Bombay Beach A documentary-record-cum-drama with dreamlike musical elements describing a small community on the fringes of the lost American dream, and the dreamers who populate its surreal and poetic landscape.Bombay Beach is one of the poorest communities in southern California located on the shores of the Salton Sea, a man-made sea stranded in the middle of the Colorado desert that was once a beautiful vacation destination for the privileged and is now a pool of dead fish.Film director Alma Har’el tells the story of three protagonists. The trials of Benny Parrish, a young boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder whose troubled soul and vivid imagination create both suffering and joy for him and his complex and loving family. The story of CeeJay Thompson, a black teenager and aspiring football player who has taken refuge in Bombay Beach hoping to avoid the same fate of his cousin who was murdered by a gang of youths in Los Angeles; and that of Red, an ancient survivor, once an oil field worker, living on the fumes of whiskey, cigarettes and an irrepressible love of life.Together these portraits form a triptych of manhood in its various ages and guises, in a gently hypnotic style that questions whether they are a product of their world or if their world is a construct of their own imaginations.The narratives are interspersed with choreographed sequences in which the protagonists dance — to music specially composed for the film by Zach Condon of the band Beirut and songs by Bob Dylan.  You either like this kind of ambitious, brave, borderless experiment or you don’t, and I think it’s absolutely magical and tragic. High-res

Bombay Beach

A documentary-record-cum-drama with dreamlike musical elements describing a small community on the fringes of the lost American dream, and the dreamers who populate its surreal and poetic landscape.
Bombay Beach is one of the poorest communities in southern California located on the shores of the Salton Sea, a man-made sea stranded in the middle of the Colorado desert that was once a beautiful vacation destination for the privileged and is now a pool of dead fish.

Film director Alma Har’el tells the story of three protagonists. The trials of Benny Parrish, a young boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder whose troubled soul and vivid imagination create both suffering and joy for him and his complex and loving family. 
The story of CeeJay Thompson, a black teenager and aspiring football player who has taken refuge in Bombay Beach hoping to avoid the same fate of his cousin who was murdered by a gang of youths in Los Angeles; and that of Red, an ancient survivor, once an oil field worker, living on the fumes of whiskey, cigarettes and an irrepressible love of life.

Together these portraits form a triptych of manhood in its various ages and guises, in a gently hypnotic style that questions whether they are a product of their world or if their world is a construct of their own imaginations.
The narratives are interspersed with choreographed sequences in which the protagonists dance — to music specially composed for the film by Zach Condon of the band Beirut and songs by Bob Dylan. 


You either like this kind of ambitious, brave, borderless experiment or you don’t, and I think it’s absolutely magical and tragic.

The Voyagers

In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space. Each spacecraft carries a golden record album, a massive compilation of images and sounds embodying the best of Planet Earth. According to Carl Sagan, “[t]he spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” While working on the golden record, Sagan met and fell madly in love with his future wife Annie Druyan. The golden record became their love letter to humankind and to each other. In the summer of 2010, I began my own hopeful voyage into the unknown. This film is a love letter to my fellow traveler. It’s a valentine to Carl Sagan an the way that he really embodies the place where scientific skepticism meets child-like awe and wonder and joy and optimism (via Penny Lane)

If you can get through 5 minutes of this, and watch it in a quiet place, without checking your email or sending a text, then this quiet, perfect, doc/personal essay will be the most wonderful juxtaposition display of courage and fear, wild love and rationality. I REALLY hope you give this piece a chance, even if it’s later this week or later this month. 

I just got done watching this documentary, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures. He was probably the most endearing asshole I have ever watched. It’s not this hard hitting documentary where you learn an incredible life lesson, i’m pretty sure you’d probably wonder what the hell you watched. But, it was interesting.  The self loathing through out the entire thing made me feel better about all my failed relationships and also, well, about my life in general. He looks how I feel every day. Also there is that uncanny resemblance he has to Kurt Cobain.  The entire film was actually incredibly hilarious, more so because of how awkward he was talking to all his ex girlfriends. The ones that would actually returned his phone calls and said yes to being interviewed. He had some really psychotic people in his life. Anyways, I would say this documentary is good for a Sunday kind of a day. Or if you feel like your life sucks immensely. Chris Waitt somehow makes you not only feel sorry for him, but also makes you intoxicated with how much he really just doesn’t understand women. At all. It’s on Netflix instant play if you care to see what i’m talking about.  High-res

I just got done watching this documentary, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures. He was probably the most endearing asshole I have ever watched. It’s not this hard hitting documentary where you learn an incredible life lesson, i’m pretty sure you’d probably wonder what the hell you watched. But, it was interesting. 

