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      The Bibi Files is an enraging, well-edited and illuminating documentary exposé about Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's corruption charges. Director Alexis Bloom combines interviews with Israeli journalists, Bibi's childhood friend, archival footage and police interrogation footage. The later footage will probably send chills down your spine as Bibi himself gets interrogated along with his wife, Sara, among others affiliated with Bibi. Bloom goes beyond that by also providing insight into Bibi's childhood, his personality and how he rose to power as Prime Minister. The Bibi Files often feels like a Pakula-esque thriller with slick editing, a riveting story and a brisk pace that makes for a cinematic experience. This isn't a dry or shallow documentary. It's revealing, insightful and provocative. Fundamentally, it's about the vital quest for truth, justice and, above all, democracy in a country with a dysfunctional democracy, much like the U.S. At a running time of 1 hour and 53 minutes, The Bibi Files opens on December 11th, 2024 at IFC Center via JOLT.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

       Black Box Diaries is a powerful, gripping and emotionally engrossing documentary about Shiori Itō, a Japanese journalist, who seeks to bring her rapist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, former director of Tokyo Broadcasting System, to justice.  Director Shiori Itō combines footage of her quest for justice and also a candid, unflinching account of her emotional journey throughout the difficult process. The film unfolds like legal thriller and, at times, like a psychological thriller as Shiori deals with people not believing her accusations and with the terrifying fact that Yamaguchi is connected to prime minister Shinzo Abe. There's a nail-biting scene where she and her friend suspect that her apartment might be bugged, so they scan it all over just to be sure. Watching Shiori go through setback after setback feels disheartening and enraging, especially with the initial lack of evidence. The film isn't easy to watch, but it does come with a disclaimer at the beginning that it might be triggering for people who were sexually abused and suggests triggered audience members to briefly close their eyes and take a deep breath which has helped her in the past.

      Shiori's compassion, empathy, resilience, perseverance, courage, patience and emotional maturity shine brightly throughout the film which makes her great role model. Audiences will be happy to see her getting closer and closer to justice. It's no wonder that the song "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor is such an inspiration to her. Hopefully, she'll also find inspiration from this wise poem by Pablo Neruda: "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming."  At a running time of 1 hour and 39 minutes, Black Box Diaries opened at Film Forum via MTV Documentary Film on October 25th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1







      Dahomey is an exquisitely shot and refreshingly unconventional, but somewhat dry documentary about 26 looted artifacts transported from Paris to Benin, formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey. Director Mati Diop opts for a mostly fly-on-the-wall style reminiscent of the films of Frederick Wiseman with one major difference: an imaginative narration by the statue of King Ghezu, one of the artifacts being transported. This is a pretty straightforward documentary in terms of its content which doesn't offer a lot of insight, analysis or different perspectives. The narration makes it feel experimental and, admittedly, takes a while to get used to in lieu of talking-head interviews. Fortunately, the film ends before it starts to become tedious. At a brief running time of only 1 hour and 8 minutes, Dahomey opened at IFC Center via MUBI on October 25th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2







      Diane Warren: Relentless is a well-edited, mildly engaging, but conventional and often hagiographic documentary about songwriter Diane Warren. Director Bess Kargman interviews Warren herself along with colleagues like Cher, Gloria Estefan and record producer Clive Davis to shed light on her life and work. Despite 15 Oscar nominations, she hasn't won a single Oscar yet. After watching this documentary, there's no doubt that Warren is very talented and hasn't received enough recognition for her talents. Kargman also delves a little into Warren's childhood where she was bullied by classmates and came from a dysfunctional family. Her relationship with her father was a bit rocky. Kargman is lucky to have Diane Warren as a subject because she comes across as blunt, candid, witty and flawed which makes her all the more interesting and relatable. To be fair, though, Diane Warren: Relentless doesn't transcend beyond mediocrity and lacks emotional depth as well as revelations. It's not as poignant and insightful as the superior documentary biopic, The World According to Allee Willis. At a running time of 1 hour and 31 minutes, Diane Warren: Relentless opens on January 10th, 2025 at Quad Cinema via Greenwich Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Hollywoodgate is a spellbinding, unflinching and brave documentary about how the Taliban took over Hollywood Gate complex, allegedly a secret CIA base in Kabul, after the US army pulled out of Afghanistan on August 30, 2021. Director Ibrahim Nash'at deserves to be commended for risking his life and gaining access to the Taliban to film them raiding the abandoned complex that still contains weapons and fighter jets left behind. Nash'at opts for a fly-on-the-wall approach without talking-head interviews or getting to know any of the Taliban's backstory. Bravo to him for not making this documentary about him and for keeping his voice-over narration at a minimum. He's a great journalist and, in a way, a warrior for the truth no matter how harsh it is. The footage of the Taliban along with their hatred, cruelty and misogyny are horrifying and disturbing beyond words. To be fair, Hollywoodgate feels often uncomfortable to watch, but that's part of the point because, fundamentally, this is a horror film, so audiences shouldn't be at ease. Prepare for your blood to boil from the moment that Nash'at lands to the moment that his plane leaves Afghanistan a year later. At a running time of 1 hour and 32 minutes, Hollywoodgate opened at IFC Center via Fourth Act Film on July 19th, 2024. It's one of the most powerful documentaries of the year.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

