Full Frame 2024: Part One

After years of being a virtual only event, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival returned to the Carolina Theater, and Convention Center in downtown Durham, N.C. this last weekend. Despite not being as robustly attended as in the pre-pandemic days, there was a healthy roster of films with 50 titles including 35 features and 15 short films from 22 countries, and a lot of familiar faces piling in to take in the four day run of primo infotainment.

The shadows of Full Frame founder Nancy Buirski, and documentary filmmaker god D.A. Pennebaker, who both passed since the last in-person Full Frame in 2019, loomed large over this year’s recovened proceedings, and were lovingly celebrated this festival with screenings of their work, and tribute panels featuring remembrances from colleagues.

Having missed the first day of Full Frame 2024, I kicked off my Friday at the fest with Buirski's final film:

DESPERATE SOULS, THE DARK CITY, AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY 

(Dir. Nancy Buirski, 2022)

Nobody who’s ever seen John Schlesinger’s 1969 classic, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, the gritty X-rated counterculture drama that won the Best Picture Oscar in 1970, will ever forget it. I say that because it's been decades since I've seen it on VHS, but its scuzzy depiction of the friendship between two hustlers, Jon Voight’s Texan rube, Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman’s sleazy schemer “Ratso” Rizzo is permanently burned into by brain.

Inspired by Glenn Frankel’s 2021 book, Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic, Buirski examines the complicated feelings, and tumultuous times behind the amorously questionable adaptation of James Leo Herlihy’s 1965 novel, and offers a lot of tasty context to take in, especially in its exploration of the gay cowboy motif, which, of course, leads to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN comparisons (and use of clips).

Voight appears in tight close-up to give his side of the story, happily with no right-wing nuttiness, while co-star Hoffman appears only in archival interviews, alongside insights provided by actors Bob Balaban (whose first film this was), Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt (daughter of screenwriter Waldo Salt); and critics Charles Kaiser, J. Hoberman, and Lucy Sante.

Buirski’s superb film effectively breaks down of Schelisher’s unforgettable film in thought provoking moment after moment, leaving one to reevaluate MIDNIGHT COWBOY’S place in film history, queer cinema, and pop culture overall. Having seen several other of the Pulitzer Prize winning woman's other films having gotten spotlights at previous Full Frames like THE LOVING STORY, BY SIDNEY LUMET, and THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR, with her in attendance, and participating in Q & As afterwards, it was quite moving to take in her latest, but extremely sad to not have her there at the end this time to discuss it.

Next up, I finished off my Friday night with a ragged rock doc:

A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON (Dir. Les Blank, 1974)

Going in, I was expecting to learn something about the life of legendary Tulsa musician Leon Russell, but this curious, ramshackle doc that was shot 50 years ago, but shelved until 2015, doesn’t aim to educate - just entertain. The film is split between weird, quirky footage from over a three-year period (‘72-‘74) filmed at Russell’s studio on Grand Lake in Oklahoma, and rowdy concert sequences that show Russell at the top of his game mesmerizing packed audiences.

There are also fascinating time capsule-worthy appearances by George Jones, Willie Nelson, and the lesser-known singer-songwriter Eric Anderson, who seems to clash a bit with Russell in the studio. So I didn't learn anything about Russell’s background, catalogue, or what makes him tick, but I did learn that he was a glorious crowd-pleasing showman with a killer voice, and grand piano chops. And despite this relic’s disjointed, dated approach, that was all I needed.

Stay tuned for Part Two for more Full Frame 2024 coverage.

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Full Frame 2017: Days Three & Four

This was my ninth year covering the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival for Film Babble Blog. I had attended various films before at the event, but my four day coverage became a thing in 2009. Now, I only saw a smidgen of the 90 films shown from last Thursday morning to Sunday night's last screening, mine is, of course, a pretty limited perspective. There were a number of films I missed that I heard great buzz about, like the Frank Stiefel’s short HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405, which won a few Full Frame Awards, but I’ll catch up with those later. Here’s what I saw on Saturday and Saunday:

WIELKI TEATR (aka THE GREAT THEATER)

(Dir. Sławomir Batyra, 2016)

This 30-minute short joins STILL TOMORROW and LONG STRANGE TRIP in having an excellent sound design. Whether it’s the echoes through the rafters, or the clamor of the orchestra practicing, or the bustle of assemblers, upholsterers, and prop masters getting the sets for in place, everything audibly pops in Sławomir Batyra’s backstage breakdown of the rehearsals for Mariusz Trelinski’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at The Grand Theater (Polish name: Wielki Teatr) in Warsaw. 

