Tribeca doc 'High Tech, Low Life' offers a window into little-seen areas of China

Spanning the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to the fallout of the social media-driven Arab Spring in 2011, Tribeca documentary High Tech, Low Life is a stunning, moving gem that follows the lives of two Chinese bloggers: the young , brash Zola and the established, measured Tiger Temple.

Zola is a child of the '80s who likes the fame and danger that comes with being a citizen journalist. Expert in matters of having multiple SIM cards and phones, he represents the new era of Chinese bloggers. For him, jumping over The Great Firewall, China's censorship of the Internet, requires just a little knowledge of code and IP scramblers. He appeared at a Q&A after the screening yesterday in the East Village with director Stephen Maing. Zola was clearly thrilled at being in NYC, which he described as "awesome" with a huge smile.

The doc shows just how awesome it must be to Zola, who comes from a rural village where his parents cook food over an open fire and admonish him to find a wife and have a son. Putting on hold his parents' plans for him to be a vegetable seller, Zola travels to a small village where rumor has it the son of an official raped and murdered a teenager, throwing her body into a river. Everyone in the town seems to know what really happened, but at a press conference held a week later, they report that the son was doing push-ups on the bridge with the girl when she suddently stood up and announced she didn't want to live anymore and jumped. It's a bizarre, totally implausible cover-up that reflects the nature of Chinese bureaucracy. As Zola clarified in the Q&A, covering events like these may bring visits and monitoring from the police, but it's still legal and tolerated by the government. The most dangerous thing to write, according to Zola? Political jokes. The bloggers are in a different category from political dissidents like Ai WeiWei, but they still have their posts removed by the government. For regular Chinese citizens, these blogs provide a valuable counterpoint to the perpetually optimistic state news.

Tiger Temple, who lived through Mao's Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s, is in his fifties and estranged from his family. He travels by bike thousands of kilometers to rural sites. He helps out older farmers whose rivers are filled with detergent and feces from the town upstream. His readers give donations to his website to help out the homeless in Beijing. His style is calm and wise. He understands how Chinese bureaucracy works (a lot of it is about self-preservation), and uses it to his advantage. He's also clever, narrating a video from the point-of-view of his cat in hopes that censors won't take down a video of a talking cat. He's right.

Whereas most Americans worry about things like factory conditions in China, these bloggers focus on issues in rural areas, which many feel have been forgotten as the government focuses on its cities instead of agriculture. The recent hubbub over supposed terrible working conditions in Apple plants (as described in the play The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and the subsequently retracted "This American Life" piece), compared to what the Chinese themselves feel are the unjust parts of their life,  shows how little Americans understand China. This documentary offers a perspective on China that will challenge American assumptions.

Maing, the director, does an excellent job of fleshing out the personalities of these two bloggers. Having them do little things like describe all their tools and equipment yields funny, interesting results (Zola takes along traveling chopsticks and a spy scanner, which he ends up never using). They aren't pushy or outraged, as many American journalists are wont to be, and their matter-of-fact manner makes the injustices they expose all the more moving.

When Zola travels to Beijing for a story, he overhears a man singing a song about the government. "I was shocked to hear someone sing that in the open," he says later. "I thought all the people in Beijing were loyal party-lovers." High Tech, Low Life offers similar revelations for its viewers, who should seek out this eye-opening view of life in China.

Morgan Spurlock's 'Mansome' a disappointing foray into male grooming

Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary, Mansome, will go down as one of the director's lesser works. Spurlock's non-fiction films are usually full of laughs and quirky insights.  At the Tribeca Film Festival screening I attended, I heard only a smattering of chuckles. Compare that to his product placement movie, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which had me doubled over in laughter from start to finish. Mansome rarely goes beyond clichés, a real disappointment for Spurlock's fans, including myself.

Ostensibly about male grooming, Mansome mainly focuses on beards and mustaches, with some commentary on back hair thrown in. Spurlock also intercuts the story with a "day at the spa" sequence featuring Jason Bateman and Will Arnett joking around in facial masques. Spurlock now has the cachet to attract big stars from rock bands and famous bearded folk like Zach Galifianakis and Judd Apatow, but they don't add that much to the story. By relying on celebrities to do the heavy lifting and make jokes, Spurlock misses an opportunity to explore his subject beyond the easy punchlines. I also noticed that Ben Silverman, who Spurlock named as a tireless advocate of product placement in The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, has an executive producer credit in the film, going from being a corporate enemy to a co-producer. Perhaps he's responsible for the segment on the product "Fresh Balls," which aims to solve dampness issues in men's groins.

There's so much to say about male grooming from a cultural perspective, but Spurlock barely scratches the surface. Aside from a few comments from a sociologist, he never gets into the "whys" behind male grooming trends or delves into the social signaling behind a scruffy beard or waxed eyebrows. He also doesn't include any gay perspectives in the documentary. Certainly a segment of the gay community takes grooming very seriously. I've heard the argument before that put-together gay men have influenced straight men to step up their own approach to male grooming, but Spurlock doesn't address this or any other interplay between straight and gay grooming.

He does tackle one illuminating subject: male wrestlers. The epitome of a certain kind of masculinity, these pro wrestlers shave their bodies completely, tan, and focus immensely on the size and appearance of their muscular bodies. It's the kind of vain attention most men avoid admitting to, yet their manliness is never in question.

Mansome's failure to tackle subjects of gender, masculinity, and sexual orientation are only accented by the film's lack of historical perspective. Certainly male grooming was a preoccupation of the likes of Louis XIV and his contemporaries, who wore wigs and high heels. Vague, obvious references to male grooming occurring since the "beginning of time" or allusions to a long history of beard-growing do little to provide this historical perspective. The documentary jumps around without providing a thesis to tie things together. Spurlock's name recognition could give Mansome decent play on-demand or via Netflix, but it's unlikely to have more than a cursory theatrical release.

'The Lucky One' and 'Think Like a Man' vie for date-night audiences

Best-selling author Nicholas Sparks has a solid track record at the movie box office, and it should remain unsullied by the release of The Lucky One (3,155 theatres). Starring Zac Efron as a former ex-soldier and the newbie Taylor Schiller as the object of his affection, the romance is "good-looking but hollow," according to our critic Daniel Eagan. The "smoothly entertaining but easily forgettable" love story sounds like just the kind of undemanding film suitable for a girls' night out or date night. The PG rating and presence of former tween star Efron should draw in younger audiences in particular. Experts predict an opening north of $20 million.

