Doc Corner: Women in music

By Glenn Dunks

At least once a year, we do a round-up of some of the music documentaries that are making the rounds. This year there is a particular focus on women in music with a range of titles covering pop (Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl), punk and new wave (The Go-Go’s), rock (Suzy Q) and whatever it is that sits in between all of them (Sisters with Transistors)—and they of course sit alongside names like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn in Ken Burns' Country Music, which we looked at recently.

I have actually already written about Liam Firmager and Tait Brady’s Aussie-made Suzi Q upon its local Australian release last year. I was impressed by its high energy retelling of the career of the “Devil Gate Drive” and "Can the Can" singer and guitarist Suzi Quatro. A rollicking is simply structured documentary that is appropriate daggy for the musician at its centre. You can read my full review at ScreenHub so let’s move on to the rest, which make for an entertaining dive through diverse musical stories.

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Doc(?) Corner: The boozy brilliance of 'Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets'

By Glenn Dunks

Sometimes you just know. You can just feel it. You know? When a film isn’t just good, or even great, but one that will percolate in your mind for ages. When it offers that true gut feeling you get when watching something that just sings to every part of you. And so it is with the docu-fiction curio whatsit Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets from directing brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross which is set in a Vegas dive bar —bear with me, I think this is accurate—that is actually a stand-in for a New Orleans dive bar of the same name populated with real life people, some of whom have acted although none of whom would call themselves actors (maybe), They represent real life personalities who have come together to mourn the triumph of capitalism that isn’t really happening.

I know, I know, I’m lost too, but what a way to get lost! It’s like Robert Altman making an episode of Cheers if he gave his cast an open bar and its theme song was Sophie B. Hawkins’ “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover”...

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1991: Madonna's Most Fascinating Movie Year

Team Experience is celebrating the 1991 film year for the next couple of weeks.

by Camila Henriques

1991 was an interesting year, movie-wise, for Madonna. The Queen of Pop had just come off of her Blond Ambition Tour and what was, arguably, her first movie to have a major awards breakthrough, Dick Tracy (with the caveat that Desperately Seeking Susan did get a Golden Globe for Rosanna Arquette). So, with that, she entered the decade with her feet dipping, once more, into the waters of film stardom.

Madonna’s cinematic year started - in the eyes of the audience, at least - on March 25, 1991, with an iconic performance at the 63rd Academy Awards. Dressed in a Bob Mackie gown that gave her an air of Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe. She also made headlines as she arrived at the awards gala. That happens when you’re Madonna and you step on the Oscars red carpet arm-in-arm with Michael Jackson...

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Emmy FYC Doc Corner: 'Country Music' and 'The Last Dance'

By Glenn Dunks

As a lover of non-fiction, you would probably assume that I naturally gravitate towards documentary series. That’s not always the case, though. In fact, as they gain more popularity, I often find myself struggling with them. Expanded running times make big omissions more frustrating, and just as elsewhere, some shows don't know when to stop. On top of that, Netflix has narrowed its house style to such a degree that it has become something of a private joke when the streaming service sends one of those “we’ve added a series we think you may like” emails.

In terms of 2020 Emmy contenders for the Nonfiction Series Emmy, we have already looked at several: I hated Netflix’s Tiger King, wavered on Hulu’s Hillary, and while I liked PBS’ Asian Americans a lot, I don’t think it made the eligibility deadline. Hopefully next year! Elsewhere, I gave up on the likes of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez and How to Fix a Drug Scandal pretty early. However, there are bright spots among some of the other contenders: Ken Burns' Country Music and Jason Hehir's The Last Dance...

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Pride Month Doc Corner: Keith Haring, Curve magazine and Intersex

Doc Corner is celebrating Pride Month where every week we focus on documentaries with queer themes. For the final edition (albeit on the 1st of July, sshhh), we are putting a brief spotlight on a few films that I have watched recently that should hopefully their way to audience’s over the coming months through queer film festivals (virtual or otherwise) and streaming.

by Glenn Dunks

Just by pure virtue of his being a central figure in New York City’s modern art scene of the 1980s, Keith Haring’s name comes up often in the films about the era. There are probably a dozen movies about him either as the central figure, or one of a whole scene that is easy to rhapsodize nostalgic about.

Perhaps after Ben Anthony’s Keith Haring: Street Art Boy, which is screening as a part of Sheffield Doc/Fest and streaming soon, there won’t be a need for that...

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