Last Day of the Year

As written here before, don’t look for a list of best films of the year, since I won’t get around to seeing many 2013 films until next year. But I can report watching only seven shows this year that I rated 3.3 or higher. Three were new from PBS: Downton Abbey, Last Tango in Halifax and Mr.Selfridge. Three were documentaries: Dirt! The Movie; Serving Life; and StoriesWe Tell. There was only one drama, Boy A. My movie wish for 2014 is better ones to watch, which may require revisiting some older classics.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

 

Stories We Tell – 2012 (3.3). The interesting story of the mother of Canadian independent film maker and actress Sarah Polley, who died when Sarah was 11, is the subject of this documentary made by Sarah. As the last born child, Sarah interviews her father and her brothers, sisters and other people who knew her mother. The interviews are interwoven with home movie footage, which often shows the very things about which the interviewees are speaking. As with all our family stories, the truth can be hard to pin down, especially given the different versions witnesses relate. This movie cleverly and subtly recreates the feeling of being at a gathering of older family and friends and knowing that the various people belong there but not being sure of just who exactly they are. As the film develops, we also begin to realize that recalled images and memories we think are highly accurate, may in fact be something our minds have recreated.

Homeland (Season Two) – 2012 (2.8). The holes in the plot get larger and the questionable portrayal of security practices continues as the second season seems to be written on the go. A few new characters come on board and many more meet their maker. Suspension of belief helps overcome logical gaps and other irregularities. The acting remains quite good, though once again acting honors are given for the portrayal of people with serious mental problems. The season finale mixes things up enough to entice viewers for the third year.

The Paradise – 2012 (3.0). Based on an Emile Zola novel, this BBC series is centered on a Victorian Era London upscale department store “The Paradise” headed by a self-made man who is being pursued for marriage by a spoiled young lady of the upper class abetted by her widowed banker father. In staffing, the store uses a philosophy of mutual loyalty, with unmarried employees living in dormitories on the premises. The heroine is a sharp and attractive country girl who comes to the city to pursue a career sometimes at the store and sometimes with her uncle whose dressmaking shop across the street is one of the many shops negatively impacted by the rise of the larger store. The heroine naturally catches the eye of the store owner both for business and romance. Peopled with a supporting cast of interesting characters, the series boasts the usual stellar British acting and production values. With many subplots and variations on the main story, a second season is already underway overseas.

Side by Side – 2012 (3.0). Asking the question whether making movies on film is on the verge of being totally replaced by digital cinematography, Keanu Reeves is the interviewer in this interesting documentary, talking to many directors and cinematographers as well as a few editors and representatives of camera and film companies. The diverse opinions of those interviewed are well expressed both in terms of subjective perception and by way of technical distinctions between the two formats. Refinements and improvements in digital equipment are discussed and there is some mention of special effects and 3D. Particularly engaging are the many illustrative clips from movies which are shown as they are being mentioned. This movie does not answer the question it raises, but gives a good feel for the direction in which movie making and viewing is headed.

Benjamin Franklin – 2002 (3.0). This PBS documentary biography of the founding father manages to be both quite entertaining and informative in following the life and accomplishments of this extraordinary genius who only received two years of formal education, yet rose to international prominence as a scientist, philosopher, businessman, politician, revolutionary and diplomat. Actors deliver monologues based on correspondence and other historical records and scholars supplement the narration with their insights. Historical re-enactments without dialogue and paintings and drawings of Franklin contribute added color and context.

King of the Hill -1993 (3.0). Set in St. Louis in 1933, this nicely dramatized memoir of a young teenage boy coming of age during the early years of the Great Depression evocatively captures the mix of good and bad in people contending with life during those hard times. As the immigrant traveling salesman father hopes for a WPA job, the tubercular mother is in and out of the sanatorium, the younger brother is sent away to live with an aunt and the young teenager is left to fend by his wits and occasional goodwill from others, all the while fabricating adventurous cover stories to hide his plight.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear MyTrain a Comin’ – 2013 (2.9). Shown on American Masters on PBS, this biographical documentary of the rock star uses archival footage of concerts and interviews together with commentaries by musicians looking back to recall the meteoric rise and unique talents of the young man from Seattle. Particularly helpful is the straightforward explanation of what led to his untimely death, which the entire movie puts in the context of how serious and dedicated a musician and man Hendrix was.