Although it's opening in only two-thirds of the locations of The Lucky One, Think Like a Man (2,015 theatres) could be the underdog that makes big. The "astute, contemporary romantic comedy," as described by THR's Michael Rechtshaffen, has been picking up steam. It may earn in the mid-twenty millions, surpassing the military romance many have seen as the front-runner. Based on Steve Harvey's book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the comedy follows in the footsteps of other advice books-turned-movies, like He's Just Not That Into You. With a primarily black cast, the comedy should do particularly well among the same demographic, which is known for turning out on opening weekend. That could bring the release to the top spot.

A couple of films this week are taking advantage of holidays, both official and unofficial. Chimpanzee (1,563 theatres) is a Disneynature release timed to Earth Day, which is this Sunday. The first of the four Earth Day films, 2009's Oceans, opened to $8 million and earned four times that in total. Last year's African Cats opened to just $6 million and finished with just double that figure. Apes are more personable and relatable than cats, so Chimpanzee could end up doing slightly better than last year's offering. The nature docs are designed to tell family stories that appeal to kids, so "anthropomorphism can get heavy-handed, [and] the family values of teamwork and loyalty sometimes overstated," according to critic Marsha McCreadie. Parents may prefer "Planet Earth," but their kids will probably adore the Disneynature version.

Today is also 4/20, the celebrated stoner holiday, so what better day to release Marley (45 theatres), a documentary about the famous reggae musician Bob Marley, who also liked to partake in Jamaica's intoxicating crop. McCreadie calls it a "benchmark" and "must-see," even though she also harbors some reservations, noting that at the end of the long movie, "you are in the paradoxical position of wanting less movie, more Marley." The Magnolia release will open day-and-date with Facebook, so the industry will be watching to see the impact that has on the doc's theatrical release.

 On Monday, we'll see if The Lucky One or Think Like a Man clinched the top spot, and if the topical Earth Day and 4/20 releases attracted their respective audiences.

Bob Marley doc 'Marley' will release day-and-date on Facebook

Don't expect a film from a major studio to release day-and-date theatrically and on-demand anytime soon. The theatrical window has strong forces protecting it, and too many people are worried that change will drive people away from theatres forever. However, small distributors, who often screen their films in independent theatres, have been pursuing day-and-date VOD releases for a few years now. IFC, particularly, has aggressively pursued the on-demand strategy. Considering the distributor also owns theatres, it can't be all bad for the exhibition side of its business.

So it makes sense that the Magnolia release Marley, a documentary about the reggae musician  Bob Marley, will be the first to be available for day-and-date rental on Facebook. Posters of the famous reggae musician are standard-issue in college dorms, and Facebook has a hold on the youth audience. College students are also less likely to have televisions, and be more open to streaming the film on their computer. Additionally, I bet there a few people who'd like to watch the documentary at home while imbibing in the substance for which the musician is famous--and brag about it on Facebook later. The Facebook rentals will be $6.99, compared to about $12 each for a movie ticket. For those that want to watch the movie on their television, on-demand will be an option too.

Ironically, even though such simultaneous releases shatter the theatrical window, they also profit from it. People won't pay $6.99 to rent a movie once it's on DVD, but they will pay that much to see a movie that's "only in theatres." Couldn't this system just fall apart if too many movies become available concurrently with their release? Simultaneous release can and will be destructive to the traditional theatrical model. Theatres provide something tangible--a big screen, comfy seats, a communal experience--in addition to the intangible. By seeing a movie "first," you get to be the one to talk about it to your friends first, and you won't be left out of the conversation. You also don't have to delay gratification--you can enjoy a "must-see" film right away. On-demand releases charge more because of the intangibles, not the tangibles. You can even add another intangible, "convenience," to the list as well, since parents of young children or people who live far away from movie theatres would get more value out of the experience. Simultaneous releases will only get more popular and continue to evolve. Will they be symbiotic with the theatrical model, or will they devour it?

High school dropout documentary will be created with input from social media

Historically, films have been created for an audience, but totally separate from their input. Except for people inside the business re-reading screenplays and maybe some re-shoots after a test screening, films are complete and totally unseen before they hit theatres. I don't see a way for this system to change anytime soon, but documentaries, instead of fictional features, may find a way around this system. Adam McKay (who often produces Will Ferrell films and co-founded FunnyorDie.com) will produce an untitled documentary about high school dropouts that will develop with input from social media. Jason Pollock, who directed The Youngest Candidate, will helm the project.

This isn't the first time a documentary has tried to harness the power of social media. Life in a Day was created by editing together YouTube clips viewers had uploaded from around the world--all taken on the same day. This untitled high school dropout documentary has the potential for even further reach, because it centers on a social problem. "Issue" docs strive to create dialogue and activism after viewers exit the theatre. This doc will engage them before it even reaches a 90-minute cut. Since such films are often composed of discrete clips anyway, it would make sense if the director posted a clip, then incorporated the feedback he received on the clip into the movie as responses. I think there is a lot of potential to play around and create something innovative. McKay's background in both film and viral videos should give this project an extra lift.

Pollock reportedly will focus on teachers and students. Students, especially, have fully embraced social media. I bet teenagers will be more frank over the Internet than they would be if confronted with an adult and camera in person. Social media was originally designed as a way for people to keep in touch with their friends. Many attempts to monetize or create brand tie-ins using social media feel forced. This project doesn't, and that may be the key to its success.

 

 

Should 'Bully' receive a PG-13 rating?

Just a few F-words stand between the documentary Bully and its desired PG-13 rating. The Weinstein Company has been actively fighting to overturn the MPAA's R rating of the movie. It has already lost an appeal, and now the company is threatening to withdraw from the MPAA altogether.

I saw Bully last year at the Tribeca Film Festival, which was attended by the director and some of the people featured in the documentary. It was a moving experience. I left chock-full of empathy and outrage, especially after seeing the school administrators, teachers, and bus drivers who failed to recognize the severity of the situation. Verbal abuse (including those F-words) is more prevalent than physical abuse. I can't say I counted how many F-bombs were dropped. What I was more bothered by was seeing this language and abuse directed at a student.

