I love to watch documentaries in a theater on the big screen, where the camerawork can be seen in all its glory and any subtleties of technique are more noticeable. According to some documentary websites, the popularity of this mode of filmmaking has increased, and the advent of DVD has made it more financially viable.

Despite the increase in documentaries, the exhibition and distribution of nonfiction films is spotty. The most lucrative exhibition opportunities exist in the broadcasting market, particularly on public television and cable channels, though filmmakers who make deals in this market find themselves shackled by the tastes and limits of the broadcasting industry. In terms of a theatrical release, docs are generally distributed by small companies, or by the filmmakers themselves who work hard to get their labors of love shown. Few have the money for marketing campaigns, and movie reviewers seldom write about them, let alone advocate for them, preferring to write yet another piece on the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Though mainstream theater chains rarely exhibit feature-length documentaries, doc fans who keep their eyes open know that alternative venues, such as cinematheques, university film programs, museums, small film festivals, and arts centers frequently show nonfiction films of all types.

I am fortunate that my job at Facets Multi-Media allows me to see documentaries I might not otherwise hear about. Nonfiction films are frequently part of the program in our cinematheque, and we often release them on DVD either on our own label or through our distribution partners. Recently, I caught two documentaries that actually made me feel joyful after watching them—something I can’t say for most Hollywood films that I see.

BILL WITHERS NEAR THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER

READ MORE

Early yesterday, news broke that Eric Rohmer passed away at the age of 89. Dave Kehr has a fine obituary up at the NY Times, and I would recommend Michael J. Anderson’s essay on My Night at Maud’s and The Green Ray for an analysis of his style. The Six Moral Tales will remain his legacy, but I found his swan song, The Romance of Astree and Celadon, to be equally extraodinary. Suzi penned a lovely tribute to the recently deceased film critic Robin Wood yesterday, and who else but Eric Rohmer was the publisher of Wood’s first essay (on Psycho) for Cahiers du Cinema. Rohmer’s influence on filmmaking and criticism is incalcuable, and his art will live on as long as we value film as an art form.

Now back to the regularly scheduled sheep programming…

The first quarter viewing calendar I posted last week is off to a rousing start. Sweetgrass opened in NYC after its local premiere at the New York Film Festival, and it’s an overpoweringly tactile experience. Cinema Guild is expanding it to ten more cities through the spring, so check the schedule….now. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash recorded 200 hours of footage of two Norwegian-American sheepherders as they led their flock through Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. There are no interviews and the only explanatory text appears at the end of the film before the credits roll. It is a ravishing document of a dying tradition, and one that sets its boots deep in the sheep shit as well as in the rolling plains. This is no romantic gloss of the West, but an immersion in it. Castaing-Taylor and Barbach spent two years filming in and around Big Timber, Montana, which produced a series of short films, but the feature took eight years of editing (and double foot surgery for Lucien after lugging all his equipment over the mountains).

READ MORE

I have always resisted making an end-of-the-year top-ten list of “best movies” as so many critics and bloggers do. There are just way too many of them, and they tend to include the same Hollywood movies and high-profile independent films. However, there are some notable exceptions, including the lists generated by my coworkers at Facets Multi-Media, who are so knowledgeable about small-scale indie films, unusual foreign films, and obscure exploitation movies that their lists are truly fun to peruse.

This year, I decided to throw my hat—or, list—into the ring but with a twist. Long noting how many splendid films do not have the same distribution and exhibition opportunities as Hollywood blockbusters or studio-supported independents, I decided to pull together a list of titles most movie-goers—even movie-lovers—will probably never see. Some of these are low-budget independents distributed by small companies that exhibit on the art-house circuit; others are foreign films that played only in cinematheques like Facets; some are Hollywood films that were overlooked because they lacked enough marketing support to create a buzz. I am lucky to live in one of three major markets for film distribution, meaning many movies regularly play in Chicago that will never play in medium-size or small markets. Chicago has a variety of alternative venues devoted to indie, foreign, and classics, including Facets, where our intrepid programmer, Charles Coleman, works hard to find meaningful films despite small budgets and no staff. Major distributors and exhibition chains that service smaller markets won’t take a chance on an independent or foreign film unless it generates buzz by winning awards. Therefore, most movie-goers won’t get the opportunity to see these movies on the big screen, and without media attention, these titles will likely go unrented on DVD.

I don’t claim that all of these films are among the ten best of the year, though if I were to do a top-ten list, a couple of them would definitely make the cut. Instead, each of these films offers something that movie lovers would appreciate, whether it is a unique style, consummate craftsmanship, high-quality performances, or a narrative too complex for Hollywood.  Some of these films will be available on DVD; others never will. Here’s hoping that you find a way to see them.

"TRUCKER" IS MY FAVORITE FILM OF THIS YEAR.

