Keep 'em Rolling

This list is mostly the result of scrounging through Amazon Prime for marginal possibilities, as well as a checking out some PBS and a couple from the library. 

Nicky's Family – 2011 (3.0). In 1938 a young Englishman stumbled into the problem of Jewish families in Czechoslovakia fearing the rise of Hitler and wanting to get their children sent out of the country to safety. He soon put his natural problem solving skills to the task and did his own version of Schindler's list, a story which remained untold for fifty years. This well made documentary uses archival footage, interviews with the rescuer and some of the rescued children in their senior years and some dramatic reconstructions. Individual stories are told directly to the camera and also presented to student groups. The resulting movie is moving and inspirational.

Camp Hollywood– 2004 (2.8). A young Canadian stand up comic decides to try the LA scene and stay at a somewhat seedy hotel with a history of celebrity guests on the way up or on the way down as he sees if he can land some profitable gigs. He has enough money for a 60 day stay and decides to shoot a home movie style documentary about the place and its current residents. T first he thinks he may have made a mistake, but then the place and people start to grow on him. The trust level he establishes is evident in the cooperation he elicits from the residents he interviews. Ambition buoyed by hubris and most likely unreasonable hope could be depressing, but the overall sense is a community of kindred spirits.

Catastrophe (Seasons One through Four) -2015-2019 (2.8). This dramedy series from the UK is steadily profane but also has a dramatic heart as an American businessman and an Irish teacher inadvertently make a baby in London and decide to try marriage. Season one sets it up in six episodes through the actual wedding. Two jumps ahead to a second kid and career and financial stress on top of ongoing family and friend issues. In three, problems intensify. Things seem to reconcile a bit in four, which is apparently going to be the final season. The two leads developed the series. Carrie Fisher played an American mother-in-law from hell and was beginning to play a bigger part but sadly died after season three.

Dr. Thorne – 2016 (2.8). Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame adapted a Trollope novel for a pleasant mini-series set in the 1850 English country estate turf. The bumbling estate Lord is in hock up to his neck and the Lady of the house schemes to marry her daughters and son to money. The good doctor protects niece ward. The mortgage holder on the estate dies and is succeeded by his drunken son. The good are good and the bad have at least a smidgen of good and we can expect all to end well. Trollope wrote 47 novels in spite of having a full time job as a Postal executive.

Ekaterina (Season One) – 2014 (2.8). The first season of this Russian series tells how an arranged marriage that goes bad leads to the rise of Catherine the Great in Russia. Effective production values and decent acting blend with a serviceable script to hold viewer interest. It also helps that the actress playing Catherine is quite good looking. The second season will tell about some of the things Catherine did as Russian Empress the win the Great appellation.

Inventing Tomorrow – 2018 (2.8). Following six teams of high school age competitors in an international science competition, this documentary continues attention on issues of environmental concern but also gives hope in the enthusiastic energy of committed young people world wide. These kids are bright and engaging and give hope to us as we follow them in their research and home lives and then to the competition in Los Angeles where they meet their peers from around the world. If adequate resources were applied to providing scholarships and ongoing international collaborations and mentoring to such students around the world, imagine the good that could result.

Louisa May Alcott – 2009 (2.8). This American Masters bio documentary combines interviews with scholars and dramatic reconstructions read by actors with an actress reading from the authorized biography of Louisa May Alcott to effectively tell her life story and the story of her family which she used with artistic liberties in writing Little Women.

Chasing Happiness– 2019 (2.7). The Jonas Brothers of music fame are the subjects of this documentary about their upbringing, rise to music heights, breakup and reconciliation. Home movies, interviews of family members and business colleagues and archival footage are the vehicles of the story, which is surely more meaningful to their fans, most of whom are still fairly young.

Going West– 2017 (2.7). The only child of a recently widowed transvestite dad with whom he has a frosty relationship just got fired from his job as a music teacher, so he agrees to take a road trip with dad to take his mother's last quilt to a quilting contest on a remote island. As expected, they have some quirky adventures and do a bit of bonding. There are a few funny segments but not really much depth of communication and bonding. Because it is short, this Norwegian movie is pleasantly watchable.

Plastic China - 2016 (2.7). This documentary follows two families in China, one led by a young man without education who strives to make economic gain by as thousands of others strive in his area by running a makeshift plastic recycling business. The other family comes from elsewhere in China looking for work and has for several years worked in the business of the first family. Both families have small children and they all live and work midst the heaps of plastic on which they work, play and eat. The movie follows them all intensely without any interviews, commentary or other footage. The result is discouragingly captivating but the absence of a look at the larger picture is disconcerting.

The Yellow Handkerchief– 2008 (2.7). An older man newly released from prison in Louisiana accepts a ride with a young man with wanderlust and a younger girl who seems emotionally lost. They are heading for New Orleans in an old convertible during rainy weather. On their road trip they learn a little more about each other and we learn by flashback the back story of the convict. Script has some weak points, but acting is good and roadside places are authentic looking.

Ekaterina (Season Two) – 2017 (2.6). The second season loses appeal as the computer generated wide establishing shots become more noticeably fake, the palace intrigue and romances of Catherine become more tedious and hard to follow, the accomplishments of Catherine as Empresses are given short shrift and the actress playing the role does not seem to age yet becomes less attractive personally and by extension physically. The serfs are nobly persevering while the actual nobles are a mess, which reminds us this series had to have the approval of Putin. There may be a third season coming.

Howard's End – 2017 (2.6). This mini-series has the look of the classic movie, but the four episode script seems disorganized and hard to follow, the characters have relatively little depth and Matthew Macfadyen is definitely no substitute for Anthony Hopkins.

Rush Hour – 2018 (2.6). Work commute times can be horrendous in large cities worldwide and this documentary chose three examples to show: a woman working in a clothing store in Istanbul, a hairdresser in Mexico City and a construction engineer on projects in the Los Angeles area. We see their actual commute and meet their families at home who are impacted by the commute, but we do not actually learn anything we should not already know – long work commutes are a big pain.

Dancer in the Dark– 2000 (2.4). Lars von Trier is an eccentric filmmaker and Bjork is an eccentric singer. Let him write the script and direct the movie and let her write the songs and act the lead role and you end up with a doubly eccentric film, an awkward drama with even more awkward musical interludes. Nevertheless her performance was effective enough to win the best actress award at Cannes and it was sufficiently draining for her that she intends never to act in another movie. Sounds like Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc.