film festival review
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
film festival review
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,
Documentaries on the Radio
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
documentary review
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
documentary mini-review
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
documentary review
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
film festival review
You know what? It’s great that there is a documentary for stoners and acid trippers. Non-fiction for all, I say! Depending on your wavelength, Josef Gatti’s Phenomena could play like going to science class after smoking a joint behind the gymnasium and being mesmerised by the swirling
Long-Form Retrospective Review
By the time that Alek Keshishian's Madonna: Truth or Dare was released in the United States on the 10th of May 1991, Madonna was approaching the end of what is considered her first near decades-long imperial phase. A period of all-consuming success, fame and artistic achievement.
documentary mini-review
Patrick Creadon's documentary The King of Color is an at-times rather baffling expedition of self-promotion for its subject (and financial backer it would appear), Lawrence Herbert, inventor of the Pantone colour-matching system. The rest of the time it is a charming exploration of the history
documentary review
When I planned to sit down and write about Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s (fabulously titled by the way) Steal This Story, Please!, I didn’t expect to be thinking so heavily about The Devil Wears Prada 2. The comparison of Anne Hathaway’s fictional Andy Sachs to the
documentary mini-review
Douglas Tirola’s Bernstein’s Wall about composer, conductor and musical legend Leonard Bernstein is getting its premiere theatrical release now in 2026, but it was actually first screened way back in 2021. I even have the old Tribeca Film Festival world premiere emails still sitting there in my inbox
documentary review
To me, there are very few things that can be as evocative of an era as a documentary about the theatre from the 1970s or 1980s. Maybe starting with Original Cast Album: Company as the grand daddy of them all, the combination of those chilly Manhattan rehearsal spaces looking out