Saturday, December 28, 2013

Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill A Mockingbird (2011)

Director: Mary McDonagh Murphy
Run Time: 82 min.

"It gives the fascinating history of how the book came to be, which involved Truman Capote, a perceptive editor and an act of generosity that helped give Ms. Lee, the novel’s author, the time she needed to write. The reclusive Ms. Lee is conjured through old film clips, published interviews and reminiscences of friends and relatives. . . . The film’s best moments come from other authors—Wally Lamb and Allan Gurganus are particularly eloquent—who read passages from the novel and talk about the book’s impact on them and their writing."
—Neil Genzlinger

Friday, December 20, 2013

Big Boys Gone Bananas!* (2012)

Director: Fredrik Gertten
Run Time: 88 min.

"Anyone not rebuffed by the Vegas-revue title should find 'Big Boys Gone Bananas!' a provocative look at what can happen when corporate power takes aim at independent film. Documenting the vigorous strategies employed by the Dole Food Company to block the release of his 2009 film 'Bananas!' — about a lawsuit brought by Nicaraguan workers who suspected the company’s use of dangerous pesticides — the Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten gains traction by taking the high road. More fist pump for freedom of speech than anticorporate tirade, 'Big Boys' follows the rocky fortunes of the original film, from Dole’s initial cease-and-desist letter to the 2010 victory of Mr. Gertten’s countersuit."
—Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

Monday, December 16, 2013

American Teacher (2011)

Director: Vanessa Roth
Run Time: 80 min.

"What makes the film more than just a cheerleading countermove is the towering amount of research it contains: historical data tracing the profession from being the domain of men to largely that of women, and the cynical economic ploy behind the shift; terrifying figures on the rates of those fleeing the profession as well as the looming crisis of a mass retirement of elderly teachers; the sobering numbers of teachers living at the poverty level and/or holding down a second job. Putting a human face on the data are teachers of all races and backgrounds who gave Roth complete access to both their professional and personal lives, showing how the two are so deeply intertwined."
Ernest Hardy, The Village Voice

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle for Expression (2011)

Director: Max Good
Run Time: 86 min.

"The trio of middle-aged white men who are the film’s principal subjects consider themselves as performing a community service by wiping out graffiti in their geographically disparate environs. But it’s hard not to see their behavior as obsessive, at times creating more of a nuisance than the problem they’re addressing. . . . The outstanding element in the often verite-rough package is Julien de Benedictis’ editing, which organizes the potentially unwieldy mix of materials cogently, and with nary a dull moment." 
—Dennis Harvey, Variety

Friday, December 6, 2013

Long Night's Journey into Day: South Africa's Search for Truth & Reconciliation (2000)

Directors: Deborah Hoffman, Frances Reid
Run Time: 94 min.

"Surprisingly, in almost every case the murderers don't look as penitent as one might expect. They are not sobbing or begging for forgiveness. All of them (except for the young rioters who killed Biehl) look twisted in some way, intent on justifying themselves, and as though they're merely going through the motions of apologizing.  This hardly takes away from the film. It adds a layer of complexity. One wonders: Are these people killers because they were weird to begin with -- or is their odd detachment the result of having to live with their crimes?" 
—Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle 

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Flat (2013)


Director: Arnon Goldfinger
Run Time: 98 min.

"In his autobiographical documentary The Flat, filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger travels to Tel Aviv to clean out the apartment of his recently-deceased German-born Jewish grandmother. Goldfinger begins an unsettling journey into his family's history and discovers that knowing the truth can be a terrible burden. Both arresting and heartbreaking, The Flat is a real-life suspense story about how the past can return to haunt the present."
The Flat film jacket

Thursday, November 28, 2013

A Place at the Table (2013)

Directors:  Kristi Jacobson , Lori Silverbush
Run Time: 98 min.

"50 million people in the U.S. - one in four children - don't know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford."
A Place at the Table film jacket

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Phantom India (1969)

Director: Louis Malle
Run Time: 363 min.

"Louis Malle called his gorgeous and groundbreaking Phantom India the most personal film of his career. And this extraordinary journey to India, originally shown as a miniseries on European television, is infused with his sense of discovery, as well as occasional outrage, intrigue, and joy."
Phantom India film jacket

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Bully (2012)

Director: Lee Hirsch
Run Time: 99 min.

"Bully is a wrenching, potentially transformative look at an epidemic of adolescent cruelty and adult paralysis in the nation's public schools. . . . Bully weaves together five stories from different parts of America's heartland. Two are about the grieving families of boys who've committed suicide—a 17-year-old in Georgia, an 11-year-old in Oklahoma City. The rest are profiles of kids still toughing it out—a Mississippi teenager who has been jailed after pulling a gun on the kids who made her life a living hell, a lesbian Oklahoma high-schooler who is tormented not just by other students but by her teachers as well."
—Bob Mondello, NPR

We Are Legion (2013)

Director:  Brian Knappenberger
Run Time: 93 min.

