Documentary Films and Programs

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Bread & Roses’ Review: A Spirit of Resistance

      by

      Three Afghan women struggle for rights in Sahra Mani’s documentary of life under Taliban rule today.When the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan three years ago, one of the group’s first orders of business was to systematically erase women’s rights. Girls’ schools shuttered, women were barred from public spaces and female professionals were told not to return to work.“Bread & Roses,” which follows the lives of three Afghan women in the wake of the Taliban’s return to power, does not communicate these prohibitions in voice-over or title cards. Instead, the director, Sahra Mani, makes the deliberate choice to clear the way for her subjects to reach the audience directly, in their own words.Through cellphone footage captured on the fly, the documentary zeros in on three subjects defying their loss of freedom: Sharifa, a former government employee stuck at home because of restrictions to being out in public; Zahra, a dentist taken by the Taliban after protesting for her rights; and Taranom, an activist sheltering in a safe house in Pakistan. Intercutting among scenes of these experiences, the film illustrates the effective options for women living under Taliban rule: house arrest, prison or exile.As the three stories veer off in different directions, the film struggles to coalesce around a clean narrative. It doesn’t help that we often only receive snippets of episodes, with the contexts hazy and the relations among those onscreen uncertain. But while the immediacy of the storytelling may blur out precise details, it excels at building stakes. When, in one memorable scene, young girls address the camera to demand brighter futures, the movie’s message and ongoing mission are thrown into sharp relief.Bread & RosesNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on Apple TV+. More

    • 113 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      The Best True Crime to Stream: The Fame Monster

      by

      Across television, film and podcasting, here are four picks that explore lesser-discussed crimes involving celebrities.There is an absolute glut of true crime content that involves the rich and famous. These stories also tend to be rehashed and retread because fame breeds fascination, of course, and name recognition helps when seeking the eyes and ears of an audience. But there are plenty of stories involving stars that are just as compelling even if they haven’t gotten the same attention. Here are four of them across television, podcast and film.Documentary film“Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara”The harsh realities of toxic fan culture have gotten more attention in 2024, with pop stars like Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish speaking more openly about the ubiquitousness of harassment and obsession that accompany fame.For this new documentary, the director Erin Lee Carr (“Mommy Dead and Dearest,” “At The Heart of Gold”) weaves together two sides of a shocking story that turned the lives of Tegan and Sara Quin, twin sisters who are the queer folk-pop duo Tegan and Sara, upside down.In the 1990s and 2000s, the sisters had a knack for building community at shows and online, with Tegan in particular feeling a responsibility to their fans. When this familiarity dovetailed with a catfishing scheme, Tegan and many fans became ensnared in a sophisticated identity theft operation that lasted over 15 years. “Fake Tegan systematically destroyed my life,” Tegan says at one point.As layers are peeled back, a more complex picture comes into focus. Unfortunately, the end brings little comfort, only underscoring the magnitude of the discoveries made along the way.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Television

      ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Is a Humanizing Look Into a Great Mind

      by

      Beyond the appropriate awe, this two-part PBS documentary, co-directed by Ken Burns, adds human texture to the hagiography.“Leonardo da Vinci,” a four-hour, two-part documentary airing on PBS on Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. (check local listings), is a thorough and engrossing biography that can’t help but feel incomplete, so vast and unusual is its subject. “Leonardo, for his time, possesses the most knowledge in the world,” one expert explains.Narrated by Keith David and directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, this is a straightforward but still lyrical analysis. We learn about da Vinci’s early life, family, education and lovers, and the doc does an admirable job of explaining not just excellence but innovation. Enumerating the areas of his curiosity alone could take four hours, so the focus here is more on his output, whose scope and impact are singular even now. (Though maybe we could revive a few more aspects of his influence: Painting is cool, but why are there so few weddings in which performers dressed as Greek gods bless the union and cavort around a giant gilded half-egg? Something to consider, party planners; da Vinci orchestrated one such event in 1490.)“For the first time in the history of Western culture, the process becomes the interesting aspect of how art is made,” another expert points out, and “Leonardo da Vinci” follows that path, too.But beyond the appropriate awe, there’s a through line here of half-starts, dead drafts and lemons — flying machines that can never work, hydroarchitecture that fails completely, paintings never realized for reasons unknown. Those efforts are presented here with an endearing “well, nobody bats a thousand” shrug, adding human texture to the hagiography. One of the greatest minds in human history trails off in one of his final mathematic exegeses because, he writes, “the soup is getting cold.” Geniuses: They’re just like us.Also this weekFrom left, Gracie Lawrence, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Pauline Chalamet and Amrit Kaur in a scene from Season 3 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”Tina Thorpe/Max“Interior Chinatown,” based on the novel by Charles Yu, arrives Tuesday, on Hulu.“Our Oceans,” narrated by Barack Obama, arrives Wednesday, on Netflix.After many failed attempts over the years, a TV adaptation of “Cruel Intentions” finally arrives Thursday, on Amazon Prime Video.In the vein of “Floor Is Lava” comes “Human vs. Hamster,” a doofy obstacle course series arriving Thursday, on Max.Season 3 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” begins Thursday at 9 p.m., on Max. More

