I will be honest and say I was not all that familiar with the Chicano culture at the heart of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez. I went into David Alvarado’s biography documentary of the titular Luis Valdez—a man whose political and artistic achievements are synonymous with
It can always throw me a little to see a major studio’s ident at the start of a festival film. Especially a documentary. And especially the Universal logo, with its bravura fanfare and grand scale vision of a twirling globe. It made much more sense rather quickly with Mohammed
Like the best house gathering, Once Upon a Time in Harlem evolves and shifts throughout the affair. Guests effortlessly veer from one subject to another—before you even realise you’re no longer listening to a conversation about one thing, you’re engrossed in another one altogether. Some of the
Recently on the Strictly Soundtracks show on Joy 94.9, we discussed the buzzy three-part documentary series Kylie. I mean, can you blame us? Kylie Minogue doesn't lend her music to too many projects so we don't often get to play her—"This Wheel&
There is a certain bit of magic that occurs with a film like Brydie O’Connor’s Barbara Forever. This is a biography, fairly standard in its conception, I suppose, that nonetheless takes on the form of an essential queer text much like the very works of its subject, Barbara
Trading fire for ice, director Sara Dosa returns with a documentary that once again merges the personal with the natural. Here, she lays one family’s experiences of life across generations in Iceland with that of the melting glaciers that have come to define that country in these times of
The plight of First Nations people across the globe is a sadly all too familiar. Colonialism is hardly original, and the way indigenous populations have suffered at the hand of those who sought to use them as human guinea pigs even after death has been seen in just about every
I cannot say I was familiar with the work of Julius Eastman before I watched Joy Boy, a 60-minute art piece created by (who else?!?) a Belgian-Congolese troupe. Despite the number of involved people, the collective made up of Mawena Yehouessi, Fallon Mayanja, Rob Jacobs, Victoire Karera Kampire,
My radio co-hosts and I discussed the lovely documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery on a special two-hour edition of our Joy 94.9 radio show, Strictly Soundtrack, back in March for International Women's Day. Take a listen here with a few additional thoughts below. We
Yes, that Thierry Frémaux. The Cannes Film Festival director’s second feature, Lumière, Le Cinéma! is a follow-up of sorts to his first, Lumière!, from 2016. Like that film, Frémaux, with his editor Jonathan Cayssials and Simon Gemelli, has assembled a collection of short films by Auguste and Louis
John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office (dir. Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens) Director Michael Almereyda is best known for dramatic features like his millennium-refresh of Hamlet 2000 (shoutout to Alex Ross Perry's Videoheaven) and the sublime ‘90s vampire flick Nadja. But he is not unfamiliar
The poster for Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) tell us “Billie Eilish and James Cameron reinvent the concert experience.” Look, I know Jim is not exactly wanting for ego, but I can’t help but feel like that’s a slight exaggeration. Although