A young man obsessed with building the perfect violin. After he meets a famous soloist on the internet and tells him he can replicate a very specific violin, he now has a mission and a deadline that comes faster than expected.
Tag Archives: Documentary
Island Soldier (2017) [Hot Docs 2017]
Micronesians are a big part of the US military forces but get very little in terms of recognition or assurance that they will be taken care of if and when things take a bad turn. Here the Nena family is followed through their sons’ and their struggles and joy with the process of them joining the American military, going abroad, training, going into service, et al.
Vieques: An Endless Battle
Juan C. Davila’s insightful documentary examines a decades-long struggle by the people of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to gain control of the land back from the control of the federal government.
The Bootleg Files: A Place to Stand
BOOTLEG FILES 587: “A Place to Stand” (Academy Award-winning 1967 short).
LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No perceived U.S. commercial value.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
Fifty years ago, Montreal became the center of international attention with Expo 67, a World’s Fair that attracted more than 50 million visitors. And one of the most popular attractions at that event was a short film exhibited at the Ontario Pavilion called “A Place to Stand.” While mostly forgotten today, “A Place to Stand” was briefly influential in changing the visual style of late 1960s and 1970s film and television productions – and it even won an Academy Award.
X-Rated Alley: 100 Girls By Bunny Yeager (1997) [Blu-Ray], Nurse Diary: Beast Afternoon (1982) (DVD)
Many Nikkatsu Roman Porno films tend to integrate sub-genres within their basic frame works of being soft core pornography. While their movies inject frames like crime thrillers, dramas, and romance comedies, every one of these installments garner some long and drawn out sex scene involving petting or molestation. The same can be said for Impulse Pictures’ “Nurse Diary: Beast Afternoon” which is from the Roman Porno library but is deep down a pinku version of a giallo film. Folks that are typically turned off by Nikkatsu films just may find this in their interest.
Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts
Elizabeth Arledge’s PBS-aired documentary offers a snapshot on the impact that Alzheimer’s disease has on the national economy and individual families. According to the medical professionals interviewed here, the near-future costs of Alzheimer’s care threaten to bankrupt both Medicare and Medicaid while rivaling the Department of Defense’s budget for the sheer level of spending. This is because there has been no breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatments – unlike heart disease, cancer or HIV/AIDS, nobody can survive this disease once it begins to take its lethal toll – but federal spending on research for the disease is much smaller compared to other medical categories.
The Bootleg Files: Garbo
BOOTLEG FILES 583: “Garbo” (1969 BBC documentary narrated by Joan Crawford).
LAST SEEN: An unauthorized posting is on YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Uncertain.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It was announced for a 2005 release, but that never happened.
Around 1985, I was walking down First Avenue in New York City when I noticed an elderly woman coming down the street. I immediately recognized this woman – for many years, she had been the elusive object of tabloid photographers eager to snap her picture. I debated whether I should make any acknowledgement of her presence and decided that it would be best to allow her to maintain the legendary privacy associated with her name. And thus, in less than a New York minute, I had my encounter with Greta Garbo.