I think most middle school and high school students have the maturity to handle the language in the film. But I also think that parents and teachers are the ones who will err on the side of caution. Parents will probably think they're showing children something they've never seen before. Administrators and teachers will be afraid of offending parents or getting in trouble with higher-ups. It's mainly about saving face, not the actual content. If this movie were PG-13, everyone would have the excuse "but it's PG-13" to use in order to signal the movie's appropriateness. If it's hit with an R rating, parents and teachers will have to evaluate the movie's appropriateness on a case-by-case basis and risk ire from those who look at the movie's rating, not its content.

If I correctly recall from my own experience in high school, we could see R-rated movies in class with a permission slip. Of course, this high school was in a comparatively liberal area compared to the rest of the nation. Bully follows students from Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Iowa. The Oklahoma student is the target of unbelievably hateful bullying solely because she is a lesbian. Her tormentors try to run her over with their car. Ha-ha.

Bully should be shown to students, parents, teachers, and administrators. If that means bleeping out a few F-words, I honestly feel that The Weinstein Company should capitulate. How else will students in conservative, Bible Belt districts see the movie? However, The Weinstein Company is right to challenge the MPAA for its stance on the "F" word. Currently, the MPAA allows one F-word in a PG-13-rated film, as long as it's not in a sexual context. Last year Weinstein Co. release The King's Speech was rated R because a character swearing was a freeing act that helped with his stuttering. Here it's used to illustrate hate speech. Shouldn't context matter? There are far more racy things in PG-13 movies than a few F-words. Exhibiting the movie with an R rating will exclude the audiences who need to see the movie most. I hope the MPAA caves. Failing that, I hope Weinstein Co. adds the few bleeps that will make this movie acceptable to wide audiences.

'Off the Rez': 'Hoop Dreams' for Native Americans

By Sarah Sluis

Fictional sports movies have it tough. The narrative that repeats over and over again is that of the underdog team that comes from behind and wins the championships. Audiences are bored of this predictable plotline, but it's also the most satisfying story arc. Sports documentaries have a wonderful out: Everything they're covering actually happened. If they win the championships, great. If not, it doesn't matter, because the experience feels real and visceral. Every moment the players are behind or ahead feels that more intense because it was an actual game.

Off the Rez is the latest sports documentary from Jonathan Hock (Through the Fire), whose sports-centered non-fiction films have been a Tribeca Film Festival fixture. At a "Tribeca Talks" screening last night, viewers saw the movie for the first time. A panel followed that included the director, executive producers Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, and the stars of the documentary. Their candid, revealing responses provided insight into the filmmaking process that drove home the film's heartbreaking struggles and inspirational story.

The movie centers on Shoni Schimmel, a promising Native American basketball player who lives on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon with her family. During her junior and senior years of high school, her family moves to Portland, Oregon, in order to give her a better shot at making it big and getting recruited by a top college. It's also a family story--her mother is her basketball coach, and her younger sister Jodi is her teammate. Her mother Ceci has an astonishing eight children, which helped the film get picked up by TLC. At the "Tribeca Talks" panel afterwards, TLC group president Eileen O'Neill wryly noted, "We do big families pretty well," referring to the channel's numerous shows featuring supersize broods.

Racism, too, factors heavily into the film. Shoni is the daughter of a Native American mother and a white father, a marriage that the community did not take kindly to at the time. Ceci, Shoni's mom, described the attitude around the Oregon reservation as "cowboys & indians," and that kind of prejudice persists in the community. The pressure for Shoni to perform well is amplified by the expectations of both her family and the community. It turns out that many Native Americans have excelled at sports, only to wither at their moment of promise, quitting college to return home to family or not understanding the "ticket" that such a scholarship can provide. Shoni's own mother was up for a scholarship but her coach encouraged recruiters to focus on her white teammate. As the moments tick down to make a choice for a college team, Shoni hesitates, then hesitates again, sending viewers like me into a fretting frenzy. Will she bow out? Does she have the courage to leave her community? Will she succumb to their pressure?

Off the Rez also includes a timely subplot: the subprime mortgage crisis. The family buys a house in Portland because it's cheaper to buy then rent, but their payments soon escalate. After hard times hit the family, the house moves into foreclosure. If Shoni was paralyzed by the decision-making process before, this added stress further delays her college choice.

Director Hock has ample experience with sports scenes, and it shows. Shoni is a miraculous player, with plenty of style and an ability to swoosh shots despite being heavily defended. The players are also incredibly expressive. As the moderator, Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger noted, "Girls are more fun than boys to watch because they cry constantly." He meant it as a half joke, but it's true. In the locker room after a loss, tears stream down the cheeks of athletes with aggressive on-court game faces. And why wouldn't you cry because you just broke a foot, had a knee jammed in your face, or can't breathe because you have undiagnosed mono?

Off the Rez is an edge-of-your-seat sports movie with heart. It also offers eye-opening accounts of racism and reservation life, along with a side of the mortgage crisis--you can't get any more topical than that! Catch it at the Tribeca Film Festival or when it airs on TLC as a two-hour special on May 14th at 9pm.

Tribeca Film Festival: Mouthwatering doc �Jiro Dreams of Sushi' delights audience

By Sarah Sluis

Most people will never pay $300 for a sushi dinner, but the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi gives an hour and a half look into a restaurant whose sushi meals cost that much and often take just fifteen to thirty minutes to consume.

The Tokyo restaurant is led by chef Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old whose right-hand man is his fifty-something son. His younger son, who will not inherit the business, has already branched out and opened another restaurant, but the older son is holding out until he can carry on his father's business�though fifty seems a little old to be still working under your father. The restaurant, which has just a dozen seats, is run meticulously, and the documentary follows the rhythmic life, day in and day out, of the sushi chefs.

Director David Gelb said in a Q&A afterwards that his shots of Jiro's sushi-making were inspired by "Planet Earth." The crisp, HD shots are sometimes slowed down slightly, and the camera will arc around a completed hand roll, allowing audiences to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of his creations.

After watching the documentary, $300 for dinner actually seems like a deal. The secret to good sushi is an incredible amount of painstaking labor. Want tender, not rubbery, octopus? Massage it for 45 minutes. Want the best fish? Develop relationships with vendors who each specialize exclusively in tuna or eels. Cut it the right way. Add just enough vinegar to the marinade. Don't prepare anything beforehand. Above all, taste, taste, taste.

