It wasn’t easy being a Disco star back at the peak of the dance mania, just ask Ther Bee Gees who are the subject of a wildly entertaining documentary courtesy of director Frank Marshall. Titled “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?“ this compulsively watchable treatise on the Brothers Gibb was set to premiere at the since-canceled Telluride Film Festival during the first week of September, alas, it has now settled for a streaming exclusive on HBO and HBO Max.
Read more‘Where’s My Roy Cohn?': Doc Tackles One of the 20th Century’s Most Feared and Despised Men [Review]
Matt Tyrnauer’s “Where’s My Roy Cohn” is an absorbing doc on one of the most brooding figures of 20th century America.
Read more‘Diego Maradona’: Cannes Doc Focuses on Controversial Athlete [Capsule]
The hotly-anticipated documentary “Diego Maradona” will be arriving on HBO this fall. Director Asif Kapadia’s chronicle of the life and times of the controversial soccer/football athlete was seen by yours truly at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, although it was sadly not reviewed.
Read moreLil Peep Doc “Everybody's Everything" Is A Haunting and Touching Statement on Millennial Angst [SXSW Review]
Born Gustav Elijah Åhr to white Harvard graduate parents, in suburban Pennsylvania of all places, Lil Peep stormed the independent music industry with his own brand of “Mumble Rap,” a genre that is defined by its unlimited amount of genre mashups and has its melodic flows and indecipherable lyrics mixed in with a thematic consciousness about anxiety, depression and being a millennial.
Read more"Marley" gets the legend right
Bob Marley's life is very well known inside and out but Oscar winning Documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald's "Marley" thinks otherwise and has enough surprises in it filled with haunting revelations to make it a real stunner. It helps that Macdonald uses breathtaking concert footage, archival treasures and interviews with almost everyone that has had an impact or was a friend to the legend. As far as Marley documentaries go, this is as full fledged a portrait of the man as we are likely to see in our lifetime.
"Marley" is a one beautifully crafted piece of work that can be enjoyed by fans and non-fans alike.
From his upbringing with a single mother in Kingston Jamaica to the identity of his dad, Norval Marley, a white marine that was very much absent in the singer's life. Some of the most fascinating parts of the doc have to do with Marley's dedication to his Rastafarian religion. "White people have Jesus, we have Rhasta Fari" he says in an interview. This belief entitles the Rastafarian to smoke a ridiculous amount of weed each day. Rastas such as Marley used it to get closer to their inner spiritual self and believe in the wisdom that came with smoking it.
The stories found in Macdonald's doc are highly fascinating. How Marley founded reggae through a single, unintentional chord. His roller coaster journey from Jamaica to America in search of a larger fan base. How he begged to revive Jamaica's government torn gang war, bringing a country together through his music and one landmark concert that resulted in two sworn enemies shaking hands on stage in front of of hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans. His fight with cancer and how he continued performing on stage despite his fluctuating health. However, most memorable is Rita Marley, his first and last love, with whom he had 3 children and how she stuck with him until the end despite his well known infidelity. The film states that Marley had 8 more children with several different mistresses, a total of 11 children that all agreed for this film to be made. Yet, despite all these facts, Rita Marley's memories of her partner are surprisingly beautifully remembered with compassion and -yes- a sense of true love.
The doc has a riches of archival footage including some magnificent concert footage of Marley and The Wailers performing in various different cities. We all know how it ends but Macdonald has ambition to burn, his documentary runs for a long 144 minutes yet the running time feels needed for it would have probably been impossible to truly depict a life this grandiose and impressive in a shorter amount of time. Macdonald, a Scottish born filmmaker, who's been mixing it up lately with feature films ("The Last King Of Scotland", "State Of Play") and documentaries ("One Day In September", "Touching The Void") has already won one Oscar, he is almost -at least- guaranteed a nomination for Best Documentary with this one and judging by the contenders, his biggest comptetion will be well received films such as "The Central Park Five" and "The Queen Of Versailles".
Image Of The Day 12/10/10
I'm Still Here (R) ★★★½
If Casey Affleck's absurdly goofy documentary -or is it a mockumentary?- I'm Still Here is a look into his step brother Joaquin Phoenix's downfall, it is also meant to not only mirror tragedy but has comic touches that are impeccably laid out in its framework. You see, this documentary is proof that Phoenix, no matter how crazy or goofy he might seem to look with his Hassidic-like beard, overgrown hobo hair and usual dark shades , is a master craftsman and quite possibly the best actor of his generation. I'm saying all this based on the fact that Affleck has personally come out recently and confirmed that this was in fact all an act and that even David Letterman was in on it when Phoenix had that legendarily awkward appearance on his show more than a year ago now. To say that Phoenix's performance is something to be seen is besides the point. He embodies a man that quite frankly was sick of all the consumerist bullshit that had surrounded him in Hollywood. His performance is that of a man trying to break the chains that are attached to him and follow his own road, whichever road that may be and in this case it's a considerably failed Hip Hop career. Good for him, now if only Oscar would listen up and give him a well deserved nomination. Then again I doubt that, I'm Still Here is as avant guard as American cinema comes to be.