Mubi Monday: City Hall (2020)

There are many differences between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, particularly when it comes to the agendas that can sway major political decisions. There are also many similarities though, particularly when it comes to city councils, and the many small decisions made at that level to try to improve the lives of many citizens.

Having had my eye on this Frederick Wiseman documentary for some time, despite the hefty 282-minute runtime (about 4 1/2 hours), I wasn't sure exactly when I would make room in my viewing schedule for it. Then we had a whole lot of local elections throughout much of the UK last week, with the big picture at the end of it proving to be a particularly depressing one. People turned out to show their great displeasure at the government, and most of that is down to a hugely unpopular current Prime Minister, but many voters seemed to believe that their vote would create a national change that would create all-new policies and approaches to what they have been told are the main reasons for their unhappiness and relative poverty. City Hall is an opportunity to remember what local politics is really about, and shows people who seem to really have the interests of others in mind, as opposed to people who seem to be self-serving and profiteering manipulators.

There's not much to say about how things play out. Some viewers will still find this far too long, and they won't be convinced that it is worth their time, but it's a fascinating look at different aspects of local government. There are scenes that show co-operation with the local police, scenes that show traffic management, and a variety of meetings. One such meeting is considering a proporal to increase the enrolment numbers for a local school, although that will also lead to the school requiring more space. This is a big headache, but also (as almost everyone speaking on it notes) a good problem to have. It all stems from the school doing such a good job. Another meeting has some business owners meeting with local residents who are voicing their concerns and opinions about the nature of the new business premises being proposed. This highlights the importance of open and informed dialogue, while some present also try to make a case for further meetings and dialogue with local citizens who have been unable, for a number of reasons, to attend the meeting. There's also a sequence that shows someone trying to help a man who may have a rodent problem, but what starts off as a simple evaluation of a pest control situation soon reveals much more about the life and health issues of the man trying to keep his home as a habitable space for himself.

Whatever you think about recent events, and wherever you believe yourself to be aligned, politically, City Hall is a heartening look at what happens when people keep remembering that they are elected to serve the people who voted them into their roles. The real value of the political process comes long after the campaigning and sloganeering. It's the work that is done by people working together for the common good. Many seem to have forgotten that lately, whether they're voters or actual politicians. City Hall is a timely reminder. I cannot think of a better time to watch it. 

8/10

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Prime Time: Melania (2026)

Considering the fact that Melania is nothing more than a sickening and slick propaganda piece, it would seem inappropriate to review it in a standard way. You cannot watch Melania, if you watch it at all, and not be aware of how much it is just yet another shiny trinket in the overstuffed temple that is the "cult of personality" that has been used by the Trump family to grab power, make themselves richer, and offer up their uneducated and ignorant opinions on platforms that amplify and empower them.

In a world where truth is an increasingly flexible thing, when it really shouldn't be, here are some absolute truths about Melania.

It's a vanity project. Focused on Melania, but also allowing her husband to have a moment or two where he tries (and fails) to come across as a normal human being, all while director Brett Ratner sycophantically bends the knee and shows how much he knows what side his bread is buttered on.

Because, lest we forget, Brett Ratner went very quiet for years, mainly due to a number of women who accused him of sexual assault during the height of the #METOO movement. Separating from Warner Bros., it looked as if Ratner's career might have been all over, but accusations of sexual assault are water off a duck's back when someone is able to become POTUS for a second time after being found guilty of sexual abuse by a jury having to veer just enough away from the word "rape". In fact, a statement from Judge Kaplan did actually affirm that Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll, which makes it seemingly inevitable that Ratner would now find favour in a festering and toxic White House.

There's a lack of self-awareness here that would be laughable if it wasn't so sickeningly contributing to an infection that is turning our entire planet into a broken and bleeding shell that may bear the scars for decades to come. Melania claims that her husband has gone through more than anyone else in history (you'd think he was Joan Of Arc by the way she talks about him). She also takes the opportunity to remind everyone that she loves her family, in a really standard way that doesn't feel alien and robotic at all (honest). She is desperate to save the children, and happily serve the people of America. And did I mention that she thinks her husband is a great man? Because he's apparently a great man. The greatest. 

This is a horror movie, for the most part, and I cannot recommend it to anyone who is outwith the horrific cult of personality that we've seen developed over the past decade or so. All Trump has done since getting the throne he so clearly coveted for many years is fail. His crowds are never as big as he wants them to be, his negotiating "skills" show why he couldn't even make a success out of a casino empire (seriously, it's quite a feat to do that), and his narcissism, xenophobia, and misogyny are impossible to deny, yet we have to watch an entire "documentary" in which Melania acknowledges no imperfections, big or small, in either herself or any part of her family.

Considering how much money Amazon paid for this, and how they are now platforming it, I would implore all of you to once again think about how you use the site. I am currently figuring out how to be a bit more ethical in where my money goes, and made sure to watch this via a portal that would not give Amazon the click or traffic it would use as any metric of viewer numbers, and I encourage you all to do the same. It may now be impossible to extricate ourselves from such an online behemoth, but it's clearly now a moral imperative to work against anyone who considers this a worthwhile investment. 

1/10

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Mubi Monday: Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

Something is rotten in the state of San Andreas.

2020 was a truly mad year for many of us. And it didn't end as soon as we wanted it to. Some of us had to deal with the effects of a global pandemic and the eerie silence of unpopulated streets while we went into a national lockdown. Some of us had the added strain of recently separating from a significant other and misusing alcohol before figuring out much healthier coping mechanisms. Okay, maybe that last part was just me. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Some people began to appreciate the worlds offered to them by online gaming environments. A trip to a virtual beach was, in a way, at least better than nothing. And, despite the focus on crime and anti-social behaviour, it turns out that there are many opportunities to have a rewarding and sanity-saving get-together in the world of Grand Theft Auto Online.

I am a fan of the Grand Theft Auto videogame series, but I'm a fan with very limited ability. Have I played every instalment? No. Do I wish that I could still get my hands on the original top-down games I played on my PSOne back in the late 1990s? Absolutely. Have I spent many hours finding a spot inaccessible to the police only to then set myself up there as a sniper of innocent victims while my "wanted" rating goes higher and higher? Yes. Is it always easier to go for that option after failing some of the main missions multiple times? Also yes.

In case you weren't aware of how any of this relates to Grand Theft Hamlet, what we have here is a film documenting the attempt by two people (Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen) to stage a production of Hamlet in the world of Grand Theft Auto Online. They have a few good locations to choose from, they know a lot of the speeches, but they have to assemble a cast, rehearse, and keep working hard to get everyone together at the right time. All while avoiding being robbed, beaten up, shot, and/or handled with extreme prejudice by some heavy-handed videogame police. One or two brief moments aside, the whole thing is presented to us within the videogame world, with Sam, Mark, and everyone else represented by their in-game characters.

