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Category: Documentary
THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS (2018) movie review
The nature nurture question has lead to many posited psychological theories and some experimental studies, but none so shocking as this one. “Separated at birth” takes on new meaning when Three Identical Strangers inadvertently find one another in college.
The honeymoon phase is glorious for these boys – peppered with fame, glory, and wine, women, and song. They live together and love having put the missing pieces back together. Eddie, David, and Bobby shared the same voice, mannerisms, likes and dislikes.
Their young lives were so unique, it was as if they’d been placed very specifically in homes across the socioeconomic spectrum. One raised quite poor but lovingly. Another mid-level. And the other in a slightly wealthier, military strict home.
After opening a restaurant together and starting their own families, being best men in each other’s weddings, they started asking questions and in-fighting. One brother struggled with severe depression that the other two were ill-equipped to battle alongside him.
Oddly, the question they waited to ask was “why.” The triplets and their parents had visited the adoption center for answers and had been disappointed in the response. What they later discovered was the psychological testing that had been going on under their noses, in their own homes throughout their childhoods.
Victims of experimental research, the subjects were not without casualty, and the past, once dug up, only deepened the mystery.
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (2018) movie review
Fred Rogers knew his calling, his mission, his audience. His heart’s desire was to let all of the children in the nation know and hear that they were loved and appreciated just as they are.
Through the brand new medium of television, he spoke to the unnoticed masses of children, got down to their level, moved at his own pace, and offered us all dignity.
He didn’t follow trending goofball or slapstick programming. He made a clear distinction between real and make believe.
After studying child psychology, he discussed monumental themes never before breached with children: grief, discord, war, death, divorce, disabilities, even assassination.
At a low time in our history when colors couldn’t commingle and were not welcome even to swim in the same water, Mister Rogers confronted the issues head on and discouraged racism by washing the feet of those being mistreated. 
He set the standard for recognizing and valuing feelings and learning to discuss and help them.
This feels like an important documentary, one that like the show Mister Rodgers’ Neighborhood offers all people equally the opportunity to do what is right, to listen and learn from one another, to believe that everyone can make a difference if they choose to live by their convictions, and above all to love people well. “143.”
AMERICAN ANIMALS (2018) movie review
You’d be hard pressed to say you’d ever come across a docudrama quite like this one. Fourth wall breaking, narrator switching, truth shaking. The soundtrack compliments as the heartbeat pulses them out of the boredom and the adolescent what if? into the tragedy of consequence.
With an I, Tonya tone, this well edited mush of memoirs takes on the tale of four teens who planned a heist and followed through to life-altering ends. The story is true. The interviews are real. The acting is honest and memorable.
Then the thematic questions end with a horrible thud and silence – perhaps an intentional disappointment so we viewers recognize ourselves in the boys. We are all capable of madness. We must not follow through.
RBG (2018) movie review
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka the Notorious RBG, has worked her whole life to serve the law as she sees it.
Still serving as a Supreme Court Justice, she works most nights until 4 am reading cases, writing briefs, hoping to change the world.
Demure and steadfast, this tiny soldier has become the voice for equality. She adds her feminine collars to the judge’s robes and fights from within what has been a “man’s world” since she graduated top of her class, despite being one of the few women attending Harvard Law. Women’s rights hail her as their heroine changemaker of policies. Her voice of descent, popularly tweated, speaks for what she believes to be equality for underrepresented peoples, not just women.
As the credits rolled, I noticed something rare: almost every crew member who worked on this film was female. I felt a swelling in my chest. This was a well-filmed documentary, memorable and sweet. No matter what your political beliefs, you will leave with a newfound respect for this little woman who worked and continues to work to change history in her own way. You will value her story. You may even want to buy a shirt.
RAGAMUFFIN (2014) movie review
Who would play you in the movie of your life? The old campfire question suits when Sandra Bullock plays the benevolent mother to an unloved high school football player or when Judi Dench relives the journey of one Philomena seeking a lost son. But who will bravely take on the story of an alcoholic Christian recording artist who dies tragically in a car accident? Too much? Too messy? Too uncomfortable? Too many people continue to snub the Ragamuffin’s message…that we are all broken but that God still loves us.
I loved so much about this film, produced by the Mullins family and directed by a friend: David Leo Schultz. I loved the almost documentary feel intertwining real recordings of Rich Mullins telling his own story and playing live performances on stages across America. I loved the casting. Michael Koch owned the role of Mullins whole-heartedly. And my friend Amy Schultz debuted beautifully as Amy Grant.
I especially loved the truth in it. It’s not fluffy or cheesy or kitsch. It’s honest. And, I believe that it honors the hero of the film, but Jesus most of all.
I remember when Rich Mullins died. I remember singing his songs in church. He was a kind of praise song pioneer. I remember the judgmental looks he got for his unkempt, rowdy, boisterous, rebellious Christianity in his ripped jeans and bare feet. Most people who complain about the church or about Christianity will blame hypocrisy. Perfection is unattainable, and churches are made up of imperfect people. It’s easy to forget, but forgiveness and acceptance is a simple ask away. Rich Mullins knew this. He spoke directly to the church about being real with themselves and others so people would know that Jesus came to save sinners, not just the people trying to look perfect. Mullins was refreshing. He struggled, and everybody knew it. Something in his swagger, his stammer, his unabashed truth telling, and especially in his honest music has shaped me and given me hope to help me through my own set of problems by relying on the giver of peace.
Here are the lyrics to one of his songs that has carried me on multiple occasions: “Hold Me Jesus.”