Jiro's son tells an anecdote. He made tamagoyaki (egg sushi, pictured right) over two hundred times before his father liked it enough not to throw it out. Jiro has many apprentices, and they spend a decade making sushi before they're considered good enough to move on from an apprenticeship.

At the Tribeca screening, the audience was incredibly giving and delighted in hearing the lengths Jiro goes to achieve often humorous levels of perfection. They were also concerned about Jiro and his business in the wake of the earthquakes and nuclear disaster in Japan. The director assured us that his family is safe and sound, but noted that many reservations have been canceled due to the instability in the aftermath of the tragedy. Procuring fish, too, has become more difficult. Many coastal fisheries have been wiped out. There just isn't that much to buy at the fish market.

For a stomach-growling look at the sushi world, see the film at the Tribeca Film Festival or await its release through Magnolia, which has plans to release the doc later this year. Watch the trailer here.

Morgan Spurlock strikes again with 'POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'

By Sarah Sluis

I was a little confused by the concept of Morgan Spurlock's latest film, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. But perhaps because of the "brand" Spurlock has created with his fun yet socially relevant documentary Super Size Me, I enthusiastically signed up for a screening. I wasn't disappointed.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is a documentary about product placement in movies that's funded entirely by product placement. The very pitch he gives to companies asking them to participate ends up in the movie as its "product placement," which led Jimmy Kimmel to compare the doc to Inception in one segment. So why would a company pay to be in a documentary that reveals they paid to be there? Transparency. Revealing a marketing plan shows respect for consumers, who don't want to feel duped by misleading ads. Then there's the opportunity to be associated with the "Morgan Spurlock brand." As he learns in a market research session conducted using psychoanalysis, Spurlock embraces fear and uncomfortable situations, and his brand is "mindful and playful." He ends up signing up Ban, POM, Merrell shoes, Mini Cooper, and, my personal favorite, Mane 'n Tail shampoo (an equine shampoo that crossed over to the human market), in a long and sometimes fruitless search. Spurlock takes particular delight in showing off his rejections, which are some of the movie's more amusing moments.

I've seen a lot of comedies at film screenings, but I've never seen an audience laugh as frequently and loudly as they did for this movie. It was often out of pure ridiculousness. After signing on POM as a sponsor, everyone ends up nonchalantly drinking the juice during interviews, and seeing the brand perched at a corner of the screen was so obvious it was hilarious. There's also a funny moment where Ralph Nader gets a little too excited about the Merrell shoes he's been gifted, which unwittingly turns him into a commercial pitchman.

Though the intent was to show the ins and outs of product placement, Spurlock covers so much that he often only skims the surface. There are also brands that signed on (like Seventh Generation, which sells eco-friendly cleaning products) that we don't see in the movie at all, except in advertisments. What happened there? The interviews with media heavyweights like Noam Chomsky, too, are often reduced only to soundbites. A comprehensive dissection of product placement and its implications may not have been possible, but Spurlock also strays off target, flying to Sao Paolo (perhaps taking advantage of a free JetBlue flight and stay at the Hyatt Regency?) to interview people about the city's ban on outdoor advertising. But these are quibbles. It's as much of a job of a documentary to raise questions as it is to answer them.

At the screening I saw last night in New York, we exited the theatre, only to be greeted by neat stacks of the products featured in the movie. As I helped myself to some POM juice and Mane 'n Tail shampoo, I couldn't help but feel that the sponsorship worked. I might have felt ridiculous using an equine shampoo before, but now I think I'll have a little chuckle as I lather up in the shower, marveling that I use a product that has instructions both for human and animal use. The in-movie commercial where Spurlock is washing up in a giant bathtub next to his son and a Shetland pony didn't hurt either.

DOC NYC Fest: Director Errol Morris' 'Tabloid'

By Sarah Sluis

Documentary director Errol Morris' Tabloid will be one of two gala presentations during the DOC NYC Fest, which runs from Nov. 3 through Nov. 9. Preceding its premiere at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 7 at 7pm, several of Morris' other films will be shown on the big screen, including The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time, and Gates of Heaven are also scheduled for screening. However, maybe the festival should have done it the other way around, because Tabloid is so good it will make you want to revisit all of Morris' previous films.

Tabloid combines a sensational story (the "too good to be true" kind) with the narrative sensibilities of a master. A taste of the plot: In the 1970s, an ex-beauty queen, Joyce McKinney, goes to England to win back her "boyfriend," who she thinks has been brainwashed by a cult (Or is he just a Mormon on his mission?). She kidnaps him and chains him to a bed (leading to London tabloids screaming "Bondage!" and other salacious headlines), and more. Despite plans to marry (according McKinney), the Mormon disappears after their return to London, and she's arrested soon after on a host of tabloid-worthy charges.

Though the "Manacled Mormon" refuses to aopear on camera, McKinney is a star interviewee. A charismatic speaker, she reportedly has a genius-level IQ (she claims it's 160) and convincingly tells stories that Morris casts doubt on in other segments of the film. Indeed, as the publicity around the case reaches its height, all kinds of weird information about McKinney comes out of the woodwork. To top it all off, McKinney's story has a bizarre third act, which picks up some twenty years after the original story.

Under Morris' hand, Tabloid has moments that are laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping incredible. Entire minutes can be spent with a jaw hanging open in disbelief. He sometimes uses incongruous stock footage to illustrate a situation, an excellent technique, and flashes words on the screen for a moment during interviews (Someone says "What word am I looking for?" and he flashes it on the screen instead of supplying it off-camera). He likes to suddenly introduce an entirely different angle of the story, so that watching the documentary becomes a kind of roller-coaster experience.

Tabloid has been making the rounds at film festivals. Though no distributor has picked it up, I predict it will be hitting theatres sometime soon. The story's just so good it's true.

What is Joaquin Phoenix doing in 'I'm Still Here'?

By Sarah Sluis

Perhaps you remember about a year ago Joaquin Phoenix announced he was quitting acting.  Soon after, news surfaced that Phoenix was going to film a documentary (or was it a mockumentary?) about his experience leaving the movies and becoming a rapper.  His celebrity friend Casey Affleck would direct.

Now, the trailer is out, giving audiences a first look at the movie, I'm Still Here.

The film is a rather baffling project, especially for a two-time Oscar nominee, and apparently film buyers were unsure about whether the movie was a mockumentary or documentary.  Nevertheless, it was picked up by Magnolia, and will release in less than a month, as a special presentation at the Toronto Film Festival.  I'm not placing much money on it doing well: it has a confusing premise that could likely backfire, and Phoenix is not a public figure that graces the tabloids regularly, which means there is limited interest in his personal life.

