In the documentary Bodyslam: Revenge of the Banana, directors Ryan Harvie and John Paul Horstmann follow the bizarre story of Seattle Semi-Pro (SSP), an independent wrestling promotion whose existence is put in danger by an outsider who becomes part of their roster. SSP is different from other indie wrestling promotions. There’s no ring, for one, […]
[Tribeca Review] Democrats
Knowing that dictator Robert Mugabe is still the leader of Zimbabwe doesn’t detract from the drama of Camilla Nielsson’s documentary Democrats. The film covers the drafting of the country’s new constitution, and while recent history is technically a spoiler, the intrigue comes from watching the struggle of ideologies embodied by two opposing individuals. Our primary […]
[Tribeca Review] A Courtship
Dating can be awful, but there are worse alternatives. Take the act of Christian Courtship, which is the subject of Amy Kohn’s documentary A Courtship. To practice Christian courtship is to save yourself completely for marriage, including your first kiss. The playful snogging in the school yard is done in the devil’s territory. Christian Courtship […]
[Tribeca Review] (T)ERROR
In Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s documentary (T)ERROR, good counterterrorism intelligence seems to be a secondary worry for Shariff. He’s 63 years old, he’s an ex-con, he’s been an FBI informant for decades, and, most importantly, he has bills to pay. That’s always in the back of his mind—he does this because he […]
[Tribeca Review] Live From New York!
It’s not easy to render 40 years of history into a feature-length documentary. To do that, it’s often important to provide an underlying path through history, one that can guide the viewer and the material in a purposeful way. With a path established, it’s possible to diverge and return so that even the tangents along […]
[Tribeca] GORED’s Reckless Bravery Offers Lessons for Creatives
Ido Mizhary’s GORED provokes an innate morbidity. We’re told that Antonio Barrera is not the most graceful of bullfighters. He’s been gored a staggering 23 times. The documentary is framed by Barrera’s final bullfight before retirement. Given all the cliches about death during a last job, it’s unclear if he’ll make it out unscathed. We’re also told […]
[Tribeca Review] Palio
The Palio is a horse race that’s been held in the Italian city of Siena since 1656. Twice each year in the summer, the 14 districts of the city pick horses and hire jockeys to represent them. The riders dash around the square for 90 mad seconds while the crowds watching from the ground and […]
[Tribeca] The Adderall Diaries and the Problem with the Brilliant Male Writer Cliche
I think it was Harlan Ellison who said that most people believe they’re a better writer and a better fuck than everyone else. That succinctly describes the absurd narcissism at the heart of the male writer trope: he’s ruggedly masculine and yet aesthetically sensitive, he’s smart in a way that’s worldly rather than academic—brilliant, really—he constantly […]