9/11: Inside the President’s War Room is a candid documentary meant to commemorate the events of September 11th, 2001 and serve as essential viewing for its 20th anniversary. While the film delivers on its candid nature, featuring exclusive photographs and interviews with past White House officials including former president George W. Bush, Adam Wishart’s doc is not as considerate as it could be.
Crystal Moselle, who made a name for herself as a documentarian with the 2015 hit The Wolfpack, takes inspiration from Larry Clark’s career in her narrative feature debut Skate Kitchen. It’s a seamless transition for Moselle who is experimenting (and subtlety infiltrating) with documentary aesthetics to tell a scripted story about a young woman who is trying to gain acceptance while searching for independence.
By: Jessica Goddard Architectural opulence meets pop culture royalty in Matthew Miele’s Always at The Carlyle, a documentary about the literal ins-and-outs of the discreetly famous 88-year-old Upper East Side Manhattan hotel.
Producer/writer Michael Sparaga has seemingly laid low since 2011’s Servitude, but he’s been very busy working on The Missing Ingredient: What is the Recipe for Success? – a documentary that has the filmmaker testing the waters in another culinary scene. This time, Sparaga hits the director’s chair for this duel story of creative minds within the food industry.
Bobby Sands: 66 Days (DIR. Brendan Byrne) By: Shannon Page Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army, was only twenty-seven years old when he died in prison in 1981 after refusing food for 66 days. Sands was the first of ten IRA prisoners to die as the result of a hunger strike in protest of their status as regular criminals, as opposed to political prisoners.
By: Addison Wylie I’ve accused some filmmakers and actors of being secret admirers of romances and rom-coms. Chris Evans (Captain America himself) can be added to that list for he not only frequents rom-coms (including this year’s smug Playing It Cool), but he has also unwisely started his directorial career with the lovey-dovey Before We Go. Evans’ romance doesn’t give in to typical clichés – it throws itself at them. Pardon the blasé backlash, but…
By: Addison Wylie Acting as this year’s Fame High at TIFF Next Wave, I Learn America is also about a select group of students who attend high school and face frequent obstacles. In Fame High, those students were hampered when chasing a creative dream. In I Learn America, these young immigrants try and understand the American dream. New York City’s Lafayette is the home of International High School. The school opens its doors for nearly…