What's odd and sad, however, is that his decision to give up acting and pursue music seems like some kind of tribute to his brother.  According to that crowd-sourced encyclopedia Wikipedia, his brother River Phoenix was in the process of developing a career as a musician when he died of a drug overdose outside of a club.  Joaquin was the one who called 911 and tried to save him.  Joaquin Phoenix has had an interesting life in his own right, enough to create a biographical documentary, not a mock one: his family grew up in the cult Children of God before rejecting it and changing their last name from "Bottom" to "Phoenix." He has struggled with fame before, quitting acting for a year after his brother died, and also gone to rehab for alcohol addiction.  Despite the solemn, existential voiceover at the beginning of the trailer, the movie apparently is a hard R, including graphic sex and gross-out moments.  That seems like some hiding from the truths of his life rather than searching for discovery.  Then there's the fact that the production is currently the target of a lawsuit by someone alleging sexual harassment from Affleck.

Despite my reticence to see the movie because I suspect it will be narcissistic and navel-gazing (and, apparently, gross), there's something intriguing about someone who is drawing a thin line between reality and fiction.  Nowadays reality shows have become more scripted, leaving audiences to wonder--was that set up, or was that for real?  Phoenix, though he may loathe to say it, seems to following in the path of those MTV series "Laguna Beach," "The City," and "The Hills," which purported to follow the lives of the cast members but were in fact scripted to an inscrutable degree.  In such a case, the fictional world spills over into the real world. Just as Phoenix acted oddly on "David Letterman," perhaps while in character, the storyline in the MTV shows was extended to the tabloids, which followed the fictional relationships created on television--and to further blur the line, some of them actually existed.

I'm Still Here may hit theatres and generate lots of publicity, or it may quietly fade like so many other specialty releases. But it reflects an impulse in our society to experience "reality," even if that reality is scripted.

The duty of a war documentary: 'Restrepo'

By Sarah Sluis

Last week I saw the Sundance Award-winning documentary Restrepo (read FJI's review here). Directors and journalists Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) followed a group of soldiers in the Korengal Valley for a year. In an area known as "The Valley of Death," these soldiers engage in firefights every day, and up to multiple times a day--the kind of combat not seen since Vietnam. The documentary's stated purpose is to document the life of the soldiers, without including the overarching politics

or outside viewpoints. I enjoyed the documentary, with some hesitations. After hearing it lambasted by another blogger, who felt the movie "misleads and distorts in a way that any fair-minded person would and should find infuriating," I feel the need to weigh in.

The documentary opens with the kind of scene that scares you half to death and gives you a huge adrenaline rush. While in an armored Hum-V, the soldiers take fire. They abandon their vehicle, take cover, and return fire. The camera moves Blair Witch-style, looking down at the ground as the camera operator runs for cover. Sonically, it goes from recording huge booms and gunfire so loud it's distorted, to eventually losing all sound, broadcasting a barely perceptible static. It's freaky, and one of those scenes you can't believe is real, because it feels like a movie.

Of course, most of the time the soldiers are hanging out, horsing around, or shooting at targets hundreds of yards away. They also have weekly meetings with local elders, and occasionally wake up residents in the middle of the night to gain information or detain them for questioning. Here, my sentiments toward the soldiers were not as positive. These soldiers are not culturally sensitive. You can understand their

frustration, but at the same time they act incredibly rude. The leader speaks to the elders with exasperation, annoyed that they are still focusing on the errors of his predecessor. The soldiers laugh about "the cow incident," in which they killed (and ate) a villager's cow that had become tangled in their fence, but they also don't seem understand how the cumulative impact of these incidents can engender ill will among the residents. No wonder the townspeople are hiding the Taliban, and the situation seems like it can only get worse.

Even if the documentary itself doesn't address how this behavior can affect what's going on in the bigger picture, its scenes are indelible. This week, General Stanley McChrystal is in the news for his comments in a Rolling Stone article, which just led to his dismissal as top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. When I read the article, I paid attention to the new military strategy referred to as COIN (counterinsurgency theory). "Think the Green Berets as an armed Peace Corps," the article explains, you "[send] huge numbers of ground troops to not only destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch, another nation's government." I seriously doubt that the soldiers' presence in the Korengal Valley fostered good will among the locals. At its most benign, their actions were a nuisance and prone to misunderstandings. Once the soldiers start taking residents out of their homes in the middle of the night, killing cows and speaking to them in rude and frustrated voices, the relationship between the locals and the soldiers becomes one of toleration. Trust? How can they trust each other? The residents are hiding Taliban and soldiers accidentally kill innocent people trying to find them. By presenting footage without extensive commentary or contextualization, the filmmakers are doing audiences the favor of letting them draw their own conclusion.

Restrepo shows, it does not tell. Will everyone that watches the documentary be worried about how the soldiers treat the locals? No. But with many sources of information about the war in Afghanistan, there is a place for a documentary like Restrepo, and its portrait of Afghanistan is one I will remember for a long time.

Gibney's documentaries keep turning into feature movies

By Sarah Sluis

Recently, documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has gone from being a mere blip on my radar to a massive, extremely influential storm. Film Journal recently profiled the filmmaker here, and three of his films--yes,

THREE, were shown at the Tribeca Film Festival: an Eliot Spitzer movie, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, and his segment of the Freakonomics movie. But what's weirder is that the topics of two of Gibney's movies are also being developed as unrelated feature films.

First, it was announced in March that Casino Jack, a feature about Jack Abramoff, who was profiled in Gibney's Casino Jack and the United States of Money, had been picked up by Metropolitan for distribution. The movie stars Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff and will release this fall.

Yesterday, Kirsten Dunst was added to the cast of On the Road, a feature film about Jack Kerouac that is being spearheaded by Francis Ford Coppola. Meanwhile, Gibney has a documentary in the works called Magic Bus about the Merry Pranksters (whose members included the man who inspired On the Road, Kerouac's close friend Neal Cassidy. It's not that Gibney got there first, because Coppola's movie has been in the works for years. It's the fact that Gibney appears to have a knack for choosing red-hot subject matter.