There is no voice-over narrator, no interview sound bites, just a series of shots of people doing their jobs in seemingly every nook and cranny of the largest opera theatre in the world with only random voices giving instructions like “Fishermen, to the boats please.” Made up of a number of visually pleasurable shots that match its immersive sound, Batyra film is a wonderfully artful tour of a magnificent venue. 

Post note: THE GREAT THEATER got an honorable mention in the Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short category.

ONE OCTOBER (Dir. Rachel Shuman, 2017) “New York is never the same city for more than a dozen years altogether,” a quote credited to Harper’s Monthly from 1856 starts off this film shot in New York City during October 2008, in the weeks leading up to the historic election of Barack Obama. The film follows WFMU radio host Clay Pigeon around as he interviews random people on the streets, capturing the flavor of that memorable season when the world economy faced its most dangerous crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Cinematographer David Sampliner’s camera also captures the Big Apple beautifully in vivid shots, whether of protesters, parades, street musicians, or bird watchers in Central Park, that are interspersed throughout the film. This is enhanced by Paul Brill’s lively score performed by cellist Dave Eggar.

But it’s the people that Pigeon (real name Kacy Ross) talks to that will be the film’s biggest takeaway, like the old coot who says, “listen, the white guys have been in charge for so long, give the black guys a chance, they can’t do worse than we did,” or the young mother who complains about the gentrification of Harlem, “five more years I won’t even be living here, this won’t look like this no more.” The one hour and seven minute ONE OCTOBER is a fine time capsule as is, but I could’ve gone for some more New Yorker straight talk. 

BRONX GOTHIC (Dir. Andrew Rossi, 2017) I had never heard of dancer, writer, and choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili before, but I know I’ll never forget her after this powerful doc about the performance artist’s acclaimed solo show “Bronx Gothic.” 

Rossi (PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES) films Okpokwasili as she takes her show on tour to small theaters in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Atlanta. Alongside the ample samplings from the show, which depicts the dialogue between two 11-year-old black girls growing up in the Bronx, we also get a glimpse of her life offstage, and with her family. The audience reaction shots are priceless as the performer’s material, demeanor, and especially her chaotic, seizure-like dancing obviously pushes many buttons. 

Okpokwasili, who calls her work “memories from a rupture that's never been sutured,” is an engaging presence so there’s a lot of entertainment value in watching her talk with students, discuss the recent remake of “Roots” with her white husband (Peter Born), and play with her daughter, all elements that give the intense performance art segments a great grounding. I’d be remiss if not to mention how well-timed and funny the woman’s work can be as well. Though what we see of Okpokwasili’s show leans towards darkness, there are cracks where the light gets in. I’d like to see the entire performance some day.

MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS (Dirs. Judd Apatow & Michael Bonfiglio, 2017) I was a bit distracted as this film began, as the legendary D.A. Pennebaker (DONT LOOK BACK, MONTEREY POP, ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS, THE WAR ROOM, do I need to go on?) sat down next to me in Fletcher Hall ten minutes before the film began. Pennebaker, and his wife and film-making partner Chris Hegedus are regulars at Full Frame who helped get the festival started so it’s not the first time I’ve been in their presence, but the idea of watching a rock doc sitting next to the guy who invented rock docs was hard to shake.

When the doc, which is about the popular North Carolina folk rock band, the Avett Brothers, began and there was footage of the group walking through the hallways of a venue before a show, I couldn’t help but think about how the well worn tropes of following around and filming artists backstage, hanging with them in hotel rooms, and capturing them interacting with fans are all things that the guy to my right did first. But soon into Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s film, I was able to focus on the story of a band I basically knew nothing about. 

Hailing from Mount Pleasant, N.C., Scott and Seth Avett are depicted as two simple farm boys who get along great together unlike other famous musician brothers like Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks, or those damn Gallaghers in Oasis. They start off rebelling against the country music of their father’s generation and take to wanting to be Nirvana, but they returned to their roots after a revelatory encounter with bluegrass icon Doc Watson at Merlefest, the musician’s annual traditional-music festival in Wilkesboro, N.C.