Modern Family (Season Four) – 2012 (2.9). Still fast paced and witty as the lives of the characters pass another year, some of the elements of the humor are getting a bit repetitious, but most episodes generally produce enough laughs to make the year worth watching.

The Belle of Amherst – 1976 (2.9). Detracting from the rating of this production is the fact that it is an old TV recording of a one actress stage performance by Julie Harris playing Emily Dickinson. But compensating for this is the very fact that it is the great actress Julie Harris in a Tony Award winning role, playing the intriguing poet. This is a great way to introduce viewers to Emily or to rekindle a perhaps postponed or forgotten interest.

TheAfrican-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross – 2013 (2.8). A PBS series with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. recapping the history of black people in America from the earliest times to the Obama Presidency is ambitious, but the result seems to live up to billing, given the limited amount of screen time. Even if the techniques used and the rivers crossed seem a little familiar, there are always some new people and stories that Gates manages to inject.

The Sapphires – 2012 (2.8). Inspired by the true story of a quartet of young aborigine women who went to Vietnam in 1968 to sing Motown style songs to American troops, this Australian drama about three sisters, their cousin and the white man who tries to manage them has an indigenous charm fitting for this different story. The script is not real tight, but the music and genuineness of the acting hold it together. The DVD includes a brief interview with the four Sapphires in their senior years.

The Sound of MusicLive – 2013 (2.7).  NBC and Carrie Underwood deserve credit for risk taking in putting on this live TV production of the classic musical. Underwood is not an actress and her singing pipes are not as impressive as those of some of the Broadway talent on display, but in a way, her earnest underperformance fits the somewhat naïve character she plays. The original movie is an almost impossible act to follow, but for a TV show this well mounted production is about as good as can be expected.

Treme (Season Two) – 2011 (2.7). The series seems to lag in this second year and the ongoing celebration of the music and cuisine starts to feel redundant. So many characters are being followed that the jumping around from story to story becomes a bit annoying. If having an episode concentrate on one story line would be too narrow, maybe two or three per episode would be a reasonable compromise. Or maybe having somewhat of a specific theme to an episode playing into the various characters would help, something beyond just the calendar time for the next community event. There were some character and plot developments this season, but they were slow and disjointed in coming.

The Trials of DarylHunt – 2006 (2.7). The makers of this documentary spent ten years filming the story, but Daryl Hunt spent twenty years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. The story is sadly all too familiar; a black man in a southern state (North Carolina this time) is targeted by lazy and unscrupulous police detectives and prosecutors. A weak case results in a conviction based on racial prejudice and dedicated members of the black community mount a long legal process to overturn the wrongful verdict. The movie uses numerous interviews from various times with people involved in the case and incorporates some archival footage but does not give enough details about the two trials and several court hearings which are at the heart of the process. Some perspective from legal academics and scholars would also have been helpful.

Before Midnight – 2013 (2.6). Eighteen years after the first movie, the director and lead actors put together this third part of a trilogy. The first was a chance romantic encounter ending with the couple agreeing to meet at a set time and place in the future if they were both still interested. There should be no spoiler alert needed before saying the second was about the meeting taking place. This third visit tells what has happened in their lives since, with the exposition coming mostly through a realistically boring and frustrating evening of argument between the couple. The only other scene is a dinner with friends earlier in the day where the conversation seems generally pretentious. This is a disappointment after the romance of the first two movies, but that actually seems to have been the intention.

David Holzman’s Diary – 1968 (2.4). A young film maker is supposedly making a documentary of his life in order to find its meaning and we get to watch him as he records his journal, tours his NYC neighborhood, exasperates his girlfriend and engages in voyeurism. Clever in some ways and maybe a decent commentary on self-indulgent introspection, but basically watching this movie is a somewhat annoying and essentially boring experience. Leonard Maltin likes it.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

Side by Side

King of the Hill

The Belle of Amherst

The Sapphires [watched on DVD before found on Netflix]

The Trials of Daryl Hunt

David Holzman’s Diary

God Bless You Google

[NOTE: Since originally posting this list and complaining about being unable to include a picture of the top DVD, I have figured out how to get a picture again. Either Google has restored the previous process, or I was somehow being frustrated in following the usual practice. Nevertheless, I will leave my complaint as I wrote it.]

