Photographer Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine's car broke down in Mbirizi, Uganda. While waiting for the repairs he stumbled upon the photo studio of photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo who had been taking pictures for 50 years. KIbaate's work was stunning and the effort to preserve and share it became Mwine's life work after that.
A collection of reviews of films from off the beaten path; a travel guide for those who love the cinematic world and want more than the mainstream releases.
Friday, February 21, 2025
Memories of Love Returned (2024) Slamdance 2025
Photographer Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine's car broke down in Mbirizi, Uganda. While waiting for the repairs he stumbled upon the photo studio of photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo who had been taking pictures for 50 years. KIbaate's work was stunning and the effort to preserve and share it became Mwine's life work after that.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024) plays DOC NYC 2024 tonight and opens Friday in theaters
This is a portrait of South African photographer Ernest Cole, who left his homeland and apartheid and moved to America where he chronicled the similarities between America and South Africa.
Largely made up of photographs left behind and undiscovered until after his passing this film is an eye opened. Seeing the images larger than life is a true awe inspiring experience. You may think you've seen life in the bad old days before but Cole's images will open your eyes to so many new things.
Coupled with Cole's words this film is not just a portrait of a time but of a man a drift in it. Through Cole's words we get to know what it felt like to live through the events that he was chronicling.
It's a staggering achievement that you really should see, especially with on a big screen where the images can over power you.
Highly recommended.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue (2024) DOC NYC 2024
The life and times of the Sport’s Illustrated Swimsuit issue as told by the woman behind it, the photographers who shot them and the women who filled the pages. It’s the story of how one person changed the lives of many people for the better and how ultimately the cheesecake photos resulted in things that were so much more than just eye candy.
This is a good look at Campbell and the people who crossed her path. It’s a film that is going to tell you everything you wanted to know about the Campbell and then some. Perhaps a little bit too much. While the film is never bad I began to run out of steam probably about 30 minutes before the end. I think it was more that I had heard everything I felt I needed to at that point. That’s not a knock, but more a statement that I had to step away.
Quibble aside, the film is quite good and worth a look.
Friday, September 6, 2024
Space Cowboy (2024) Toronto 2024
This is a look at cinematographer Joe Jennings who makes his living by throwing things, like living room sets and cars, out of planes and shooting footage as it falls to earth.
To really appreciate this film its best to see this on a big screen so that Jennings images can overwhelm you. The thought of seeing all of the sky diving footage on a truly big screen is truly compelling…
…largely because it will overpower the rather run of the mill story telling of the whole affair. Don’t get me wrong this is a good story with lots of great images, but the director doesn’t really do anything with it. He thinks that the images will carry the film, and they largely do, but after a while there is only so many images of flying cars and things that shouldn’t be falling from the sky before the novelty wears off and you are forced to ponder if there is anything here. It’s too much of the same thing.
While not bad, a little goes along way.
Worth a look on a big theater screen. Less so on TV
Saturday, June 8, 2024
Jumpman (2024) Tribeca 2024
Portrait of photographer Co Rentmeester who took the photo took the photo that became the Nike logo after the company stole it.
This is an excellent bio of a photographer who changed the way we look at the world. His work is some of the most recognizable in history. The film is also a shocking portrait of how a sneaker country screwed and artist and made it easier for other corporations to do so.
I loved this film. I think it's a great film. At the same time it's clear that both Rentmeester and the lawsuit against Nike needs to be expanded. This could have and should have been a feature film. There is so much more to say on both subjects.
My desire to see this as a feature aside, this film is a must see when it plays again at Tribeca or wherever you can see it.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
CHASING TIME (2024) Hot Docs 2024
You need to see this on a screen as big as possible. I don’t say that lightly, I say that because the images here will knock your socks off.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Uncropped (2023) Opens Friday
UNCROPPED was one of my favorite films of DOC NYC and probably 2023 as well.
A low key portrait of photographer James Hamilton the film is full of great pictures (which look incredible on a big screen) and great stories that will make you laugh and smile and wonder why you never thought to do that.