The doc takes us through the Avett Brothers’ career, but largely focuses on the making of their 2016 album, “True Sadness.” One of the film’s highlights is a stirring studio take of “No Hard Feelings,” which emotionally drains the brothers. They ask producer Rick Rubin if they can take a break and Scott and Seth walk outside to regain their composure as various folks congratulate them on the performance. Alone, they discuss how weird it feels to get complimented for work that calls upon very personal, naked feelings (particularly about Seth’s 2013 divorce). The scene reminded me of something Bob Dylan said when complimented on his classic 1975 album “Blood on the Tracks,” which many felt dealt with his divorce, “It's hard for me to relate to people enjoying that kind of pain.”

Speaking of Dylan, the guy who shot famous footage of his legendary 1965 and 1966 tours was right next to me! Sorry, back to the Avett Brothers. 

Despite having seen them at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro back in 2005, I’m not really familiar with much of their music but I enjoyed the concert sequences, and may give them more of a listen as a result of this fine summation of the Avett ethos. The screening was well received by the audience, but the panel Q & A afterwards in which guests Scott Avett, the band’s cellist Joe Kwon, and codirector Michael Bonfiglio came onstage to great applause, was a lovefest with questioners who the band often recognized from their gigs taking them for their music more than asking them questions.

The last film I saw at the fest was Yance Ford’s STRONG ISLAND, which was an encore on Sunday afternoon because it won two awards at Full Frame’s Awards Barbeque at noon: the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award and the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award.

The awards are well deserved as Ford’s film is an impassioned exploration of his brother’s murder by a mechanic in Long Island, New York in 1992. William Ford Jr., 24-year-old black teacher, was going to confront the people at an auto repair shop who weren’t fixing his family’s car after an accident that was actually caused by the same people. William was unarmed, but was shot and killed by .22 caliber rifle fired by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic. Reilly was not indicted by a white judge and an all-white jury for the crime and went free, while the Ford family sat in mourning helplessly by.

In extreme close-ups, Ford, pours his heart out about the grief over his brother’s senseless killing, the racist system, and his transgender coming out, while his mother, Barbara, and sister, Lauren, give us their takes on this angering, all too common tragedy.

A well made, straight forward, and up close and personal film that wrestles with the wounds from injustice that can never be healed. STRONG ISLAND is one of the strongest documentary debuts I’ve ever seen.

I probably could’ve come up with a better last line for that review, but I’m tired after four days of docs in Durham so it’ll have to do. 

So that’s Full Frame 2017! It was one of my favorites of all the years I’ve attended.

If you haven’t already, please check out my coverage of Days One, and Two.

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Full Frame 2016: Day 2

The films I saw on the second day of this year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival weren't as flashy or fun as my picks on the previous day, but they may have been a lot more thought provoking.

Take for instance, Patrick Shen's IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE, which kicked my day off. It's a meditative exploration of how precious silence is in a world of noise pollution, based on the book of the same name by George Prochnik (subtitled “Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise”). Prochnik appears as one of the interviewees (no, the film isn't completely silent) and talks about how noise is “the imposition of our own egos on the world.”

We also meet Greg Hindy, who holds up a notebook with writing that says: “I have taken a vow of silence and am walking across America – Nashua, NH – Los Angeles, CA July 2013-July 2014.” Shen checks back on Hindy throughout the film, in between visiting a trappist monastery, various national parks, and most interestingly examines avant-garde composer John Cage's “4'33,” a famous composition that requires musicians to not play their instruments for the duration of four minutes and thirty three seconds. 

IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE is full of gorgeous serene shots of wide landscapes juxtaposed with noisy imagery of a bunch of bustling city activity shot by cinematographer Brandon Vedder. In many quiet sequences, the film casts a meditative spell, but then jars the viewer out of it with montages of loud machinery, clips of Fox News pundits yelling at each other, and the scary statement by a doctor that excessive noise can cause heart disease. Speaking as somebody who's prone to over-stimulation, Shen's work here definitely touched more than one nerve.