One of the biggest challenges of documentaries, at least in terms of their appeal, is choosing what topic to follow. Most subjects have at least some level of a built-in audience, but interest can ebb and flow. Gibney has directed well-timed political and economic documentaries, such as Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and the upcoming Spitzer movie. For the Abramoff movie, he came in a few years after the dust had settled, and it opened last week to a so-so $3,000 per-theatre average. However, the movie will likely make more of a splash on DVD and TV. Magic Bus, depending on when it releases, could see a nice bump from the publicity for On the Road. However, the '60's aren't exactly hot right now, as evidenced by 80's-style fashions and the relatively cool reception to the movie Taking Woodstock. Finally, Gibney is also working on a documentary about Lance Armstrong. If half the people that bought those yellow rubber band Livestrong bracelets turn out to see the movie, it will be in good shape. I'm betting that the Armstrong documentary will make a bigger splash at the box office than the Spitzer film. And considering that Gibney filed a lawsuit against THINKFilm for mishandling his Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side (it earned just a quarter of a million dollars at the box office, the distributor was in financial trouble and didn't have money to support it), I think this smart documentarian deserves a box-office hit. However, the people who create fictionalized accounts of these stories may have the last laugh--in Casino Jack, Abramoff emails Gibney the following missive: "Why bother making the film? No one watches documentaries. You should make an action movie!"

'Iron Man 2' kicks off blockbuster season

By Sarah Sluis

Iron Man 2 racked up an astounding $133 million over the weekend, a dramatic improvement over Iron Man's

$98 million debut in 2008. The superhero movie had its strongest

performance on Friday, and fell

slightly through the rest of the

weekend. Overseas, Iron Man 2 is already in its second week and going strong. Stateside, it will have to compete with the action-driven Robin Hood releasing

this Friday. Last year, X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped 70% in its

second weekend, when Star Trek bowed. Even a 70% drop will still give Iron Man 2 a $40 million second weekend, but given its stronger reception than Wolverine, it will likely post a much higher second weekend.

Babies debuted at number ten with $1.5 million. The documentary followed four babies around the world from birth to first steps. Reviews were starkly separated between baby-haters and those that just

couldn't stop oo-ing and aa-ing

over the cute creatures. While the per-screen average could be higher

(just $2,900 per screen at 534 locations), the movie has a chance at

performing well in coming weeks if it attracts positive word-of-mouth.

Besides Babies, Mother and Child also opened this weekend to take advantage of the Sunday Mother's Day holiday. At four locations, the movie earned $11,000 per theatre, the strongest per-theatre average for a specialty film this week. Please Give, in its second week, posted $9,000 per location as it quintupled the amount of theatres in its release (5 to 26).

A Nightmare on Elm Street tumbled 72% in its second week to $9.1 million, a fall expected for the horror movie. Iron Man 2 drove competing action movies downward: Clash of the Titans fell 60%, The Losers went down 69%, and Kick-Ass dropped 66%.

Family movies and comedies emerged unscathed. How to Train Your Dragon crossed the $200 million mark with a $6.7 million weekend, a 36% drop. Date Night dropped 30% to $5.3 million and The Back-up Plan fell 40% to $4.3 million. Even Furry Vengeance dropped just 40% after a disappointing first weekend, adding $4 million to its gross for an $11 million cumulative gross.

This Friday, Gladiator duo of director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe re-team for Robin Hood. The Queen Latifah romantic comedy Just Wright and Italy-set romance Letters to Juliet will go up against the male-driven fare.

Charter school documentary 'The Lottery' inspires intense audience discussion

By Sarah Sluis

Most Americans know something about charter schools.

Privately run schools with intensive curricula and frequently non-unionized teachers, their small size and flexible structure is

supposed to help them avoid the

pitfalls of a large school system and

educate students from areas where local schools are failing. Madeleine

Sackler's documentary The Lottery (thelotteryfilm.com)

follows four families in Harlem who have entered their children in the

lottery for the Harlem Success Academy. Each of these families comes

from challenging circumstances. Most of the parents are single, one is

disabled and another's husband is in prison, but they are

committed to getting their child a good education. Of course,

not everyone will get in: there's simply too much demand to enroll in

these excellent schools. Sackler also interviews founders and CEOs of charter schools, principals, goes to political and community hearings about charter

schools, and follows protesters, giving a comprehensive view of the

charter school debate (though she is clearly pro-charter school).

After

the movie's screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, there was a panel discussion that included Joel Klein, the

chancellor of New York City schools; Eva Moskowitz, the founder and

CEO of Success Charter Network, which founded the Harlem Success

Academy; Sackler, and Karl Willingham, a parent profiled in the

movie. Most of the questions and comments were positive towards

charter schools, but some dissented. While charter school advocates claim

all parents they have ever met want their children to have a good

education, others believe that charter schools self-select since

parents must enter their children in a lottery to attend--an extra step

apathetic parents might not attempt.

Two people came up to the microphone, talking about how they cried

the whole way through the film. For many, it was the moment where a

parent said "No one ever told me I could be an astronaut" that broke

them down. Another, interviewed from prison, referred to Harlem

Success Academy's goal that every one of their students becomes a

college graduate. "No one ever told me I could be a college graduate,"

the inmate said, tears welling up in his eyes. These powerful moments

helped focus the attention on the children. Politics aside (and this issue is ALL about politics), people want to see children educated and told that they can be successful college graduates. The method does not seem to matter as much as the results.

Issues of race were also brought up. One person asked about the

"inarticulate" answers given by the people dissenting against Harlem Success

Academy's expansion. In one documentary segment, for example, angry

parents speak out by calling the expansion "disrespectful," a coded word

that includes issues of power and disenfranchisement. They didn't

expand on the term, I believe, because the word spoke for itself--to their

community. Later, a couple of viewers called the questioner out on his

insensitive comment, which they felt showed ignorance and racism.

Charter schools are itching to expand, and as the issue heats up this documentary is likely to receive more play. The passionate audience included State Senator Craig Johnson,

who made an important decision in favor of charter schools, people

carrying Teach for America tote bags, public school teachers, and many

passionate parents and children (the ones featured in the film were

also there). Sackler revealed that the documentary will go into a

roughly 100-theatre run, and many screenings for special-interest

communities are likely to go along with it. And it's not the only kid

on the block. Sundance documentary Waiting for Superman also explored failing public schools, indicating that the issue is moving into the public spotlight.