In its continuing effort to ConGoogle our lives, Google has now screwed around with Blogger to remove the ability to simply upload a picture to a blog; they now apparently want you to upload it to Google Docs or some such thing and then load it to the blog from there. Not being inclined to submit to corporate dominance, I refuse to do it their way. So until I come up with a better idea, in lieu of posting the picture of the DVD cover for the top listed movie, I am including a link to the IMDb page for all of the movies in the list.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar. Clicking on a movie title will open the IMDb web page for that movie.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

Serving Life

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night

Political Animals

Pink Ribbons, Inc.

We Were Here

Mommo: The Bogeyman [stream availability expired 11/17/2013]
 

Serving Life – 2011 (3.6). Produced for the Oprah Winfrey Network, this powerful documentary follows four inmates at the Angola prison in Louisiana, where the average sentence being served is ninety years. The men have applied for and been accepted into an innovative program as interns to serve as hospice aides to other inmates who are dying. They interact with officials in charge of the program, learn from inmates with experience as aides in the program who mentor the interns and then are assigned to patients and begin to work with them as they are dying. Watching the movie, we only leave the prison two brief times, once as a prisoner gets medical treatment at a nearby hospital and once as an inmate is escorted to the funeral of his father. We see some scenes of the men trying to make amends with their biological families, over the phone and in one case with a rare prison visit. Wisely omitted are interviews with people who are not part of the prison inmates or staff, no outside experts or academics to distract us from the all-encompassing life of a prisoner in Angola. The film impacts emotionally on three levels, connecting us to the reality of serving a prison sentence of life with no parole, sharing with us the mental process these men have undertaken to reconcile themselves with their guilt and the responsibility for their criminal actions, and allowing us to participate with them in developing trusting relationships with their fellow inmates with whom they lovingly wait for death.

American Experience:JFK – 2013 (3.0). Archival footage and interviews with historians and surviving contemporaries fill in between the narrated story of the life of the young President in this PBS American Experience documentary produced on the 50^th anniversary of his assassination. Thankfully not dwelling on the parts we know so well, this biography gave more details on the serious medical problems Kennedy suffered, the political maneuverings involved in getting him elected President and the fumbles of his Presidency together with a few bright spots. Though his charm and charisma cannot help but shine through, this movie does glorify the man and frankly documents his failings, thankfully only acknowledging his womanizing without dwelling on it and spending more time covering his Presidential shortcomings. Nevertheless, one can see the inexperienced young President was on the right track and starting to grow into the job and accomplish important preliminary steps before his death. Even fifty years on, it is impossible for those of us who remember his assassination not to come to tears at the end of this film.

Boardwalk Empire (Season Three) – 2012 (3.0). The general story arc continues as corruption turns into escalating murders and impending gang warfare. Personal relationships ebb and flow engulfed by the expanding violence. Conniving and backstabbing increase as stakes become higher and Federal Cabinet members become involved. This is a series that concentrates on the bad guys to the point where good types are not even shown, except for a righteous Federal prosecutor in a minor role who seems mostly motivated by her career aspirations. With so many deaths in this series it is comforting to know that all the decedents are people with virtually no redeeming qualities. What keeps us coming back is the belief that they will all eventually die off and the desire to be there to see it.

The First Beautiful Thing -2010 (3.0). Though it flashes back and forth in telling its story, the changes in this Italian movie are seamless and not disturbing. The characters all have a real humanity that makes them flawed but still worthy of our caring. We first meet the central family in 1971 when the pretty but ditsy young mother wins a beauty contest, which disturbs her husband, annoys her son and delights her daughter. As we come forward in time, we see what happens to the couple, their children and their extending family circle. This is a movie that grows on the audience like life progresses, never quite clear where it is heading but always moving along to the ultimate inevitable.

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night – 2012 (2.9). Watching Johnny at bedtime was always comforting, but the man himself was never truly comfortable with his off screen life. This American Masters documentary from PBS uses archival footage of Johnny and later interviews with his family, friends and colleagues to tell the bittersweet story of a man so beloved by the public who felt that lasting love eluded him in his personal life as he encountered problems in his relationships with his mother, three sons, four wives and numerous colleagues. It is sad to realize that so much joy can be brought to others by artists and entertainers whose own lives are filled with hurt. Their pain is our gain, but we can still feel sad for them even as they bring us joy. That is what they want; if they cannot find a way to a happy personal life, at least they can obtain happiness through artistic expression.

42 – 2013 (2.8).Telling only the part of the story involving his signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization and playing first with Montreal and then being brought up to the majors as the first African American player, this earnest drama about Jackie Robinson presents its characters as more icon than human. It is only the power of knowing the story is true that makes the movie passable.

