The Babushkas of Chernobyl (2016)

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Phil Hall

In the 30 years since the Chernobyl catastrophe, a 1,000-square-mile Dead Zone surrounding the wrecked nuclear power plant is still one of the most highly radioactive places in the world. And while this section of Ukraine is guarded by the military and off-limits to most civilians, it is still home to roughly 100 elderly women that refused to leave their homes and successfully fought against evacuation from the area.

Filmmakers Holly Morris and Ann Bogart capture an extraordinary portrait of the resilience in the face of calamity. The eponymous babushkas happily go about their lives in their small homes in the woods around Chernobyl: they fish in a stream, collect rain water, grow fruits and vegetables in their gardens and make their own wine. Military scientists bring them bread while recording radioactivity levels as government welfare workers deliver pension payments—four months late, due to Ukraine’s political instability—as well as bags of food. Most of the women appear to be in vibrant physical and emotional health, despite the contamination to the water and soil, although one woman is evacuated after a painful fall left her incapacitated. (She later died in a nursing home.)

The film also presents insights on Chernobyl’s environmental legacy from Mary Mycio, author of Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl, as well as insight into the creation of a grand sarcophagus that will entomb the disabled reactor and prevent further radiation releases. The most unusual part of this film follows the clandestine antics of young rogues that call themselves “Stalkers” and slip into the Dead Zone to visit its abandoned structures and proclaim inanities such as “This is a post-apocalyptic romance” while viewing the ruined landscape.

This astonishing portrait of the three-decade-old residue of Chernobyl is utterly compelling. Even more amazing is the perseverance of the babushkas amid extraordinary circumstances—they are the funniest, brightest and most inspiring women ever captured on film. This production is one of the most fascinating and invigorating non-fiction films of the year.

Tickled (2016)

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

It’s almost like something out of a Creepypasta, a documentary filmmaker who comes across a fetish video of men tickling one an other for sport, learns there is a deeper and more sinister tale behind it. He then risks all to throw down the veil behind a seemingly large web of scandal and dark shadowy figures. Rest assured the unusual and eerie events that occur in Dave Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s “Tickled” are very real and unfold in a bizarre and eerie experience. Much like “Catfish,” this documentary feature explores one facet of a story and completely transforms in to something so much more enigmatic and mysterious.

And even potentially life threatening, once our filmmakers find themselves incapable of turning back from the hole they’ve begun digging in to a darker side of humanity and the internet. “Tickled” follows Dave Farrier as he stumbles upon a seemingly odd fetish video involving young men tickling one another strapped down on to tables. What Dave learns is that there is an actual sport called endurance tickling. Confused and slightly fascinated, Dave makes it a point of contacting the founders of the sport, only to learn that they greet him quite aggressively with homophobic slander and slurs.

Despite the initial correspondence confrontation, Dave continues digging in to the topic of Endurance tickling and falls out of favor with two conductors of the sport. After inviting them to New Zealand for interviews, they greet him with immense anger and aggression prompting a storm of legal threats, potential lawsuits and the promise of his career ending should he pursue the topic further. Shocked at how dark the initial search for a film subject has taken, Dave and Dylan challenge any threats at their professional career and begins to dig ever deeper and more thoroughly.

What’s so compelling about “Tickled” is not the world Dave Farrier uncovers, but the legal threats lobbied against him that most certainly can destroy his career and livelihood if he doesn’t walk on egg shells. The sad fact behind the documentary is the very absolute idea that the law is on the side of the folks that Farrier investigates, no matter how much deception and scandal he unearths. “Tickled” is a fascinating and entertaining documentary that spirals in to a rabbit hole of a shady subculture, online harassment, and the destruction of many lives all of which are met with the clicking of a mouse. There certainly won’t be another documentary like “Tickled” released in 2016.

Now in Theaters in Limited Release.

First Degree (2016)

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Phil Hall

Two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Roger Weisberg (“Sound and Fury,” “Why Can’t We Be a Family Again?”) helmed this intriguing documentary short on efforts by New York’s notorious Sing Sing Prison to reduce recidivism through higher education.

A primary force in this endeavor is Sean Pica, who first came to Sing Sing as a 16-year-old convict—he earned his Bachelor’s Degree while incarcerated and later returned to run the prison’s program in conjunction with Mercy College. Also interviewed is Jermaine Archer, a former drug dealer and convicted murderer who is banking on his degree to help facilitate a successful reintegration with the outside world. Also included here is graduation ceremony within the prison—and no less a figure than legendary singer/actor Harry Belafonte is the commencement speaker, offering an upbeat pep talk for the unlikely student body.

The film details how the program also provides job-hunting consultation involving work-appropriate clothing, resume writing and interview training. One graduate, Clarence Maclin, benefits from this last boost and is able to gain work as a social worker counseling juvenile offenders. There is also a financial consideration of how the investment in education proves to be more cost-effective: recidivism among graduates of the Sing Sing program is miniscule.

Sadly, “First Degree” has a troubling post-script: funding for this type of program has been shrinking over the years while the U.S. prison population is ballooning. Hopefully, this well-made and moving tribute to the power of education can help change minds and bring more money back to this worthy cause.

Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight: The Japanese War Brides (2015)

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Phil Hall

The directors of this documentary short—Lucy Craft, Karen Kasmauski and Kathryn Tolbert—are journalists whose fathers were U.S. service members stationed in post-World War II Japan and whose mothers were among the tens of thousands of so-called “Japanese war brides.”

The three Japanese women profiled here—Hiroko Furukawa, Emiko Fukumoto and Atsuko Onda—frankly acknowledge to their daughters that they did not marry strictly for romantic reasons, but because they were eager to leave the economic chaos of Japan in favor of the chance of a better life across the Pacific. However, their only knowledge of the American way of life came from movies and the mostly positive impressions of the Americans involved in the occupation period.

Although the U.S. military was initially opposed to these marriages—in many states, interracial marriage was illegal—it quickly realized that it was unable to prevent fraternizing between U.S. military men and Japanese women. The military switched gears and worked to educate the Japanese women on what they should expect in their American lives—albeit with lessons on baking cakes and wearing make-up.

But once they arrived in the U.S., the challenges faced by the women in their new country were significant. Their spouses’ families were not entirely pleased with their presence, while the wider society was not eager to embrace the mixed raced marriages. The women also faced numerous problems in assimilating into the behavioral patterns of their adopted homes, especially when it came to raising children—strict Japanese parental expectations were dramatically out of step with the more leisurely American approach to raising children, which created additional stress in their households.

At 26 minutes, the film barely scratches the surface on the lives of the directors’ mothers or the wider social upheaval created by the war brides. (The thoughts of the men that married them are not recorded in this film.) But, nonetheless, it offers an intriguing glimpse into a long-forgotten chapter of post-World War II history.

Trekoff: The Motion Picture (2016)

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

For a second I thought “Trekoff” was going to be a grating experience, but eventually Justin Timpane’s documentary about Trek fandom eventually won me over big time. I may not be much of a “Star Trek” fan, but I know what it is to be a fan, and a fanatic, and all around geek for something so much, that you want to spend all your time involved with it. “Trekoff: The Motion Picture” is a documentary and partly live action tour film about the raunchy Star Trek podcast that has managed to build a loyal following of listeners. Hosts Justin Timpane and Alexia Poe have an infectious enthusiasm that drips off of the film and will win over anyone that has ever sacrificed or expressed love for a particular kind of fandom.

It also helps that Alexia Poe is kind of hot, but I digress. Timpane and Poe sought out to do a podcast that was different from the others, where they discuss “Star Trek,” and debate various captains all the while discussing who Alexia would sleep with, and why she’d let William Shatner give her a golden shower. Admittedly, the dick jokes get kind of tiresome, but “Trekoff” is still a breezy and raucous documentary that is devoted to the way Timpane and Poe celebrate their love for “Star Trek.” They do so with a lot of laughter, a ton of joy, and endless sexual innuendos and double entendres that their audience seems to love when they’re recording their podcast live.

While “Trekoff” doesn’t offer new or original insight in to the “Star Trek” fandom, the documentary succeeds in exploring the more surreal aspects of the fandom. As well we’re given keen insight in to how rabid hosts Timpane and Poe are for “Star Trek.” While they deliver endless sex jokes, and argue about who’d be better in bed Kirk or Picard, they seem to love the franchise, and get very emotional when the humor stops and their sincerity shines through. I wish we’d seen more of that quality, to be honest. That said, “Trekoff” is a charming, funny, and unusual documentary about fandom and love for “Star Trek” that I had a very good time with.

Now Available on DVD at Amazon, and on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Videoport: A Short Doc (2016)

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Kids today will never understand the joy of going to the local video store and spending hours within the aisles of your favorite titles just to find something to bring home. I fondly remember walking through my local video shop watching a graphic horror movie on a mounted television while my parents staggered to the counter with a stack of titles they planned to bring home to watch that night. And no, I don’t speak of “Blockbuster” video. I speak of actual video stores that were once as common as Laundromats.

Running for nearly three decades, production company p3 explores the beginning and painful end of one of Maine’s most popular and beloved communities for film lovers “Videoport.” With the advent of digital rental and streaming, every year more and more beloved video rental spots are closing down and “Videoport” is sadly one of the many to close down. What with almost twenty thousand movies to rent, and three decades of building a community and massive fan base, it stings to think that the store may be replaced by an outlet or discount store by a faceless entity.

“Videoport” explores in a nut shell how much the once prominent video rental store was a beacon, not just for discovering unusual films, but for commuting alongside like minded people. Many of the individuals interviewed for the documentary discuss how they met their significant others, and built lifelong friendships, only to see it now dissipate with time. “Videoport” ends on a bittersweet note with the curators of the store donating their entire catalogue to the local library, making it available to a new generation of film aficionados. It’s their last noble favor to a community that they’ve helped nurture for thirty years.

The PC Thug: A Puerto Rican Day Parade Movie Recommendation

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

June 12^th, 2016 brings forth another year of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and if you’re in the Bronx, you’re preparing for the onslaught of traffic and swell of parade goers coming out to celebrate Boricua heritage. For me it’s been a consistently interesting and entertaining event since I was a child. It’s an event that’s almost stopped New York and the Bronx in its tracks and helped a lot of members of the Puerto Rican community come out and celebrate who they are. Alongside the Gay Pride parade, the Puerto Rican Day Parade is a source of great pride and festivities with a lot of what Puerto Ricans are known for: Food, Dancing, and Music.

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