Next up, two of my favorite documentarians, the husband/wife duo of Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker, who should be very familiar with Full Frame regulars, presented their follow-up to 2009's delightful KING OF PASTRY, UNLOCKING THE CAGE, which focuses on animal (or nonhuman) rights activism.

The incredibly involving, and lovingly made doc concerns attorney Steve Wise (pictured above with chimp friend) and his legal team, the Nonhuman Rights Project, fighting for animals, mainly chimpanzees, to be granted personhood rights which would protect them from physical abuse.

“Will this court case be the first step towards a real life ‘Planet of the Apes’?” asks one internet headline. So Wise and his passionate crew work to free a couple of former show biz chimps named Tommy and Kiki, and a couple of other imprisoned chimps being used for biomedical research from their neglected captivity as such scrutiny from the media goes down. 

In one of the film's highlights, Wise makes an appeal on behalf of Tommy to the New York Supreme Court arguing that “the abilities of self determination, and autonomy are supreme values within common law, and these are also the same values that the writ of Habeas corpus was constructed over the centuries to protect, and we ask this court to not necessarily find that Tommy is a person, but assuming as Lord Mansfield did, without deciding that Tommy could be a person, remanding to the court in order to show cause and proceed in accordance with Article 70.” Yep, Wise really crushes it there.

UNLOCKING THE CAGE is another strong offering from Hegedus and Pennebaker. With its masterly unobtrusive viewpoint on the unfolding events, it stands in the same high class as their 1992 Bill Clinton campaign doc THE WAR ROOM, which is screening this fest (on Saturday morning) as part of the Thematic Program “Perfect and Otherwise: Documenting American Politics.” Wise, his legal team, Hegedus, and Pennebaker sure convinced me that autonomous beings deserve to live autonomous lives. I bet anybody who seeks out this doc will be convinced too.

Next up, the new film from the recipient of this year's Tribute Award, director and documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson: CAMERAPERSON. Johnson's doc, her fourth as director, is made up of short scenes from the films she's worked on over the last two decades including CITIZENFOUR, DERRIDA, LIONESS, and THIS FILM IS NOT RATED. It's a fluid flow of shots that amusingly bounces around from some locales as Bosnia, Afghanistan, Darfur, Eygpt, Texas, and Johnson's New York apartment. We get the sense, like from a Washington DC take with Michael Moore on FAHRENHEIT 9/11, that these largely incidental, choppy clips have as much meaning, or more, to Johnson as the polished versions of the material that appeared in the released films. Congratulations on the Tribute Award Mrs. Johnson, and on this fine, well conceived career overview.

My final film for Friday's roster was Samuel D. Pollard's TWO TRAINS RUNNIN', a film I was excited about because I noted that there seemed to be a lack of music docs at this year's fest. Its about two separate groups of young white men, one from the East Coast and the other from California, searching for the largely forgotten country blues musicians Son House and Skip James in Mississippi in the early to mid '60s. The fact that this was during the Civil Rights era, one of the most dangerous periods of unrest in U.S. history isn't lost on any of the doc's participants.

Especially when the day that both groups solve the mystery of where their heroes are, coincides with the day that three civil rights workers were abducted and murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi (June 21, 1964). Oscar-winning Hip hop artist Common narrates, effective animation by Apparat Animation Design fills in the gaps where no photos or footage is available, and musicians such as Guy Clark, Buddy Guy, and Lucinda Williams provide insights into the legends of House and James, alongside some affecting performances of the old bluesmans' best known songs.

From the audience response I know I'm not alone in finding TWO TRAINS RUNNIN' to be a fully rounded doc that, with the help of music historians and the musicians themselves (especially Guy Clark, pictured above, who composed original music for the score), beautifully connects some powerful dots that form a rich portrait that you don't have to be a blues aficionado to appreciate.


Okay, that's Day 2. Coming soon: Coverage of Days 3 & 4 of Full Frame. Also check out my recap of Day 1 if you haven't already.
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Full Frame Documentary Film Fest 2010: Day One

"4 days, 6 screens, 101 films", that's how Director of Programming Sadie Tillery sums up the 13th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival which commenced today at the Carolina Theater in Durham.