'This Is It' shows Michael Jackson as we want to remember him

By Sarah Sluis

I knew Michael Jackson first as someone photographed with scarves and clothes covering his head. Magazine articles speculated about his appearance and plastic surgery, allegations were put forth about his sexual abuse of children, and his own children had mysterious paternity and maternity.

That's not the Michael Jackson you see in This Is It. For a younger generation, many of whom filled the seats at my Wednesday night screening, the concert documentary offers an opportunity to see the King of Pop back in peak form. He's guarded, not reclusive, and his exacting nature comes across as perfectionism, not diva behavior.

Because Michael Jackson is holding back on singing in the rehearsals to preserve his voice, the most stand-out songs are those staged with elaborate choreography. The dancing has incredible energy, precision, and ingenuity. Even surrounded by powerful dancers half his age, Jackson comfortably holds the lead. The dancers also help cue our awe. A casting session whittles down the hundreds of immensely talented dancers vying for a spot, and the ones that remain seem overjoyed by the opportunity to work alongside one of their idols. They applaud during rehearsals and show an incredible amount of respect for the man who has influenced contemporary dancing.

For those curious about the challenges of staging big concert productions, plenty of behind-the-scenes moments abound. The audience at my screening got a big kick out of Jackson's direction to let a song intro "simmer," and shouted the phrase back at the screen with a joyful glee--"Let it simmer, Mike!" One of Jackson's accompanists, after getting grilled by Jackson about the "simmering" pace, goes on to convey his respect for a pop artist who is such a perfectionist. He actually knows all his records and exactly how everything should sound. In the age of Auto-Tune, Jackson is a welcome anomaly. Though it seems he was planning on using echo effects live, judging from one performance, he brings with him a history of pop singing independent of the technological crutches standard in today's music world.

This Is It is worth going to the theatre for the crowd, but not necessarily for the IMAX. While the quality is far better than you would expect, the aspect ratio sometimes shifts to something smaller and grainier. Director Kenny Ortega, who was in charge of both the stage and film production, puts together an engaging two-hour experience. He expertly conveys half-completed effects, and instead of feeling like you missed something, you fill in what could have been. By showing us the strength of Jackson's would-be stage performance, This Is It seals his reputation as an icon.

'Food, Inc.' finds an unlikely corporate sponsor, 'Bruno' receives tyke-friendly edit

By Sarah Sluis

Could you imagine if Fast Food Nation were sponsored by a fast food chain? Chipotle seems to be doing just such a thing, giving out flyers for free screenings of Food, Inc., a documentary that explores the negative effects of factory farming and insufficient laws governing our food supply. While I love my barbacoa burritos from Chipotle, I never would have linked my consumption of them to the sustainable eating practices recommended in Food, Inc. Of course, that's the point. Chipotle wants to position itself as the "good" fast casual option against the "bad" fast food shown in the film, such as Burger King. I blogged about the thought-provoking film in June, and I find it even more interesting that its activist message has found a corporate sponsor.

Food, Inc. stands apart for its practical, rather than radical, approach to changing the food we eat. The documentary makes a point to single out companies that aren't standing alone, but changing factory farming by throwing themselves into the mainstream. Stonyfield Farms, for example, was bought by the Dannon corporation, and is sold in Walmart stores. The CEO defends the company's decision, saying that if more yogurt is organic, fewer pesticides and chemicals will be circulating in the environment. Food, Inc. suggests that food companies (i.e. Tyson) are so gargantuan,

they simply can't change, but most acquire upstarts and, perhaps,

slowly incorporate more sustainable, healthy methods of farming and

processing. McDonald's owned Chipotle until 2006, when it sold off all of its non-McDonald's food chains. So even McDonald's, much reviled for some of its corporate practices, allowed another company to experiment with organics and environmentally sustainable products, which is consistent with Food, Inc.'s message. Perhaps in the future, we'll see more corporations "endorse" documentaries--a practice that, when done properly, I'm sure will have mutually beneficial results. Maybe an anti-Sea World company will want to make a play for The Cove?

Across the pond, Universal is trying a different distribution strategy for Bruno, which had less-than-spectacular results in its first weekend. After grossing just $8.1 million (U.S. $) its opening weekend, Universal submitted a 15-and-over version of the movie to the British Board of Film Classification. English-speaking countries like the U.K. and Australia posted the highest grosses for Borat, so Universal clearly wants to fully tap this market. With a more inclusive rating, Universal hopes to be able to draw in younger viewers, who apparently have been "turned away" at ticket booths. Considering that the BBC airs youth-oriented programs like "Skins" that make our teen soaps look G-rated, I'm sure teens are annoyed and even turning to illegal downloads to see the film. Importantly, this will be a rare chance to see the difference ratings make on the bottom line. You constantly hear directors complaining about studios making them cut

to get a specific rating, so this will provide a nice experiment to see

how much truth there is to the conventional wisdom.

See the fate of Flipper in 'The Cove'

By Sarah Sluis

Dolphins deserve their stuffed animal status. They're cute, friendly, intelligent, and have been known to protect humans from sharks and other perils. Their very appeal to humans, however, is what endangers them. The documentary The Cove focuses on the small fishing community of Taiji, Japan, where dolphins are sold to "swim-with-the-dolphins" businesses and performing aquariums around the world, and the dolphins not selected are shepherded into a hidden cove where they are killed with harpoons.

The leader of the anti-captivity movement, Richard O'Berry, is a dolphin-lover who has been on both sides of the debate. He trained the dolphins used for "Flipper" for ten years before having a change of heart, and has spent three times as long, as he puts it, undoing what the show unleashed. He's been particularly vocal against what goes on in Taiji, the center of the captivity trade, to the point where he is followed by police investigators wherever he goes. With a team of dolphin (a.k.a. cetacean) activists on his side, they devise a way to film the slaughter, Ocean's 11 style.

Interwoven with their filming mission is background about the intelligence of dolphins, the International Whaling Commission's inability to regulate smaller cetaceans like dolphins, and evidence that many people are unwittingly eating dolphins. Often marketed as whale meat, dolphin meat has a dangerous amount of mercury that makes it unfit for regular consumption.

The best--and worst--parts of The Cove are the incredibly powerful scenes of animal cruelty. Copious amounts of blood are spilled, to the point where the blood gushing out of the elevator in The Shining seems like a trickle. It's incredibly convincing, and enough to make some people rethink their positions about the mammals.

