documentary

DVD/Stream: you gotta see The Imposter

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The Imposter

I’m repeating last week’s DVD/Stream of the Week because you just shouldn’t miss The Imposter.  Life is at times stranger than fiction, and The Imposter is one of the most jaw-dropping documentaries I have seen. Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old Texas boy, vanished in 1994. Three years later, a young man surfaced in Spain, claiming to be an American boy kidnapped for sexual exploitation; he was identified by Spanish police as Nicholas Barclay. In fact, he was a serial impersonator named Frédéric Bourdin who had contrived the ruse to escape getting busted for his own petty misdeeds.

That’s not a spoiler, because The Imposter’s audience learns this framework right away. Here’s the first real shocker: the imposter is accepted by Nicholas’ family. This is more amazing because Frédéric is seven years older than Nicholas, is not a native English speaker and looks nothing like him. Of course, Frédéric is surprised that the family is embracing him as Nicholas – and then he begins to suspect why…

Filmmaker Bart Layton expertly spins the story, We meet the actual Frédéric Bourdin, members of the Barclay family, and the detectives who broke the case.

The Imposter is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and many other VOD providers.

20 Feet from Stardom: essential for music fans

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Lisa Fisher in 20 FEET FROM STARDOM

The documentary 20 Feet from Stardom delves into the careers of rock music’s backup singers – so close to the celebrity spotlight, yet so obscure and under appreciated.  Some prefer the background (the Walkers and the electrifyingly talented Lisa Fischer), and some aspire to major solo careers (Judith Hill).  Others have been disappointed in the quest for stardom (Merry Clayton and Claudia Linnear) – or stardom has been delayed (Darlene Love).  We meet all of these very talented and appealing women, and hear from Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Sting.

The best parts are hearing Darlene Love’s story (which adds to the body of evidence that Phil Spector is a terrible human being), the inside glimpse into Merry Clayton’s iconic solo in the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter and experiencing the magical voice of Lisa Fischer.  It’s a little slow in places, but 20 Feet from Stardom is a pretty good choice for any viewer and essential for music fans.

Here’s a description from the director.

 

 

 

DVD/Stream of the Week: The Imposter

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The Imposter

Life is at times stranger than fiction, and The Imposter is one of the most jaw-dropping documentaries I have seen.  Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old Texas boy, vanished in 1994.  Three years later, a young man surfaced in Spain, claiming to be an American boy kidnapped for sexual exploitation; he was identified by Spanish police as Nicholas Barclay.  In fact, he was a serial impersonator named Frédéric Bourdin who had contrived the ruse to escape getting busted for his own petty misdeeds. 

That’s not a spoiler, because The Imposter’s audience learns this framework right away.  Here’s the first real shocker: the imposter is accepted by Nicholas’ family.  This is more amazing because Frédéric is seven years older than Nicholas, is not a native English speaker and looks nothing like him.  Of course, Frédéric is surprised that the family is embracing him as Nicholas – and then he begins to suspect why…

Filmmaker Bart Layton expertly spins the story, We meet the actual Frédéric Bourdin, members of the Barclay family, and the detectives who broke the case. 

The Imposter is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and many other VOD providers.

The Out List: as clear as clear can be

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Neil Patrick Harris in THE OUT LIST

Another in HBO’s excellent summer documentary series, The Out List is a talking head documentary about the value of being out – both personally valuable and to the community.   There are the celebrity performers that you would expect: Neil Patrick Harris, Cynthia Nixon, Wanda Sykes and Ellen DeGeneres.  But it’s amazing to hear from Lupe Valdez, a lesbian Latina Democrat elected by the fine people of Dallas County, Texas to be their Sheriff.  (There’s also the current favorite in the race for Mayor of New York City Mayor, Christine C. Quinn.)   The most compelling stories come from drag queen promoter Lady Bunny, personal finance guru Suze Orman and transgender writer Janet Mock.

Their stories represent the range of all human stories – some funny, some touching and some both at the same time.  Like in every group of humanity, there is some edginess and not everybody is trying to be appealing.  But I would doubt that anyone could watch The Out List and still feel justified to be a hater.  The Out List is not just for those interested in LGBT issues, but for everyone with an interest in people, society and the human experience.

