I’ve been listening to Fingerprints of God; The Search for the Science of Spirituality by…
fingerprints of god
I’ve been listening to Fingerprints of God; The Search for the Science of Spiritualityby Barbara Bradley Hagerty. It really is quite an interesting book. Hagerty, NPR’s (National Public Radio) religious correspondent since 1995, discusses the questions about spirituality and God, such as are we programmed to connect with God, is there a God spot in the brain, and are spiritual…
Docs in Theaters: "Decoding Deepak" "Escape Fire" "The House I Live In" and "In My Mother's Arms"
This week's new theatrical releases for documentary include two great issue films (Escape Fire and The House I Live In) that look at systemic problems in the U.S., the sort big enough that a cynic like me should feel it's all over for those causes. And maybe I do, but at least one of the films is full of some steps in the right direction. The other two are an intimate look at a famous father by his son (Decoding Deepak) and a heartbreaking look at children orphaned by war (In My Mother's Arms), the latter which doesn't open until Monday.
Notable expansions this week include Detropia, which is doing a one-night engagement on 10/8 in multiple locations in Michigan and nearby states, as well as How to Survive a Plague, Hellbound?, The Other Dream Team, Steve James's Head Games, Switch, Something Between, They Call it Myanmar and Wild Horse Wild Ride.
Festivals featuring documentaries this week include Antenna Documentary [10/10-10/14]; New York [9/28-10/14]; Hawaii International [10/11-10/21]; Ellensburg [10/5-10/7]; Hamptons International [10/4-10/8];Milwaukee [9/27-10/11]; Hamburg [9/27-10/6]; Rio [9/27-10/11]; Reykjavik International [9/27-10/7]; Vancouver International [9/27-10/12]; Louisville International [10/4-10/7]; Polygrind Underground (Las Vegas) [10/5-10/7]; Flagstaff Mountain [10/10-10/14]; and Take One Action [9/21-10/6].
The best of the current crop of election season health care issue docs, this film by Susan Froemke (a producer and editor on Grey Gardens) and Matthew Heineman (Our Time) looks at why the current system in the U.S. is broken (it's a disease management system, is the well-noted claim) and offers cheap, simple and obvious yet ignored prevention-based solutions involving diet, exercise and regular, focused primary care. Notable interviewees include Dr. Andrew Weil, former Medicare and Medicaid head Don Burwick, U.S. Forces Deputy Commander Gen. David Fridovich and Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Steven Nissen.
In a guide to all the health care focused docs in theaters for Movies.com, I wrote that this is necessary viewing before the election because:
it shows us that the wrong points about health care are being addressed and debated, that we should be questioning the quality and effectiveness of our health system before we make the effort to give all Americans access to something that might not even be beneficial to them. It’s one of those rare gems that concentrates on solutions to a problem rather than just hopelessly presenting one.
For more discussion of the film plus four video clips, check out my interview with Froemke and Heineman posted earlier this week.
Recommended if You Like: Sicko; American Teacher; Forks Over Knives
Winner of the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Winner of the award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking at the 2012 Newport Beach Film Festival.
Now playing in NYC, L.A., Salt Lake City, Berkeley, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Nashville, Tucson and Washington, DC. Also now available from iTunes and other VOD services. For upcoming openings in other cities, check the film's screenings page.
The House I Live In
The new film from Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight; Reagan) is a more personal documentary than we're used to from him, and I think it might be his best yet, though not necessarily because of its subjective entry point. Inspired by his childhood housekeeper and informed by other individual American stories as well as expert opinion, such as that of prominent talking head David Simon (creator of The Wire), the doc tackles the failed U.S. War on Drugs and how it's become an enormously systemic human rights problem relative to the Holocaust.
As I wrote at Movies.com, the film is "unlike most issue docs and most first-person films, bringing us through a comprehensive history and contemporary look" at the drug war. "I would love to see this finally earn Jarecki his first Oscar nomination."
Recommended if You Like: Why We Fight; The Wire; The Interrupters
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Honorable Mention for the React to Film Social Issue Award at the 2012 Silverdocs Documentary Festival.