Having heard a lot about Grand Theft Hamlet before finally getting to see it, I was hoping to find it a rewarding and satisfying experience. It is, for the most part, but I am also a bit surprised by how much praise I have seen heaped upon it. Co-directed, and apparently co-written, by Crane and his partner, Pinny Grylls, there's nothing much to discuss here in terms of the visuals and audio. This is a tale set in the world of Grand Theft Auto Online, and it's only really the editing that reminds you of the fact that you're actually watching a film. 

This works well when you're being reminded of various experiences that many of us have shared, at one time or another. The desperation for contact and a sense of purpose during lockdown was a major problem for many. Finding friends online who end up becoming as important to you as people you know in the real world is something that can apply to videogame worlds, social media, and forums where normal and enjoyable conversation can still be found. It works less well, however, when it feels just a bit too polished and inauthentic, presenting conversations that are staged in a way that jars with the many other moments that feel brilliantly anarchic and in line with the problem of trying to perform some Shakespeare in the middle of a world more concerned with carjackings, casual violence, and rewarding bad behaviour. It should be more fun watching people wax lyrically about suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as they suffer the stabbings and shootings of this videogame environment, but Crane, Grylls, and Oosterveen want to keep giving more space and time to exchanges that feel a bit staged. I appreciate being reminded of the toll that the whole lockdown situation took on everyone, but I could do without a scene that has Crane being berated by Grylls for not spending enough time with her in the real world, even if one or two unintentional laughs come from people trying to have that conversation while videogame characters interrupt them.

Best appreciated by those who are at least aware of the Grand Theft Auto videogame series, but it's certainly also accessible to those who should be able to empathise with some of the themes of loneliness, the way time can be eaten up when you find something to distract you from the awfulness of world events, and a desire to achieve something that becomes more difficult to imagine being a success as you continue to swim against a tide that just keeps getting stronger as it tries to push you back. 

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."

7/10

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Mubi Monday: Occupied City (2023)

Settle down, people, settle down, and make yourselves comfortable. Because it's time for one of those reviews that can feel more like a bit of a rant mixed with a bit of a lecture. I know, I know, you can barely contain your joy.

I debated whether or not to view and review Occupied City. It's always harder to review a documentary than it is to review a traditional narrative feature, and the subject matter here doesn't seem like one that would make for an enjoyable distraction for those who may read it during this holiday season. But sometimes it's not about making things enjoyable, or more palatable. Sometimes making people uncomfortable is necessary, especially as we look around us at a world that is having fires stoked by ill-advised beliefs in all opinions being equal and every story having two sides.

Directed by Steve McQueen, based on the book by his wife, Bianca Stigter (a Dutch culture critic and author, and also the director of Three Minutes: A Lengthening, which feels very much like a precursor to this), Occupied City is a look around modern-day Amsterdam while a narrator (Melanie Hyams) relates many tales of a community ruined and many lives lost in the city. That's all it is, and that's all it needs to be.

I don't like to single out others, and it's good to remember that all film opinions are subjective, but looking at the negative reviews for Occupied City helps to show why it is important, although I appreciate that some may only benefit from it when the full context is hammered home to them. People just think this is a boring and aimless look at a city while someone tells you what happened decades ago, without any connection between the past and the present. Those are the people that should be forcibly sat down and made to watch this again and again, at least until they see that there's no way to disconnect the past and present. Our present, in a number of small and large ways, is formed by the past, and it's becoming harder and harder to remind people of that, as it is also becoming harder to convince people that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

There's a hefty runtime to deal with here, the standard version is 266 minutes (although I remember hearing about a much longer version that was part of an installation somewhere), and there's no change to the format throughout, but it's once again important to understand that THAT is the point. Viewers quickly become relatively immune to the catalogue of horrors, maybe being startled again by an unexpectedly unpleasant detail here and there, but it goes on and on and on. It seems as if it will never end, as I am sure it seemed that way to the people living through WWII. There's a fine short film by Alan Clarke, Elephant, that uses a similar, but not identical, approach to a different bloodshed-filled chapter of history, and I appreciate this way of presenting evil in a way that also shows how banal and boring it can be for those who can be constantly hearing about it without being directly affected by it. That happens today, it happens to many of us almost every day, and if Occupied City makes just one person remember to speak up in protest against any kind of bigotry, abuse, or dehumanisation then it's worth the four and half hour time investment. Actually, it's worth that investment anyway. 

The present is getting away from us in a way that is scarily quick and scarily regressive. Become more familiar with the past, especially while we have people who are allowed to tell us about it without trying to reframe any of the major villains.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: The J-Horror Virus (2023)

It's always very difficult to figure out a way to review a documentary. I say this every time I review a documentary, which I don't do often, and it never gets any easier. The big positive is that when I do review a documentary it tends to be one that I have a strong reaction to. I hoped to enjoy The J-Horror Virus, which is why I bumped it to the top of my viewing schedule as soon as it was more easily available to me, and I am happy to say that it didn't let me down.

Co-directed by Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp, this is a well-balanced and well-shaped journey through the boom period at the turn of century that made horror fans start to take notice of the films coming from Japan (as well as China, South Korea, and Thailand). If I started to list the best films from this time then you would probably head off to watch them right now, hopefully coming back here to finish this review after you've finished your viewings, so I'll just hope that we have some common ground when it comes to a fair knowledge of the big titles.

Restricting themselves to what they quite rightly cite as the peak years of J-Horror appreciation, Appleton and Sharp also ensure that they cover the essential factors that came together to create a perfect storm: a history steeped in great ghostly legends and the ability to get great equipment and results on much lower budgets. Not only do they assemble the expected talent from behind the camera (Kiyoshi Kurosawa,  Takashi Shimizu, and Shin'ya Tsukamoto among them), but they also get some great tales from Rie Ino'o AKA THE Sadako from Ring and Ring 2.

As I have been at pains to point out on many other occasions, horror is a consistently important and profitable genre, helping both studios and the cinema tills through some very difficult times. The J-Horror explosion not only helped horror fans to find some modern classics, including films that established iconography and shiver-inducing moments still reverberating through the genre now, and surely for many years from now, but it also helped people to discover a greater variety of films from the likes of Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, and Kôji Shiraishi, as well as a few others. If you want to know the full width and breadth of titles that fans were discovering at this time then just hunt around online for a full list of the Tartan Asia Extreme DVDs that were released (a distribution company that many were sad to see disappear, although many of the titles have since been released by other boutique labels).