    • 175 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      Allee Willis Documentary Sheds Light on Songwriter for Earth, Wind & Fire and ‘Friends’

      by

      ‘The World According to Allee Willis’ shines a light on a musical artist whose creative spirit wasn’t limited to one genre or even to music.“I’m the world’s best-kept secret,” Allee Willis says at the start of a new documentary about her. Willis, a songwriter and artist, is being hyperbolic, but only a little: Unless you’re a music trivia hound, Willis’s remarkable career may have escaped your notice.I, for one, didn’t know until I watched “The World According to Allee Willis” (directed by Alexis Manya Spraic and in theaters starting Friday) that the same woman was a co-writer of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” and the Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You,” better known as the “Friends” theme song. She wrote dozens more hits, too — sometimes lyrics, sometimes music — and occasionally produced them as well. She even contributed music and lyrics to the Broadway version of “The Color Purple.”It’s unfair but axiomatic that the most influential people are often the ones who fly under the radar, and that’s Willis, who died in 2019 at 72. Spraic’s approach is two-pronged. There are interviews with Willis’s many friends and collaborators, so many that I couldn’t jot them all down, but here are just a few: Lily Tomlin, Pamela Adlon, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, the comedian Bruce Vilanch, the singer-songwriter Brenda Russell and Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman, one of Willis’s closest friends.Somewhat unexpectedly, the mogul Mark Cuban appears a lot in the film, speaking warmly and earnestly of Willis’s expansive imagination. She spent much of the 1990s, in the still-nascent days of the internet, developing a collaborative social network and story-driven interactive platform called Willisville, and Cuban was her business partner.A lot of this was captured on video by Willis, who turned on a camera as a girl in Detroit in the 1950s and filmed constantly throughout her life. That is the other prong of Spraic’s film: There is a lot of Willis’s footage, which fills in details of her life, the ups along with the downs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes’ Review: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

      by

      A new documentary traces Humphrey Bogart’s development from stage actor to the embodiment of brooding cinematic cool.Produced in cooperation with Humphrey Bogart’s estate, the documentary “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” is an official portrait that nevertheless offers some insights into how one of Hollywood’s most recognizable and irreplaceable star personas evolved.Directed by Kathryn Ferguson, the film traces Bogart’s development from stage and backlot workhorse to timeless avatar of brooding cool. Louise Brooks, the great silent-screen star who died in 1985, is one of many Bogart friends whose recollections are featured in the film. She suggested that the reason Bogart could bring such complexity to Dixon Steele, the violent-tempered screenwriter he played in Nicholas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” (1950), was because of how much he and Dix had in common.Bogart is portrayed in “Life Comes in Flashes” as a product of cold parenting. (His mother, Maud Humphrey, was an accomplished illustrator apparently dismissed by her son as a “housewife” on her death certificate, according to one interview subject.) He married three actresses — Helen Menken, Mary Philips and Mayo Methot — before Lauren Bacall. Each one is shown to have sharpened Bogart, even as his fame eclipsed theirs, to varying degrees.Words attributed to Bogart are read by Kerry Shale, an actor whose voice is dissimilar enough from Bogart’s to qualify as a distraction, at least initially. But Bogart’s own memories, and the way they’re illustrated with film clips, give the documentary a certain mystique. And it’s tough to resist gossip about Bogart’s friction with the film executive Jack Warner or even well-worn tales of the adventurer’s attitude that the director John Huston brought to the set of “The African Queen.” The two men drank so much, Bogart says in a much-cited quip that the movie repeats, “Whenever a fly bit Huston or me, it dropped dead.”Bogart: Life Comes in FlashesNot rated. 1 hour 39 minutes. In theaters. More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands’ Review: The Wrong Stuff

