Category: Documentary

By Joe Bendel. Tzvetanka Gosheva was an oncology specialist forbidden to tell her patients they had cancer. This is how medicine was practiced in Bulgaria during the Soviet era. It wasn’t pretty. Gosheva endured the horrors of war and subsequent absurdities of Communist oppression, living to tell the tale to her filmmaker grandson Youlian Tabakov in Tzvetanka, which screens again today as a selection of MoMA’s 2013 Documentary Fortnight.

Born in 1926 to a prosperous shop-owner, Gosheva’s family would carry the “Bourgeoisie” label like an albatross during the Communist years. While she recalls vivid memories of the bombings, her real experiences with terror began post-war when her father was picked up for a “brief interrogation.” Despite eventually having both parents branded class enemies and sentenced to labor camps, Gosheva somehow was admitted to university. She wanted medical studies but was initially accepted as an English student, which seems doubly ironic given her suspect background, but that was how the Socialist system worked.

Gosheva passed away in the late 2000’s, but she obviously left behind an extensive oral history and some surprisingly playful footage (sometime bordering on the surreal). Tabakov does not take a traditional talking head approach. Instead, he creates impressionistic imagery to accompany his grandmother’s recollections. Sometimes they are rather whimsical, but probably the most striking visual is the blood droplets turning into a crimson rain (not unlike the original Shining trailer) that perfectly fit her discussion of the post-war purges and show trials her parents were caught up in.

At times, Tabakov really pushes the hipster envelope with his post-modern visual style. However, he always gives Gosheva her full say, which ultimately keeps the film grounded in reality. Viewers quickly learn to appreciate her resiliency and keen powers of observation. She makes no secret of her contempt for the so-called “former Communists,” whom she calls out for deliberately undermining Bulgarian democracy. Bulgaria will miss her, even if most of her countrymen do not realize it.

At least Tabakov has preserved her memory and her spirit. His Tzvetanka might be a bit eccentric as eulogies go, but avoiding the maudlin seems perfectly in keeping with its subject. Recommended for students of the Soviet era as well as those fascinated by intensely personal family histories, Tzvetanka screens again this afternoon (2/18) as part of MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on February 18th, 2013 at 2:47pm.

By Joe Bendel. They made the space program and the personal computer possible. They were not just brilliant scientists. They were the original venture capitalists. The far-reaching scientific and economic revolutions initiated by Robert Noyce and his colleagues are explored in The American Experience’s first-rate Silicon Valley, which airs on most PBS stations this Tuesday.

A bright student at Grinnel College, Noyce happened to get an early look at two of Bell Labs’ first ever transistors, through his professor, Grant Gale. He would remain a foremost expert on the devices and their successors from that point forward. After an unrewarding East Coast corporate stint, Noyce joined soon to be Nobel Lauriat William Shockley’s semiconductor laboratory, in what was then nowheresville California. That was a somewhat gutsy move at the time, but Noyce was just getting started.

Fed up with Shockley’s erratic behavior and dubious strategic decision-making, Noyce and the rest of the so-called “Traitorous Eight” set out on their own, establishing Fairchild Semiconductor with the backing of Sherman Fairchild’s family of companies. Noyce was the last to join the insurgency, but the one most needed for Fairchild Semiconductors to make a go of it. He understood the science, but he also had persuasive powers the others lacked. Opting to develop a silicon-based semiconductor (a model Shockley had explicitly rejected), Fairchild scored some crucial government contracts right out of the gate. Yet Noyce would eventually pick up and start over once more. Ever heard of a company called Intel?

Co-written, co-produced, and directed by Randall MacLowry, Silicon Valley does two things unusually well. It nicely explains the enormous technological benefits offered by transistors, semiconductors, microchips, and microprocessors, in terms accessible for viewers not particularly savvy about the insides of their computers. It also gives Noyce and his comrades full credit for their game-changing entrepreneurship. MacLowry clearly establishes the substantial risks Noyce took, as well as the considerable reward he reaped. As a result, viewers might just find themselves feeling a vicarious giddiness for the up-start success of Noyce’s start-ups. That is a powerful response for a television documentary to inspire, but Silicon Valley is unquestionably the best of the last three seasons for American Experience, at least.

Many Fairchild and Intel alumni share their memories of Noyce and the formative years of Silicon Valley, including Andy Grove and surviving members of the infamous eight, Jay Last and Gordon Moore. MacLowry also incorporates a wealth of archival photos that vividly remind us of what the future used to look like in years past. The film is also a bittersweet reminder that California used to be synonymous with opportunity and new beginnings, rather than bankruptcy and stagnation. As a documentarian, MacLowery is rather diplomatic, completely ignoring Shockley’s later controversial championing of eugenics, simply depicting him as a miserable boss and incompetent businessman instead. Still, it is a reasonable call, considering how such hot button topics are apt to distract public television viewers.