I just returned home after the first day of the event and am pretty exhausted, but not too tired to tell you a little about the movies I attended. So here goes:


THE WOBBLIES (Dirs. Stewart Bird & Deborah Shaffer, 1979) This older title concerning the story of a radical labor union in the early 20th century seemed like a good way for me to kick off the festival.


Their official title was "The Industrial Workers of the World" (IWW) but they gained the nickname "the Wobblies" because an Asian worker was quoted as saying he belonged to the "I. Wobble. Wobble." Adopting socialist platforms and employing many members of minority groups, "the Wobblies" were extremely controversial, but fondly remembered by the elderly participants interviewed in this film.


There are many great quotes and funny examples of era propaganda but the documentary, as heavily researched as it is, feels not completely fleshed out. Its goal of showing that these folks were never as dangerous as their mug shots made them look is admirable but a bit simplistic. Still, it's a fairly fine and informative film.

LAST TRAIN HOME (Dir. Lixin Fan, 2009)

The directorial debut of Lixin Fan, the associative producers of UP THE YANGTZE which this film stylistically resembles, this is far from a conventional documentary. It's shot more like a drama with no narration and the subjects rarely acknowledging the camera.

The opening titles tell us the about the largest migration of humans on earth: the millions of workers returning home for Chinese New Year celebrations every year. Centered on a family struggling to get train tickets for the journey while dealing with their fractured family ties.

Qin Zhang, their sullen teenage daughter, is particularly caught in the middle as she drops out of school in order to work - a decision that doesn't wear well with her parents.

Lushiously shot and well crafted, LAST TRAIN HOME is an absorbing viewing that only suffers from one too many slow whistful shots of Qin starring out over the landscape.

THUNDER SOUL (Dir. Mark Landsman, 2010)

A real winner - a marvelous musical entry about the Kashmere Stage Band, formed by a large group of Houston, Texas high school students in their band class in the early 70's. Led by their charismatic music teacher, Conrad "the Prof" Johnson, the all black band wins awards, records, and tours across the country and overseas before disbanding in 1978 basically because they graduated.

Fast paced editing takes us inside a dizzying collage of footage, photographs, and most importantly beat after beat of primo funk music. We see the scattered members come together after 30 years to dust off their instruments to pay tribute to their beloved leader, which might make it sound like a rhythm and soul version of MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS but it's got too much of its own groove for that.

Rousing, touching, and often hilarious, THUNDER SOUL is definitely one to seek out. Director Landsman was on hand for a Q & A after the screening, giving a few extra insights into the film and to inform us that the Kashmere Stage Band are still out there lining up future gigs.

THE KINGS OF PASTRY (Dirs. Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker, 2009)

Documentary God D.A. Pennebaker (DON'T LOOK BACK, MONTEREY POP, THE WAR ROOM) is a festival regular who helped put Full Frame on the map, so it's ideal for he and his longtime collaborator Chris Hegedus's newest film to make it's US premiere here, especially on opening night.

It's an elegantly quirky examination of a pastry competition -the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) in which 16 chefs try to outdo one another constructing elaborate cake creations. Jacquy Pfeiffer, who appeared after the film to answer questions with Pennebaker and Hegedus, its the film's main focus as he flies from his home in Chicago obsessing the whole way about winning.

It's extremely amusing that there's so much pure tension, so much so that the audience gasped loudly several times, in a movie about pastry presentation. It's a very pleasing platter of a documentary - the only thing that I disliked was that I hadn't eaten before seeing it.

With all the delicious looking treats on display throughout the film that wasn't a good idea. Then I remember that earlier in the day they had given out a nice little sampling of chocolates from Pfeiffer's French Pastry School to the press! Gotta rate the film a bit higher now come to think of it.

Please tune in tomorrow for Day Two of my coverage of Full Frame. Now I better go rest up for it.

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Full Frame Documentary Film Fest 2009: Day Two

The sky cleared and the sun came out for the 2nd day of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in downtown Durham. Bigger crowds came out too as it was Friday and more folks were free for the weekend. My post for the day will be shorter and not very in depth because it's been a long day and I'm very tired. I'll post full reviews of particular notable films in the near future (or at least a little more in depth than here) so please stay tuned. For now though these are my highlights for Day Two:

THE KINDA SUTRA (Dir. Jessica Wu, 2008)

This 8 minute short isn't really a documentary but a half animated featurette built around interviews with various people about how they first understood sex as children. Too cutesy for my taste really, but amusing nonetheless.