      by

      The boy band stories in Tamra Davis’s documentary rarely intersect in a way that builds a meaningful or compelling perspective.From a documentary filmmaking perspective, there’s very little to go wild about in “Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands.” This frenetic mix of nostalgic fan service and rehashed pop culture history begins at a breakneck pace as if it’s a film made for TikTok. Naturally, it overflows with a cacophony of screaming and fainting fans.Directed by Tamra Davis (“Crossroads,” “Billy Madison”), the movie often feels more like a greatest hits compilation than a cohesive narrative. Its goal is ambitious: to trace the evolution of boy bands — from the Beatles to the K-pop group Seventeen — and explore how the groups have shaped global culture over the past 50 years. Disappointingly, the documentary prioritizes historical play-by-plays over deeper analysis, spending much of its running time tracing the influence of one boy band on the next. These stories rarely intersect in a way that builds a meaningful or compelling perspective, which might leave viewers asking, what’s the point?For some (OK, fine, me), it might be cute to reminisce about how Nick Jonas launched his career as a solo Christian artist, complete with a purity ring. For most, you’ll be left wondering why, in just 30 minutes, we’ve jumped from record-label battles faced by both ’N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, to Donny Osmond’s childhood connection to Michael Jackson, to how Harry Styles successfully started a career outside of One Direction, to Lance Bass coming out, to A.J. McLean’s sobriety. At first, I wondered why so many boy band members addressed were absent from this film. I think I have my answer.Larger Than Life: Reign of the BoybandsNot rated. 1 hour 35 minutes. Watch on Paramount+. More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      The Most Anticipated New Movie Releases in Winter 2024

      by

      From life stories (“A Complete Unknown,” “The Fire Inside”) to animated tales (“Moana 2,” “Mufasa”), these are the films we can’t wait to see this season.November‘EMILIA PÉREZ’ Four actresses — Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz — shared a prize at Cannes for their performances in this unlikeliest of musicals, about the friendship between a Mexican cartel kingpin (Gascón) and a lawyer (Saldaña) hired to arrange the kingpin’s gender transition. Jacques Audiard directed. (Nov. 13; Netflix)‘HOT FROSTY’ Remember “Mannequin”? This sounds kind of like that, except instead of a mannequin coming to life, it’s a snowman (Dustin Milligan), and instead of Andrew McCarthy, it has Lacey Chabert. (Nov. 13; Netflix)‘ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT’ This film from Payal Kapadia was the first Indian feature to compete at Cannes in 30 years; it won the Grand Jury Prize, effectively second place. It concerns two women (Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha) in Mumbai. One has a husband living abroad; the other is navigating an interfaith relationship that she strives to keep quiet. (Nov. 15; in theaters)Karla Sofía Gascón, left, is the title drug kingpin and Zoe Saldaña is the lawyer helping arrange her client’s gender transition.Netflix‘ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE’ The rocket man himself recalls how he soared to stardom in this documentary, shot during preparations for his 2022 appearances at Dodger Stadium, purportedly his final North American concerts. (Nov. 15 in theaters, Dec. 13 on Disney+)‘GHOST CAT ANZU’ Anzu is a big, fluffy, animated talking cat whose antics give Garfield a run for his money in this anime favorite from the festival circuit. (Nov. 15; in theaters)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Movies

      “Youth (Homecoming)”: Review of Film by Wang Bing

      by

      In the finale of Wang Bing’s nonfiction trilogy, garment-factory workers return to their families and wrestle with the questions all young people do.What happens when young people with jobs in the big city return to the homes they left behind? It’s a question that powers a whole bevy of films, including Hallmark’s holiday offerings. But it’s perhaps less expected in a 152-minute Chinese documentary, the final installment in a trilogy stretching nearly 10 hours.“Youth (Homecoming)” (in theaters), directed by the eminent filmmaker Wang Bing, is shorter by at least an hour than its predecessors, “Youth (Spring)” and “Youth (Hard Times).” Wang shot the films over about five years, spending time with the myriad young people, mostly in their late teens and 20s, who travel to the city of Zhili to work in garment factories. No one subject is the main protagonist in the “Youth” trilogy; instead, we see a collage of faces and personalities, all of whom toil very long hours for very little pay.“Spring” is the most cheerful of the films, showing the laborers as they arrive and get busy at their machines, often singing to pop music and talking about love. “Hard Times,” which covers the winter months, shows them struggling to get paid by bosses who skip town or try to drive down wages. The workers begin to organize, but it’s a battle with little chance of victory.In “Homecoming,” as the title suggests, many young people return to their remote villages for the New Year’s break when the factories slow down. We travel with them on packed, long-haul trains and traverse muddy mountain paths. Now families enter the picture, identified in the film only by their relationships to the laborers. Two of the subjects, Shi Wei and Fang Lingping, marry their romantic partners during this downtime. Others converse with loved ones about their plans or other subjects. Eventually the young people go back to Zhili, only to discover that employment is not always easy to come by.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More