Category: Documentary

This documentary discusses the careers of six iconic entertainers (Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone and Pam Grier) and the challenges they experienced being both Black and female in the entertainment industry. There wasn’t a lot in the film that I hadn’t already seen or read in following these women’s careers. There also seemed to be too much attention given to producer Alicia Keys’s experiences being inspired by those who came before her. My favorite part was the discussion of Abbey Lincoln’s career. She was a stand-out for me in my recent watch of The Girl Can’t Help It . Though it’s disappointing that she felt so disenchanted by wearing a ‘borrowed’ dress in that film, seeing how her career later progressed was fascinating for me.

Matt DeHart and his family claim that he has been targeted by the United States government because of documents he possesses that detail misdeeds by the CIA. The government alleges he is al predator who solicited photos and possibly sex from minors, which he has now served time in jail for. It is fairly easy to come to an opinion, certainly based on biases, as to which is true. The film picks one side at the beginning but then chooses to switch to the other, perhaps to challenge those biases. Unfortunately that also means it jumps back and forth through the timeline of events, even bringing forth new evidence at the very end, perhaps to obfuscate what objective truth is available. It only leads to a frustrating experience where it’s hard to care either way which side(s) is true. 

For ten years, Eugene Mirman hosted an eponymous comedy festival which featured scads of recognizable comedians from television and film. This documentary celebrates the history of the festival while also delving into Mirman’s personal life, namely his wife Katie’s fatal cancer diagnosis and how that spurred the closing of the event at its tenth year. It spends little bits interviewing various comedians who have participated over the years, some time showing festival performances particularly ones from that last year, and more allowing Eugene and Katie to talk about their relationship and death. Because it tries to handle too many disparate parts, the film is a bit scattered in its aggregate, but it still remains heartfelt and honest with quite a bit of humor shown.  

When a group of Northwestern University journalism students, with the guidance of their professor David Protess, reinvestigate Anthony Porter’s murder case, they manage to get his death sentence overturned and shine a light on another suspect, Alstory Simon. The story is simultaneously frustrating and fascinating. The film presents evidence that the original conviction was sound and lays almost all of the blame for the fifteen years Simon wrongfully spent in jail on the professor-led investigation. While that investigation was almost certainly shoddy, guided more by fame and turning over the death penalty than getting to the truth, the film doesn’t give nearly enough focus on why the ‘justice’ system was so quick to send both of these men to prison, particularly with Simon’s obviously coerced confession. The student project was successful in that it really did spotlight how questionable the death penalty can be when convictions are so easily tossed aside and innocent people jailed. 

Being a fan of early reality television, I have long wanted to watch the full An American Family series, which is often considered the first reality series. This provides highlights of all twelve episodes, edited into one film, and it was almost as good as checking out the entire series. The Louds may not have been representative of all or most families in the 1970s, but they do provide a window into an upper class American experience and the changing attitudes between the generations at the time. The DVD came with a bevy of extras that include interviews that explore the crews’ experiences working on the show and the impact it had then and now.

Included on the DVD set for On the Bowery was this other documentary by director Lionel Rogosin. An indictment on the speed at which countries sometimes choose to go to war, it juxtaposes footage of war atrocities, particularly those committed by the Nazis, with the banal conversations occurring during an upper class party in London. It’s effective though also quite repetitive in its depiction.