Burt’s Buzz (Shapiro, 2013)
The film strives so hard to model its subject that its practically not there.
The film strives so hard to model its subject that its practically not there.
The setting of Manuscripts Don't Burn may be painstakingly specific, but its themes are broad, perhaps even universal. How much are we willing to risk, to sacrifice, for freedom of speech? Why does one act of violence seemingly begin a never ending chain?
If 2014 is, as has been rumored, the final year of Film Fest DC, the selection of films proved a fitting microcosm of both why regional film festivals will continue to struggle and why this one will be missed.
That's probably one reason why there are so few genuinely engaging movies about abortion. Most interesting dramas have at least a bit of internal conflict. But in melodramas about polarizing issues, if such internal conflicts are too heavy, the drama risks alienating those viewers who may perceive such misgivings as signaling uncertainty. If they are too light, it risks accusations of treating a grave matter too superficially. Rare is the film that seriously challenges its characters to feel reservations about their position, much less face them.
What do Pamela Smart and Viktor Bout have in common?
A large part of what makes the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival so well curated is not just the quality of the films but the way they dialogue with one another.
It's possible, I suppose, to like movies and not like Slavoj Žižek, who I usually describe as the lunatic genius from another dimension.
Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah is sui generis, a universally respected nine and-a-half hour documentary that may well be as close as one can get to a definitive historical account of the Holocaust.