      Nik tries to honor his late wife's wishes to live with his four kids, Freya, Falk, Ulv and Ronja on an isolated farm deep in the wilderness of Norway in A New Kind of Wilderness. That promise becomes easier said than done because of issues with finance and adapting to a new lifestyle without her after she died of cancer. Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen opts for a mostly fly-on-the-wall approach which would've been fine in another kind of documentary, but, in this case, it leaves too much underexplored. Its major strength is that it's well-shot with breathtaking scenery that captures the majestic quality of nature. Beyond that, though, A New Kind of Wilderness marks the second documentary opening this week after Adrianne & the Castle, that tries to tackle the topic of love and grief while ultimately coming up short and leaving the audience hungry for more insight. At a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, it opened at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema on October 25th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      Deep in the forests of the Eastern Himalayas, two researchers, Mansi Mangee and her assistant, Bicki Marphew, observe hawk moths in the documentary Nocturnes. They set up a screen at night to attract the moths and note the moths' size. Co-directors Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan take a simple, seemingly mundane subject and make it profound and transcendent. They eschew talking-head interviews or bombarding the audience with expositional texts and statistics. Do the moths get bigger or smaller in higher altitudes? What happens to their prey when the moths migrate to a higher elevation because of rising temperatures?Nocturnes asks more questions than it answers, but it's nonetheless a mesmerizing, fascinating and meditative nature documentary with breathtaking cinematography that makes for a cinematic experience. You won't look at moths the same way again. At a running time of 1 hour and 23 minutes, Nocturnes opened at Metrograph via Grasshopper Film on October 18th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

       My Sweet Land is a powerful and moving documentary about the Nagorno-Karabakh from the perspective of Vrej, an 11-year-old boy. Director Sareen Hairabedian follows Vrej as he spends time in his village in the former Republic of Artsakh in Armenia before war breaks out with Azerbaijan.  He dreams and hopes of becoming a dentist when he grows up. Soon enough, he and his family are forced to flee from their home to safety while his father goes off to fight in the war. With the ongoing war, his future looks uncertain while he yearns to return home to his "sweet land." Life won't be the same when he returns, though.  My Sweet Land remains focused on Vrej and how the war has affected him and his family. This isn't a political film per se, but it does put on a human face on the consequences of war on innocent lives, so, in a way, it's a protest against war. It would be an interesting double feature with Porcelain War and Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza. At 1 hour and 26 minutes, My Sweet Land opens for a one-week Oscar-qualifying run on November 29th, 2024 at Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1







      No Other Land is a vital, terrifying, eye-opening and heartbreaking protest against war. It's a powerful documentary about the IDF's destruction of Masafer Yatta, a section of the West Bank composed of 19 hamlets. Co-directors Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor unflinchingly capture the suffering of Palestians as they desperately try to defend their homes and protest the demolitions while risking their lives. Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, and Yuval Abaraham, an Israeli journalist, became friends as they documented the injustices for the sake of truth and, above all, democracy. The mainstream news doesn't inform the general public about how the IDF destroys Palestinian homes, so kudos to the filmmakers for bravely recording evidence over the course of 5 years and shedding light on tragic events that more people know about. No Other Land uses a fly-on-the-wall approach without talk-head interviews or analyzing its timely, complex and systemic issues plaguing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which started with Tantura, another dark part of Israeli history that's rarely mentioned. It's scary to know that the IDF's demolition of Masafer Yatta and the way that they treated the Palestinian residents occurred not long before the Hammas attacks on October 7th, 2023. At 1 hour and 35 minutes, No Other Land opened at The Film Society for an Oscar-qualifying run on November 1st, 2024. Hopefully a smart U.S. distributor will pick it up.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

