documentaries
The Inside Story of One of the Greatest Movie Failures of All Time
Rich Juzwiak · 03/21/14 12:56PMIs the Black Community Homophobic?: A Discussion With Yoruba Richen
Rich Juzwiak · 02/12/14 03:05PMYoruba Richen's documentary The New Black (opening today at New York's Film Forum) achieves what seemed impossible before it: It examines the generalized notion that the black community is homophobic with specificity and subtlety. Using the backdrop of the fight for marriage equality in Maryland in 2012 (where it was eventually approved by voters), Richen's film examines both sides of the debate within the black community by primarily using the National Black Justice Coalition Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks to represent the pro-equality side, and Maryland Marriage Alliance's Derek McCoy as the face of the anti-equality side.
Inside Russia's Anti-Gay Vigilante Army, Occupy Pedophilia
Rich Juzwiak · 02/06/14 10:27AMLast night, the U.K.'s Channel 4 aired Hunted, a wide-ranging documentary about homophobia in Russia. Its biggest coup was achieving access to the inner workings of Occupy Pedophilia, the largest vigilante group responsible for the hunting down of, physical abuse against, and public humiliation of gay people (predominantly gay men). Though such footage has been making the rounds, this is the first time I've seen the planning and luring process of the group. Via the third-party cameras, we also get a sense of how long such an ordeal lasts (an hour). Though mild in violence, the footage above is as hard to watch as the rest of this stuff, so proceed with caution.
White Supremacists Tried to Take Over a Town: Here's the Documentary
Sarah Hedgecock · 02/04/14 03:21PMLeith, North Dakota, was once a ghost town. But recently, there's been a population boom: white supremacists have begun moving into the small town in an effort to take it over. Now, No Weather Productions is making a documentary about the town, its people, and its new tenants.
Man Dressed as "Living Doll" Looks Just Like His Interviewer
Rich Juzwiak · 01/13/14 12:59PMRobert/Sherry from last week's sensational UK documentary Secrets of the Living Dolls was interviewed on the UK chat show This Morning. In case you need a refresher, the doc focused on a subculture of men who don rubber suits and masks, giving them the appearance of walking sex dolls. The 10-minute interview was as splendidly awkward as you'd expect.
This Documentary About Men Who Dress Up Like Rubber Dolls Is Amazing
Rich Juzwiak · 01/07/14 02:34PMLast night on UK television aired a documentary called Secrets of the Living Dolls, about men who dress up in rubber suits and masks, giving them the appearance of walking sex dolls. "Maskers" mask for a variety of reasons that were mentioned but not exactly explored on this freak-show doc: to be the women that they can't get, to get attention, perhaps sexual reasons. None in the documentary owned up to this last reason, but one of the members of the family that makes of FemSkin body suits, which seems to be the sole supplier of rubber body suits to these guys, told a group of maskers at a convention, "I don't know what you guys shove up those vaginas, but they can't take it, I'm tellin' ya."
Here Is a Woman Marrying a Ferris Wheel
Rich Juzwiak · 11/12/13 01:28PMActually, here is a woman renewing her vows to a ferris wheel she calls Bruce.
"It's Impossible To Be Objective": An Interview with Frederick Wiseman
Rich Juzwiak · 11/08/13 01:05PMFrederick Wiseman is a master of the art of documentary. Since 1967’s sensational Titicut Follies, the 83-year-old has made films, focused on American institutions, that don’t use narration, interviews, or identifying chyrons to tell their stories. These stories, in fact, are only implicitly narrative. They are often associative assemblages of scenes that favor portrayal over dictation.
The Bigotry That Bronies Face
Rich Juzwiak · 10/15/13 08:00AMLast night, Logo aired a documentary on the by now well-examined phenomenon of grown male fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The most interesting parts of the one-hour doc What?! Bronies were those focused on the flack bronies receive for their interest in a cartoon targeted at young girls. One guy had his car vandalized and experienced homophobic slurs for putting custom-made My Little Pony decals in its windows. Another military brony described his inability to come out of the brony closet to his fellow servicemen (don't ask don't tell lives). We also watched a pair of fathers discuss their initial unease with their sons' Pony fandom. The parallels to mistreatment of gays were overt (hello, this was on Logo). The mere suggestion that a man take interest in something perceived as feminine is still enough to rub plenty of people the wrong way.
Teacher of Murdered Gay Student Says She Relates to His Killer
Rich Juzwiak · 10/08/13 09:32AMLast night, HBO aired Valentine Road, a documentary about the 2008 murder of Lawrence ("Larry") King, a 15-year-old gay student who asked then-14-year-old Brandon McInerney to be his Valentine. The day after, McInerney brought a gun to school and shot King twice in the head in a computer lab. King died two days later.
Filmmaker Gives Up On Hillary Clinton Documentary, Blames Hillary
J.K. Trotter · 09/30/13 11:45AMInside Job director Charles Ferguson, who in July announced his and CNN’s plans to film a documentary about ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s career, has completely scrapped plans for the film, citing the lack of Clinton acolytes (and enemies) who wanted to cooperate with the production. Writing for The Huffington Post’s Media vertical, Ferguson explains why:
The Week in Movies: Passion and One Direction in 3Directions
Maggie Lange · 08/30/13 04:00PMSuch Down-to-Earth Superstars: One Direction: This Is Us
Rich Juzwiak · 08/30/13 03:00PMThe young men of the boy band One Direction like playing with their fame. Throughout their Morgan Spurlock-directed 3D concert movie/behind-the-scenes doc, One Direction: This Is Us, we see them conducting the applause they receive as though the crowds of adoring fans are instruments. They run to and from ledges of buildings their admirers have gathered around, manipulating the roar of adulation. They use hand signals to amplify and decrease the screams and squeals. At one point, one member is being interviewed alone about how great his fans are. As evidence, he gets up from his chair and walks a few yards to the window behind him that he stands in front of and throws open, unleashing an appreciative sonic boom.
The Week in Movies: Drinking Buddies, The Grandmaster, The World's End
Maggie Lange · 08/23/13 04:21PMThe Week in Movies: Jobs, The Butler, Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 05:00PMCutie and the Boxer is a Tough Love Story
Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 04:45PMIn one of the final scenes of Zachary Heinzerling's documentary, Cutie and the Boxer, the 80-year-old artist Ushio Shinohara looks over a book of his works entitled Love is a Roarrrr!!. He likes the final word, but says he doesn't understand why it's preceded by a comparison to love. "Who put 'love is'?" Ushio asks his wife, another artist, named Noriko. She points to herself. "Why? Because I think so: Love is a roar. I found out by experience in my life. Love is a roar."