Doc Corner: Democracy, Nostalgia and Deadly Protest at Slamdance

by Glenn Dunks

We will be looking at both the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject category in February as we approach the Oscar ceremony, but this week we're taking a small trip to the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah. Situated alongside Sundance, this smaller festival obviously doesn’t get the attention of its much larger cousin – not helped by also happening at the same time as Oscar nominations – but we’re proud to give it a visit.

Here are thoughts on three of their documentaries this year....

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Doc Corner: 'Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press'

Get ready to hear the words “Bubba the Love Sponge” way more than you ever thought possible. As somebody who isn’t especially knowledgeable about Z-grade American radio celebrities, this came as quite a shock to me, but I guess that is keeping in theme with the film in general. This is a documentary that covers such a salacious and outright bizarre story that nothing should really shock. A film about serious issues that plays at times like an absurd comedy. A film that sadly reflects the gutter within which we live.

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press is the latest documentary by Brian Knapperberger. Like his last film, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, which looked at the life of the late Reddit co-founder, this Netflix streaming doc examines a part of the online world that often goes unseen. Knapperberger’s demonstrates a weightier sense of confidence here, but like that earlier film, he has a keen ability in finding the central beating heart of a story that could easily confuse and confound audiences – whereas before it ones and zeroes, here it is legal jargon and the first amendment.

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America's National Parks are Vital Film Treasures

The American motion picture industry owes as much to its National Parks as the government who keeps them awe-inspiring, safe, and pristine; had President Lyndon B. Johnson never designated the Redwoods as federally protected land, who knows if there would even be an Endor for Return of the Jedi’s Ewoks to jam out on “Yub Nub." As our current presidential administration continues to show a combative inclination to incinerate their importance, it’s more important than ever to appreciate these wild lands as not just rugged pockets of natural splendor but a playground of our imaginations captured through film.

After all, a visual medium demands a compelling backdrop and it’s not just our science fiction stories – your E.T.s, your Planet of the Apes adventures – that respectfully depend on our country’s organic back lots. America the Beautiful has historically doubled as a treasured resoure and favorite filming locale for its national (and international) film industries. Thelma & Louise shot its climactic send-off in Canyonlands National Park, countless westerns called the Monument Valley of the Colorado Plateau (which is chocked full of federally reserved land) home, and even comedies like ¡Three Amigos! have used Arizona’s Coronado National Forest as milieu for its many jokes.

I keep returning to Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild as an exhibition of all that the diverse West Coast wildnerness has to offer along the Pacific Coast Trail. Without the National Parks and Forests there wouldn’t even be an Oregon mountaintop for Reese Witherspoon to thrust her malfunctioning hiking boot off. This is where the stakes get personal when we don’t support our National Parks: less empassioned actressing. 

What are some of your favorite movies - domestic or international - that hike upon America’s purple mountain majesty or weave through its amber waves of grain?

Linkville

Variety Will Hollywood forgive Mel Gibson with Hacksaw Ridge?
Variety Robert Redford to retire from acting. That's a pity. He was just starting to be in movies again regularly. 
MNPP Joe Alwyn eleven times 
Coming Soon Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein in a new series

/Film a new featurette about a Ghost in the Shell set visit
I Like Things That Look Like Mistakes on the resonance of Dogville's revenge fantasy 
Total Verhoeven the Film Society's Verhoeven retrospective just began. I'm anxious to see his Oscar nominated Turkish Delight (1973) for the first time!  
DListed first shot of Johnny Depp (or rather the back of his head) in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. Can't believe they're already promoting the second one before the first one is in theaters (sigh) 

RIP Because 2016 continues to be the most hateful year ever  
Deadline Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE, The Magnificent Seven)  
Criterion Corner Remembering Leonard Cohen (via McCabe and Mrs Miller) 

In this very difficult week these things gave me teensy moments of solitude or defiant strength
NY Mag Hiking and running into Hillary Clinton
Advocate People of the Year: The survivors of Pulse nightclub
Review "Rules for Survival" under men like Donald Trump 
Pajiba "never forget that Donald Trump is a profoundly stupid person" -perhaps his incompetence will help prevent some of the possible catastrophes
The Matinee "Dear America..."
Towleroad The continually scrappy Elizabeth Warren on Rachel Maddow "we fight back" 
The New Yorker "How to restore your faith in Democracy" 
Gothamist advice for how to protect your fellow citizens from Trump's embolded xenophobic and racist fans if you see bullying taking place

Doc Corner: Michael Moore Goes to 'Trumpland'

Michael Moore in Trumpland is a misnomer of a title. For despite the comically scored pro-Trump vox pop interviews that open the film, and despite the smattering of apparent Trump supporters through the audience, Michael Moore’s has found himself the most liberal of audiences one could hope. “Around here, I ain’t heard nobody for Clinton” says one unidentified woman, but if that were the case then the crowd Moore has amassed are easily swayed because by the end of this brief 70-minute mix of stand-up, pre-filmed comedy sketches, call and response, and personal recollections in monologue, the entire crowd is cheering and whooping for Hillary.

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