“The Salt of the Earth”
Wim Wenders typically uses the documentary format as a tribute to other artists, often filmmakers (see his films about Nicholas Ray, Yasujirō Ozu and Cannes doc “Room 666”). And so as such, at their core Wenders’ non-fiction filmmaking frequently reveals him as a kind of patron of the moving image, fascinated by all its facets. So perhaps it makes sense that the German filmmaker would distill his sensibility even further with “The Salt Of The Earth” an examination of the life and work of venerable black-and-white stills photographer Sebastian Salgado. But while the globetrotting Brazilian photographer is known for his striking photojournalism and humanitarian images—he was on the ground for the Rwandan genocide, Saddam Hussein’s burning oil fields, the famine devastation of Ethiopia in the 1980s and many other international calamities— Wenders’ deeply lyrical doc also explores the man behind the pictures and what compels him to continue taking them (at 74, Salgado shows no signs of slowing down). Co-directed by Salgado’s own son Juliano Ribeiro, the expressive film is a sublime tone poem that celebrates both the images, rich in dignity and captivating to observe, and the sensitive artist who scratches right into the soul of things to create them. [Full review]
“The Seven Five”
Over forty years after “Serpico” it feels like there might not be much new to say about the corrupt cop movie: bent police officers have popped up so many times, from “Bad Lieutenant” to villains in action movies to shows like “The Shield,” that any new movies examining that world can threaten to feel rote. But with “The Seven Five,” Tiller Russell has found a new lease of life in the genre, finding a true-life story that’s as extraordinary and characterful as anything that Sidney Lumet or Martin Scorsese have gotten up to. Set in the 75th District, in East Brooklyn, mostly in pre-Guiliani late 80s and early 90s New York, the central figure is Michael Dowd, then a young cop barely into his twenties who started off with good intentions, found himself taking a few hundred dollars off a Puerto Rican guy who pulled over, and soon found himself compromising his values more and more, ending up working as a bodyguard to drug dealers, and even allegedly plotting to kidnap a woman for the cartels. Russell tells the story slickly through a mix of graphics, archive footage and, crucially, interviews with almost every key figure, from cops who informed on their colleagues to Dominican druglord Adam Diaz, who Dowd ends up working for. Each interviewee, tough-talking and unexpectedly funny, feels like they’ve walked out of an HBO drama, and Russell is careful to give everyone their POV without literally endorsing them. The film moves like a thriller too, not least when the filmmaker drops a narrative coup de grace late in the game, hopping back in time to reveal a secret he’s been keeping back. Megan Ellison, “71” director Yann Demange and “Out Of Sight” writer Scott Frank are teaming on a feature adaptation, but even with that awesome trio, they’ll have a task on their hands to make something as good as this.
“(T)error”
Winner of the 2015 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Break Out First Feature, “(T)error” is indeed a hell of a first film. An incredibly chilling, gripping chronicle of the first-ever active FBI counterterrorism sting operation, it reveals directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe as filmmakers of immense precision, poise and confidence. Mounting, essentially their own infiltration operation they follow a 63-year-old black revolutionary turned FBI informant as he begins to befriend a suspected Taliban sympathizer. Here’s the rub, “Shariff” hasn’t yet told his FBI superiors. With increasing tension as the layers of truth and deceit that mark the informant’s own shady background and gradually revealed “(T)error” tells two gripping parallel stories: one of an aging single father trying to get by and the other of the murky moral code of his profession, along with the shocking manner in which the FBI coerce their agents into building fraudulent cases against terror suspects. Moving with thriller-like control and purpose, “(T)error” is deeply engrossing, tragic and will outrage all your civil liberties beliefs. Mark this one done as an absolute must-see. [Full review]
“Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop”
“Thought Crimes,” from director Erin Lee Carr may not formally toy with the conventions of real and imaginary — in format it is a fairly standard, extremely well-covered amalgam of exclusive, long-term, trusted access to the subject, along with interviews with other principals, archival news footage etc — but it ploughs deep into the heart of that debate in its content. And so the case of the “Cannibal Cop,” Gilberto Valle, a New York City police officer who was convicted of conspiring to kidnap, torture and eat a series of women, before that conviction was overturned on appeal, is used not so much for its own lurid sake as to ask the question: at what point does thinking/fantasizing about a crime become itself a crime? Intellectually, our response may be one thing, while viscerally, especially faced with the depraved exchanges between Valle and his online “co-conspirators” from which the film does not spare us, it may be quite another. Carr proves herself brilliantly adept at pulling us first to one side then the other, using her open access to the baby-faced Valle to establish the idea of his innocence and then snapping to a another interviewee or another piece of evidence that has us swinging to the contrary side. And additionally there’s an intense discomfort about the nature of online identity, how much our internet search histories might reveal about ourselves, and how open those revelations might be to (mis)interpretation. It’s a story contained in the fascinating detail that while Valle’s google history revealed horrors like “how do I make chloroform” and “the best way to abduct a woman,” his wife, who was the one to have him arrested, was keying in “my husband doesn’t love me anymore.”
