Discovering ourselves is often a challenging process, especially when we feel lost and have no idea where or how to look for answers. However, if we remain open to options – including those that appear to be coming to us from unlikely sources – we may just find the guidance we seek.
Tune in for the latest Cinema Scribe segment on Bring Me 2 Life Radio, Tuesday, April 20, at 2 pm ET,
Like my list of the year’s best and worst in cinema coming a little late “this year,” so it is with my list of the best and worst in “2020’s” documentaries.
We can all use a little help from time to time. There are even times when we can use a lot of it, and, in those instances where we’re up against seemingly impossible odds, such as being under the thumb of despotic authority figures, it’s positively essential.
Reviews of "Blackbird," "House of Cardin" and "Cicada," as well as a film festival wrap-up, are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the web site of The Good Media Network, available by clicking here.
“House of Cardin” (2019 production, 2020 release). Cast: Interviews: Pierre Cardin, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Naomi Campbell, Sharon Stone, Alice Cooper, Jean-Michel Jarre, Dionne Warwick, Amy Fine-Collins, Phillippe Starck, Hanae Mori. Archive Footage: Jeanne Moreau, Andre Oliver, Hiroko Matsumoto. Directors: P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes. Web site. Trailer. Style – it’s something that can be challenging to get right but all too easy to get wrong. Achieving success at it can seem like a random, even capricious endeavor. But when it works, it works. And, if someone manages to make a habit out of catching the brass ring, that’s one fortunate individual indeed. Such has been the case for a truly inspired innovator who has left his mark on the design [...]
“Mr. Soul!” (2018 production, 2020 release). Cast: Interviews: Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Amiri Baraka, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, Carmen De Lavallade, David Leeming, Nikki Giovanni, Dr. Harold G. Haizlip, Stan Lathan, Felipe Luciano, Christopher Lukas, Melba Moore, Novella Nelson, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Dr. Billy Taylor, Robert J. Thompson. Archive Footage: Ellis Haizlip, Mohammad Ali, Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Louis Farrakhan, Stevie Wonder, Billy Preston, Kool & the Gang, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Delfonics, Black Ivory, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Georgia Jackson, Al Green, Anna Maria Horsford, Maya Angelou, Bill Withers, Earth Wind & Fire, Hugh Masekela, The Last Poets, Roberta Flack, Stokely Carmichael, Arsenio Hall, Ruby Dee, Ossie [...]
“A Sinner in Mecca” (2015, 2020 re-release). Cast: Parvez Sharma. Director: Parvez Sharma. Screenplay: Sajid Akbar, Alison Amron and Parvez Sharma. Web site. Trailer. When faced with a paradox, it’s easy to lose hope. Circumstances may seem so inextricably entangled that it appears there’s no way to sort matters out. Indeed, it’s the kind of situation where it seems like only divine intervention can help. And it’s that kind of help that’s being sought by a seriously conflicted individual whose hopes, dreams and aspirations are caught up in a conundrum ostensibly incapable of being unraveled, the subject of the recently re-released documentary, “A Sinner in Mecca.” After the completion of his controversial debut feature, filmmaker Parvez Sharma became a marked [...]
Reviews of "Papicha," "The New Bauhaus" and "Spider" are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the web site of The Good Media Network, available by clicking here.
“The New Bauhaus” (2019 production, 2020 release). Cast: Interviews: Olafur Eliasson, Elizabeth Siegel, Joyce Tsai, Robin Schuldenfrei, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hattula Moholy-Nagy, Barbara Kasten. Archive Material: László Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Walter Gropius. Director: Alysa Nahmias. Screenplay: Alysa Nahmias and Miranda Yousef. Web site. Trailer. A Chinese fortune cookie I once cracked open imparted a simple but inspiring message, “There is no greater joy than creation.” Those words have stayed with me for years, and I’m always moved when I see comparable sentiments expressed through other means. And, in that vein, a recently released film echoes that notion through a portrait of an individual whose calling epitomizes that very idea, the central figure profiled in the engaging new documentary, “The New [...]
