Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story documentary review: beauty is a beast
The infuriatingly tragic true story of the Hollywood superstar whose brain was ignored because she was beautiful. A stupendous tribute to a remarkable woman.
documentary
A Murder in Mansfield documentary review: a reconciliation with tragedy (Doc NYC 2017)
An honest and brave portrait of the trauma and grief of those in the immediate periphery of a terrible crime. A simple, intimate film, and a powerful one.
Faces Places (Visages, Villages) documentary review: art to the people
Film legend Agnès Varda and photomuralist JR take us on a road-trip art project that is joyful, funny, and invites us to see the world through truly open eyes.
#LFF2017: Blade of the Immortal, Gemini, Makala
Quick takes from the now-wrapped 61st London Film Festival.
Pecking Order documentary review: ruffled feathers and fowl play
An absolutely hilarious and very pointed exploration of politics and culture on the smallest possible scale. And a lot of good-lookin’ chickens.
California Typewriter documentary review: a qwerty little passion
A winsome spell of romance and nostalgia and adorably dorky passion. This is not a portrait of people with an odd hobby: it is a hymn to mechanical beauty.
La Soledad movie review: life and beauty among the ruins
An extraordinary blend of documentary and fiction, a strikingly intimate, humane tale of a family, a house, and a nation. Like nothing you’ve seen before.
Step documentary review: dance into the future
Covers ground — the lives of black teen girls — that mostly goes unexamined onscreen. It couldn’t be fresher or more important. It’s also wildly entertaining.
Birthright: A War Story documentary review: how America hates women
An enraging, essential documentary rundown of all the ways that women’s rights, agency, and bodily autonomy are under attack in the US. It’s not just about abortion.
City of Ghosts documentary review: how to tell a story that some don’t want told
A devastating portrait of Syrian citizen journalists, of the sacrifices they make to tell of ISIS occupation, and a cautionary tale for Western culture, too.