The film is a more or less straight telling of Hamilton’s life as he sits around with and without friends and tells stories. We hear of his faking getting a press pass at a rock festival, fumbling his way into getting jobs at various magazines, his time at the Village Voice and so on. Along the way he tells stories about meeting various celebrities (he just called up Alfred Hitchcock and ended up going to tea) shooting celebrities (he loves to get candids that reveal more than the cleverly posed picture) and tales of life itself. In fact there are so many stories here that you are going to watch this film two or three more times just to try and remember them all.
I loved this film.
This is my favorite sort of biographic documentary, the one where it feels like you’re hanging out with your really cool friend and he’s just telling you really cool story after really cool story.
You need to see this- preferably on a big screen if possible,
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Uncropped (2023) DOC NYC
UNCROPPED is one of my favorite films of DOC NYC and probably 2023 as well.
A low key portrait of photographer James Hamilton the film is full of great pictures (which look incredible on a big screen) and great stories that will make you laugh and smile and wonder why you never thought to do that.
The film is a more or less straight telling of Hamilton’s life as he sits around with and without friends and tells stories. We hear of his faking getting a press pass at a rock festival, fumbling his way into getting jobs at various magazines, his time at the Village Voice and so on. Along the way he tells stories about meeting various celebrities (he just called up Alfred Hitchcock and ended up going to tea) shooting celebrities (he loves to get candids that reveal more than the cleverly posed picture) and tales of life itself. In fact there are so many stories here that you are going to watch this film two or three more times just to try and remember them all.
I loved this film.
This is my favorite sort of biographic documentary, the one where it feels like you’re hanging out with your really cool friend and he’s just telling you really cool story after really cool story.
You need to see this- preferably on a big screen if possible,
Friday, February 17, 2023
Vishniac (2023) Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023
This is an excellent look at ROman Vishniac and his family who went on to achieve things int their own right. Filled with interviews, films and recreations the film fills in the blanks on a man who most people know only through his photographs. Its a film that wonderfully reveals a living breathing man to be behind some amazing images.
What I knew of Vishniac going into the film was that he took hundred of photographs on the eve of the Second World War and preserved a record of a way of life largely wiped out by the Nazis. I didn't know that at time he was making scientific films which millions of students for decades. I also didn't know about his children's role in all of this.
Giving full breath to the man behind the images VISHNIAC does what all good biographies should do which is not only give us a fuller appreciation of the subjects achievements but also reveal them as a person. The highest praise I can give the film is that Vishniac comes across not as some mythic figure but someone just like us. He's someone we'd want to hang out with because he isn't that far from us.
I was delighted. I was moved.
This is a super film.
Recommended.
Friday, December 9, 2022
THE TREASURE OF HIS YOUTH: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF PAOLO DI PAOLO (2022) opens today at the Film Forum
Bruce Weber’s portrait of photographer Paolo Di Paolo is a late in the year treat. A frighteningly beautiful film that demands to be seen as big as possible (it plays NYC’s Film Forum starting Friday).
Di Paolo was friends with all sorts of people in his youth and he took picture of all sorts of famous people, producing amazing black and white photos. Eventually giving up shooting he put the pictures and negatives away until his daughter discovered them years later. Realizing what was in the pictures she asked what they were all about but her dad wouldn’t talk about it eventually he opened up about them. Years later director Bruce Weber discovered the images in a shop in Italy and tracked down the photographer.
This film kicks ass. Beginning with a long sequence of Di Paolo’s images the film then shifts into the story of Weber finding the pictures which leads into DiPaolo talking about them It’s a magic carpet ride through the life and times of an amazing individual. I was totally enraptured
And I was constantly talking to the screen as each image made we react verbally with delight.
I love this film to death.
An absolute must see
One of my favorite films of 2022
Saturday, November 12, 2022
PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY (2022) DOC NYC 2022
Wonderful portrait of the late great photographer Corky Lee. Lee was a native New Yorker who made a career of photographing the Asian experience in America and New York. Lee's aim was to "take the pictures that should be in out history books".
