The Final Take with Parker Mott

4 Stars out of 4
(103 minutes)

Randall Adams is one of the interviewees in Errol Morris's extraordinary "The Thin Blue Line".

“But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.”
– Tommy by Rudyard Kipling

In The Thin Blue Line, its title is not spoken until we are deep inside its mysteries. It comes from a prosecutor, who says bluntly that the police are “the thin blue line separating society and anarchy”. It’s an outrageous statement, but it’s said in a film that would require a stoic to not get a little outraged. The documentary is an intensely sprawling, complex, untidy, and ambiguous thread that coils around a murder case that’s answers could never be ensnared. The murder was so cold and abrupt no one could make sense of it, or maybe didn’t want to. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(91 minutes)

The wise journalist David Carr enjoys it while he lasts in Page One: Inside the New York Times.

Print media: bygone or cutting edge? This is the argument, or more the apprehension, that lingers within Page One: Inside the New York Times, a documentary about the urgent crisis in print media. It seems to no longer have a place in the hustle-and-bustle of television and online journalism now. Why? Because we are in the age when it’s out with the print in with the Youtube. There are an abundance of sources to gather information today, but Page One hopes print media is important, and will be here to stay. (continue reading…)

2.5 Stars out of 4
(106 minutes)

Ayrton Senna.

Senna is a little bit of reportage, no more and no less. It’s a lot about looking at the subjects and facts, but never making extensions. The topic – a fascinating one – surrounds Brazilian race car driver Ayrton Senna and his controversial life on and off the track, especially with rival teammate Alain Prost and FISA head Jean-Marie Balestre. Senna’s career is modeled by the media, who speculate on who Senna really was and what drove his success. Everything is purveyed by media, in particular this documentary. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(99 minutes)

Aw!

Project Nim is a sad yet affectionate spellbinder about a chimpanzee that was given the Pygmalion treatment to little avail. It comes to no surprise this documentary is from James Marsh who directed Man On Wire, the brilliant story of Philippe Petit’s astounding tightrope march across the twin World Trade Centers. Project Nim is also about people who walked an impossible and uncertain line above and beyond life in order to reach something extraordinary. But in Project Nim our characters stumbled and couldn’t exactly pick themselves up. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(208 minutes)

George Harrison: "I want to live in the world, not of the world."

The story of a man suspended between spiritual and material fits right at home for Martin Scorsese. George Harrison, popularly known as one of The Beatles’ guitarist from 1960-1970, was one of these people. His life was one in constant search for inner peace to battle his external temptations. Scorsese’s goal here is to – in retrospect – discover it. This exploration spans over three hours, but this will be quite okay with Beatles fans and those who admired their music but never understood the quiet, sombre guitarist who strummed it. (continue reading…)

4 Stars out of 4
(125 minutes)

Ameena Matthews mediates an argument in Steve James's "The Interrupters".

The Interrupters is a gentle, sad, and openly honest documentary about giving, and all it asks for in return is our awareness. It spans a year where director Steve James – responsible for the extraordinarily ambitious Hoop Dreams – rigorously documented the anti-violence group the Violence Interrupters in the South Side of Chicago. I’ve driven by the South Side once. I saw glimpses of barred and boarded up windows, impoverished streets, and decaying backyards. To me, it was a ghost town and a place that only existed in nightmares. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(94 minutes)

Care Failure and director Bruce McDonald pose for Hard Core Logo II.

Bruce McDonald’s Hard Core Logo II is a sequel redeeming its predecessor. It’s an example of what Jean-Luc Godard said on film criticism: “one way to criticize a movie is to make another movie.” In actuality, Hard Core Logo is an in-your-face Canadian classic, but in Hard Core Logo II’s fictional world it’s a complete outrage of cinema, from a director – McDonald (his fictional version) – that went so far to display the suicide of his main character, Joe Dick, on camera for the closing money shot of the film. Therefore, Hard Core Logo II is not quite a sequel. It’s the criticism of Hard Core Logo. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(88 minutes)

Designer Holly Conrad presents her talent after winning a prize at Comic-Con.

Here is a documentary that you will have trouble resisting. It’s called Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope; its task is bringing energy and inspiration to the far away galaxy of Comic-Con. But Star Wars puns aside, A Fan’s Hope is a nimble trot through the big yearly convention and, as a result, profits more as light stuff for documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. But then again most of his films are. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(106 minutes)

From left: Bruce Sinofsky, Damien Echols, and Joe Berlinger.

In my reviews of the first Paradise Lost documentaries I noted that I was unsure if these films would conclude on triumph or tragedy. One calamity had already stormed through West Memphis, Arkansas and that was the brutal murders of the eight year-old boy scouts Christopher Byers, Steven Branch, and Michael Moore on May 5, 1993. But instead of searching for justice, the West Memphis courts jumped to conclusions, replacing a tragedy with another tragedy. Under ridiculously sketchy evidence Damien Echols (18), Jason Baldwin (16), and Jessie Misskelly (17) were sentenced to multiple life sentences – Echols on death row. I can never look justice straight in the eyes after that. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(120 minutes)

Pearl Jam: the early days.

Pearl Jam Twenty, a title not to be confused with their concert tour, is one of the most optimistic musical documentaries I’ve seen in recent time. Not to say it’s one-sided and devoid of peripheral, but it’s a piece that recounts with a fond yearning, while looking steadily towards the promise of the future. It’s directed by Cameron Crowe, a filmmaker who – even when he’s making dramas like Jerry Maguire or Say Anything – always has a guitar clutched in his hand. Of course I mean you can’t beat his soundtracks. (continue reading…)