The self loathing through out the entire thing made me feel better about all my failed relationships and also, well, about my life in general. He looks how I feel every day. Also there is that uncanny resemblance he has to Kurt Cobain. 

The entire film was actually incredibly hilarious, more so because of how awkward he was talking to all his ex girlfriends. The ones that would actually returned his phone calls and said yes to being interviewed. He had some really psychotic people in his life. Anyways, I would say this documentary is good for a Sunday kind of a day. Or if you feel like your life sucks immensely. Chris Waitt somehow makes you not only feel sorry for him, but also makes you intoxicated with how much he really just doesn’t understand women. At all. It’s on Netflix instant play if you care to see what i’m talking about. 

THE ART OF THE STEAL An un-missable look at one of the art world’s most fascinating controversies and a celebrated selection of the Toronto, New York and AFI Film Festivals, Don Argott’s gripping documentary THE ART OF THE STEAL chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of art valued at more than $25 billion.In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes formed a remarkable educational institution around his priceless collection of art, located just five miles outside of Philadelphia. Now, more than 50 years after Barnes’ death, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court for control of the art, and intend to bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of Barnes’ former students and his will, which contains strict instructions stating the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed. Will they succeed, or will a man’s will be broken and one of America’s greatest cultural monuments be destroyed? This documentary made me so upset, simply because its completely true. To rip an entire collection, a museum that he built, he arranged, and made into a work of art itself, is bullshit. Art now more than ever is a cash cow, they’re not thinking about how this art work can move people, they’re thinking how this art work can move tickets. Increase profit, not increase inspiration or admiration. It’s just a shame. Check it out on Netflix instant play, its worth watching. High-res

THE ART OF THE STEAL

An un-missable look at one of the art world’s most fascinating controversies and a celebrated selection of the Toronto, New York and AFI Film Festivals, Don Argott’s gripping documentary THE ART OF THE STEAL chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of art valued at more than $25 billion.

In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes formed a remarkable educational institution around his priceless collection of art, located just five miles outside of Philadelphia. Now, more than 50 years after Barnes’ death, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court for control of the art, and intend to bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of Barnes’ former students and his will, which contains strict instructions stating the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed. Will they succeed, or will a man’s will be broken and one of America’s greatest cultural monuments be destroyed?

This documentary made me so upset, simply because its completely true. To rip an entire collection, a museum that he built, he arranged, and made into a work of art itself, is bullshit. Art now more than ever is a cash cow, they’re not thinking about how this art work can move people, they’re thinking how this art work can move tickets. Increase profit, not increase inspiration or admiration. It’s just a shame. Check it out on Netflix instant play, its worth watching.

Independent Lens: Between The Folds “At heart, one of the things that makes us human…is our need to change things,” says one of the paper artists profiled in Vanessa Gould’s documentary Between the Folds. “It’s also the heart of the appeal of origami, exploring the surprising magic of just how far you can change that square.” The film explores not only aesthetics, but also the scientific applications of the ancient Japanese art, which is employed, for instance, for molecular modeling in pharmaceutical manufacture. I could not stop watching this film from start to finish. Not only were the artists expressing different mediums between the art of Origami, but the reasons behind why they’re doing it were also just as different and complex. One artist likes to take his time, go for a coffee and take a break. Another artist makes his own paper. Its just fascinating how these artists, these sculptors can look at a square piece of paper and already know what they’re going to fold it into. Its absolutely amazing.  Check it out on netflix instant play if you have time this weekend, it’s worth it.  High-res

Independent Lens: Between The Folds

“At heart, one of the things that makes us human…is our need to change things,” says one of the paper artists profiled in Vanessa Gould’s documentary Between the Folds. “It’s also the heart of the appeal of origami, exploring the surprising magic of just how far you can change that square.”

The film explores not only aesthetics, but also the scientific applications of the ancient Japanese art, which is employed, for instance, for molecular modeling in pharmaceutical manufacture.

I could not stop watching this film from start to finish. Not only were the artists expressing different mediums between the art of Origami, but the reasons behind why they’re doing it were also just as different and complex. One artist likes to take his time, go for a coffee and take a break. Another artist makes his own paper. Its just fascinating how these artists, these sculptors can look at a square piece of paper and already know what they’re going to fold it into. Its absolutely amazing. 

Check it out on netflix instant play if you have time this weekend, it’s worth it.