The Final Take with Parker Mott

"Head Games".

Documentary filmmaker Steve James makes devastating documentaries about harsh truths. His new documentary Head Games is a rude awakening to a snubbed danger in professional sports: head injuries can cause irreversible brain damage. This is not a recent issue; we learn it has happened for years, but players did not have the information or encouragement by their coaches to seek treatment (they were urged to “play through their injuries”). Head Games pushes this concern out forcefully, suggesting this concussion crisis is not merely a matter of “bad science”. (continue reading…)

Run Time: 81 minutes
Now available on DVD.

Jiro and his sushi.

Eighty five year-old Jiro Ono lives to make sushi. When he dreams, he does the same. Therefore, the title is not a cute exaggeration. This is a heartfelt documentary about sushi as an art, profession, virtue and passion. These themes are told through Jiro, the man behind the world’s finest sushi. (continue reading…)

Director: Kevin MacDonald (Touching the Void, The Eagle)
Run Time: 145 minutes

Bob Marley, an iconic photo of that elated smile.

At my old summer camp we had a visitor, his name unfortunately eludes me, who was persecuted as a Tutsi during the Rwandan genocide. One afternoon during rest period I was walking along a dirt path enjoying the scenery. I saw the man and couldn’t resist but introduce myself. The man was so pleasant, always laughing heartily and holding a beatific smile. I asked how he kept hope during those few tragic months in 1994. His face turned almost wistful, scooping up one great memory in a mire of sad ones, and remarked: “Bob Marley. One Love.” (continue reading…)

An official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011
Run Time: 119 minutes

The selection process at the Fishbowl in Bangkok, Thailand.

Whores’ Glory takes a hopeless stance on sex trafficking. Despite the implications of its title, there is no triumph. The documentary navigates its way through three red light districts: the Fishbowl in Bangkok, Thailand; a slum in Faridpur, Bangladesh; and The Zone in Reynosa, Mexico. There is no crosscutting between locations. We visit one place, observe and quietly lend our pity. Then it is onto the next one. (continue reading…)

Run Time: 96 minutes

Phil Fish is focused on FEZ in "Indie Game: The Movie".

The signature shot to James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot’s Indie Game: The Movie shows a joystick suspended on hydro wires. A Koji Kondo-esque bop-bap melody, by Jim Guthrie, unfolds reflectively. We watch in awe. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(98 minutes)

Alex experiences a moment of isolation in Lee Hirsch's moving new documentary "Bully".

Bully is a documentary that raises awareness about an increasingly urgent issue in schools, work, and society by and large. A documentary, versus mere public discourse, is a more direct and effective mode of communication. It represents the issue unwaveringly on the screen, for the audience to absorb and consider. Bully is a template for change, and it works on that level. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(90 minutes)

Joyce McKinney tells "her story" at the mercy of Errol Morris in "Tabloid."

For better or for worse, Tabloid is a documentary unlike anything Errol Morris has made before. It takes truth and, this time, doesn’t just distort but burlesques it to a highly entertaining degree. This is the funniest documentary Morris has ever made. But far from the greatest. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(80 minutes)

Kevin Clash and his beloved Elmo.

What a pleasant film. Being Elmo is a documentary about a man who followed through with his dream. Afterwards, we feel we have done the same. Just a regular guy from Baltimore, Maryland, Kevin Clash always wanted to be a part of the muppets when he first saw Sesame Street in 1969. At the young age of 9, Kevin right there knew what he wanted to be – and he was it. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(84 minutes)

Always smiling: Bill Cunningham with his beloved camera.

Here is a modest documentary that transcends its modesty. It’s called Bill Cunningham New York, a character portrait of a man I would love to be friends with but doubt he would ever be friends with me. This is not the fault of myself, but simply Bill Cunningham is a man, and an enigmatic one at that, who lives life for work not pleasure. On the subject of friends, for Bill it is like trying to solve a math problem. He knows there is a logic to it, but he doesn’t get it. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(87 minutes)

Sitting in silence: a common act in "Putty Hill".

If something existed beyond the realm of naturalism, Putty Hill would be it. An archetype of its own verisimilitude – vivid, gentle, slow, and sad – as it looks and burrows deep in the milieu of Baltimore, Maryland. It’s about watching things unfold, and not necessarily engaging in them. The result? A polarizing embark: beautiful, glum, happy, joyless, thoughtful, and empty. I suspect, however, that all these feelings precipitate our characters, who wallow in their own divisive states of reality. (continue reading…)