Category: film
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Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Yesterday, for the first time this year, I went to a movie. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is a documentary about the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party. There was a lot I knew about the panthers but the film revealed my ignorance. It also put previously disparate pieces together to tell a really important…
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Dear White People
I was surprised when Dear White People was made, more surprised when it won an award at Sundance, and borderline shocked when Justin Simien’s directorial debut got a distribution deal. I’ve been following Simien’s long-shot attempt for a few years since he first released a trailer that showed what he wanted to do with the college-comedy genre. From…
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Oscar Nominated Documentaries
Searching for Sugar Man won the Oscar for best Documentary Feature last night. I saw four of the five nominated documentaries – The Gatekeepers isn’t yet available on DVD and hasn’t played recently in Chicago – and thought any of them were worthy of the award. Searching was the the only even remotely feel-good film of the…
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Team Spirit by Errol Morris
Have you seen this 8 minute film (commercial) for ESPN by the well-known filmmaker Errol Morris? It’s creatively done and reminds me of some his documentaries I’ve enjoyed: The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War, and Standard Operating Procedure. Here’s what I wonder about this: What did ESPN think I’d feel while watching? I imagine…
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Night Catches Us
My latest review has been posted at (the beautifully redesigned) rednow. “Surely we are being punished because of our brother.” Jacob’s resigned sons utter these words in the 42nd chapter of Genesis. The brothers had ventured to Egypt in the midst of a famine to purchase food for their families only to encounter the brother…
David W. Swanson 