SAINT MISBEHAVIN': THE WAVY GRAVY MOVIE (Dir. Michelle Esrick, 2008) Now this is more like it! Upon entering the theater (Fletcher Hall) I was handed a red styrofoam clown nose. A suitable piece of swag for this rollicking (and rocking) bio-doc of the infamous poet turned Merry Prankster turned wacky activist/clown. Absolutely a gloriously funny and educating portrait from start to finish, it was capped off by having the man himself (below, 3rd from right) appear onstage with his wife (Jahanara Romney), director Esrick, cinematographer Daniel B. Gold, composer Daniel B. Gold, and documentatian God D.A. Pennebaker (who executive produced). Expect more bloggin' 'bout this soon because it stands as one of my favorites of the festival.

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD (Dirs. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, 2009) A great afternoon of premium infotainment continued with this hilarious docu romp through the anti-globalization activist antics of the Yes Men (Bichlbaum & Bonanno). Maskuerading as spokespeople for corporations or government run businesses they believe are corrupt (Dow Chemical, HUD, ExxonMobil, etc.) provides a puncheant platform for skyscraping satire. Definitely so far the film in the Fest with the biggest laughs I've seen as the riotous audience proved over and over.

SNEAK PREVIEW: FIXER: THE TAKING OF AJMAL NAQSHBANDI (Dir. Ian Olds, 2009) A straight forward telling of the Taliban kidnapping "fixer" (someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories) Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Much casual footage of Naqshbandi was taken in the months before his murder which made for a compelling, if at times hard to stomach, viewing (several people walked out).

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOYKO (Dir. Jessica Oreck, 2009) Beautiful but boring. The question of why the Japanese are so fascinated with beetles is answered with an attempt at visual poetry that while lush was severely sleep inducing - which is where I should be now.

Okay! I have now got to get some rest for tomorrow. Day Three of Full Frame looks pretty promising - will let you know how it goes.

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5 Cult Classics That Roger Ebert Didn't Get

Here at Film Babble Blog, film critic Roger Ebert is a well respected legend with his wealth of writings referred to often. 

Even when I’ve disagreed with Ebert, his well thought out and cleverly crafted reviews still make powerful points. However, there a number of times that I’ve felt that Mr. Ebert tragically missed the point so here are:

The Top 5 Cult Classics That Roger Ebert Didn't Get:

1. HAROLD AND MAUDE (Dir. Hal Ashby, 1971) Can this be right? Can Ebert truly be among the out-of-it straight laced critics that horribly misjudged this undeniably influential beyond words cult classic? Yep, he only rewards a movie that many friends, collegues, and family have considered one of the best movies ever with one and a half stars. For shame.

2. FIGHT CLUB (Dir. Peter Fincher, 1999) Two stars. Roger loves the first couple of acts but hates the concluding act. This is from a guy who wouldn't know the Pixies if they were stuck on the same elevator. Whatever Ebert, watch it again and tell me how what is set up in the first third would work better done another way and you and me will be square. 

3. BEETLEJUICE 
(Dir. Tim Burton, 1988) 

Again 2 stars. Where's the love for Tim Burton's maniacal masterpiece? It’s times like this that you just have to remember this is the guy who gave COP AND A HALF and HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE rave reviews.

4. HEATHERS (Dir. Michael Lehmann, 1989) Two and a half stars. I mean COME ON! This is a bonafide classic and Ebert's baffled review is painful to read. He writes "Is this a black comedy about murder or just a cynical morality play?" Jesus, Roger - if you have to ask... 

5. DON'T LOOK BACK 
(Dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) 

Okay, so he gave this rock doc three stars, but don't let that fool you. He disses Bob Dylan to such a degree in his review that it's hard to take. I mean, read this sample: “What a jerk Bob Dylan was in 1965. What an immature, self-important, inflated, cruel, shallow little creature, lacking in empathy and contemptuous of anyone who was not himself or his lackey. Did we actually once take this twirp as our folk god?”

