3/7/24 - The Eternal Memory - 6+/10

A tender and hopes-to-be positive inside look into the steadily deteriorating mind of a man afflicted with Alzheimer’s and the woman who loves and helps him. It isn’t breaking boundaries or rewriting how we view this affliction or those affected by it, but it is both sweet and salty, pouring out the love that they share for each other while showing those intimate moments of devastating reality trying to crush who & what they are. A nice personal doc.

3/4/24 - Four Daughters - 8/10

Blending of recounted reality with churned artifice to arrive at deep pain and expression of truth. It is funny, moving, a little scary, and constantly questioning. We are left with quandaries about the 2 daughters that left and about the mother who possibly aided in pushing them away, which adding that actorly dramatic layer of supposition and interpretation helped express those mysteries further. It dances with verisimilitude as we float through what their lives, what appears to be the broken love and the tightening scars that brought them all to where they stand now. Best doc of the year that I have seen.

2/25/24 - To Kill A Tiger (2022) - 5+/6-/10

This is one of those tales that enrages my undeniable ethnocentrism as I struggle to empathize with the position of the other culture, with its abhorrent ideology & practices. That is my personal burden that helps make the film a struggle to push through, since it is also about the gangrape of a 13 year old and the seeming indifference that surrounds the event, its victims, and the perpetrators. You can take solace in the crux of the film, a father's journey for justice. It can also be appreciated for its reality as this isn't a fanciful righteous story where things go just as they should, with plenty of doubt, terror, and worry at every development.

It does get there though the pacing and the slow grind of the story make it feel longer than it is. In the end, it is good and important, with estimable "right time, right place" documentary luck & gusto.

1/28/24 - Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2022) - 6-/10

A solid though somewhat stock cinematic portrait of a political prisoner/rigged election for the presidency of Uganda. An interesting view of the events, though I felt like it lacked political views driving the conflict and centered on the cult of personality that this musician turned politician brought to the table.

1/23/24 - 20 Days in Mariupol - 7/10

Not to box it in but it has what you expect: it’s a war documentary mostly set in a hospital. It is harrowing and devastating. Well constructed and vital in its delivery, but somewhat conventional.

Cynically it has a good chance of winning the Oscar, which is nominated for, being both anti-Russian, powerfully pro-journalist, and remarkably important in countering the false narratives around the conflict in Ukraine. Not to say it doesn’t deserve it (I don’t know yet), but it is the type of message that the Academy often rewards.