Brianne Berkson & Miguel Gluckster’s short documentary and biography is a charming little look at the life of Robin Cohen. Cohen spent most of her living with a sense of awareness, and once she gains MS and battles losing function of her legs, she learns how to really live her life. There’s not a ton of argument for Robin Cohen should have been spotlighted for a documentary, even a short one.
Tag Archives: Biography
Graphic Sexual Horror (2009) [Blu-Ray]
Now Available from Synapse Films.
One of the bigger surprises of 2009 was “Graphic Sexual Horror” a documentary that pegs itself as this extreme movie about sexuality. In actuality, Barbara Bell and Anna Lorentzon’s film ends up as this very complex and interesting study on fetishes, S&M and torture. The whole concept of “Graphic Sexual Horror” came at an interesting time when America was still reeling from the Abu Ghraib incident, prompting us to take a good look at the darker side of our sadistic tendencies and personal accountability.
Ada (2019)
Now Available for Rent or Purchase.
Released in time for International Women’s Month, Steven Kammerer’s “Ada” is a wonderful and beautifully acted tale of one of the world’s unsung heroes. Kammerer uses his short format to tell the tale of Ada Lovelace, a well beyond her time genius who envisioned the plans for the first ever computer program in the 1840’s. Her notes were later discovered by Alan Turing used as inspiration for the very first computer.
Queen of the Deuce (2023) [Make Believe Film Festival 2024]
There’s nothing better than a great documentary and “Queen of the Deuce” manages to be one of the best I’ve seen this year. Valerie Kontakos’ biography about NYC figure Chelly Wilson is one of the more excellent documentaries I’ve seen that covers an array of topics from family, LGBTQ politics, and the ever lasting effects of the holocaust. More so it’s a brilliant time capsule of the Deuce, 42nd Street in New York which, at one time, was considered a virtual breeding ground of violence, sex, drugs and all other kinds of depravity.
Shari & Lamb Chop (2023) [Make Believe Film Festival 2024]
The biography of Shari Lewis is long overdue and a story worth telling. It’s a perfect film for people that grew up watching Shari Lewis and Lambchop during various points of her illustrious career. Whether you’re a boomer, Gen X, or Millennial, the odds are you have seen Lambchop at one point in your life. For me, I used to watch her revival show on PBS in the 1990’s and tuned in regularly. I loved Lambchop despite being a tad too old for the intended target audience, but I didn’t care. The story of Shari Lewis is one filled with a lot of happiness, a lot of promise and of course some terrible sadness that befell her later in her life.
Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle (1981)
I was first introduced to Annie Sprinkle during the heyday of HBO when she appeared on the documentary series “Real Sex.” She was promoting one of her sex positive film festivals, as well as taking photos with willing fans donning a bare chest and angel wings. Some how that image never left my brain over twenty years later, and that’s simply Annie’s style. Annie is a self-aware and slickly tongue in cheek porn icon who spent much of the seventies starring in a ton of porn films and never had a limit to what she was into.
The Greatest Night In Pop (2024)
Now Streaming Exclusively on Netflix.
In 1985, Quincy Jones teamed up with Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie to create one of the biggest music hits of the 1980’s. It also happened to be one of the biggest bits of performative activism ever staged for a worldwide audience. While America was in the throes of the Regan era, more and more celebrities stepped up not only to act as idols but as activists striving for some kind of change. With “The Greatest Night in Pop,” Bao Nguyen chronicles the making of “We Are The World.” The surefire hit and Grammy Winner became a legendary anthem for activism teaming up some of the all time greatest singers of the 1980’s who stepped on to sing.