This would be a hagiography if Fassbinder wasn’t so unlikeable. Rainer Werner Fassbinder had too much freedom as a child. Rainer Werner Fassbinder had unusual ideas about having sex with your mother. Rainer Werner Fassbinder believed all relationships were power plays. Rainer Werner Fassbinder never grew up. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a sadistic misogynist. Rainer Werner Fassbinder just wanted to be a father. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a workaholic. Continue reading
Tag Archives: doco
Snow Monkey (2015)
StandardThis Australian documentary by war photographer and all round good guy, George Gittoes, could more aptly be titled “I’m George Gittoes and I’m doing really great things for the poor children of Afghanistan.” I’ll say upfront that I don’t really like documentaries where the film maker makes themselves a part of the story. Louis Theroux pulls it off because you can see he is the catalyst for those on the societal margins to feel safe enough to reveal themselves. With others, it often comes across as a vanity project. Continue reading
Welcome to Leith (2015)
StandardAnother padded-out US documentary about a delusional white guy. This one had similar flaws to Prophet’s Prey, too much atmospheric footage and staged drama and not enough insight. Leith is a tiny rural town in North Dakota, and by tiny I mean 24 people including children, that unfortunately had a high profile white supremacist move in. Continue reading
My Love Don’t Cross That River (Nim-a, geu-gang-eul geon-neo-ji ma-o) (2014)
StandardCan you be overwhelmed by a film you don’t really like? I just walked out of this South Korean documentary. The cinema was packed, I was in the middle of a row. For twenty minutes I struggled with the urge to flee, not wanting to disturb the people around me. Leaving was such a relief. I’m sitting here outside the Kino, still shaking, wanting to cry. Continue reading
Prophet’s Prey (2015)
StandardSome stories deserve to be told because they are so outrageous you wouldn’t believe they could really happen. This is one of those. When Joseph Smith, the ‘prophet’ of the Latter-day Saints, retracted his revelation requiring polygamy, ostensibly because of a new revelation from God, but coincidentally after societal and governmental censure and prosecution, groups of fundamentalists broke with the church to set up their own polygamous colonies. One, at least, of those remains today, led by the Jeffs family. Continue reading