Well, sometimes my life just don’t make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small
So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6csWlQ9dfb4
Was Mullins the modern St Francis, the original hipster of sorts who refused to play by the imposed rules of Christian society? He certainly swam upstream in a current of Christian conformists in the 90’s. Rich Mullins allowed his stage to become a pulpit to draw the hearts of Christians back to Jesus and away from stuffy ritual and performance faith.
The Gandalf of this film is Brennan Manning, author of a beautiful book called “Ragamuffin Gospel.” Rich Mullins wrote the forward about honesty and frailty and how this concept of being a Ragamuffin had shaped and truly changed his life.
Be careful going in to this film…you might just end up confronting your own demons and find out that you are indeed a Ragamuffin like the rest of us. The daddy issues may resonate in your own heart. You may feel conviction, but more so the discomfort of God’s acceptance despite your imperfections. Watch out; you might just meet Jesus.
The DVD called Ragamuffin will be available on May 6.
For more info: http://ragamuffinthemovie.com/
BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK (2010)
In the spirit and trend of The September Issue (2009), we meet Bill Cunningham, at large in NYC. He lives in Carnegie Hall and works for the NY Times, but you’d never know it. He likes it that way. He’d prefer to be invisible. He’s the eyes of the times into all things fashion, and he’d prefer to find the beat on the street where real people wear real clothing. His view is unique and his hunger insatiable. He just loves clothing. You won’t catch him without his camera, now an extension of himself.
Even if you are not a documentary lover, this tribute is delightful. People truly compliment and honor this trustworthy tradesman. His opinions matter, and as he says it, “He who seeks beauty will find it!”
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE (2009), in which THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)
In what is perhaps Anne Hathaway‘s least hateful role yet, we meet yet another Anne-as-commoner who makes it to the top after a much needed make-over. Oh, Anne. Only this year’s queen is not Julie Andrews imparting elegance, it’s Meryl Streep as the Devil herself. Her every syllable and pursed-lipped glare wields stiletto sharp criticism. Andy finds her inner strength and outer beauty and learns how to integrate the two — powerful weapon.
This weekend’s paper grading session began with a well-watched Prada and moved flawlessly into its sister documentary September Issue. Anna Wintour is the true woman of the hour, the Vogue mogul, and the power behind much of the fashion industry today. She has kept the magazine alive by innovatively adding celebrity power. Not the devil, but cutthroat most certainly.
The necessary human angle in the story came from the former model, Grace Coddington, seemingly Wintour’s friend and foe and long time creative director at Vogue.They were hired the same year and work very closely. Somehow one maintains her strong turtle shell while the other sports her creative bleeding heart on her sleeve. These two works make a powerful and lovely afternoon pairing. And, just as you learn to love the Devil who slowly sheds her shell, so Anna warms with the watching and inevitably becomes more human – almost likable.
BABIES (2010)
In the debate of Nature vs. Nurture, I tend to to lean into the side of Nurture knowing that the milieus in which we are raised affect us greatly. This film peered brilliantly and honestly into 4 individual stories from 4 unique countries, giving the audience that long-coveted fly-on-the-wall feeling. 4 BABIES come into their own worlds, interact with parents, eat, sleep, poop, throw fits and coo. The coo’s become intelligible words just as crawls work up to dance. We climb. We conquer. In these are everyman and yet none of these represented groups that I feel I will ever truly understand. I was horrified by the cultural lack of hygiene and equally mortified by one family’s constant neglect of the baby who sat tied to the bedpost all day. I delighted in the culture of community in one story, but sat stupefied by the over-the-top American example. At least the American example reminded me of a very important truth: one family does not represent every. Just as the one African family is not every African family, so the Mongolian family does not represent all of Mongolia.
This, one of my first documentary film viewings, led me through fascinating journeys of thought into the probability that we are not only affected by our surroundings but that at whatever age, we also work to impact the environments in which we are placed. I also realized that I am so very Western. I know it’s not wrong to appreciate baby wipes, or to be more grateful suddenly for undergarments like bras, but this film stretches worldview. It gives a Truman-esque perspective. What will these little lives turn out like? What will they choose to do and become? How are they formed and forming in thier surroundings? How are they the same? How would they be different if they grew up elsewhere?
Perhaps this film speaks more of motherhood than childhood. I walked out of the theater a little more grieved than enchanted, but I did learn an important personal lesson: for now…I’m okay without the responsibility of parenthood. Someday, hopefully, but today I’m content without babies.
Visit Scarecrow Video!
Scarecrow Video, just off of Roosevelt & 50th in the U District in Seattle has EVERY title! Ask any one of the employees as you walk in for any new release, genre, director, obscure indie or international title and their degree in film studies will register beneath the lenses, and a pointer finger will raise to the exact location of that movie. Beware. When I say EVERY movie…I mean it. Many are not for young eyes…or mine. But go.
If you remember seeing The Hunt for Red October on an old gigantic lazer disc and you’ve ever wanted to relive that experience, you can rent players there. Even VHS players (what are those, right?), and projectors for that backyard film fest. Remember that one that you saw with your mom on Turner Classics when you were little that just haunts you? They’ve got it. What’s that one Wes Anderson movie? It’s there, and they know.
So, go! Visit Scarecrow Video and support a local legend. If you have out of town guests coming in, show them Seattle and take them to Scarecrow. Let them pick the movie or take them to the Italian film section and rent Life is Beautiful for a lovely and memorable evening. Say Hi to Kevin for me while you’re there. Shake his hand. He’s a good man.
I heart Scarecrow Video!
Splatter: on FILM 