But I digress. J-Horror is an important part of cinema history, and Appleton and Sharp do an excellent job of contextualising and celebrating it. Like any good documentary, this reveals some wonderful bits of information you may not have previously known and it makes you keen to learn more about the central subject matter, which can easily be done by working your way through the many titles namechecked/shown. Sugoi.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Our Body (2023)

I don’t often review documentaries, something I think I mention every time I end up reviewing a documentary, but there are some that I watch and end up wanting to recommend to others, for a variety of reasons. Our Body is an important and timely film, especially when you consider the current climate that has turned the female body into a political battlefield and the sexual and gender identity of individuals into ammunition being used in a preposterous and damaging “culture war” (placed in quotation marks because, let’s face it, there’s no such thing . . . it’s just all tied to reactionary measures from people scared of what they don’t understand).

Our Body looks at the bodies of those who are female and female-identifying. Director Claire Simon positions herself in a French gynecology department, sitting in on a variety of conversations and procedures, from gender reassignment journeys to childbirth, and so much in between.

The first two main encounters here will ensure that viewers know what they are in for. One shows a young woman who wants to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The other shows a trans man preparing himself for the chance to fully transition once they have turned eighteen. Both of these topics are contentious and divisive for many, even if they shouldn’t be, and both are shown here in the way that they should be shown, with a patient and doctor discussing the situation and the range of options available. As the ignorant are ironically quick to spout when they think they have some smug extra knowledge they once found on a Reddit post, “facts don’t care about your feelings.” The reality, the medical reality, is that people on both sides of the doctor’s office are often trying to find a solution that makes use of both facts and feelings to help someone match their inner and outer selves.

A few moments show surgery, but the focus here tends to be on the conversations and consultations that highlight what women have to go through as they seek help with their issues. It’s not all straightforward and positive either, with Simon filming a protest by women who feel abused and violated by the system, but the overwhelming message seems to be about people trying their best to help others, no matter what is going on in the outside world, or what headlines are being used to try and turn individuals against one another.

Our Body may be all about women, but it’s about all of us. It highlights the understanding and compassion that we should all have, especially while not knowing what those around us might be going through. You don’t need to be a doctor to help the women in your life. You just need to listen, empathize, and be supportive while they journey down some dark and scary paths that men never have to step on.

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: Dario Argento: Panico (2023)

Although I like to watch them, I am never eager to review documentaries. It's rare to have much to say about them, especially when they often use very similar ways to convey information to viewers. Summarising a documentary is often just summarising the subject itself, but sometimes that subject is worth making others aware of. I'm not sure that can be said of Dario Argento.

Don't get me wrong. Argento remains a big name in the horror genre, a man responsible for some past glories that stand up as outright classics, but even some of his more generous fans would have to admit that it's been at least two decades since he showed anything like the kind of directorial talent and flair that made his reputation. Some argue that Dark Glasses showed some promise, a minor return to form, but I strongly disagree.

That's what puzzles me about this documentary. Who will get the most out of it, and why now? Argento isn't on some major upswing, which takes the documentary itself to an inevitably downbeat and depressing final act, and the fact that he keeps trying (the tenacity is admirable, to be fair) means that there's no definitive end point that can be used to bookend his film career. He may yet make another movie, or he may not, but nothing is known at this time, which gives the documentary a hugely anti-climactic feeling.

Director Simone Scafidi obviously thinks that this story is worth telling, and there's plenty of time dedicated to the complex relationship that Argento has with women (both offscreen and on), including some of the frank and raw speech you would expect from his daughter, Asia, but it doesn't get close enough to the bottom of a very murky pool. And then, after touching on topics that you know are interesting enough to require some more exploration, Scafidi and co. pull back, returning to the relative safety of Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Guillermo del Toro offering up their praise to someone they revere.

Although it may not seem like it from my words here, I am a huge fan of Argento, up to a certain point. He deserves a LOT of love and respect for the contributions he has made to giallo, and to the horror genre overall. At least two of his films are gold-plated classics. Which is why I was all the more frustrated by this documentary. I don't think it worked as intended, with the unimaginative construction and soundbites coalescing into something that rarely reminds you of the greatness of Argento's talent. You could make one feature alone by simply juxtaposing moments from Suspiria with many films and scenes it has influenced, but even that atmospheric classic feels as if it is given relatively short shrift here.

There is potential for a great documentary to be made about the life and works of Argento. This doesn't come close. Those present keep serving as a reminder of the many people not included, the film clips are assembled with very little thought or care (in my eyes anyway), and the end result is a huge wasted opportunity.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness: Part III (2022)

I have previously reviewed In Search Of Darkness a few years ago, and then grudgingly decided to check out the second instalment in the series back in 2021, so I was always going to get to this final part of the trilogy eventually. The runtime for this thing is 5 hours and 41 minutes, but I would say that at least 20-25 minutes of that is dedicated to lengthy end credits that namecheck everyone who kicked in at a certain level of their crowdfunding campaign while splicing in video clips of horror fans saying how much they enjoyed these documentaries, as well as sometimes mentioning a favourite film. It's just another self-indulgent, and ultimately pointless, bit of filler in a documentary series that easily ranks as among the worst I have ever seen.

The format remains the exact same, of course. A lot of posters/movie images are shown, one title is picked out for discussion, and that repeats again and again. The problem, as has been the problem with every part of this series, is that the people involved don't often have anything meaningful to say about the movies, often simply delivering a riff on "it was wild, the deaths were cool, and I loved it when I saw it." The lack of anything meaningful to say is even more obvious with the one or two titles that are discussed for less than a minute, or the movies that are accompanied by someone just relaying the plot in a nutshell.

I've already forgotten most of the previous instalments, but this time around it seems that writer-director David A. Weiner, someone we can also refer to as a blight on the landscape of movie documentaries (mistaking nostalgia and personal anecdotes for context and interesting information), has tried to present a slightly more varied mix of talking heads, possibly in response to the opinion that the first selection of people he had involved seems to be seriously lacking in diversity. The same could be said for the films, although you would expect a much more eclectic mix in an overview of the horror genre through the 1980s that has a total runtime of approximately 2/3 of an entire day.

I don't want to namecheck anyone else here, you get a mix of film-makers, musicians, bloggers, and podcasters, but I will say that there are one or two people who DO actually try to add something worthwhile to the conversation, thanks to their more specific viewpoint and relationship to some of the movies being discussed. Take those people and put them in better documentaries and I might have a better viewing experience.