He was everywhere in New York covering events no one else did and in ways that no one else could. Because he was everywhere and people knew him Lee managed to get shots that changed lives. As recounted in the film his photos changed the accounts if the police who couldn't lie about what there was photographic evidence for.,
This is magnificent film. Its a wonderful look at a man and his work and beautiful explanation of why Lee matters.
Highly recommended.
Friday, November 26, 2021
DOC NYC Capsules: FILM THE LIVING RECORD OF OUR MEMORY,THE PHOTOGRAPH, and THE MAN WHO PAINTED WATER DROPS
FILM THE LIVING RECORD OF OUR MEMORY
An excellent celebration of film restoration and preservation that highlights and celebrates the magic of the movies.
This is a must see for anyone who loves cinema because it will make you treasure it's fleeting nature even more'.
Recommended.
THE PHOTOGRAPH
Using a phot of his grandfather as a jumping off point director Sherman de Jesus paints a portait of photographer Van Der Zee who shot portraits of Black life durng the early part of the 20th century and uses it to explore the generations of blacks living in New York.
This is a magical and alive film that must be seen
THE MAN WHO PAINTED WATER DROPS
Oan Kim creates a portrait of his father artist Kim Tschang-Yeul that is both a celebration of his life and art and facinating look at how he creates and what inspired him.
Its a film that is at times too intimate and at other visually glorious. Its a one of a kind documentary that is recommended for anyone who is interested in the creative process.
Monday, November 15, 2021
MCCURRY: THE PURSUIT OF COLORS (2021) DOC NYC
Portrait of photographer Steve McCurry who is best known for the picture of an Afghan girl that graced the cover of National Geographic several decades ago. Over the course of the film we follow McCurry as he takes pictures and explains his love of people and the planet.
This is easily one of the most beautiful films of 2021. Its due largely to McCurry's photographs and a cinematographer who duplicates the eye of the subject. The images are what makes this film a must see on a big screen.
The problem is that the rest of the film doesn't match the images. McCurry is a curious man with his own way of seeing things. While he loves the world he seems disconnected and so we feel that way too. It also doesn't help that many sequences feel staged for the camera. Its clear what we are seeing is set up for the film and as a result the whole affair feels less real
While none of this is bad, it's never great, or perhaps its better to say that nothing other than the images truly soar.
Worth a look.
Sunday, November 14, 2021
EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE (2021) DOC NYC 2021
This is a great portrait of Edward Muybridge whose motion studies in the late 19th century and early 20th century were the precursor to the movies. While the motion pictures are what he is best known for there is way more to him than you can imagine and this film seeks to reveal the full extent of the man and his work.
This is a wonderful film that reveals a great deal abut a man who is at least familiar to us on some level. The film also explains a great deal about the history of photography and how Muybridge influenced more than just movies with his work. I was utterly delighted since I went into the film figuring that this was going to be a standard issue biography and discovered it to be something more.
That the film works as well as it does is entirely to the talking heads that director Marc Shaffer has lined up. There is such passion in their words and it carries over to the audience. In all seriousness we get excited because they are excited. Unexpectedly one of the experts is Oscar winner Gary Oldman who talks with an authority on Muybridge and early photography that is completely entrancing.
This is one of the hidden treasures of DOC NYC and recommended
Monday, October 4, 2021
Famous People at The New York Film Festival 2021 Part 1- The Tragedy Of Macbeth
Every year I've been to the New York Film Festival I get to see some famous people. Being a sharing person I take pictures and share them.
In this first installment some pictures from the press conference for THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Joel Coen Frances McDormand, Denzel Washington |
There is nothing like a Denzel Washington smile even in a slightly blurry photo |
Dennis Lim, Joel Coen, Frances McDormand, Denzel Washington and Bertie Carvel |
McDormand, Washington, Carvel and Moses Ingram |
Moses Ingram |
Saturday, November 14, 2020
DOC NYC Capsule revews: SELF PORTRAIT and UNAPOLOGETIC
Two feature films being mentioned as possible Oscar contenders
SELF PORTRAIT
Portrait of the late photographer Lene Marie Fossen who recently died from the Anorexia which was frequently the subject of her art.
A moving biography of a young woman, she was only 33 when she died, who managed to find beauty in everything, even her own diseased body. The film is full of both beautiful and shocking images as we see what the terrible disease does to a person.