READ MORE

When I was a little girl, my father taught me about Pearl Harbor Day. He was a World War II army veteran and had served in the Philippines and New Guinea. Like many vets of that generation, he did not talk much about his experiences, which I am sure were as horrific as they are in any war. However, on occasion, he would bring up something related to the war: For example, he loathed and despised General Douglas MacArthur for his “I have returned” moment when the general was recorded by dozens of news cameras marching onto the beach of Leyte Island in the Philippines. My Dad said that thousands of soldiers had been there hours before him and had cleared the way, making it safe for MacArthur to have his photo opportunity. The good general did not have the graciousness to acknowledge those soldiers, and my father thought MacArthur an ungrateful glory hound. He said that weeks later when his base showed the famous newsreel of MacArthur splashing through the water as he landed on Leyte Island, the audience of soldiers booed and threw things at the screen. I doubt if you will read about that one in the history books!!

MacArthur aside, my father was truly a patriotic man, though he never wore it on his sleeve or used patriotism to justify a political stance like we see so often today. After he explained Pearl Harbor to me, December 7th was generally acknowledged in our household with a “Hey, Bud, remember what happened on this day?” Currently, in the wake of 9/11, Pearl Harbor Day tends to be remembered only in comparison to the destruction of the Twin Towers eight years ago, and perhaps that is natural. After all, almost 70 years have passed since December 7, 1941, and contemporary hostilities in the Middle East have imprinted our culture with new fears and concerns. Still, I was happy to see that TCM is remembering Pearl Harbor today with Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series, beginning this morning and continuing throughout the afternoon. It reminded me of the tremendous role that the Hollywood industry played in the war effort. Hollywood was not only a ready source of information through newsreels and documentaries but a source of inspiration through narrative movies, bond drives, and USO tours. Hollywood’s massive participation in the war effort helped promote a sense of social and political unity in this country that I have yet to experience in my lifetime, and the way things are going, I don’t think I will.  For this reason, I have a soft spot for this era of movie history.

CAPRA EDITS "THE BATTLE OF CHINA"

READ MORE

Being an Elvis Presley fan and author, I feel obligated to acknowledge him in mid-August, which is the anniversary of his death. In Memphis, the annual commemoration of his life and career known as Elvis Week just ended, while TCM devoted yesterday to Elvis’s acting career. I thought I would cap off the festivities with some attention to the documentaries about the 20^th century’s most famous singer. Whether watching them for research or entertainment, I found that these films either put Presley in a context to explain his career or presented him onstage in way that captured his charisma and energy.

If you are an Elvis fan, I am sure you have seen these films, and I would be interested in knowing your favorite documentaries; if you are not a fan, you might enjoy them because of the historical context of the content or the craftsmanship behind the filmmaking techniques.

READ MORE

Talk about the great time-waster.  Nothing does it like YouTube for me.  Here I was, researching something — I can barely remember what — and then I get distracted by clips of the amazing Kay Thompson.  Understandable, as she’s dynamite in 1957’s Funny Face, directed by Stanley Donen, giving a huge dose of “Bazazz” (her own word) to the witty romantic musical.  Thompson was mostly a behind-the-scenes wizard in Hollywood, making many MGM musicals of the 1940s — Ziegfeld Follies, The Harvey Girls, The Pirate and many more — into the perfect classics of the genre that they are.  She was also the bestselling author of the Eloise books, about the little girl who lives in a posh NYC hotel.  But I like her best performing, where she’s a force of nature that’s snappy, sly and sophisticated.

READ MORE

Many movie-goers and reviewers find remakes of hit films automatically unworthy, assuming the decision to remake was merely a case of cashing in on past successes. Especially in the current film industry, in which franchises, sequels, film versions of hit TV shows, and remakes rule, the mature audience’s tolerance for remakes must be at an all-time low. But, remaking or reworking old material has always been a part of Hollywood’s strategy to lure viewers to the box office, and a new version of an old film doesn’t necessarily mean it is without merit or interest. I recently watched all three versions of Chicago, which have their origins in a 1926 play, and while each movie uses the same plot, they all have different themes and subtexts.

READ MORE

I’m listening to a Sonic Youth-mix cassette-tape I made back around 1990. It reminds me of Hal Hartley, due to one singular sequence in Simple Men (1991) – which remains one of my favorite Hartley films. Kool Thang plays on the jukebox as first Elina Lowensohn, Dennis McCabe, and Martin Donovan dance to it at a semi-abandoned bar (we later see Karen Sillas and Robert Burke enter the frame as the song plays on). I met Hartley in 2000 when he came to the Denver premiere of Kimono. It was a simple introduction with no time for idle chatter. I remember this: he was thin, crazy tall (6′, 6″), soft-spoken, and very polite. It just goes to show that still waters still run deep, no matter how much Bubble Bath you pour into it. READ MORE

For me, and many other film history students, Chris Marker’s short film La Jetée (1962), a film about post-nuclear war and time travel told via a photo-montage, along with his poetic ruminations on culture, memory, and travel in Sans Soleil (1982), were both required viewing. La Jetée got a bit more traction when it later inspired Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys (1995), but… READ MORE