I admit that I was waiting for this to annoy me, and annoy me it did, but maybe in ways that others won't necessarily notice, and maybe in ways that wouldn't annoy other people. Here's a prime example of why I dislike this series so much. There's a segment about the Video Nasties debacle (and I HIGHLY recommend checking out both of the Video Nasties documentaries, directed by Jake West). Part of this segment is illustrated by a tabloid newspaper cover encouraging people to get rid of their video nasties, and a photo showing them being burnt. But the main movie being burnt is Child's Play 3, a film that wasn't ever a part of the Video Nasty mess, and was simply, and erroneously, named years later as the possible factor (it wasn't) in a horrendous crime that shocked the UK. People might see this and say "well, that front page symbolises the spirit and language of the original Video Nasty age", but I would disagree. And there are surely many other headlines and front pages that Weiner could have chosen, from the actual decade being discussed. It's another little moment that smacks of laziness and/or ignorance.

There are other things here that irk, not least of which is the fool's errand of trying to discuss so many movies from the decade while overlooking so many other gems (and, yes, many other gems are STILL missed from what some try to claim is the definitive look back at a golden decade for horror movies). A number of movies that I recall seeing back in my youth, when I was too young for almost all of them, might not be good films, but they were in line with everything else on lining the shelves at that time: a lurid bit of cover art making promises that the film inside the box would rarely fully deliver on.

I'm sorry to anyone who thinks that this is a bit of an unfocused ramble, spending too much time to say too little of note. But if you watched these documentaries then you must be used to this by now. At least it shouldn't take you over five and a half hours to read this.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: Moonage Daydream (2022)

While it's fair to call Moonage Daydream an energised and trippy collage of David Bowie material that works as a celebration of the artist and his art, something that a fan will certainly want to appreciate at least once, it's also fair to claim that this isn't really a documentary that seems to reveal anything truly new. Many of the Bowie clips used are taken from archival interviews, ensuring that Bowie is still often trying to keep some kind of persona in place to protect the real person, and a lot of the concert footage, while new, feels like stuff we've all seen already.

I like to consider myself a Bowie fan, but in the same way that so many others will consider themselves Bowie fans. I don't claim in-depth knowledge of his entire body of work, I cannot tell you the name of every track on every album, but I automatically mistrust anyone who doesn't have some connection with him, either through his music or through his pretty impressive selection of acting work. I'm a "Greatest Hits" fan, a "Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" fan, and I consider my knowledge to be cursory, at best. But here's what I know wasn't given full, or any, coverage in this documentary: his first wife (Angie), his years spent as a functioning drug addict, his experimentation with fascism, the period in which he had sex with at least one underage groupie, and the relationships forged with other musicians that helped to strongly define chapters in his artistic life (Mick Ronson and Niles Rodgers are either shown for the briefest of moments, and I missed some of their screentime, or seem to be completely missing, although Brian Eno gets his due).

I hope some of you are already raising your eyebrows. That seems like quite a lot to miss out, even in a documentary that is officially authorized by the Bowie estate. I wouldn't expect everything to be covered, and appreciate that maybe not mentioning his two children was a way to keep the focus on his artistic life, but the more that ends up being conspicuously absent, the less rounded and satisfying the whole thing is. What you're left with is an overlong and repetitive selection of songs presented in different live incarnations, film clips often accompanying visuals without the right context (personally, I would have loved to hear anything more about The Man Who Fell To Earth, which is a sci-fi classic and an astonishingly brilliant collaboration between the cast and the visionary Nicolas Roeg), and soundbites that seem to deliberately show Bowie juxtaposing his own wit and charisma with the mundanity of other aspects of everyday life.

I enjoyed spending time with Bowie. Very few people wouldn't. But a documentary should do more than feed you scraps and expect you to feel grateful for them. And a documentary about David Bowie, clocking in at no less than 135 minutes, should struggle to cram in every worthwhile bit of audio and visual footage. While this is a feature-length music video selection, with Bowie tweaking his personalities ever so slightly as he bleeds from one chapter into another, it could have been much more than that. If writer-director Brett Morgen had decided to double the runtime, and pack MUCH more into this, then I would have been happy. As it is, however, this is a huge missed opportunity, and I'm not sure how it will play to anyone who isn't already a fan.

5/10

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Mubi Monday: Maso And Miso Go Boating (1976)

Astounding as it may sound, considering how little progress has been made in the intervening years, 1975 was declared International Women's Year. Bernard Pivot, a popular TV show host, invited Françoise Giroud, the French Secretary Of State For Women, on for a seemingly light-hearted and celebratory overview of the state that women could currently find themselves in.

Maso And Miso Go Boating takes that TV show and edits and intercuts in a way that highlights the constant misogyny, the appalling way in which very real problems were dismissed by both men and women, and the way in which everyone could so easily work together in a comfortable environment to create a world in which progress was hindered, because it's more difficult to push yourself beyond your limits when you're being told that it's not necessary, and ultimately just laughable.

Created by a collective of female artists (Delphine Seyrig, Nadja Ringart, and Carole Roussopoulos), this reactionary work of art maintains sharp focus and great wit throughout. Although they create replies to comments from Giroud, the males onscreen, and Simone de Beauvoir, the final statement clarifies their true motivation. They are not targeting one woman, or ANY individual women, but are rather highlighting the fact that women cannot effectively work within, or with, a patriarchal structure designed to really just maintain the status quo.

People read my blog, I guess, for movie reviews. Not necessarily for political statements. I'd also say that nobody comes here to read my views, as a male, on the ongoing issues faced everyday by women. So you're out of luck today. Look, as with all things, the time to stand by and be silently complicit in all of this was never, although we've done it for decades, and the time to highlight every main issue and be an ally is now. It is today, tomorrow, and forever. That applies to all inequality and prejudice that permeates the layers of our society. But for now, and for here, Maso And Miso Go Boating is a stark reminder of how far women still have to go in order to even be taken seriously when discussing subjects such as misogyny, and even abuse.

Don't be the kind of guy who tries desperately to play the White Knight in every interaction. Don't be the kind of guy who responds to any description of the problematic treatment of women with a message of "not all men". Don't jump into conversations that relate experiences you won't have as much insight on. Just keep learning, keep listening, do what you can do be a part of any attempt at a solution. Watch art like this, the searing Born In Flames, and Be Pretty And Shut Up! (and those are just the titles I have enjoyed lately on MUBI) Read more, get better at recognising all of the ways, big and small, that sexism and misogyny are turned into bricks that make the walls that women have to smash through every day. 

Even getting to the end of this "review" without rolling your eyes to the back of your head may be a small positive. But definitely check out Maso And Miso Go Boating. 

9/10

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Larger than usual, format-wise, because it needs to be.

Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness: Part II (2020)

I was quite clear when I discussed In Search Of Darkness last year, a lengthy documentary about the horror movies of the 1980s. So many people loved it, and the only reason I can think of for that love is the shared affection for the genre, and a large helping of nostalgia. A lot of the contributors offered nothing more than the most basic opinions, there were very few films mentioned that weren't already very well known, and they angered me by crediting John Carpenter with that fine score for The Thing which came from Ennio Morricone.