"Like cavemen discovering fire, the group quickly split between those who wanted to continue illuminating important issues (including Wikileaks and the Arab Spring) and those who just wanted to watch the world burn. The Guy Fawkes mask adopted by Anonymous members (who reject the idea of a single leader on principle) is meant to intimidate as much as protect; theirs is an increasingly rare spirit of revolt. "Expect us," they say, though the meaning of that warning remains in flux; the evolution toward a consistency of ideals has proved as tricky as Knappenberger makes it engrossing and essential to watch."
—Michelle Orange, The Village Voice

Monday, October 21, 2013

Detropia (2013)



Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Run Time: 91 min.

“In 1930 Detroit was the fastest growing city in the world. Today it’s the fastest-shrinking city, with families fleeing every day. That’s one of the sobering facts shared in Detropia, the powerful 2012 documentary about the once-thriving Motor City. Though the economy has affected all of us, what has happened to Detroit is particularly dramatic and shocking.”
– Whitney Matheson, USA Today, May 24, 2013

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Scenes of a Crime (2012)



Directors: Grover Babcock , Blue Hadaegh
Run Time: 88 min.

"If you watch "Scenes of a Crime"—and you very much should—be prepared to be outraged. A cool documentary that makes the blood boil, it examines how people can be psychologically manipulated into confessing. Not only to crimes they may not have committed but, even worse, to crimes that may never have happened.
—Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Booker's Place (2012)



Director: Raymond De Felitta
Run Time: 91 min.

“In 1966 Frank De Felitta made a documentary for NBC News about life for Southerners in Mississippi. The content of the film upset many white Southerners and led to the beating of a black man, Booker Wright, the loss of his job, and eventually his murder. Forty-six years later Booker's granddaughter, Yvette Johnson, and Frank's son, director Raymond DeFelitta, are on a quest to discover who Booker was and how he changed life for black people.”
—Wiener-Rogers Law Library Catalog

No Way Out But One (2011)


Directors: Barry Nolan, Garland Waller
Run Time: 88 minutes

“Holly Collins came to the family court of Minnesota with the intention of bringing charges of domestic violence against her ex-husband. The courts granted full custody of her children to her and her children's abuser. In 1994, Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she ignored the court's ruling, grabbed her three children, and went on the run from her abusive ex-husband.”
—Wiener-Rogers Law Library Catalog

Le Fils du Marchand d’Olives (2012)



Director: Mathieu Zeitindjioglou
Run Time: 82 min.

For their honeymoon, Anna and Mathieu traveled to Turkey with their camera in hand to learn about Mathieu's Armenian heritage and to learn what modern day Turks think about the Armenian Genocide that occurred in 1915….Using footage from their trip mixed with interviews, news footage, historical documents and animation, this documentary emerges into one of the most powerful films ever made about the Armenian Genocide.”
Le Fils du Marchand d’Olives DVD Cover

A Good Day to Die (2012)



Directors: David Mueller, Lynn Salt
Run Time: 92 min.

Chronicles a movement that started a revolution and inspired a nation. By recounting the life story of Dennis Banks, the Native American who co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968 to advocate and protect the rights of American Indians, the film provides an in-depth look at the history and issues surrounding AIM's foundation.
—Wiener-Rogers Law Library Catalog

Code of the West (2012)


Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
Run Time: 71 min.

“Once a pioneer in legalizing medical marijuana, the state of Montana is poised to become the first in the nation to repeal its medical marijuana law. This documentary follows the 2011 Montana state legislature as it debates the fate of medical marijuana.
—Code of the West DVD Cover

The Law in These Parts (2012)

Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Run Time: 105 min.

“Explores the four-decade-old Israeli military legal system in the Occupied Territories. Since Israel conquered the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 War, the military has imposed thousands of orders and laws, established military courts, sentenced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians…and developed a system of long-term jurisdiction by an occupying army that is unique in the world.”
The Law in These Parts DVD cover

Justice for Sale (2012)



Run Time: 83 min.
Writers/Directors: Femke van Velzen, Ilse van Velzen

“Follows Claudine, a young and courageous human rights lawyer, in her struggle against injustice and widespread impunity in Congo. She investigates the case of Masamba, a soldier who was convicted of rape, and discovers that his trial was corrupt and unfair. He was jailed without any concrete evidence. In Claudine's journey to obtain justice, she uncovers a system where the basic principles of law are virtually ignored.”
—Wiener-Rogers Law Library Catalog

The Invisible War (2011)


Director: Kirby Dick
Run Time: 93 min.

An estimated 30 percent of servicewomen and at least 1 percent of servicemen are sexually assaulted during their enlistment, not by the enemy, but at the hands of fellow soldiers. With stark clarity and escalating revelations, The Invisible War exposes a rape epidemic in the armed forces, investigating the institutions that perpetuate it as well as its profound personal and social consequences.”
—http://www.rocoeducational.com/the_invisible_war

Saving Face (2012)


Directors: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Run Time: 40 min.

“Every year in Pakistan, many women are known to be victimized by brutal acid attacks, with numerous cases going unreported. With little or no access to reconstructive surgery, survivors are physically and emotionally scarred….Plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad left his prominent London practice to return to his home country and help the victims of such attacks.”
—Saving Face DVD cover