Love, Marilyn: a closer look at Marilyn Monroe

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LOVE, MARILYN

The insightful HBO documentary Love, Marilyn uses Marilyn Monroe’s own words and those of people in her life to give us a candid yet sympathetic inside look at Marilyn.  The core of the film is from a recently discovered trove of Marilyn’s own letters and journals.

Her friends Susan Strasberg and Amy Greene appear in this film. Others speak from file footage, including husband Arthur Miller, acting coach Lee Strasberg and her first Hollywood agent.  For the rest, especially Marilyn herself (and biographer Norman Mailer, friends Elia Kazan and Truman Capote and frustrated director Billy Wilder), an all-star cast of readers bring their words to life. 

The readers include four Oscar winners and six Oscar nominees.  The most effective are Marisa Tomei reading Marilyn’s earnest efforts at educational self-improvement and Lili Taylor reading Marilyn’s struggles with a recipe she trying to put on the table for traditional hubby Joe DiMaggio. Everybody else (especially Evan Rachel Wood and Viola Davis) is really good, too, except for Ben Foster, who is mannered and overtheatrical when reading Mailer’s words.

There are some rel nuggets here. We see the book on human body movement that Marilyn used to create her signature jiggling walk.  We hear Kazan’s description of how Arthur Miller made a good first impression by refusing to let Marilyn take a cab to a party.  We understand how she flipped potential career-killing nude photo scandal into a huge publicity boost and better film roles.  We even hear Amy Greene relate Marilyn’s assessment of DiMaggio’s most intimate skill.

Entertaining and sometimes moving, Love, Marilyn is a worthwhile contribution to our understanding of Marilyn, the person, the actress and the phenomenon.

Hey Bartender: today is the Golden Age of cocktails

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HEY BARTENDER

Hey Bartender explores the new wave of Craft Bartending.  This is not about watching guys cry in their boilermakers at the neighborhood dive.  It’s about the new application of culinary sensibilities – fresh ingredients, creativity, presentation and hospitality – to the cocktail.  If you enjoy striking a blow for liberty now and again, this movie is cocktail porn – in fact, I’ve added it to my Best Food Porn Movies.

Hey Bartender takes us to the Museum of American Cocktail, and we learn that there is such a thing as a Cocktail Historian.  We spend time at the New York City’s Employees Only, recognized as the world’s best cocktail bar.  We meet the nation’s current celebrity bartenders and contrast them with the proprietor of a struggling family owned joint in Westport, Connecticut.  We tag along with attendees at the major craft bartending convention, Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.  And we see the featrured bartenders mix some delectable looking concoctions.

Because I streamed Hey Bartender at home, I was able to pause it at the 55-minute mark to make myself an Ellis Island (Makers Mark, Carpano Antica and a swish of Strega, shaken and served neat in martini glass, which I discovered at San Francisco’s Poesia.).

Hey Bartender is having a very limited theatrical run (a single showing this week in one local theater) and is available streaming fro, Amazon, Vudu, iTunes and other VOD outlets.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks: an inside look at an improbable scandal

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WE STEAL SECRETS

In We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, master documentarian Alex Gibney, weaves together three threads, each essential to the improbable story of WikiLeaks.  First, there is the hermit-like anarchistic hacker Julian Assange, whose narcissistic brashness could deliver personal fame, but not sustain a movement.  Then there’s the leaker Bradley Manning, a lonely misfit with one soaring talent.  Finally, there is the post-9/11 security environment, in which US government secrets are now shared between many levels of many security agencies, presuming each lowly functionary has a need to know.

Gibney brings us interviews with Manning’s immediate supervisor in the Army, his boyfriend and the confidante who turned him in.  We see footage of Assange in his hotel room before his big press conference (from another filmmaker – Assange did not cooperate with Gibney).  Gibney does introduce us to Assange’s former team members at WikiLeaks, his journalistic partners and even a Swedish woman who accused him of sexually victimizing her.  It all makes for a comprehensive inside perspective.

All three threads of the story are astounding, especially how anyone could keep Bradley Manning in the US Army and how the nation’s diplomatic and military secrets were all opened to a private at an isolated forward base in Iraq.  Gibney could have made an equally entertaining movie, if less complete, based on Assange alone; Assange is an odd duck who had his rock star moment and left a trail of relationship carnage behind, burning every single friend, colleague and well-wisher along the way.

Gibney is remarkable prolific.  After winning the 2008 Best Documentary Oscar for Taxi to the Dark Side, he has churned out Casino Jack and the United States of Money, Client 9: The Fall of Elliott Spitzer, Magic Trip, The Last Gladiators, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream and Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.  It’s a body of work that is notable for its strong quality and even more astonishing productivity.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is in theaters and is also available streaming from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and other VOD outlets.

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise: a master looks back

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MEL BROOKS: MAKE A NOISE

PBS’s American Master series is airing the documentary Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, which reviews the career of master filmmaker Mel Brooks.  In particular, we glimpse inside the making of such masterpieces as The Producers (one of my Greatest Movies of All Time), Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.  We see clips from those movies and hear from Talking Heads (including Brook’s best friend Carl Reiner).  But the best part of Make a Noise is hearing from Brooks himself.  He’s personally delightful and remarkably clearheaded about what makes his films so funny.

Detropia: urban plight

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DETROPIA

Detropia, the absorbing documentary about the plight of contemporary Detroit, will be broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens beginning May 27.  Detropia tells a compelling story in an unexpected and effective way.

Before watching the film, I knew that Detroit has lost half of its population and was not surprised to learn of its 30-50% unemployment.  But I didn’t expect the blocks and blocks of abandoned homes and businesses and the streets with no traffic.  Detropia’s Detroit looks like New Orleans after Katrina or San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.  Essentially, there’s been an economic tsunami here.  I was astonished to see city leaders seriously considering the demolition of large parts of the city and the relocation of residents into more efficient and more cohesive concentrated neighborhoods.

How did this happen?  And what can be done?  There’s no agenda by the filmmakers – other than keen-eyed observation.  The filmmakers give a voice to three sets of local witnesses who tell the city’s story.  And there’s an interesting and unexpected choice to feature the city’s opera.

Most surprising, despite being a movie about urban decay, Detropia is still a visually arresting and often colorful and beautiful film.  And, despite the hopelessness of Detroit’s situation, the perspective of the local witnesses keeps Detropia from becoming depressing.

The filmmakers, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, 12th & Delaware), deserve recognition for making Detropia so compelling without it becoming a screed.  Indeed, Detropia is a Sundance award winner.

Stories We Tell: when life surprises…and how we explain it

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Michael Polley in STORIES WE TELL

Stories We Tell is the third film from brilliant young Canadian director Sarah Polley (Away From Her, Take This Waltz), a documentary in which she interviews members of her own family about her mother, who died when Sarah was 11.  It doesn’t take long before Sarah uncovers a major surprise about her own life.  And then she steps into an even bigger surprise about the first surprise.  And then there’s a completely unexpected reaction by Polley’s father Michael. 

There are surprises aplenty in the Polley family saga, but how folks react to the discoveries is just as interesting.  It helps that everyone in the Polley family has a deliciously wicked sense of humor.

The family story is compelling enough, but Polley also explores story telling itself.  Everyone who knew Polley’s mother tells her story from a different perspective.  But we can weave together the often conflicting versions into what seems like a pretty complete portrait of a complicated person.

Polley adds more layers of meaning and ties the material together by filming herself recording her father reading his version of the story – his memoir serves as the unifying narration. 

To take us back to the 1960s, Polley uses one-third actual home movies and two-thirds re-creations (with actors) shot on Super 8 film.  Polley hired cinematographer Iris Ng after seeing Ng’s 5 minute Super 8 short.  The most haunting clip is a real one, a video of  the actress Mom’s audition for a 60s Canadian TV show.

Make sure that you stay for the end credits – there’s one more surprise, and it’s hilarious.