Why would I dive into this sequel then? Well, I was hoping they might do better. 

The format is pretty much the same. You get a lot of the same selection of talking heads (some better than others, and some make you question why they were chosen for involvement in the first place), you get plenty of clips from the movies being discussed, and you get some attempts to contextualise individual entries within the bigger picture of what was happening to the horror genre throughout the decade.

First of all, although the titles picked here are generally a bit less "mainstream" than the titles in the first instalment, this still almost steadfastly refuses to dive into the really dark recesses of the video selections from the '80s. A whole section could have been dedicated to Gremlins rip-offs, but instead they're simply name-checked by Joe Dante, who gets to state that he doesn't rate Ghoulies, but considers Critters the best of the bunch that came out about that time. Every time the camera shows a number of movie posters (or I guess they are supposed to be video covers), you get to see some more obscure titles before it zooms in to focus on the next film up for discussion, which is most often one that most horror fans will be familiar with. And a horror documentary full of movie clips spending some time discussing a previous horror documentary full of movie clips - Terror In The Aisles - seems both meta and also completely unnecessary.

I won't try to list some of the many notable omissions, as that would just be too depressing, but things are saved this time around by some sections that allow stars to discuss their careers. You get Nancy Allen On Nancy Allen, Tom Savini On Tom Savini, Robert Englund On Robert Englund, and Linnea Quigley On Linnea Quigley. These, alongside a section that looks at the horror movie videogames of the era, offer up just enough insight and enjoyment to make this a better film than the first instalment. It's also bittersweet to see some on-camera contributions from the late, great, Stuart Gordon.

If you enjoyed In Search Of Darkness then you're bound to enjoy this. It's more of the same. If, like me, you were in the minority then this at least improves things slightly. I have no doubt that a third entry would be possible, and it would be the same yet again. And I'll be bemoaning the fact that we horror fans seem to be so easily pleased sometimes by stuff put out there with minimal amounts of care and real insight. 

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel (2021)

When I heard that there was a documentary coming on to Netflix that looked at the strange case of the disappearance of Elisa Lam from the infamous Cecil Hotel I knew I wanted to watch it ASAP. Directed by Joe Berlinger, a documentary-maker who has delivered some astonishing work over the years (as well as a few feature films), there are four episodes that explore the history of the hotel, the mental state of Elisa Lam, and the persistence of everyone involved in the investigation, from the detectives to a bunch of internet sleuths.

Having been unaware of how this case unfolded, and what, if any, resolution there was, I started watching this program for the same reason as many others. I was captivated by the strange video that captured the last images of Elisa Lam alive. A video showing her entering an elevator, acting very strangely while the elevator doesn't move, and then eventually leaving the area covered by the camera. Slight spoiler here - the real explanation is quite simple, and not as interesting as we all want it to be.

While you get an interesting story told throughout Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel, it is (as can often happen with these things) a story that could have easily been told in one feature-length episode. Having said that, a lot of the background to the Cecil Hotel is fascinating, and it's an eye-opener to learn more about that area of Los Angeles, with Skid Row shown as a startling and horrifying reality, as opposed to a movie conceit where people end up temporarily while down on their luck.

The downside here is that you get the many conspiracy theories given a fair amount of time, a lot of YouTubers, Podcasters, and internet commenters trying to make themselves out as experts in things that they clearly aren't, and people who attach themselves to Elisa Lam, and this mystery, in a way that allows them to appear to be caring about her fate while managing to make things all about themselves. These are the kind of people who make commiserating posts every year about some deceased relative and gain comfort from the amount of replies that give THEM some extra comforting words from people who offer up the expected "thinking of you" or "thoughts and prayers". They are the people who dismiss/downplay something like bipolar disorder because a) there has to be a more sinister element at work, and b) everyone can have a bit of a bipolar day, it just means being a bit up and down in moods (surely . . . yeah, that's not how seriously damaging bipolar disorder works, far too many people forget that).

There are a number of people here worth listening to, and some interesting history and context. I'd also say that this is worthwhile for the memory of Elisa Lam. It's just a shame that her last moments became such a touchpaper for so many, including those who mistakenly hounded a death metal singer because he'd stayed at the same hotel . . . a year previously. It's a sad irony that those who say she was an inspiration, and that they felt connected to her, constantly fail to accept her for who she really was. And her death becoming a mystery, and a creepy video, it arguably even more tragic as it distracts from the fact that yet another young life was snuffed out by mental health problems. If more people put the same amount of energy into helping the system, and individuals, affected by mental health issues as they did into creating theories, and/or ghoulishly visiting the scene of a death to recreate some final steps, then maybe things could improve. Slightly.

5/10

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Mubi Monday: Stories We Tell (2012)

It can be quite difficult to review documentaries, many of them share very similar stylistic approaches and it is often better to go off on a tangent about the subject itself, as opposed to the film itself, but I think it is always worth making the effort occasionally, especially when one stands out from the crowd.

Stories We Tell definitely stands out, and it's also a harder one to review than most, largely thanks to the fact that this is very much a personal story that deserves to be presented exactly as you find it. I cannot just drop some details here, spoiling things for both viewers and director Sarah Polley (who also co-wrote the film with her father, Michael). This is a story about Polley, her family, and at least one big secret that eventually came to light. But it's more than that.

Adored as a bit of an indie movie darling, it's no surprise that Polley has come up with such an intimate, brutally honest, and densely-packed piece of work. Making use of standard talking head shots, interspersed with footage supposed to look like old home movies, Polley is interested in both the story she wants told and also the various ways in which people find themselves inextricably linked within it.

You can find many other documentaries that tell a riveting tale, and a number of those will have at least one big revelatory moment, but there are very few documentaries that are as interested in how different people look back on events differently, considering their own memories and the emotional connections they have. This runs throughout Stories We Tell for most of the runtime, but is really brought to the fore in the second half. Taking advantage of her very pivotal role in the central story, Polley manages to get everyone involved that she thinks can contribute a viewpoint, and edits them together to show some shared commonalities and some very opposing perspectives. It's like some kaleidoscope that is turned round and round until you see the image clearly once, only for it to be scattered into eye-boggling refracted chaos in the next few seconds.

You may not like the approach taken by Polley. You may be slightly taken aback by the candid way in which people discuss some very personal details. You might even wonder how everyone can remain so calm as more and more of the central story becomes clear. I would argue that those reactions say more about yourself, and about so many of us in our society. We're not used to being so open, even with our closest loved ones. We're not used to considering other viewpoints, certainly in these increasingly divisive times. And we're not used to being able to accept that we can love someone AND admit that they were capable of making some mistakes, or just being flawed, or a little bit imperfect.

