Janis: Little Girl Blue documentary review: the painful soul of the music
A compassionate, intimate unpacking of the legend of Janis Joplin that reveals the troubled influences on the force-of-nature singer she willed into being.
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Sherpa documentary review: go tell it on the mountain (LFF 2015)
Captures a burgeoning revolutionary spirit among a people who have been ignored, when they aren’t being taken advantage of, for too long.
He Named Me Malala documentary review: teach your children well
A charming film — Yousafzai is as endearing and funny as she is ambitious and brave — but also one with a vital message: how we raise kids matters.
How to Change the World documentary review: the path to Greenpeace
A warts-and-all history of Greenpeace full of colorful characters and beset by twists and surprises. An inspiring, even exhilarating tribute.
Welcome to Leith documentary review: when hate comes to town
An uncomfortable, essential documentary that takes no sides as it raises questions about American ideals that are almost unanswerable but demand exploration.
Precinct Seven Five (aka The Seven Five) documentary review: badfellas
A Scorsese-esque look, fascinating and horrifying, at the 1990s NYPD scandal that saw cops become the biggest, baddest gang on the city streets.
A Lego Brickumentary documentary review: brick by brick
It does sort of feel like one of those rah-rah corporate promo videos they make you watch on the day you start a new job, but there are some surprises here.
Best of Enemies documentary review: “the practice of malice”
A brilliant, hilarious, exhilarating look at the Gore Vidal v. William F. Buckley paradigm-busting 1968 debates that changed TV journalism for the worse.
The Salt of the Earth documentary review: photographing the human condition
“Everyone should see these images to see how terrible our species is.” Yet there is hope in this portrait of photographer Sebastião Salgado, too.
Amy documentary review: how the music dies
An immense film, looming in tragedy, an infuriating portrait of how celebrity warps artistry and how wealth warps love and how suffering trumps everything.