It becomes obvious watching Silicon Valley what a great dramatic feature this story could become in the right hands. Dominic West would be a decent likeness for Noyce. However, in a world where Ashton Kutcher is cast as Steve Jobs, you have wonder whom Hollywood might come up with. Taylor Lautner, perhaps? At least MacLowry did right by the band of pioneers who made Silicon Valley what it is today. Highly recommended as a work of scientific, economic, and cultural history, Silicon Valley premieres this coming Tuesday (2/5) on most PBS outlets nationwide.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on February 4th, 2012 at 9:59am.

By Joe Bendel. In 1981, the New York Republican Party supported lifelong Democrat Ed Koch’s re-election bid. He has since returned the favor, periodically endorsing Republicans like Pres. George W. Bush, Sen. Al D’Amato, Gov. George Pataki, and Andrew Eristoff. Throughout his public life, Mayor Koch has been something of a maverick and he is always good for a lively quote. Neil Barsky documents the triumphs and controversies of the iconic mayor in the simply but aptly titled Koch, which opens this Friday in New York.

If one thing comes through loud and clear in Koch it is the animosity between him and Mario Cuomo. It all harks back to 1977, when the Cuomo mayoral campaign allegedly gave winking approval to the guerrilla campaign urging New Yorkers: “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo.” Shrewdly capturing the center and the right of the electorate, Koch ultimately vanquished Cuomo running as the Liberal Party candidate. However, questions about Koch’s private life would persist. In fact, Barsky’s only real misstep is the inordinate about of time spent on this is-he-or-isn’t-he question.

For those New York transplants arriving during the Giuliani or Bloomberg eras, Koch is a briskly entertaining primer on the City’s 1970’s and 1980’s history. Recognizable names like Bess Myerson and Donald Manes, the late Queens Borough President, whose corruption scandal also tarnished the Koch administration, are put into full context. There are also plenty of his “how’m I doing?” greatest hits and the frequent media appearances that established a new template for New York mayors.

Barsky scored top-shelf access to Hizzoner, but the Koch of today comes across a bit sad, clearly uncomfortable with his status as a New York political graybeard-gadfly. Viewers can tell he misses the action.

While Barsky examines his legacy warts-and-all, his documentary will easily convince viewers Koch was the right no-nonsense man for the job, like a pre-Giuliani Giuliani. Koch is funnier, though. Shrewdly, Barsky emphasizes his humor whenever possible. The results, gently prodded along by Mark Degli Antoni’s peppy underscore, are compulsively watchable. One of the most entertaining documentaries of the young year so far, for both political and pop culture junkies, Koch the movie opens this Friday (2/1) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza uptown and the Angelika Film Center downtown.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on January 31st, 2012 at 12:18pm.

By Joe Bendel. What’s more fun than global conspiracy? If you ask former “inductees” of the Jejune Institute, you will likely get radically different responses. It seems it was all just a game, or was it? Indeed, truth is deliberately difficult to separate from fiction in Spencer McCall’s ostensive documentary The Institute, which screens during the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City.

Once upon a time, in 2008 to be exact, some strange leaflets began appearing around San Francisco—strange even by that city’s standards. The Jejune Institute was trumpeting its revolutionary scientific breakthroughs, like the personal force field, and inviting interested parties to inquire at their local offices. It turns out the Jejune Institute was headquartered in the heart of San Francisco’s glass-and-steel financial district. However, the office was nothing like Bank of America’s. Visitors were directed to a trippily appointed room, where they watched a video greeting from Jejune founder Octavio Coleman, Esq.

After a mind-bending intro to some of the basic Jejune buzz-words, inductees were sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the city, finding secret signs and clues amid the urban environment. Before long, inductees found themselves aligned with a rival faction seeking to liberate the power of “nonchalance” (the rough Jejune equivalent of The Force) from the megalomaniacal Coleman. Or something like that.

The thing is, it was all just a game, engineered by a conceptual artist to foster a sense of play in the city. Yet as soon as the behind-the-scenes architects come clean, McCall introduces a former player, whose tales of misadventures in the Bay Area sewers have to be part of the mythology. I mean, seriously.

Reportedly, McCall was brought in to document the final stages of the game and recognized a doc-worthy story when he saw one. By the same token, it seems safe to assume he is to some extent an accomplice to the mythmaking. There are enough digital tracks to suggest that the Jejune Instituters truly were running an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that some players took very seriously. As for everything else in the film, maintain a healthy skepticism.

The thing of it is, the Jejune mythology is a great story. McCall taps into our deep, abiding interest in secret histories, conspiracy theories, and urban legends, as well as our fear of cults. For scores of players, the ARG was like submerging themselves in an Illuminatus! novel. Yes, some of them might have become obsessed to an unhealthy degree, but they might also be playing the parts.

While openly inviting comparison to Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Institute will appeal to viewers who enjoyed Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. It might be strange and unreliable, but it is never dull. Recommended for those who appreciate postmodern fables, The Institute screens again tomorrow morning (1/22) at Treasure Mountain Inn, as part of this year’s Slamdance.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 9:53pm.