Stories We Tell reveals a hell of a lot about Polley and her family. It also reveals a hell of a lot about anyone watching it. How would you react? How comfortable do you feel with the truth, and sifting through various versions of it? And what stories have you held onto that may be better off being shared with others?

8/10

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Prime Time: Demon House (2018)

I used to love the TV show "Most Haunted". There was a time there when I was slightly addicted. I even watched one of their live events. And then one day I just stopped. There was only so much table-tipping I could stomach, only so much nonsense being spewed by Derek Acorah, and only so much padding around entirely explicable phenomena that were put forward as definite signs of the undead trying to make contact.

It turns out that Zak Bagans, who wrote, directed, and stars in this "documentary", is most famous for working on an American show that is the equivalent of "Most Haunted". I have never seen that show, "Ghost Adventures", but I now know that I definitely wouldn't ever want to watch it. Because Bagans is a mixture of all of the things that immediately start to irritate me. He has to make everything extra dramatic, and emphasises things about three times in a row to make sure you get how dramatic it really is. If any coincidence can be played up for spookiness then it is. And he wears sunglasses in doors. Yeah, not my type of guy at all. Will I also openly question the veracity of what he puts onscreen here, from the witness testimonies to his own encounters? Maybe, but I wouldn't put anything in stronger terms, mainly because Americans can be so damn litigous.

There is a plot here. Bagans ends up buying a house that was at the centre of the Ammons case, an alleged haunting that featured some very dark and disturbing events. The previous residents of the house are so scares that they generally won't even talk to Bagans, for fear of any insidious force reaching them again. So Bagans talks to everyone else he can get hold of, from police officers to a relative of the affected family, and a few more. They talk and he gets to repeat what they say, with added dramatic emphasis. And you get some weird things happening on camera, which you are free to view as real events or not.

The thing is, deep down, I no longer believe in the supernatural, ghosts or demons. I used to. And I still believe that we don't know how everything happens in the world around us, especially when it comes to our death (as we're all made up of energy), our memories, and our sensory perception being affected by both of those things. I also wouldn't stay in any allegedly haunted house for £10,000. I am just too much of a scaredy cat, and my imagination runs wild at the slightest little noise. So Demon House should have worked better for me than it did. I still expected to roll my eyes, but was looking forward to a few small chills and thrills throughout. I got none.

Most of that is the fault of Bagans, who seems so obviously desperate to put himself at the centre of a hot story that he will buy a notorious house, get people around him agitated by his methods, and then posit himself as the one person striving to be strong enough to face the dark forces swirling all around us. I hope I never see him in any feature again. And I'm amazed the house didn't growl "get out" at him, a la Amityville. I know I would have.

2/10

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Mubi Monday: Gay USA (1977)

There has been a lot for people to be active about lately, from the ongoing attempt to remind people that Black Lives Matter, and not just when yet another person is shot by the police, to the celebrities now drawing a line in the sand and picking a stance on transgender issues. A lot of lovely people are supportive and inclusive, some spiral into what we will now refer to as the Linehan Vortex (for no particular reason at all, I just think it is a fitting name for a behaviour that becomes obsessive and shows more about the people spouting their hate than the victims of the nastiness. I mention these things for two reasons. One, a lot of the arguments now being used to defend transphobia are the same ones that were used to defend racism and homophobia over the years, making this documentary a surprisingly relevant viewing experience. Two, if you ever find yourself saying “all lives matter” or “blue lives matter”, or if you are scared in case the gay agenda comes to fruition and we have an entire planet of gay people living a happy life until the population dies out, please just fuck off. 

Seriously. If you are still reading this then I will assume you are a decent person. If not, and you want to sneakily stay here and read my nonsense, know that I don’t care for your readership. I don’t need the traffic. I don’t do this for money. Or any guaranteed audience. It is mainly my own memory aid, and I am pleasantly surprised when others actually click on anything I have written. 

That slight rant aside, Gay USA is a positive rainbow for these dark days, made up of footage taken during numerous “gay pride” marches throughout America (I have those words in quotation marks as I am not sure when they actually became the Gay Pride marches we know of today). 

You get a lot of soundbites that may seem easy to laugh at, either because they are a bit too cool and groovy or because they are so naive, but it is heartening to see how many people are there, being unafraid to celebrate their sexuality or being visible in their stance as a form ally of those seeking equal human rights. There are a few present who are obviously not fully on board with the whole idea, but they are thankfully few and far between. 

Arthur J. Bressan Jr. managed to assemble some great footage from the various mass gatherings of people invested in the campaign for gay rights, and the final product holds up as a celebration of love, in many forms, and the importance of always fighting for what is right. And there's nothing more right than one human having the same value as any other.

8/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: Space Dogs (2019)

Here's the blurb for Space Dogs, according to the sources where it is listed online (such as IMDb, MUBI, etc). I'm going to just copy and paste it here because it is the best starting point for giving some idea of the mood of the film, a documentary that considers the use of animals by humans in the quest to make better use of advancing technologies.

"Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. A legend says that she returned to Earth as a ghost and still roams the streets of Moscow alongside her free-drifting descendants."

As you might expect, although I am emphasising it right here and now, this is NOT a documentary that animal lovers will enjoy. I consider myself an animal lover, although I don't have that hard a time when it's fictional harm/death on display, and Space Dogs had a number of scenes that I found uncomfortable to sit through, to say the least.

Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter have opted to give viewers an important perspective on the history of the space race, and the subsequent treatment of animals in the name of science. Animals have been used as pioneers on numerous occasions, and yet nobody can really fully judge how any of those experiences change them. If a chimpanzee is sent into space, and returns unharmed, then how can humans know what thoughts have gone through its mind? Considering the effect that space travel can have on human beings, it's not impossible to think of animals being seriously affected by their time away from their home planet.

As well as trying to ruminate on this kind of thing (perhaps a particular "do sheep dream of electric androids?" kind of sci-fi/sci-fact approach), the documentary shows some stray dogs wandering around Moscow, acting in accordance with their nature and not being treated as anything special by those they wander by. This emphasises the chasm between the mindset of animals and the mindset of people, for the most part, but also serves to remind us that we often bemoan the lack of care given to those who were taken in, and used up, by military forces. Astronauts are travellers, yes, but also akin to soldiers, acting on behalf of their nation to take huge risks as they outdo other nations, heading to an isolated spot upon which they can plant a flag to claim it in the name of whoever sent them on their dangerous mission. They often come back to a warm welcome, and can be ambassadors for their sector. Animals are a different matter though. If they come back at all.

