5. “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power”
Sam Pollard is a workhorse filmmaker with so many credits as editor, producer, and director to his name each year, it’s unclear if he ever sleeps. Co-directed with Geeta Gandbhir, his most recent feature film “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power” features powerful on-camera interviews with Black — and white — residents of the titular county in Alabama who lived in the area during the Civil Rights Movement. Through these and archival material, the filmmakers explore how the Black Panther Party grew out of the collective effort to mobilize Black voters in the South, even tracing its logo to the region. As the filmmakers make their way through this complex history and parse through the systems of segregation and oppression on which our nation still rests, it slowly embodies Audre Lorde‘s famous quote, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Although it contains perhaps the bleakest ending to a documentary all year, it rings with the raw honesty of truth. The filmmakers are unafraid to ask us to consider whether merely changing something within a system is enough or if we just think it is because it’s marginally better. (our review) – MG
4. “Fire of Love”
Another project born of quarantine, director Sara Dosa’s latest feature, “Fire of Love,” is not just a great science doc but also one of the most powerful love stories of the year. Playfully narrated by Miranda July, Dosa and editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput weave together hundreds of hours of footage shot by French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft themselves and whimsical animation with the blithe visual flare of the French New Wave. Pioneers of volcanology, Katia and Maurice’s lives and careers became inextricably tangled when they met at university and fell deeply in love. They expressed their passion through their work around the globe studying active volcanoes, writing books, and making short documentaries along the way. Although this work eventually consumed them — literally — it also aided in the creation of safety guidelines and alerts that have saved the lives of thousands who reside near active volcanoes. Few films this year, fiction or nonfiction, feature imagery as bold or characters as complex as this exquisite, lava-fueled ode to these remarkable people who were not just lucky enough to meet their perfect match in every way possible (our review). – MG
3. “All That Breathes”
A frightening and pressing plea for environmental reform, Shaunak Sen‘s tender ecological documentary “All That Breathes” is clear-eyed yet deeply felt. As pollution overwhelms the streets of Wazirabad, Delhi, brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud run a clinic to rehabilitate the region’s primary bird, the black kite. The two share memories from their childhood, watching relatives feed these birds by throwing meat up into the sky. Decades later, the air’s toxicity threatens their very existence, causing them to plummet to the ground, unable to breathe through the fumes. Raised by their mother to respect all living creatures, the brothers have dedicated their lives to a cause slowly becoming unsurmountable. Sen’s meditative, unhurried pacing beguiles, but never masks its urgent political message. “All That Breathes” is a reminder that humans are a reckless species, barreling towards an uncertain future on this fragile planet. It also begs us to remember that, unfortunately, we’re taking so many other precious creatures with us. (our review) – MG
2. “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
In 2022 the opioid crisis had some of its deadliest months, while LGTBQ Americans continue to be physically attacked and through legislation. All of this makes the life, art, and activism of an artist like Nan Goldin as vital as ever. In Laura Poitras’s “All The Beauty and the Bloodshed,” these threads are masterfully braided together, highlighting how each is inexorably linked. The documentary chronicles Goldin’s life, from her abusive childhood rocked by the death of her sister by suicide the chosen, mostly queer, community that became her friends and the subjects of her singular photographic work. Her recent activism pressured the art world to divest from the Sackler family, whose company’s unethical practices led to the current opioid crisis. Goldin’s work has always sought to destigmatize marginalized subjects like sex work, battered women, queerness, and addiction. “All The Beauty and the Bloodshed” proves that a life lived with passion, purpose, and clarity of vision can have a greater impact on the world than anyone can ever fully comprehend. (our review) – MG
1. “The Last Movie Stars”
Okay, so we are breaking our rule against docu-series because it just felt wrong not to celebrate the extraordinary achievement of Ethan Hawke‘s “The Last Movie Stars.” In the ultimate quarantine project, Hawke was given access to Paul Newman’s abandoned memoir (a version of which has subsequently been published) by his children to craft a warts-and-all portrait of the iconic actor and his wife and partner, Joanne Woodward. He not only achieves this with ease, but he also balances the scales, bringing Woodward’s genius — and sacrifices — to the forefront where it always should. A skillful interviewer, Hawke pulls honest conversations from Newman and Woodward’s family members, while interview transcripts from the memoir are brought to life by a large ensemble voice cast, including George Clooney as Newman and Laura Linney as Woodward. This alone would have been innovative enough, yet Hawke goes even further, sharing his recorded Zoom discussions with the voice cast and Newman-Woodward family members (and his own daughter Maya Hawke) as they discuss the project, their roles, and what Newman and Woodward meant to them. In sharing his process, we also see a similarly passionate, curious, intellectual artist at work. When Zoe Kazan asks what he learned about himself while working on this project, Hawke declines to answer. Instead, he cuts to an interview with Newman and Woodward’s grandsons whose memories of love, not fame, reveal how their legacy is more than just their respective bodies of work, the films they made or awards they won, but in the life, they lived and the love they shared. For Hawke and the audience, this is the most important lesson we can learn. (our review) – MG
And since we already broke one rule, here are a few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut: “2nd Chance,” “Aftershock,” “Beba,” “Free Chol Soo Lee,” “Good Night Oppy,” “The Princess,” “Navalny,” “Nothing Compares,” “This Is Joan Collins,” and “We Met in Virtual Reality.”
