Category: Documentary

By Joe Bendel. Thanks to economic freedom, you can buy Paul Frank merchandise in Slovakia. The availability of monkey-face t-shirts might not sound like an epochal triumph, but it has made a world of difference for the Rybárikovás and their standard of living. Even more dramatic are the case studies of the North Korean defector providing start-up capital to his fellow refugees in the ROK and the Chilean beekeeper exporting queens to struggling European bee farms. Drawing upon these highly personal case-studies and the Fraser Institute’s annual report on world economic freedom, host-economist Johan Norberg argues that policies of economic liberty make the world a better place whenever they are adopted in Economic Freedom in Action: Changing Lives, which airs on Chicago’s WTTW this Thursday.

Written and directed by James & Maureen Castle Tusty, the filmmakers responsible for inspiring Singing Revolution, and produced in conjunction with the Free to Choose Network, Action follows the template established by Milton & Rose Friedman’s groundbreaking series, sprinkling manageable nuggets of analysis amid plentiful real world examples. Spanning the globe, Action starts in Africa, examining the country’s extraordinary turn-around from the perspective of Sylvia Banda.

Under Socialist president-for-life Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia was an economic basket case – but following his ouster, it has become one of the continent’s fastest growing economies, thanks to an ambitious privatization program. Banda was able to ride that wave. Starting with an unfurnished one-room restaurant, she now operates one of the nation’s largest food supply companies. Through capitalism, she has enacted a series of agricultural and hygiene reforms that the government and NGOs struggled to implement.

The contrast between economic liberty and authoritarianism is starkly demarcated on the Korean peninsula. While famine is an everyday fact of life in the tightly regimented DPRK, the ROK is a land of plenty, often leading to culture shock for defectors like Daesung Kim. To help his fellow refugees adapt, Kim started a venture capital firm that invests in their small enterprises. Once struggling to survive, those he works with now have a stake in South Korea’s economy and can provide entrepreneurial expertise if and when the North finally liberalizes its markets and political system.

Arguably, Kim is the bravest capitalist featured in Action. In contrast, the stakes were never so high for Katerina Rybáriková, but her story nicely illustrates the necessity of economic liberty in addition to political liberty. After the fall of communism, Slovakia still lagged behind most of Eastern Europe and ranked relatively low on the Fraser Institute’s index. However, a concerted program of privatization and property rights guarantees created the climate that allowed Rybáriková to successful pitch a Slovakian franchise to the Paul Frank corporate office.

One might expect Action to steer clear of Chile, yet it completely proves the thesis of Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom, with political liberty duly following the establishment of economic liberty. While acknowledging the abuses of the Pinochet regime, Action charts the explosive growth following his economic reforms that remain largely unadulterated to this day. Thanks to the market-based economy, brothers John and Miguel Hernandez have been able to build their bee farm into a going pollination service and bee queen exporting concern, a business with particularly positive global ramifications, given environmental concerns regarding dwindling bee populations.

Chile and South Korean have consistently ranked high on the Fraser report, while Zambia and Slovakia have been recent up-and-comers. That begs the obvious question: how does America rank? For years, we usually held the second or third spot, but we have fallen in recent years, to number nineteen. Norberg and the Tustys do not engage in a lot of finger-wagging, but the significance of this tumble is hard to miss.

Indeed, Action is a remarkably sure-footed exploration of the real world impact of economic policies. By focusing on human stories it never comes across like an econ lecture or a ration of polemics. It is thoroughly convincing, but it is also really good television, taking viewers to places they rarely see in the mainstream media. Highly recommended, Economic Freedom in Action: Changing Lives airs this Thursday (11/14) on Chicago’s WTTW and can be seen in syndication on PBS stations throughout the month. It will also be available for online viewing courtesy of the Free to Choose Network.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on November 11th, 2013 at 2:20pm.

By Joe Bendel. It came from Pittsburgh. That is where George A. Romero had carved out a business shooting television commercials for local clients. Of course, he harbored filmmaking ambitions. Eventually, his upstart debut would revolutionize horror cinema, spawning all kinds of controversy and imitators. Yet, at the time, Romero was not at all certain he would be able to complete production and post on the now classic The Night of the Living Dead. Rob Kuhns goes straight to the source for his behind the scenes look at the making and legacy of the zombie classic in The Birth of the Living Dead, which opens this Wednesday in New York at the IFC Center.

It has been over forty years since the original Living Dead was first released with little fanfare in an old school midtown grindhouse theater. Despite uniformly negative reviews (from the few critics who even bothered to cover it), Romero’s classic took on a life of its own. In fact, the entire city of Pittsburgh had already sort of rallied behind it, perhaps inspired by local late night creature feature TV host Bill Cardille’s weekly drumbeat of publicity (you can spot him late in the film as the newsman interviewing the sheriff). During production, the police department provided helicopters free of charge and many of Romero’s customers appeared as zombies.