Space Dogs may be about space travel, it may show footage of stray dogs, it may also take a turn in the final reel to discuss turtles, but it's also about all animals, and what we owe them. It's hard to truly calculate what animals have done for us over the centuries, and how we can ever really repay them. But starting to remember their contributions more, and to help any that have been abandoned, would be a good start. A stray dog saw the vastness of space. It's not right that so many of them experience a similar cold emptiness while here on the planet they share with creatures able to provide them with warmth, shelter, and safety.

7/10

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Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness (2019)

I watched this ridiculously long '80s horror doc on Shudder, despite being warned by people who had already seen it. It's all too familiar stuff, and ultimately unsatisfying, sadly, but here's a way to review it without really reviewing it. It's overlong, at almost four and a half hours, and there are no real insights into the genre that you can't find in other, better, documentaries. I'd also have to say that the people picked to comment range from the wonderful to the absolutely awful (but I'll name no names). What it did, however, was spur me to think back on my own relationship with horror films, and films in general.

The babysitter who would let me watch the late-night Hammer horrors while he taped all of the vinyl albums that my parents owned. The Star Wars action figures that my cousins had, that I conspicuously did NOT have (although I don't think I had even seen the movies at that point). Afternoons spent with grandparents while the TV schedule was filled with old Westerns that put me to sleep, with the occasional Cary Grant movie appearing to cheer me up no end. These elements all helped to keep movies in my young mind, but it was the VHS years that set me on a path to obsession and adoration, both with movies and with the horror genre.

My parents rented their first VHS player. It was quite common when they were new. Big chunky TV, and those could also be rented (some even had a coin-slot at the side where you could put 50p in for a few hours, that change paying for the rental and any extra being paid back to customers), and a big top-loader video player. I remember pretending to sleep while uncles and cousins came to visit and watch horror movies. Because horror really sold the format. That seems to be all my parents watched, well horror movies and films like Who Will Love My Children? and Melanie (1982).
So I was excited when I heard they were going to rent the likes of Scanners and Creepshow.
I watched both of those films through eyes squeezed tight to pretend that I was sleeping. Both intensely terrified me. Both gave me nightmares. Both also helped me move from the classic double-bills of Hammer horrors to more modern fare.

I'd already also been freaked out by TV movies such as Don't Go To Sleep and the Salem's Lot epic, but neither of those had the real show-stopping moments that were in the even more recent theatrical releases.

Move forward a few years and I get used to just trying to sit there and be quiet while adults plan their horror viewings for the evening. I saw John Carpenter's The Thing in black and white, on a weird little combo TV/radio device, and I saw George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, and that had tension I had never experienced before. Funnily enough, I caught Night Of The Living Dead on TV a few years later, and I was still slightly shaken by the intensity and power of it.

I loved Halloween, was bemused by the lack of Michael Myers in Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, and first encountered Jason in Friday The 13th Part 2 (a series I didn't see again until we rented Part 7). Then I met Freddy, thanks to an uncle who had "copies" of every movie ever. Or so it seemed.

A Nightmare On Elm Street freaked me out. I went to bed. I sneakily put my lamp on, thinking I would get up early to put it off again. Yeah, right.
Mum came in and was very angry in the morning.
No more horror movies for me, she said.
"Nooooooooooooo, I'll be fine," I replied.

There was the video van, an old ice cream van converted (I believe) so you could wander into the back and browse a limited selection of titles. I rented the original Freaky Friday many times (crush on Barbara Harris helped) and kept mistakenly renting The Ghost Busters (a video with 2 episodes from the 1970s TV show, NOT the movie Ghostbusters). I also rented Children's Film Foundation movies, but wanted the genre-based stuff. The Glitterball was a favourite.

I saw The Company Of Wolves, wasn't sure of what it was doing, but absolutely loved it (still do, wrote about it in a book and everything).

The Amityville Horror was a "family favourite", and Amityville II: The Possession was wild, especially to a kid who didn't realise the third act was ripping off The Exorcist.
And both An American Werewolf In London and The Howling were shown some love. As well as The Omen movies, but those were relatively glossy and "acceptable" mainstream hits, for the most part.

And I think back on the films that terrified me, that I now can't view as anything other than wonderful horror comedies. Films that I was allowed to rent just by nipping along to a local video store and using the card held in the name of my mother.
Evil Dead II, Re-Animator, The Return Of The Living Dead. Hell, even Creepshow has that E.C. humour all through it. Child's Play may seem ridiculous to many modern horror fans. I was thirteen when I first saw it (night in with a mate, and we figured we could handle it). It was, as we described it to others, "the scariest thing ever!"

I thought I was becoming a trusted teen when we hooked up a cable that meant I could finally watch a video in my own room, as the VCR signal was threaded through to my own little portable TV. It was going to be the next step in my cinematic journey, due to begin with Night Screams.
Night Screams (1987) is a terrible film, but my memory of it is just gratuitous sex and violence. Result.
Except all the sex was fast forwarded by my mum, who was overseeing the film as it also played in the living room.
Fun denied. Dammit.

Is there a point to this ramble? Not really, but maybe there is. Instead of watching all of these documentaries that regurgitate the same information, just reach back into your own memory and recapture that feeling. Whenever you need to. You grew to love the horror genre as you.
Don't start having the impact of it dictated to you by others (not that anyone means it that way as they discuss their love/favourites). And never let anyone tell you what you should like in order to be a "true fan", or how, and how often, you should watch your movies. Gatekeepers aren't necessary. The fact you find the gateways is the main thing. Unless it comes to Jaws. Because, y'know, nobody should dislike Jaws.

There will always be good and bad movies coming out. But nothing changes how you became the film fan you are today, whatever your fave genre.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019)

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is undoubtedly one of the strangest, perhaps THE strangest, second instalment in any slasher movie franchise. It's certainly the most bizarre instalment to follow on from an original film featuring one of the major slasher icons (e.g. Freddy, Michael, Jason, Leatherface, Pinhead, Chucky, and co.) and everyone who caught it when it was first released was a bit taken aback by it, I think it's fair to say.

The thing that made it so unusual is just how gay it all is. No, I don't mean that in a derisory and insulting way, although I am sure some have that attitude to it. It's just that the film has a homo-eroticism to it that, although interesting and unique (certainly for the time it was made), unbalances the whole thing. People wanted more Freddy. This didn't really give them as much screentime for him as they hoped, focusing instead on the young man who was going through a variety of disturbing changes while he felt another man growing inside him. Yes, I phrased the plot that way deliberately.

That young man was played by Mark Patton, and Patton got a lot of grief when the movie was released. He was blamed for turning the subtext into text, he was tagged as an openly out gay actor not right for the role (Patton was not out at the time), and the experience really soured him on the showbusiness life.

This documentary, directed by Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen, shows the long and hard journey that Patton went on, and gives him a chance to seek some answers, and some closure, about his experience in the Elm Street series. It's worth your time if you have even the slightest bit of interest in Patton's story, and the story of Freddy's Revenge, and it's amazing to hear from people who still seem oblivious to what they were making back then. It's also amazing to hear just how quickly both Roberts (Englund and Rusler), as well as Clu Gulager, acknowledge that they knew exactly how the material was intended to play out, while some people, like director Jack Sholder and writer David Chaskin, continue to push back against the idea.

It's a strange experience though. I wanted more of this documentary to focus on the making of the film itself, and perhaps a bit less time finding out about the like of Patton, but it's hard to watch this and not accept the fact that the two are inextricably intertwined, that Patton's life was irrevocably changed by his experience with the movie, so the two seemingly separate journeys are really just the one journey. The film is a weight, baggage, that Patton has carried with him for the past few decades, and here he finally gets to make some other people realise what was put on him, that shouldn't have been. People washed their hands of the film, only starting to return to embrace it when it because an enduring cult hit (especially among the gay horror community).

SPOILER WARNING - the biggest problem, and one that drops this down a notch or two, is Patton seeking some kind of catharsis that he ends up having to give to himself. He FINALLY receives an apology from someone he thought would never provide one, but it's an absolutely infuriating "non-apology". It's not an "I'm sorry I did this" kind of thing, but rather an "I'm sorry you felt that way" statement. And Patton, as well as everyone watching, deserves better.

Not a bad little doc to spend some time with, but it ultimately feels more like something made for the benefit of the central figure than any viewers. Having said that, nobody should begrudge him that time, not after everything that he's wrestled with over the years. It's a great shame that it essentially ends at the same place it begins, and I think people have just spent too long already being obstinate about their view of the film.

6/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975

As a straight, white male, it is sometimes frustrating to look around at current events, and events that have been repeated throughout our history in an ongoing case of the worst deja vu possible, and feel unable to do anything more to help, or to be a visible and vocal ally. This happens when I see the LGBTQ+ community fighting for rights, it happens when I see the ongoing divide between sexes, and it happens as people make use of building momentum to try and convince people that centuries of exploiting, abusing, and killing black people isn't something that should be continuing throughout the modern age.

I LIKE to think that my attitude always shows where my loyalties lie (which means, basically, I support the rights of every human to be treated like a human should be treated), but I know that I can't do as much as many others manage. I don't always use my small platform in the most effective way, which is partly due to the fear of being, as mentioned, a straight, white male. It makes it advisory not to try and lead any conversations within the demographics that I am not a direct part of.

And all this is just a way of me explaining my decision to watch The Black Power Mixtape: 1967 - 1975, a documentary I had originally intended to watch a number of years ago at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was pulled from the festival, not sure if that was a rights issue or the film just wasn't finished in time, and I wasn't sure I would ever get a chance to see it. But now here we are. The timing couldn't really be more perfect, and I am sure Göran Hugo Olsson, the credited director, will be very happy if this becomes the time for more people to discover what stands out as a vital historical document.

Compiled from 16mm footage that was filmed by Swedish journalists decades ago, it was due to be screened on Swedish television, this documentary looks at a turbulent era in American history, although I realise how things today seem a lot more incendiary, which had prominent African Americans trying to lead a literal fight back against the suppression of their rights and abuses of power. You get some great conversations with Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and others, as well as footage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and many others who were trying to effect change at the time. Overlaying this footage is some modern commentary from people such as Questlove, Harry Belafonte, Melvin Van Peebles, and many more.

Always worth your time, The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975 has now taken on much more resonance, especially while you can compare the arguments, protests, and problems onscreen with everything going on in the world around us right now. Nobody who has been watching the news and tries to pull the shitty "all lives matter" card will have their mind changed by this, sadly, but it may just prove to some people why everyone involved in current protests are seizing the opportunity to join with so many allies around the world and push for something long overdue, global pandemic or no.

There's never been a good time for a protest, as deemed by those who want to put themselves in charge of such allowances (generally . . . rich, white people). This may be the worst time for such massive protests. Which means it also may just be the best time for them. Here's to change, hopefully it is coming, and here's to being able to view this documentary as a testament to the enduring spirit and tenacity of those seeking to disrupt the established systems and force that change.

8/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: Hoop Dreams (1994)

Some things are just much more inherently American than other things. Massive portions of food in their restaurants (pretty sure, from memory, that a standard burger over there is about the size of my head), the belief that guns will solve a lot of problems, despite guns arguably being THE biggest problem that they have had in the past decade (this is a sweeping generalisation to poke fun at the more extreme end of the spectrum, not every responsible gun-owner in America), and major sporting events. The UK may love football (soccer to our American friends), and somehow there are still people who enjoy the snorefest that is cricket (a sport designed to keep men busy on a Sunday afternoon in the days when all shops were closed and they only had access to one rock solid potato and the towels and spare furniture parts left in the spare room that nobody had set foot in since the great IKEA cot-building disaster of 1909), but it doesn't compare to the devotion to some big sporting events that Americans have. The Superbowl. A trip out to a baseball game. The wrestling stars who play to packed arenas. And the NBA.

Hoop Dreams is a documentary focusing on the lives of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two young African-Americans who may well find their futures greatly improved by their skill at basketball. They are given some more opportunity, and attention, at their school, comparatively speaking, and there's a lot of tension there, simply rooting for young men to handle some extreme pressure and make the most of an opportunity that may very well be a life-changing one for them.

Directed by Steve James, who also helped to write around the narrative with producer Frederick Marx, Hoop Dreams is one of many sports movies that should also appeal to people who don't really like sports. It's easy to remember the big money side of sports, and many of us will have heard about the enticements offered to students by universities with seemingly unlimited budgets to build up successful sport teams, but the best thing about this documentary is that it very much shows the real impact on the lives of young men faced with life choices put in front of them because of their sporting prowess. These are children who have found something they enjoy, something they end up being really good at, and the hard work that stems from that can be as depressing and damaging as it can be rewarding.

Gates and Agee are two different personality types, making it easier to highlight the differences and the commonalities in their stories. There's plenty of moments showing basketball being played, of course, but much more time showing how these boys/young men are affected by everything else in their lives, from the financial commitment required to keep them in a decent education to their friends and family, some of them being more supportive than others. Can they keep their heads in the game, or will they be swayed by the kind of problems that seem much larger when there's so much at stake?

I've already said a lot more than I thought I was going to say about this, which is a pleasant surprise. Although it is, essentially, a film about basketball, Hoop Dreams is about much more than that. It's about education, about class and social issues, and about the whole damn system, which is both highly problematic and yet also an essential way for many young men (no idea what, if any, opportunities are there for young women) to massively improve their lot in life.

Oh, the runtime is just under three hours. It doesn't feel that long, and it's very much worth the time investment.

9/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews