T/F website: “A family preserves its memories in this epistolary love story. While Henrique is away at sea, his lifelong love Beatriz is left at home learning about plants and taking care of their six children. The couple keeps in touch through letters and journal entries recited throughout the film. “Let me die, standing up like the trees,” is whispered from a past note in a red-lit corridor. Beatriz and Henrique’s oldest son, Jacinto, wants to be a bird. We observe the growth, love, and despair of Beatriz, Henrique, and their family via director Catarina Vasconcelos’s beautifully reimagination of this personal and intimate tale, sonically activated by the blossoming of flowers.”

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[2020. 101 min. Directed by Catarina Vasconcelos.]
https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/386207

Faith

— “Faith” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      I chose to see this film more out of curiosity than anything, wondering what a blend of Shaolin and Catholic doctrines might be. My reaction wasn’t great, but I stayed with it, my interest still piqued thanks to its cult undercurrents and uncomfortable aura. I guess it was, as advertised, “serene and unsettling,” but that’s about all it was—I wasn’t able get beyond those feelings to something I wanted to keep with me.
      Description from the T/F website: “At a rural Italian monastery, the Warriors of Light adhere to a curious blend of kung fu, Shaolin doctrine, and Catholicism. At the behest of their Master, the warriors engage in highly strenuous daily athletics. These routines put the disciples under intense psychological pressures – all with the impending threat of being banished from the community. After 11 years of dedicated documentation, shooting entirely in black and white, director Pendicini molds her film as an entrancing religious thriller. The aesthetic choices provide a stark visual reckoning for the followers who question their values of faith, freedom, and society, while fully immersing the viewer in a world that’s both serene and unsettling.”

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[2019. 93 min. Directed by Valentina Pedicini.]
https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/faith-review-1203414235/

Time

— “Time” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      The film does what you might expect—touches on the inequity of prison sentences, but also defines time lost from a prison sentence not just in terms of what the prisoner loses, but also as the times lost by family and friends continuing their lives without the inmate as part of them. What set the film apart for me was seeing “Fox” Rich’s spirit as she raises her family, continually advocating for her imprisoned husband, keeping her love for him front and center and somehow conveying the importance of her husband’s love to her children. I haven’t seen many films where black families are portrayed as having tender, loving, and intimate family moments and I didn’t even realize it until I saw this film and the soft edges of relationships and moments in Rob and “Fox” Rich’s family life. That sense of love and strength maintained across the years is beautiful.
      Description from the T/F website: “A single moment in time can propel your life into new, unexpected directions. A single decision, a single chance, or a single mistake. We talk about time like we talk about movement, tumbling forwards, pregnant with possibility. In prison, the world races on without you, with your family and loved ones straddling parallel dimensions of space and time. Sibil “Fox” Rich’s family is split in two as her husband Rob serves the mandatory minimum sentence for a first-time offense committed in his 20s, and their sons grow into men. Garrett Bradley’s Time is a gorgeous decades-long portrait of Fox Rich—a tireless advocate, entrepreneur, and prison abolitionist—and a testament to the monumental strength of all women who love and support someone behind bars. Eighteen years of home miniDV tapes capture each year’s birthdays and milestones as Fox records video love letters to melt the iron bars of Louisiana's Angola prison and keep her family together.”

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[2020. 85 min. Directed by Garrett Bradley.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/time-review-documentary-garrett-bradley-1202208104/

Some Kind of Heaven

— “Some Kind of Heaven” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
      As someone of an age where retirement communities are a choice some people I know are making, The Villages represents that largest and, for some, scariest of the lot. You get a sense of just how large the community is and how many options are available, and the bubble in which its residents live, but the focus isn’t really on The Villages, it’s on the way we define ourselves in older age, the circumstances in which we find ourselves and how we deal with them, the need for emotional connections, perhaps even over physical comfort. One of the highlighted characters ended up realizing he had to choose between comfort and freedom. I smiled, thinking that there’s some irony it should come down to that choice for a generation originally defined by social and political unrest. (It is worth mentioning that Darren Aronofsky is credited as a producer.)
      Description from the T/F website: “A Floridian garden of earthly delights and its discontents, Some Kind of Heaven follows retirees newly arrived at the fountain of youth. At The Villages, a married couple, a widow, and a bachelor find Eden and a second bite at the apple. An area handyman looks for work while a woman toys with love after loss and joining the parrotheads, and each of the deadly sins is out on full display. From synchronized swimming to pickleball, the good life is waiting, as well as a discounted funeral package now at a new, lower price. In a transcendent debut film that puts a twist on the “long-term” relationship, Oppenheim digs below the perfect facade to explore each person’s oscillation between integrity and despair, reinvention and recklessness, freedom and familiar safety. A film that reminds us that we all leave this Earth the way we came.”

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[2020. 81 min. Directed by Lance Oppenheim.]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/some-kind-heaven-review-1274913