Political Animals – 2012 (2.8). USA Network produced this miniseries about a divorced former First Lady now serving as Secretary of State after a failed run for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Parallels to the Clintons are apparent, but two grown sons are substituted for Chelsea. Indulging in the soap opera aspects of the lives of the sons detracts from the political drama. Even though their lives can be issues in any campaign of their mother, the subplots seem to have been included to appeal to a younger audience less interested in solid political stories. A young female journalist becomes central to the story as someone who rose in her career by knocking the former First Lady and then becomes an ally of sorts, but the sex life of the reporter is given as much script time as her journalism.

Pink Ribbons, Inc. – 2011 (2.8). This Canadian documentary examines the breast cancer awareness movement with a critical eye, showing footage of many fund raising walks and similar events, commercial footage and interviews with people from corporations which join in the fundraising, commentary from researchers and critics of the fund raising movement, and most touchingly, testimonials of stage four breast cancer patients facing death. Generally well done, the movie would be better organized if less time was spent showing the walks we all see so often on TV and more time spent with researchers and particularly those involved with the actual management of funds being used for research. The critics do an excellent job of showing how the foundation movement (most notably Susan G. Komen) has become a business which raises an incomplete awareness of breast cancer issues while raises enormous sums of money for research that is never adequately explained. The film obviously had a valid critical viewpoint but should have concluded with more definitive prescriptive information for what a viewer should do if they agree.

We Were Here – 2011 (2.8). Archival footage and interviews with survivors are the ways in which this documentary reminds us of the impact of AIDS on the gay community of San Francisco. The free abandon of the Castro residents gives way to a realization that a strange new disease is affecting gay men and may be sexually transmitted. As early efforts meekly try to determine more about the disease, activism finally gets greater time and money invested in finding effective medical treatment, all of which leads to a transformation in the LGBT community. The survivors produced this movie as homage to the thousands who did not live to see the onset of effective treatment and new attitudes.

 

Mommo: The Bogeyman – 2009 (2.8).Set in a contemporary Turkish village, this drama almost feels like an intimate home movie as it follows a nine year old boy and his younger sister whose mother has died and whose lame father has remarried and abandoned them to the care of their ailing grandfather. The children, apparently real life siblings, inhabit their roles with appealing integrity.

 

A Cleaner Last Tango and a Decent Dirty Movie

Seven Flix streamers, three from PBS TV and two from the library make up the dozen on this list. Last Tango from the BBC is set in contemporary Canada so it pulls off quality without invoking an earlier period and without getting the aristocracy involved. The Dirt movie tops a decent batch of documentaries from Netflix. Homeland season one from the library is good enough to prompt putting the second season on hold. Silver Linings Playbook was a disappointment and I should have known anything from the WWE would be a bomb.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

Dirt! The Movie [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]

Tent City, USA

Don’t Stop Believin’

Becoming Chaz

Dad’s in Heaven with Nixon

His Secret Life [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]

WWE for All Mankind

Last Tango in Halifax (Season One) – 2012 (3.6). Though the story of widowed people in their seventies who had become disconnected way back in their school days hooking up over the Internet and committing to love has some appeal, this BBC series adds other elements which raise the show to a much higher level. They each have a daughter who is going through her own midlife crisis. One daughter with a philandering husband struggles with her own sexual preferences, and the other, also widowed, struggles with guilt and her own erotic desires. The younger women each have sons, making for even more issues of communication between the generations. The acting is top notch and the writing is sharp. These people all have their good points and bad, making them more real and appealing. Season two filming is already underway.

Dirt! The Movie – 2009 (3.3). This surprisingly moving documentary uses entertaining animation and interviews with environmental activists combined with footage of children and adults worldwide to explain how wonderfully intricate the soil of the earth is and how much we are interconnected with it. The earth is alive and soil is fundamental to all life, something which we too often seem to forget as we neglect the soil and let multinational corporations kill it with chemically toxic monoculture. The movie does a very effective job of imparting scientific information in an entertaining way making it watchable by parents and young children together. Seeing children, urbanites, convicts and people of diverse circumstances all experiencing a profound sense of connection when they get involved with healthy soil is inspiring.

Best Kept Secret – 2013 (3.0). Closely following three young men with severe autism as they are about to turn 21 and graduate from a special needs public school in Newark, this documentary shown on PBS POV does an effective job of presenting the challenges they face and showing their unique individuality. We also meet their genuinely upbeat, charismatic and dedicated teacher as she spends all her time trying to find a program to work with her students after they graduate. We also meet some of the family members and surrogates who are struggling to do what they can to help in the lives of these young men. There are lots of films about autism, many with informative interviews with experts, but this movie defers on those and instead offers a more personal and engaging experience.

Homeland (Season One) – 2011 (3.0). A US Marine Sergeant who was captured in Iraq and thought to be dead suddenly turns up alive after eight years. His wife has in the last year started a serious affair with his best friend, who helped her and her children through their ordeal. A female CIA agent in Iraq is told by a trusted Iraqi informer that an American soldier has been “turned” by Al Qaeda, so she suspects the Marine and on her return to the US targets him for investigation. Unable to get official CIA sanction she goes rogue and gets too personally embroiled, which is not unusual for this brilliant but deeply flawed agent. The continuity of the main story arc and the plausibility of the plot twists are more than enough to overcome some holes in the back story of the possible “turning” and some apparent lapses in security practices in this well-acted Showtime series.

Tent City, USA – 2012 (2.9). Homeless people run their own tent city in Nashville with guidance from a local church and this documentary follows several inhabitants as they tell some of their personal stories and go about their lives. A flood brings the need to relocate the camp and the homeless are met either by community antipathy or inaction as four homeless people decide to seek a seat on the feckless Nashville Homeless Commission. Effectively putting a personal face on homelessness, this movie saves time by not including interviews on the subject with so-called experts who have never been homeless themselves.

Foyle’s War (Season Seven) -2013 (2.8). This season consists of three TV movies set right after WWII with Foyle being recruited by the MI-5 intelligence agency to work as a sort of ombudsman to keep the agency from getting too far of the righteous path in its zeal to kep ahead of the Russians in the new cold war. Foyle recruits his driver assistant Samantha, now married to a sincere young politician. Other than the presence of Sam there is no story arc in this season beyond Foyle taking on his new job and bumping into the MI5 mentality of the end justifying the means and at season end leaving open the likelihood he will not remain in this job.

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey – 2011 (2.8). When long time rock band Journey lost its celebrated lead singer, they went to You Tube to look for a possible replacement and found a very promising candidate in Manila. This documentary shows the process of testing the man and the resulting tour to try him out. Arnel Pineda is one of those singers whose voice is surprisingly robust for his size. He also has an inspiring tale of overcoming obstacles and exudes a charismatic positive attitude. The movie is a little too long, but it does contain lots of music for fans and a hopeful message for musical aspirants.

Becoming Chaz – 2010 (2.8). Chastity Bono never felt like a girl and her mother Cher says she knew early on her daughter was a lesbian. Only four when her dad Sonny died, Chaz went through a very troubled adolescence and early adulthood. As this documentary begins, Chastity has started the process of trans-gendering into a man. She lives with her girlfriend, who has problems of her own, but who sticks with Chaz as the hormone therapy and breast removal surgery lead her to a second puberty, this time as a testosterone loaded male. Chaz has the support and many friends and family members, except for her mother who seems befuddled and too busy nursing her own celebrity to fully tune into what is going on. Chaz has a good attitude and is courageous about what she is doing, even getting involved with families who have young children who will probably be making a similar sex change.

Dad’s in Heaven with Nixon – 2010 (2.8). Using old home movies taken by his grandfather and father and interviews with his mother and siblings, the filmmaker who made this documentary tells the story of how his father was not loved by the grandfather, how the father was never able to comprehend the fact that one of his own son’s was autistic and how the life of the father took a serious downhill turn. The autistic brother, who is now a successful artist, is a central interview subject and is very likeable. His autism was helped in his early years through therapy his mother insisted he get, and he has been able to live independently as an adult.

His Secret Life – 2001 (2.8).  Fortyish Antonia was a devoted wife but when her husband was killed in a traffic accident she was challenged to examine his life and hers upon discovering that he was involved in a long term gay relationship at the time of his death. This Italian drama does not indulge in cheap comic relief but rather shows a woman struggling to understand first her husband and their life together, then her relationship with her mother and the man who loved her husband and the members of the LGBT community to which he belongs. Without blatantly spelling out the questions, this Italian movie manages to get us to think about the answers.

Silver Linings Playbook – 2012 (2.7). This is one of those movies we are supposed to like, because it is a sincere attempt to address mental illness in a newly personal way and the young leading actress won the Oscar for her performance. Unfortunately, too much time is spent at the beginning of the film showing the young bi-polar man acting out his illness, much to our discomfort. Though we see him in a mental institution, we learn nothing about his illness or how they are trying to help him, though we do see him faking taking his pill, a la Nicholson in Cuckoo’s Nest. After his release, we see the man interfacing with his parents, friends, brother, shrink, police officer, former fellow patient and most importantly, the girl with mental issues herself, who leads him on the path to recovery. Her performance was good, but not memorably Oscar worthy. The rest of the roles are written as caricatures, though the father, played by DeNiro, has a little more depth. There did not seem to be much to learn about mental illness here, other than to be sure to take your medicine and have lots of people who patiently love you, especially a very good looking person of the opposite sex who also happens to have mental issues.

WWE for All Mankind: The Life & Career of Mick Foley – 2013 (2.2). This overlong documentary about a college educated pro wrestler was made by the WWE and is largely a commercial for that business with Foley eagerly narrating his seemingly endless career of entertaining people with increasing amounts of shtick and orchestrated violence without regard to the cost to his body. Somehow the man comes across as not brain damaged, though his body otherwise seems fairly ravaged. Apparently he does some philanthropic work, which is mentioned in the film promos but barely shown in the movie. His personal life is also hardly touched on, except for a bit at the beginning about how he was an early fan of entertainment wrestling. People who actually paid to watch such entertainment may like this film, but the only thing it has to offer for the rest of us is confirmation that we are glad we did not waste our time and money.

It Depends on the Genre

Netflix streaming is a great place to find documentaries. This list is heavy on documentaries.

Since I watch a lot of them on Netflix streaming and usually rate them three or four stars, Netflix always has more to recommend. What I have notice is that the Netflix prediction for documentaries, given to one decimal place, is usually quite accurate, but the IMDb rating is often much lower and a less accurate prediction. I suspect the difference is because Netflix raters like documentaries better than IMDb raters do. So for me, though IMDb ratings of all movies are generally more accurate than Netflix predictions, Netflix does a better job of predicting my likes in the documentary genre. [By way of disclosure, a mutual fund in which I have shares now owns a stake in Netflix, fortunately purchased when the price was down].

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

Brother Outsider

I Am

A Small Act [stream availability expired 9/11/2013]

Let’s Get Frank

A Place at the Table

Little Girl

Shall We Kiss? [stream availability expired 9/15/2013]

Iraq in Fragments

The One Percent

Brother Outsider – 2003 (3.1). Telling the story about the American struggle for civil rights from the inside of the movement without going over a lot of the same material is a difficult task for a documentary, but this movie accomplished it. Bayard Rustin was a dedicated human rights advocate with a special talent for organizing, most impressively putting together the 1963 March on Washington. With archival footage and interviews with people who knew him personally, this biography shows his many accomplishments and explains how his homosexuality caused his role to become less central and more on the outside or behind the scenes.

Game of Thrones (Season Three) – 2013 (3.0). More new cast members are introduced and old ones end their run in dramatic death as the quest for dominion over the realm continues. There is no overlong dialogue as at the beginning of the second season, but some of the sex and violence scenes are longer than they need to be (aside from the apparent HBO requirement to meet quotas for those as well as for delivery of four letter words). It remains hard to keep track of the full cast of characters and various geographic locations, but the central characters are now well known and the politics, trust and deception are becoming easier to follow. Good and evil continue to be contrasted, but we see more nuances in some characters. Questions arise in our minds about whether honor and honesty are always the best policy, especially when dealing with untrustworthy people, and whether seeking good for the people of the realm justifies using questionable means.

Amour – 2012 (2.9). A retired French musician couple have had a wonderful loving life, which takes a turn for the worse when the wife suffers a stroke. We follow them about their apartment as the husband struggles with his new role of caregiver, the wife deteriorates from her debility and their daughter who lives overseas is torn apart when she visits and finds her mother in bad shape and her father stubbornly excluding their daughter from the caregiving process. A critical success, well made and acted, but not a particularly enjoyable or stimulating film.

I Am – 2011 (2.9). This documentary seems like it should be pretentious, with lots of philosophical talking heads spewing esoteric jargon, but it is actually an easy to take pondering of some very basic questions about life. The movie is made by a successful director of many Hollywood comedies, so it has a very professional look and a light hearted joy to it. There are interviews with impressive people and some very interesting science is presented to show how interconnected we actually are with each other and with everything else. The message about simplifying life and avoiding materialism is nothing new, but the science of connectivity is intriguing and gives new light to simplification.