UNAPOLOGETIC
A look at Bella and Janae who are working to get the community to challenge to power structure in Chicago, particularly the police. It is the story of two young black women fighting go for what they know is right and hoping to change the world.
Very good look at two women who are using different means to get their voices heard. Yes they are marching and protesting but they are putting a spin on things that make you sit up and take notice. Their spirit and slightly atypical ways make this film some thing more than all the other films about protest. Their voices cut through the sameness that has enveloped the protests in the media and are actually making a difference.
Recommended.
Thursday, November 12, 2020
BC Wallin on AN IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT (2020) at DOC NYC 2020
Dream big or face reality. Hold onto the past or watch it be torn away from you. That’s the narrative of An Impossible Project, a documentary torn between reality and the story it tries to tell. Directed by Jens Meurer, the film is, more than anything, a love letter to analog, to the technological world of buttons, rotors, and greasy machines, more so than the digital realm of touchscreens, memory, and CDs. It’s about the physical way we interact with an older form of technology and the emotional connection that’s thereby created. “My theory,” says Dr. Florian “Doc” Kaps, “is that the biggest difference between digital and analog is the fact that digital always just tickles two of your senses. It’s always I can see, I can hear it. But it’s always behind the glass screen. I cannot really touch you, I cannot smell it, I cannot lick it… it’s nothing real.” Analog, by extension, is as real as technology gets.
The two subjects of the story are Doc and the Impossible Project, the latter a group of analog enthusiasts who bought the last surviving Polaroid factory in 2008 as the company was about to shut it down. The Impossible Project hoped to revitalize the industry of instant photography. The problems standing in their way were many — as the team’s name implies — including the facts that they didn’t have Polaroid’s instant photograph chemical formula, Doc was running the group without knowing how to run a business, and investors weren’t exactly rushing to pay into an expensive, failing industry with a small niche of enthusiasts.
Meurer’s film reads as an elegy for the analog, a deeply nostalgic look at something that doesn’t belong in the modern world. He peppers in images of Polaroids taken across many many years, a testament to the legacy of the photographic medium. He doesn’t hide his disdain for smartphones, for digital media in the narration; An Impossible Project even begins with an anti-digital disclaimer.
The argument for analog is not always an easy one to make, nor is the film able to convey it in a significantly compelling manner. Remember how long it took to dial rotary phones? Remember how annoying a key jam is on a typewriter? How expensive a pack of just a handful of Polaroid (or Fujifilm) film was? Doc is called “Doc Quixote” and his impossible dream just seems like a lot of work. The best version of the argument is one offered by an Impossible Project employee: the work is not about proving that analog is better than digital; it’s about giving people a choice, and making sure that choice doesn’t disappear.
Reality is always just around the corner in An Impossible Project, and for that reason, the narrative feels disjointed. (Spoiler alert) Doc gets fired from his own company, and while he continues exploring possibilities of revitalizing analog technology, he never really gets terribly far. He has meetings, talks, even a lavish dinner in an abandoned Grand Hotel, but there’s this nagging feeling that he’s looking for miracles that never fully materialize. Meurer is fascinated by Doc’s story, but still keeps hopping back to check in on the Impossible Project, run by the former intern/son of the main investor who usurped Doc to become CEO.
The documentary meanders a bit and is dry in places. When its subjects get passionate, you can feel that passion.There’s just that question of whether their analog dreams are yours too.
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
ELLIOTT ERWITT - SILENCE SOUNDS GOOD and ONE THOUSAND STORIES: THE MAKING OF A MURAL hits virtual theaters on Friday
ELLIOTT ERWITT, SILENCE SOUNDS GOOD
Hour long portrait of photographer and humorist Elliot Erwitt made by his assistant is a sweet little record of the man and his work. Made when the idea suddenly came up in conversation director Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu jumped at the chance when Erwitt told her it would be better if she did it while he was a live and kicking.