“Western”
Powerfully suggesting that soul of a place is available to comprehend — almost to reach out and touch — if you are just willing to spend time looking and listening carefully enough, the Ross Brothers’ final instalment in their Americana Trilogy, after “45365” and “Tchoupitoulas” is a beautiful, meditative and gently provocative picture of frontier life and landscape. An observant story of two small towns, on either side of the U.S./Mexico border, and their symbiotic relationship, it also suggests their deep philosophical kinship and shared cultural history. Until the two friendly, mutually reliant hamlets become pawns in bigger games: the War on Drugs and the immigration debate. But more than any political agenda,the film emerges as a character piece, especially focusing on the two towns’ mayors, and Martín, a literal cowboy, hat and boots and all, with a touchingly openhearted relationship with his daughter, and even includes a quiet respect for the cattle that are Martín’s livelihood and that of so many others in Eagle Pass, TX and across the border in Piedas Negras. Shot with the kind of love for landscapes and skies that has always colored the cinematic imagination of the American West, that’s not the only way the Rosses’ “Western” earns its iconically, almost mythically generalized title. It is also redolent of a very Old West mood of man’s-gotta-do grace edged with nostalgia, especially born out in a mournful last act when the encroaching cartel tide suddenly means that the special relationship is sundered and public gatherings are rimmed with armed police. It’s entirely too much to suggest that it was an Eden, but it was a good soul this place had, and now, without anyone wishing it so, it is disappearing. [Full Review]
Honorable Mentions
But…but where is…? Ehh, what about…? Yes indeed, it’s been stellar six months in the land of non-fiction and there are many other titles that just missed the cut. Sundance favorites “The Russian Woodpecker” was also a hit with us, while we found Sundance winner “The Wolfpack“ compelling but flawed; Tribeca gave us the great “Democrats” as well as excellent taser doc “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle“; Amy Berg‘s other documentary “Prophets Prey” is another must-see, due out later in the year; low-key indie “John’s of 12th Street” is a real charmer; while being on the fence about Russell Brand we were pleasantly surprised by “Brand: A Second Coming” (and have yet to catch up to his collaboration with Michael Winterbottom on “The Emperor’s New Clothes“). “Ukraine is not a Brothel” is empowering, activist filmmaking; “Dior and I” is not but it’s still really good; we were mixed on Nick Broomfield‘s “Tales of the Grim Sleeper” which our reviewer loved but some of are less enamored of Broomfield’s intrusive style; similarly mileage on Adam Curtis‘ exhaustive Afghanistan doc “Bitter Lake” (BBC iPlayer-only) depending on how much one digs his stream-of-consciousness-style collage format. “Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine” is an achingly effective and touching story; Evel Knievel doc “Being Evel” is one to jump through hoops for; “Butterfly Girl” is both heartbreaking and uplifting; Boxing doc “Champs” and foodie doc “For Grace” are both very much worth a look; “Twinsters” is a joyous ode to siblinghood; and fresh from LAFF, urban gardening doc “Can You Dig This” was an unexpected treat.
In the category of docs about film and filmmakers, there have been a host of great entries already, of which no fewer than three take a socio-cultural look at the Hollywood films of the ’80s: the rambunctious video piracy in Turkey doc “Remake Remix Rip Off“; the fun, well-reconstructed story of “Chuck Norris vs Communism” in Ceaucescu’s Romania, which almost unfolds like a thriller itself; and “Electric Boogaloo: The Story Of Cannon Films” which some of us enjoyed more than others, but covers the cheapie genre giant’s heyday. “Raiders!” is an ineffably fond look at three kids, now grown ups, who recreated the first Indiana Jones movie; “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness” is absolute heaven for anyone with even a passing interest in Studio Ghibli; and in the film biodoc category there are further riches: “Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands” is an epic yet intimate look at the German provocateur; “By Sidney Lumet” a great companion to Lumet’s work; and “Tab Hunter Confidential” is an uplifting and frank portrait.
And finally, make sure you look out for the great Debra Granik‘s “Stray Dog” which won LAFF’s Documentary award last year and has taken so long to come to screens that we actually featured it in this equivalent list twelve months ago. It opens on July 3rd and comes highly recommended.
Even with all of these recommendations (and many more we’ve reviewed that we were not so hot on), and as assiduous as we try to be, we haven’t seen every non-fic title that has premiered at a festival or opened on any of the various platforms in the first half of 2015. So you can certainly feel free to let us know if you’ve caught any gems that we’ve missed and need to look out for before year end.
–Jessica Kiang, Oli Lyttelton, Rodrigo Perez