Can you believe that? Is Ebert, who wrote two separate reviews of this flick (first in '68 on the movie's original run and then again in '98 on its re-release) that out of touch? I thought it was pretty much accepted that Dylan was putting on those who were asking him square questions and having fun with the media juggernaut. I mean just a couple years before DON’T LOOK BACK was filmed (yes, I’m looking back) Newsweek wrongly accused him of plagiarizing his classic song “Blowing In The Wind,” and countless bandwagon jumpers had co-opted Bob's simple plaintive messages for their own cynical purposes. 

I can't imagine Dylan at that age and time reacting any other way, but to Ebert he's a self serving twirp. I can't quite process this judgement (or lack of). To Ebert's credit he nailed Bob's self indulgent MASKED AND ANONYMOUS monstrosity last year in a scathing review, but that doesn't make right his insulting remarks about one of the most influential film portraits of an artist at his prime in existence.

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A Night With Michael Moore: Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 4/3/04

Here’s my report of seeing Michael Moore speak last night at the Full Frame Documentary Film Fest that was held in Durham over the last several days: 

A Night With Michael Moore: April 3rd, 2004

“I’d like to share with you the rest of my Oscar speech…” Michael Moore offered to his rapt audience shortly after his introduction by noted documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker.

The Full Frame crowd responded in applause and laughter. It seems that nobody was unaware of Moore’s controversial comments upon winning the Best Documentary Academy Award for “Bowling For Columbine.”

He elaborated on his now famous statement that “we live in fictitious times, with a fictitious president who was elected with fictitious election results and we’re fighting a war for fictitious reasons.”

Since this happened a year ago Moore has told this story countless times. No doubt that many in the audience had already heard his tale of his being publicly criticized and even threatened for what was being labeled a vicious anti-Bush rant but it didn’t matter to this crowd. My family who attended with me beforehand all voiced concern about detractors protesting the event and disrupting the evening. I assured them that that was extremely doubtful, because Moore would be preaching to the choir.

And he definitely was. Even mild remarks and slight comical gestures got rousing response. It also didn’t matter that the event was a pretty ramshackle affair. Lights would dim unexpectedly cutting off Moore to start a film clip and despite the presence of microphones placed in the aisles questions were randomly shouted out with no sense of a structured Q & A forum.

A moderator might have been a good idea. But again none of this really mattered since the audience ate it all up anyway. Clips from Moore’s TV shows and movies were applauded with such enthusiasm you would have thought they were classic rock songs. That was the spectacle though, the real heart of the evening came from the communal feeling among us all that through all the jokes and deflating of political egos and policies there was a genuine belief that we can really change things.

Moore made a big point out of encouraging everyone not only to vote but to travel to “swing-states” and help to transport others to the polls. Moore wanted to make explicit the difference between “us and them.”

“Us” was not to be confused with what he called “liberal poseurs,” but what he mostly just referred to as “our side” vs. the conservatives. The word liberal has become a dirty word because they are wimps with no real drive he explained. “What I admire about the other side is that they have the courage of their convictions. They are unyielding. They are up at the crack of dawn trying to figure who to screw next.” Moore raised his voice, “our side, we never see the crack of dawn! The only time we see the crack of dawn is when we’ve been up all night!” The laughter of familiarity filled the room.

Moore continued with this diatribe even imitating weak liberals whining “‘where do you want to go eat tonight?’ ‘I don’t know, where do you want to go?’ - ‘let’s get some pizza’ ‘no we had pizza last night.’ You know the conservative they’re like ‘get in the car we’re going to Sizzler! Red meat!’”

All in all it was a very entertaining evening. It was great to see clips from Moore’s little seen Bravo show The Awful Truth (available on DVD) being shown on a big screen and a couple of people in the audience did actually make their way to the microphones but not to engage in political discourse but to simply thank Moore for the job he’s doing.

One young woman was on the verge of tears as she told of Columbine-style shootings happening where she went to school and expressed her intense appreciation for Moore asking the question “why?” Throughout the night Moore gave some of his personal rules of filmmaking and made us all excited about his upcoming film project “Fahrenheit 911” to be released on the July 4th weekend with the DVD video release slated for just weeks before the Presidential election in November.

Obviously he’s got a plan in place and it was indeed inspiring to have somebody encourage others to take a stand and try to make a difference. Now if we could only get up and get to it at the crack of dawn – that would be a start.

More later...