One of the cool things about Birth is the way Romero vividly remembers each and every extra. Those who have seen the film countless times will be fascinated to learn how many cast members also performed crucial functions off-screen. Romero’s co-producer Russell Streiner (instantly recognizable as Barbara’s ill-fated brother) emerges as a particularly resourceful figure. Kuhns also includes an endearing stinger-tribute to the late Bill Hinzman, the first zombie who chases her into the farmhouse.

Visually, Birth is also fan-friendly, featuring Gary Pullin’s distinctive comic art to illustrate various stages of the production. It will further reassure diehards to know the doc comes via Glass Eye Pix, with Larry Fessenden on board as both a talking head and executive producer.

In a bizarre turn, Birth periodically visits a Bronx middle school, where a teacher uses Night of the Living Dead as part of his “Literacy through Film” course. Yes, this is a classic film with considerable subtext, but showing graphic depictions of cannibalism in the classroom is wholly inappropriate. Evidently, “de-sensitize them early” is the Board of Ed’s motto. Only in New York.

Kuhns is on stronger footing examining the wider cultural significance of Night. According to Romero, Ben the central POV character, was not originally written as an African American, but Duane Jones just nailed the audition. Nonetheless, the added implications of the final scene would have been hard to miss, especially since Romero was consciously incorporating images of 1960’s civil strife.

If you are a mature adult, at least old enough to vote, you really ought to be familiar with Night of the Living Dead. While Birth offers some shallow general political analysis of the late 1960’s, it specifically contextualizes Romero’s film quite adroitly. Recommended for zombie aficionados who want to deepen their Living Dead viewing experience, Birth of the Living Dead opens this Wednesday (11/6) at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on November 4th, 2013 at 6:37pm.

By Joe Bendel. If when asked who is the most interesting member of the Hemingway family you automatically reply “Mariel” then you must be either Barbara Kopple or Oprah Winfrey. Granted, she was terrific in Manhattan and has dealt with more family heartbreak than anyone should ever have to face. However, Kopple proves her larger than life grandfather Ernest and tragic sister Margaux are far more compelling figures in the self-helpy documentary Running from Crazy, which opens this Friday in New York, via the OWN documentary distribution arm.

Seven members of Hemingway’s family committed suicide. Mariel Hemingway never knew her grandfather, but she always had an extremely complicated relationship with Margaux, the middle sister. Probably the film’s strongest sequences chart Margaux Hemingway’s spectacular rise to fame as a supermodel and her frustrations with an acting career that never really took off. Her big break was supposed to be Lipstick, in which she had Mariel fittingly cast as her as her younger sister. When the film came out, all the good notices went to one sister and the bad notices went to the other.

Frankly, if you were not old enough to remember the Studio 54 era, most of the footage of Margaux as a media sensation will come as a revelation. In contrast, all we get of Papa is the same old stock footage. There is plenty of Mariel, though. Kopple follows her to benefits and awareness marches, as part of her ongoing efforts to de-stigmatize mental illness and support those who have also lost loved ones to suicide. Such dedication is admirable, but it does not make for great cinema.

Beyond her well intentioned outreach, Running includes far too much self-actualizing mumbo jumbo. In fact, Hemingway and her partner Bobby Williams seem to have some sort of New Age lifestyle joint venture, but it is impossible to tell what exactly they are selling, even though we hear plenty of his pitch.

If nothing else, Running will convince viewers that under no circumstances would they want to take a rock-climbing road trip with Hemingway and Williams. It would be better to be the dude in 127 Hours. There is absolutely no reason to force viewers to sit through all their bickering and bantering, but Kopple does so anyway.

Still, the archival scenes of Margaux Hemingway, including footage she shot for a prospective documentary on her grandfather, are truly compelling. Especially haunting are the interviews she granted ostensibly to trumpet her successful rehab efforts, but look so clearly like cries for help in retrospect. Mariel Hemingway kind of admits she missed the warning signs, but Kopple never pushes her on this or any other issue. As a result, the film often has the vibe of an infomercial for group hugs.

There are moments to Kopple’s starry-eyed film, but it is a disappointment by most cinematic and journalistic standards. Not recommended in theaters, interested readers should note that Running from Crazy will air on OWN next year, which is where it belongs. Regardless, it opens this Friday (11/1) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on October 30th, 2013 at 5:08pm.