Following the man through his daily routine, working with his assistants and on a trip to Cuba when the US government sought to normalize relations, the film is great deal of fine. It’s a joyous portrait that highlights the wonderful work he has done (so much that Lopez Sanfeliu and his other assistants are discovering and rediscovering incredible images no one noticed until decades after they were taken) as well as his humor. Erwitt suggests that a great interview would be where everyone sat around and said nothing.
What an absolute delight.
Highly recommended
ONE THOUSAND STORIES: THE MAKING OF A MURAL
Tasha Van Zandt's short doc ONE THOUSAND STORIES is an incredible short film about artist JR's efforts to make his first video installation. This being a JR work it is going to be big and alive and full of people. We watch as JR meets and records various people from San Francisco and orks to record what makes them special and blend that into a work that reveals the wonder of the city and its people.
Full disclosure I saw this film a couple of months back and fell in love with it. I mean it's JR so how can you not fall in love with a film about such a charming man? For some reason I can't find my review of the film so I am scribbling a new review, or if not a review a few comments, which amount to my simply saying this film kicks ass and it is worth the price of admission. Even if the Elliot Erwitt film wasn't as great as it is,this film alone is worth paying to see. Seriously. If you loved JR and Agnes Varda traveling the world in FACES PLACES you will be equally delighted watching JR and the people of the city by the bay.
OPENING AS A DOUBLE FEATURE VIRTUAL THEATRICAL RELEASE NATIONWIDE ON JULY 3RD IN NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, SAN FRANCISCO, ATLANTA, AND MORE!
INCLUDING A SPECIAL SCREENING WITH NYC'S THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS GO HERE
Friday, April 24, 2020
Two Tribeca shorts about photography: ECHOES IN THE ARCTIC and UNNUR
I know Ariela already reviewed this but I wanted to throw my two cents in.
Stunningly beautiful documentary about the partnership between scientists and photographers to record information on the orca (killer whale) population in the Norwegian Fjords. It seems the oil company wants to use methods for finding and drilling for oil that would harm the whales and their food.
The amazing and haunting images in this film should be seen, on a huge screen if possible since they make you connect with the animals before you. The images will change the way that you see the whales and life, and if you want proof that the stills and moving pictures taken of the whales moved people that the Norwegian government went from allowing the drilling to declaring the fjords protected sites.
A stunner.
UNNÚR
Portrait of Elli, an Icelandic photographer, surfer, and kayaker who changed the way he interacted with the world once he was in a kayaking accident and had a child.
Visually amazing film is kind of a mess narratively. This 18 minute film spends the first half of it having Elli musing about being a father ans whether he is doing the right thing in how he is raising his daughter (she is the Unnur of the title). The problem, and it is a huge problem, is that if you don't know who he is going in you're really not going to have any idea why he is speaking this way or why you should care. Imagine if someone walked in off the street and just started to talk to you about a random subject. It maybe interesting but after a while you'll stop them to ask who they are and why are they telling you this.
To be honest the long lag time would have worked in a feature but not in a short where the philosophical dad talk overwhelms the contextual portion of the film. There is a good film in the material, I just wish that this was better crafted in such a way to show it off.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Mentors – Tony and Santi (2020) Santa Barbara Film Festival 2020
The film is the story of the lives and friendship of photographers Tony Vaccaro and Santi Visalli who have been friends for over 60 years. Tony started out a war photographer and along the way he met up with Santi who became his close friend. We listen to the men talk about their lives, their photos and their relationships while looking at their photographs.
Utterly simple and totally enjoyable this film is the cinematic equivalent of hanging out with your grandfather and his friend and having them talk about their lives while they crack wise with each other. You alternate between laughing at what they are saying (their take down of Sophia Loren today is priceless) and being slack jawed at all the things that happened (answering the doorbell while dressed in a towel and finding a young and beautiful Sophia Loren standing there). I can almost guarantee you will be delighted by this wonderful film. (Hell as soon as I finished it I send off emails to friends and family saying they had to see it)
As much as I love director Andrew Davis’s slam bang action films, MENTORS may very well be his most enjoyable film. I know it’s early but it is already on my list of favorite films of 2020.
Highly recommended. The film World Premieres later today that the Santa Barbara Film Festival. It plays again January 25. For more information go here