For someone like me, a middle-of-the-roader who enjoys eating meat and fish and has a rather pragmatic view about where animals are in the grand scheme of things, I think awareness is everything. I consider it my responsibility to know about the consequences of my choices, and where my food came from. After seeing this documentary, I would hesitate before participating in a swim-with-the-dolphins program. I certainly can't abide by slaughtering dolphins for food, especially when the food itself can cause health problems. It's ironic, though, that the very captivity programs the activists are trying to stop are what endear children to the animals in the first place, and make them want to protect them later on. The winner of the Sundance 2009 documentary award, The Cove is a great example of a confrontational animal-rights documentary that can inspire activism--you can visit the activist part of their website here--while alienating few.

'Food, Inc.' is worth digesting

By Sarah Sluis

If you're one of the millions of people who eagerly consumed Fast Food Nation, and followed it up with Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, the documentary Food, Inc. will drive home the points of these books in an easily digestible, tear-jerking, visual experience.

At the screening I attended, the critics (usually a quiet bunch) occasionally let out an "mm-hm" or sympathetic scoff to punctuate some of the documentary's points: Preacher, meet choir. Food, Inc.'s tri-city release on June 12th will distribute the film to the sympathetic, liberal cities of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, so it remains to be seen whether this documentary would be a successful conversion device if you were to drag along a reticent relative or friend.

Food, Inc. focuses on the whole range of food politics: legislation, corporate practices, local farms vs. factory farming, food safety, nutrition, the effects of fast food, and the class issues surrounding food consumption. While most of us are familiar with the basics of these debates, the examples offered by Robert Kenner, who has directed episodes of PBS's "American Experience," make all the difference. While many people are sickened by food, I was sickened by the story of a mother whose son was killed by a burger tainted with E.coli. Sadly,

although testing at the plant turned up the virus, the meat was not

recalled until weeks after her son had already eaten the burger. Her pursuit of the passage of Kevin's Law, which would require speedy notification of food contamination, is one of the most touching vignettes of the film.

Because Food, Inc. looks at food from the farm to the table, it's able to showcase unusual solutions to problems like E.coli contamination in meat. Turns out, fixing this isn't just about plant cleanliness, but grazing practices that promote the virus. According to the food scientists interviewed in the film, E.coli multiply in the gut when cows are fed corn instead of grass. Feeding cows grass a week before slaughter will remove the majority of E.coli from their gut, but the expensive practice simply isn't part of the corporate slaughterhouse process.

Factoids like these are the kind of things evangelists like to share over dinner with friends (perhaps to their consternation), and there's plenty more in Food, Inc. It never felt too didactic to me, but rather took the role of a microphone, amplifying and neatly laying out the arguments of prominent activists. The interview with the CEO of Stonyfield Farm yogurt, Gary Hirshberg, is one such standout segment. The former radical now sells his products in Wal-Mart, and sold the company to the corporation that produces Dannon yogurt. While these choices have made his liberal friends aghast, he sees the growth of organic companies as a way to reduce the net amount of pesticides and negative byproducts in our ecosystem. With most of the organic upstarts (like Kashi, for example) being acquired by the big food companies, the question floating around is, will these companies be able to scale up the organic, free-range movement and improve the quality and safety of our food? Or will growth compromise the core tenets of these companies, like locally sourced food?

Food, Inc. is a thought-provoking documentary, though even a convert like me found a few moments that relied more on emotion and exaggeration than statements backed up by firm research. With food politics such a hot topic, this documentary is required viewing for anyone who's ever reached for organic milk, or drawn back once they've viewed its price.

Food, Inc.'s website can be accessed here.
A NY Times article about the bottoming-out of the organic milk market can be read here.
Sneak-peek clips of Food, Inc. viewable here.

'Hannah Montana,' 'Observe and Report,' documentaries crowd the box office

By Sarah Sluis

If you are a girl between the ages of seven and thirteen, chances are you'll be at the movie theatre this weekend, watching what our critic dubbed an "utterly formulaic yet eminently watchable slice of Southern-fried cornpone." Yes, we're talking about Hannah Montana: The Movie, which sends the singer, who's turned into a bit of a diva, to live the "Simple Life" with her grandma in the country. She meets a cute boy who wears a cowboy hat (as all boys must do in the South), and uses her star power to throw a concert that will save the area from being turned into her old shrine, a shopping mall. It opens on 3,118 screens, but is expected to come in behind Fast & Furious, which has little competition in a field cluttered with kid-oriented films, among them holdover Monsters vs. Aliens and other newbie release Dragonball Evolution (2,181 theatres). Why so many films for the K-12 set? Spring break, which usually falls in April, right around the Passover/Easter holiday, the latter of which falls this Sunday.

For college students perhaps on spring break, R-rated Observe and Report opens this weekend. Inspired by Travis Bickle's character in Taxi Driver (if De Niro were Seth Rogen and a mall security guard), the film goes to the edge for comedy, including a borderline date rape scene that our critic called "the litmus test for deciding whether Observe and Report is darkly funny or deeply irresponsible." Opening in 2,727 theatres, the movie will likely open in the top five.

On the specialty front, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is another one of those literary adaptations that just makes you want to read the book. Our critic called the voice-over narration, a holdover from the book "not cinematically interesting," and noted that "the whole enterprise has a heavy literary tone that transmits onscreen as a certain unrelenting joylessness."

A cluster of documentaries release this week, with subjects ranging from rock bands to artists to war and poverty in developing nations. Documentarian Sacha Gervasi went out and found a band right out of This is Spinal Tap in Anvil! The Story of Anvil (3 theatres in NY/LA), an account of a band that keeps on going---still, as the joke goes, big in Japan. If the first film is a documentary version of a mockumentary, In a Dream is the reverse: a documentary that comes off as a "mockumentary of cinematic self-discovery." Using "overbearing" narration, director Jeremiah Zagar documents his artist father's work and even his dad's affair with his young assistant.

Moving to Lima, Peru, the documentary Oblivion focuses on "intentional forgetfulness and the forgotten," highlighting the class differences of a rich and poor society. Finally, An Unlikely Weapon tells the story of that Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken during the Vietnam War of a South Vietnamese executing a Viet Cong, his face cringing in anticipation of his death. Whether you catch a teen singer in the country, that other mall cop, some dragonballs or one of the many documentaries coming out this week, we'll see you back here on Monday.