By Joe Bendel. Alec Baldwin loves making movies so much, he is now a boring talk show host. Perhaps this was the last hurrah for the star of Rock of Ages. He and director James Toback hit the Cannes Film Market hard in search of financing for a prospective indie production, simultaneously filming a documentary of their cold calling, at least guaranteeing they would not leave empty-handed. There is plenty of pitching but not a lot of closing in Toback’s Seduced and Abandoned, which airs this evening on HBO.

The idea is to remake Last Tango in Paris in Iraq during the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam. Baldwin will play the Brando role, re-conceived as a rightwing military advisor and Neve Campbell will step into the Maria Schneider part, transformed into a leftwing journalist. Campbell cannot make the trip to Cannes, but Baldwin and Toback assure her they would never make the film without her. However, they do not make it past their second pitch session before they start throwing her under the bus. They still love Neve, but maybe she can play the maid who comes to change their sheets.

Before long, they are also pitching actresses like Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, and Bérénice Bejo, along with prominent sales agents and the assorted eccentric millionaires. Of course, Last Tango in Tikrit sounds so gob-smackingly un-commercial we almost have to wonder if it is all an extended Borat gag, except Baldwin and Toback take themselves so seriously. On behalf of the nation’s film critics, I would like to thank the Cannes financiers for not stampeding to fund what sounds like a Frankenstein combination of The Canyons and The Green Zone.

Of course, in addition to the market, there is also a film festival going in Cannes, allowing the fundraising duo an opportunity to talk to some world cinema’s leading lights. Since S & A is a documentary about the movies, Martin Scorsese duly sits for an interview. Perhaps the best sequence involves a sit-down with Bernardo Bertolucci in a hotel suite named in his honor, at which time the Tango auteur gives them his blessing for their pseudo-remake. Among the many other big name participants, James Caan has some particularly colorful things to say about the industry.

If you want to hear Toback and Baldwin kvetch than brother, this is the film is for you. If only they were as funny as they think they are. Toback captures some amusing inside baseball moments at Cannes and he incorporates some cleverly selected film clips, but Todd McCarthy’s Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema delivers far more behind the scenes details. Harmless but conspicuously self-absorbed, Seduced and Abandoned airs tonight (10/28) on HBO.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on October 28th, 2013 at 9:55pm.

By Joe Bendel. It was mostly guys with a whole lot of facial hair. In frat house parlance, the final Soviet-funded World Youth and Students Festival was a real sausage party. For obvious reasons, the South Korean delegate made quite an impression on José Luis García. Since the 1989 Communist youth confab was held in Pyongyang, Lim Sukyung became a minor media sensation. Decades later, García tracked down the so-called “Flower of Re-Unification” for the documentary profile, The Girl from the South, which screens during the 2013 Korean American Film Festival in New York.

García happened to be in Pyongyang by chance, taking his brother’s place in the Argentine delegation at the last minute. To his credit, García was quite curious how the Communist youth congress would address the still fresh massacre in Tiananmen Square. The answer—stony silence, aside from an impromptu punk rock protest from the Scandinavians—was rather unsatisfying. Then Lim blew into town, ready to decry South Korea’s restrictions on contact with the North at every public gathering. Fascinated by her, García recorded as many of her appearances as he could with his consumer video camera. After all, she was one of the few delegates not trying to look like Che.

Loaded with irony, García’s home movies of the Pyongyang get-down are easily the best part of the film. Frankly, it isn’t even close. Although García suggests he was more-or-less apolitical in his youth, he captures all the absurdity and pretension of international Communism’s last gasp before crashing into the dustbin of history. One can easily see how this material could be reworked into a wickedly satirical narrative feature.

Unfortunately, the Lim he meets some twenty years later is not particularly interesting to spend time with and decidedly uncooperative. Evidently, Lim served a short prison term after returning to the Republic of Korea and would subsequently suffer a terrible family tragedy, but she never opens up to García about anything. As a result, the film’s second two acts are about as illuminating as a wiki entry.

Granted, GFTS presents a sharp contrast between idealized memories and the disappointments of reality, but that does not exactly make gripping viewing. García never pushes Lim with obvious questions regarding North Korea famines and labor camps, but he never really succeeded in getting her to sit for a proper interview. Thanks to her overt manipulations, his climatic one-on-one quickly descends into an exercise in futility. García practically bangs his head on the table out of frustration and most viewers will be tempted to do the same.

Of course, there is no corresponding “Girl from the North,” because anyone returning to the DPRK after publically criticizing the country’s militarism would be consigned to a death, along with their entire family. García probably gets that, but he was too hung up on getting something—anything—from Lim. Girl from the South has some fascinating moments, but they are largely front-loaded. Mainly recommended for hard-core North Korea watchers, it screens this Saturday (10/26) at the Village East as part of this year’s KAFFNY.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on October 24th, 2013 at 3:45pm.