Doc Corner: Emily Cohen Ibañez’s 'Fruits of Labor'

By Glenn Dunks

A movie like Emily Cohen Ibañez’s Fruits of Labor doesn’t need to explicitly say the quiet part out loud. But it does anyway. In its early moments, sitting side-by-side are a scene of a second-generation teenage child of immigrants working to help feed her family by picking strawberries in the Californian morning sun followed by a scene of that same child, a high school senior, in class listening to her teaching discuss ‘working the fields’ and the class/social inequalities that come from this poorly-paid, but essential work.

Furthermore, one doesn’t need to extrapolate very much to see the unavoidable illusions to modern day slavery as Ashley Solis lives in a house where up to 12 families share living spaces and one single bathroom.

It’s not surprising that Oakland-born director Ibañez of Colombian heritage has a history in anthropology. She shows an obvious flare in observing the Solis family, sometimes in uncomfortable close-up. It’s also not surprising that this is only her second feature, following on from her 2015 documentary Bodies at War.

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Doc Corner: 'Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)'

By Glenn Dunks

A movie called “Civil War” could really be about so many things. I immediately assumed a film about January’s insurrection had been produced, edited and released in just nine months’ time. What an achievement! It’s a surprise then to discover that Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are) is about the actual civil war. The one about the North versus the South. The one about slavery (depending on who you ask). The one they made Gone With the Wind about. It’s almost quaint in that regard.

No matter what it is or it isn’t about— the contemporary political space may not be the film's focus but its heavily on its mind --  it’s a good movie. Civil War finds interesting crevices within which to explore education and class-driven divides and the way the war's lessons are taught and absorbed by the next generations. Spoiler alert: it’s not entirely comforting...

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(Not Quite a) Doc Corner: St. Vincent in 'The Nowhere Inn'

By Glenn Dunks

The Nowhere Inn is not a documentary, but it is about documentary. It’s also an absolute hoot. A gonzo existential cinematic experiment that plays a little bit like if Christopher Guest melded with the world of Kirsten Johnston. It’s a movie that one could play alongside David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and surely not-so-coincidentally hums along to a very similar tune.

Maybe most importantly, it is a movie that asks, ‘What happens when you go to make a documentary about a rock star, but your rock star turns out to be boring?’

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Doc Corner: 'A la calle'

By Glenn Dunks

It’s funny, isn’t it? The subjects that become popular in non-fiction (and film more broadly, I suppose). The ongoing civil war in Syria was surely the most prominent subject of the 2010s while many other global conflicts remained relatively unexamined. This decade has begun with multiple films about Hong Kong. Venezuela is a country that has been discussed a lot in erroneous right-wing viral memes about the pitfalls of socialism, but strangely has made little impact on filmmakers beyond last year’s Oscar qualifying documentary Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, which I reviewed here.

A la calle (In the Streets) embeds the viewer deeper into the fractious political situation than that 2020 title. Maxx Caicedo and Nelson G. Navarrete’s film gets up close and personal within the protests, the political turmoil and the familial anguish that has engulfed the Central American nation now for years.

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Doc Corner: 'On Broadway'

By Glenn Dunks

They say the neon lights are bright,
on Broadway.
They say there’s always magic in the air…

Let's be thankful that On Broadway doesn’t open with those famous lyrics from the song of the same name. Bob Fosse already did that, using George Benson’s funk-inspired 1978 rendition to launch All That Jazz over images of a throng of auditioning theatre wannabes. It’s showtime, folks, and that song is a hell of an introduction, but it's been done.

The release of Oren Jacoby’s doc feels perfectly timed, having been completed and screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival back in 2019 but delayed for general release until now as the city is on the verge of re-opening to crowds...

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