       A Photographic Memory, directed by Rachel Elizabeth Seed, is a documentary about the director's attempts to learn about her mother, Sheila Elizabeth Seed, a photographer, who died when Rachel was a baby. She never got the chance to get to know her, but that changed when she discovered audio recordings of conversations betwen her mother and other photographers. What ensues turns out to be a poignant and illuminating journey for both Rachel and for the audience concurrently. Although the film doesn't reach the powerful, emotional or cinematic heights of other docs like The Mother of All Lies that would allow it to become transcendent, it's nonetheless a captivating, well-edited documentary that avoids becoming dry or dull.  At a running time of 1 hour and 27 minutes, A Photographic Memory opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema on November 22nd, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2







      Porcelain War is a mildly engaging, timely and well-shot, but undercooked, repetitive and incomplete documentary about Ukrainian artists who stayed behind and made art during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Slava Leontyev, who co-directs the film with Brendan Bellomo, works as an artist along with his wife, Anya. He documents their experiences making and painting porcelains which, like the Ukrainians, are resilient: they can be pieced back together over and over even after they're broken into pieces. They also reflect the strength of people coming together to form a community. Slava and Anya's friend Andrey, who's also an artist, decides to document the Ukrainian's wartime struggles. Porcelain War tackles a timely and important issue, but without enough depth or insights beyond showing the brave Ukrainians' resilience during a time of adversity. You learn very little about Slava, Anya and Andrey individually which is a squandered opportunity to humanize them and the audience with them on a more emotional level. Since their art becomes a form of poetry, poetry can often become a form of protest, so while it's inspiring to watch these artists protesting through art, it would've been great to get to know them better in the process. At a running time of 1 hour and 27 minutes, Porcelain War opens at IFC Center via Picturehouse on November 22nd, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      Queendom is a captivating and poignant documentary biopic about Jenna Marvin, a queer Russian performance artist. Director Agniia Galdanova eschews the conventional format of talking-head interviews. Instead, she follows Jenna around as she walks in public in drag with her outfits that are even more over-the-top, bold and eccentric as the outfits in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Jenna isn't afraid to express her individuality and to be her true self, but she's putting her livelihood and life at risk in a country that's filled with homophobia. It's equally enraging and heartbreaking to watch her get kicked out of a supermarket or get arrested. Her relationship with her grandparents seems toxic because they repeatedly deadname her, so it would've been interesting had the director asked Jenna about how she feels about that. Does Jenna really want to remain in contact with people who dehumanize her and cut her flowers, so-to-speak? Queendom isn't a thorough documentary biopic nor does it step back to explore its many issues with more depth and insights. Are there other queer artists in Russia besides Jenna? So, although this film is quite intimate and Jenna is brave for allowing the audience to observe her vulnerability, it's too limited in scope and ultimately incomplete. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, Queendom opened at Cinema Village and on VOD via Greenwich Entertainment on June 14th, 2024.



 

      Sugarcane is an emotionally devastating, well-shot and unflinching exposé on the missing and abused children at an Indian residential school near Sugarcane Reserve located in British Columbia. Co-directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat focus on the survivors as they discuss their traumatic experience which included physical and sexual abuse. The school officially closed in 1981, so the abuse occurred decades ago, but the emotional scars and pains are still there. It's not easy to watch as the survivors speak candidly about their memories. Their courage, introspection, emotional generosity and emotional maturity shine brightly, though. The most powerful and revealing moment occurs when a survivor calls one of the priests from the school to confront him and ask him about the missing students. His nervous, defensive response speaks volumes. Despite that they've continually sought justice, they still haven't achieved it. What's most important is knowing the harsh truth about what happened back then and not allowing anyone to cover it up. By looking at the abuse head-on, Sugarcane bravely exposes that essential truth. The quest for truth and justice is fundamentally a quest for democracy. To be fair, Sugarcane does feel a bit repetitive and overstays its welcome by roughly 10 minutes, so tighter editing would've been helpful. At a running time of 1 hour and 47 minutes, Sugarcane opened at Film Forum via National Geographic Documentary Films on August 9th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      Co-directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story follow the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) as they struggle and battle against Amazon to unionizw in their Staten Island warehouse in Union. They opt for a fly-on-the-wall approach like the films of Frederick Wiseman, but it's rather dry without any thoroughness or fair and balanced perspectives. Merely focusing on the ALU isn't enough. By not having access to Amazon's perspectives, Union feels myopic and incomplete. It also squanders many opportunities to humanize its workers other than letting the audience know that some workers wake up very early to get to work.  What's wrong with getting to know some of the workers beyond their experiences fighting to unionize? This is the kind of doc that could and should make the audience enraged, gripped and/or engrossed, but it fails to accomplish those important goals while also failing to find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. At 1 hour and 42 minutes, it opened at IFC Center on October 18th, 2024.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4





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Avi Offer
The NYC Movie Guru
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