Doc Corner: You Must See 'Sam Now'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

Reed Harkness’s Sam Now is really something special. A debut that taps into an achingly sad story within his own family, covering decades of pain and the smiles used to cover it up. I could not take my eyes off of it, reverberating as it does with a potent mix of tragedy and the relief that comes with finally getting it off your shoulders. In finally telling this story so many years in the making, Harkness has given us a documentary that taps into completely unexpected wells of emotion—a Boyhood (of sorts) where life’s dramatic turns offer us a portrait of male anguish that would be hard to watch if it weren’t so vibrantly made and open-hearted in its delivery.

Synopses describe Sam Now as a “mystery”, but that does it a disservice. There is a mystery, of course. But it’s solved pretty quickly. And what follows is a quiet reckoning that is more compelling than any true crime narrative could ever hope to achieve.

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: It's Child's Play and 'Living with Chucky'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

No space within movie fandom feels more like a genuine community like the space taken up by horror. Not to get too Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious franchise, but for many, horror is a family that ties and binds people together. Even more so for queer lovers of the horror genre. Horror is particularly amenable to subtextual readings as well as straight-up camp and gay storytelling for many reasons, but that bond comes at least partly because horror (as a broad concept) and LGBTQ+ people have so much in common. Not that you need me to tell you any of that.

These narrative strands come together in Kyra Elise Gardner’s Living with Chucky. Ostensibly a documentary about the killer doll franchise that began as Child’s Play and has morphed more famously into The House of Chucky. It is also a telling of how this franchise was able to do what it did and remain relevant three decades later. Gardner is the daughter of one of the visual effects and puppeteer masters who’s brought Chucky to life over the years, so you could say she has particular insight.

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: Steven Yeun Narrates 'Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

Let’s be honest. Artist bio-docs are a dime a dozen. Many artists have received the treatment, even though documentary is (almost as if entirely by the medium’s nature) a not particularly good artform of its own within which to interrogate the life of somebody like Nam June Paik. Despite video being so integral to his work, much of its impact inevitably comes from being able to see his work flicker in front of your face rather than on the TV screen. Screens within screens.

For that reason I suspect Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV would be really great to see theatrically. Where the kaleidoscopic colours and swirling digital artistry could be brought to life in as immersive a way as they probably possibly could beyond seeing them in the technological flesh.

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: Gianfranco Rosi's 'In Viaggio'

By Glenn Dunks

I will be honest with you. I initially had no real desire to watch In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis. I believe my words were “because of the whole pope thing”, which I personally think is entirely fair. Especially after another European filmmaker, Wim Wenders, had his own Pope Francis doc not too long ago. It does, however, prove to be a much more interesting than initial perceptions would have suggested. And, to be honest, director Gainfranco Rosi—a director whose work only seems to be getting better and better (which is saying quite a lot)—deserves better than a ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ After all, I don’t think any other filmmaker can claim both a Golden Bear and a Golden Lion for works of non-fiction.

Rosi’s film is not the immersive experience that recent works like Notturno and Fire at Sea were, but it was probably never going to be. Reset expectations then, and we have In Viaggio, a surprising documentary built almost entirely out of archival footage as Pope Francis jet-sets around the world. Again, it’s better than it sounds.

Click to read more ...

SXSW: The Impact of the Pandemic on "Food and Country"

by Abe Friedtanzer

There are many ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world. Among the hardest-hit industries has been food, with in-person restaurants closed for an extended period of time and many typically available items scarcely found throughout the early months of the pandemic. The road to recovery has been a difficult one and has sadly forced many longtime establishments to shutter permanently. Festival Favorite documentary Food and Country, stopping at SXSW after its premiere at Sundance, looks at the deeper history of food in America and the tectonic shift that has recently happened.

Food writer Ruth Reichl is the guide for this educational journey, one that starts decades ago when quick cooking was advertised as the new hot thing...

Click to read more ...