Now playing at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in NYC. Opens in L.A. and Washington, DC, next week. For upcoming openings in other cities, check the film's showtimes & tickets page.
Decoding Deepak
Another in a growing trend of docs in which a filmmaker points his camera at his famous father (Documentary Channel viewers should recall Tell Them Who You Are). Here author/journalist Gotham Chopra makes his directorial debut with a doc about his father, famed spiritual icon Deepak Chopra, and the meaning of identity.
From the official synopsis:
Ultimately what emerges is a picture of a Deepak that while reminiscent of other popularized Indian gurus, is more dad than demigod. Full of flaws, foils, intelligence, and irreverence, the decoded Deepak uncovered by his son’s honest scrutiny of him is a symbol of a world searching for answers in the most unlikely places and a deeper plunge into the meaning of identity itself.
Now playing in NYC, L.A. and Palm Springs. Also now available from iTunes and other VOD services. Opens next week in San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Phoenix and Portland, OR. For upcoming openings in other cities, check the film's watch page.
In My Mother's Arms
This new doc from Son of Babylon filmmakers Mohamed and Atea Al Daradji is about a makeship orphanage in the "notoriously dangerous" Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Sadr. Here's part of the official synopsis:
Husham, an unlikely hero working tirelessly without state support to shelter and protect more than thirty children, had been given two weeks to vacate the premises and had neither money nor resources at his disposal. The children in his care are in dire straits: Saif can't remember anything about his dead mother but her name; Mohammed struggles to balance school life with his search for self-identity; and Salah, who is too traumatized to speak, fears he may never be able to go to school. An acclaimed selection of the Toronto, Abu Dhabi and CPH:DOX film festivals, In My Mother's Arms is a powerful reminder that the battlefield is only one of many places one can find the victims of war.
Begins Monday at the Maysles Cinema in NYC. For info go to the Maysles Institute website.
Expanded and continuing documentary releases in theaters this week (including some on the festival circuit). Title links go to the film's original Docs in Theaters posting or official website:
2016: Obama's America (theater listings)
5 Broken Cameras (theater listings)
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (theater listings)
Air Racers 3D (IMAX)
The Ambassador (theater listings)
American Autumn: An Occudoc (theater listings)
American Teacher (theater listings)
Beauty is Embarrassing (theater listings)
Bel Borba Aqui (theater listings)
Big Boys Gone Bananas!* (theater listings)
Bill W. (theater listings)
Born to Be Wild 3D (IMAX)
Call Me Kuchu (theater listings)
Chimpanzee
China Heavyweight (theater listings)
The City Dark (theater listings)
Dear Mandela (theater listings)
Death by China (theater listings)
Detropia (theater listings)
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (theater listings)
Doctored (theater listings)
First Position (theater listings)
Flying Monsters 3D (IMAX)
Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (theater listings)
Gerhard Richter Painting (theater listings)
Harvest of Empire (theater listings)
Head Games (theater listings)
Hellbound? (theater listings)
How to Survive a Plague (theater listings)
The Imposter (theater listings)
Indie Game: The Movie (theater listings)
Inni (theater listings)
The Invisible War (theater listings)
It's No Dream: The Life of Theodore Herzl (theater listings)
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance (theater listing)
Kumare (theater listings)
Knuckleball! (theater listings)
Last Call at the Oasis (theater listings)
Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present (theater listings)
Meet the Fokkens (theater listings)
Mulberry Child (theater listings)
Neil Young Journeys
Never Stand Still (theater listings)
The Other Dream Team (theater listings)
Pink Ribbons, Inc. (theater listings)
The Queen of Versailles (theater listings)
Radio Unnameable (theater listings)
Samsara (theater listings)
Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World (IMAX)
Searching for Sugar Man (theater listings)
Side by Side (theater listings)
Somewhere Between (theater listings)
Step Up to the Plate (theater listings)
Sushi: The Global Catch (theater listings)
Switch (theater listings)
Tears of Gaza (theater listings)
They Call It Myanmar (theater listings)
True Wolf (theater listing)
The Waiting Room (theater listings)
Wild Horse, Wild Ride (theater listings)
If you would like a film’s opening or expansion included in the weekly Docs In Theaters post, click the contact link on the right and send me an email.
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