A Small Act – 2009 (2.9). In this well-made documentary we meet a Kenyan man who was enabled to go to high school many years ago because of a donor in Sweden. We see how his education has led to an interesting career in international human rights. We see how his appreciation for the help he received caused him to start a program to help similar needy Kenyan students. Then we get to meet the woman who donated the money, but whom the Kenyan had never met until years after he started his own scholarship program, and we learn how their stories are even more intertwined than either of them suspected. We also get to follow three scholarship applicants who study for and take a three day exam and then await the results. Affecting and effective, this movie teaches that among its other benefits, education can be a road to peace.

Let’s Get Frank – 2003 (2.9). Former Congressman Barney Frank is an inherently interesting, intelligent and entertaining man, as amply shown in this documentary following him through some of the Clinton Impeachment hearings in the House and interspersing personal interviews with him and some of his colleagues. There is not really any significant new information here, but it is a good opportunity to see Barney flash his wit and political savvy.

Family Tree (Season One) – 2013 (2.8). This short comedy series is shot as a mock documentary about a young man from the UK who starts tracing his family roots like celebrities do on some TV genealogy shows. The man is fairly normal but his sister requires a monkey hand puppet to accompany her at all times and his best friend has delusions of being way cooler than he really is. The relatives he tracks down, living and dead, all are pretty quirky, as are pretty much every one else he encounters. He does meet a new love interest on a visit to the US at season end, after previous unsuccessful romantic forays. An HBO series, it may or may not be renewed and I could take it or leave it.

A Place at the Table – 2012 (2.8). In reminding us that the problem of hunger in America has been growing since the Reagan years, because US government agricultural subsidies are overwhelmingly going to mega agribusiness corporations which use the resulting cheap commodities to process mostly non-nutritious empty calorie food, this documentary performs a public service. The message is delivered by kids, parents and advocates for change. As one of the experts points out, if the problem can be expressed merely as a hunger issue, we will have a consensus to solve it. But the corporations, their lobbyists and the politicians who benefit from industry campaign contributions cloud the issue with economic, tax, regulatory and other ideological rhetoric to make it business as usual. This sympathetically shows the problem but does not present any actual solutions.

Little Girl – 2009 (2.8). With the feel of a home movie, this low budget Italian film stars a fetching two year old girl who is found alone at a playground by an older redheaded woman who lives in a trailer with other people all of whom are marginally employed in circus acts. The woman takes the girl home with her and a note is found saying the mother will be coming back for the child. The man in the woman’s life says she should turn the child over to the police, but the woman wants to wait. A teenage boy who helps watch the girl really enjoys the task. Eventually word is received the mother is coming for the child, so a farewell party is put together with mixed feelings. There is not a lot of drama or story here, but the genuineness of the performances and the appeal of the little girl keep it watchable.

Shall We Kiss? – 2007 (2.7). Not a romantic comedy, but rather a romance of a sort, this French movie uses the story within a story device as a couple in a chance encounter spend a day together and the woman tells the man about another woman and man who were best friends who one day considered kissing as more than friends. Not much of a story but pleasantly enough done to stay for the ending.

Iraq in Fragments – 2006 (2.7). Three segments following Iraqis from different factions during the American occupation of Iraq comprise this documentary. The footage is home movie style without narration or input from anyone other than the people being followed. They are shown honestly expressing their feelings of frustration and resentment as they navigate the mess that was created in the aftermath of the fall of Saddam. The movie also makes it clear from the mouths of the Iraqis themselves that unification of their country in the face of religious and ethnic conflicts will be a tremendous challenge.

The One Percent – 2006 (2.7). A young man who is part of the wealthy Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical family made this documentary as some sort of inquiry into how the super wealthy think. His father had also made a documentary as a youth, focusing on how large American corporations exploit poor African workers. That movie apparently brought a devastating reprimand from the Johnson & Johnson CEO and the father seems unable to discuss it with the son whom he wants to dissuade from making his own film. After a slow start, and with a fair amount of jumping around, the film does show us some interesting interviews with ancient (in body and mind) economist Milton Friedman, various entrepreneurs who believe they were divinely destined for super wealth, and a few scions who have disclaimed their inheritances and criticized the wealth of their ancestors. A brief expose of the American sugar monopoly was new and noteworthy.