Doc Corner: A to Z of the Longlist (Part 3)

By Glenn Dunks

Continuing our A to Z march through the documentary longlist (yes, even if has already been whittled down) in the lead up to our best of the year list.

In previous weeks we have looked at letters A through C and then D through F. This week brings a few big hitters of documentary in 2022 including one high profile absentee from the Academy’s shortlist of 15 (Good Night Oppy), a surprise inclusion on that same list (Hallejulah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song) and a quiet indie achievement that won acclaim and awards on the festival circuit (I Didn’t See You There).

Good Night Oppy begins with elaborate visual effects, generous narration from Angela Bassett, and an introduction to a robot character with eyes on being a Wall-E for the science nerds. I was immediately turned off.

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Doc Corner: A to Z of the Longlist (Part 2)

By Glenn Dunks

The Academy may have released their shortlist for the Best Documentary Feature category, but we’re going to continue our A to Z skim through the 144-wide longlist as a means of playing catch-up before I do my annual best of documentary list for the year. Last time we looked at Shaunak Sen’s sorta-frontrunner All That Breathes, Paweł Łoziński’s EFA nominee The Balcony Movie, and Hà Lệ Diễm’s dark horse contender Children of the Mist.

DESCENDANT

This week, themes of racism, authoritarianism and war are a heady and heavy mix. All of them come with some sort of Oscar pedigree, although only one has made it to the next round of the Academy’s race to a nomination...

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Doc Corner: 'The Super 8 Years'

By Glenn Dunks

At one point early on in The Super 8 Years (Les années Super 8), Annie Ernaux notes in her soothing, authorial voice that a trip to the countryside—all tall grass, wildflowers, and mud—was like experiencing nostalgia for something she had never even experienced before. A sort of primal part of the human existence that wishes for the calm, the peace, and the relative relaxation of existing within nature without the extravagancies of modern life. It’s an amusing bon mot from the Nobel Prize winner, since this documentary feeds into that very concept:

I have never experienced the world that Ernaux embeds us in, but she welcomes the viewer through narration and the intuitive editing of Clément Pinteaux in such a manner that it feels like reliving a memory that I have never experienced. I was transported. A brisk dream of 65-minutes built entirely out of her family’s super 8 camera home movies that is all fleeting memories stung with melancholy and bliss.

Come to think of it, a more fitting double-feature with Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun I could not imagine.

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Doc Corner: A to Z of the Longlist (Part 1)

By Glenn Dunks

I have been inconsistent with Doc Corner this year. Various reasons including (finally) a year outside of lockdowns, day jobs, and — as of recently — a need to prioritize movies so that I could submit my Golden Globes ballot. Now that that is done, back to normal. For now, a bit of catch-up. Using the recently announced list of 144 eligible docs, let's look at a few titles The Film Experience has missed full reviews on. Beginning on the rooftops of New Delhi, to a humble balcony in Poland, and a village high in the Vietnamese mountains—All That Breaths, The Balcony Movie and Children of the Mist...

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Doc Corner: Robert, Downey, 'Sr.'

By Glenn Dunks

Sometimes movie stars use their power for good. How else to describe Netflix—home of Lindsay Lohan in Falling for Christmas and the fittingly titled Ryan Gosling vehicle The Grey Man—releasing a black and white documentary about an underground cinema pioneer known best for absurdist satires and stoner comedies of the ‘60s and ‘70s. In this case, we surely have to give gratitude to Robert Downey Jr. It’s hard to believe Sr. would be there on millions of people’s TV if it weren’t for him.

Thankfully, not so content to just let his name sell the picture and be done with it, Sr. is a probing, funny exploration of art and the people who make it, and the impression that both can leave on those around them.

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