Doc Corner: 'No Ordinary Man'

By Glenn Dunks

In No Ordinary Man, a groundbreaking biography emerges out of the tragic throes of history. Populated almost exclusively by the voices and experiences of transgender individuals, this riveting and decidedly trans-positive documentary from co-directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt has the power and the depth to deserve a place in the queer canon (if such a thing exists). It dismantles the very politics of disclosure, and tells its story of self-discovery with empathy and tenderness while utilising film craft in a way that offers genuine inclusive insight.

It tells the story of Billy Tipton, an acclaimed jazz musician, husband and father who, upon his death, was discovered to have been assigned female at birth. At first mocked on the daytime talk show and tabloid entertainment circuit as a ‘unimaginable’ fraud who deceived his family and society for personal gain (women had little access to the jazz scene), No Ordinary Man charts how Tipton’s story was just one of many in a society that was woefully ill-prepared for the complexities of human behaviour. And how Tipton inspired a generation to live authentically.

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: 'End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock'

By Glenn Dunks

The politics of protest are always going to provide filmmakers with the sort of loaded emotions that make for good movies. Even when peaceful, the fractured dynamics of a society that continuously pits side against side in the fight for progressive ideas have long produced the sorts of anger and fierce determination that explode on camera. Racial equality (and more recently, Black Lives Matter), queer rights and women’s liberation have all been seen in compelling documentaries for decades.

But as environmental issues become more engrained as a fixture in the political and societal landscape, the street-battles to protect the only Earth we have are just as pertinent even if they perhaps lack the more personal connections that so many of us find in narratives of struggle and protest. In fact, Shannon Kring’s End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock finds much of its power in the way race, gender and the environment overlap in the fight for our planet's future.

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: 'Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation'

By Glenn Dunks

I think it is fair to say that Lisa Immordino Vreeland has a preoccupation with the upper class. Beginning with her feature debut in 2011—Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel about the famed French-American fashion editor (also her own grandmother-in-law)—and on through other titles about more mid-century well-to-dos, Vreeland has carved a niche out of documentary portraits that tend to coast on the infamy of the rich and famous. I have enjoyed some (2017’s Love, Cecil) more than others (2015’s Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict).

Her latest is Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation, which finds Vreeland more or less still pre-occupied with high society. A slick twist to the structural formula casts Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto as unseen mouthpieces for the words of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams...

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: 'Summer of Soul' opens Sheffield DocFest

Sheffield DocFest runs from June 3-14. There are virtual selections available at their website. This is their opening night film.

by Glenn Dunks

“The Black Woodstock” goes the elevator pitch for Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a high-spirited documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. “The Black Woodstock” was also the last-ditch effort of a title given by Hal Tulchin to a film he had made about the festival as he attempted to sell it to distributors and networks that had repeatedly turned it down even in the wake of the Oscar-winning success of Woodstock. Nobody wanted Tulchin’s film, which is a ridiculous idea in hindsight. Of course, it is hardly a surprising one for all the reasons you would expect.

Tulchin passed away in 2017 at age 90 and so never got to see Summer of Soul, the final product that has been directed by Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (aka Questlove). That is a shame. I suspect he would have loved it...

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: Sundance hit 'All Light, Everywhere'

By Glenn Dunks

For an essay film, it makes a lot of sense for All Light, Everywhere to be full of ideas. It’s been a long time since my essay writing days, but I generally think that a lot of ideas is a good place to start. But also like an essay, it could probably have used another go around the editing block. There are a lot of promising threads in Theo Anthony’s film, but the director of Rat Film can’t quite weave them together into something that transcends its (very smart in theory) concept.

In many ways, Anthony’s film comes across as a traditional documentary about the rise of technology in community policing—predominantly bodycams and surveillance drones. At least initially. This segment, the doc’s most prominent through-line, is often very interesting if maybe a little repetitive...

Click to read more ...