REWIND
A miraculous memoir documentary that took an unimaginable amount of bravery to not only make but to share with the world. We will be forever grateful for Sasha Joseph Neulinger in doing so. Using home footage that captures the good times and the bad, he tells a stunning story of survival where trust, violation, fear, and remarkable resilience all play a pivotal part. As Neulinger retraces his steps back to his childhood days, the shocking, sadistic truths of what occurred is drawn into a painful picture. Atrocious acts that we’re doomed to be repeated. It’s a strong punch to the gut.
Through his powerful and personal telling as a victim of child sexual abuse, Neulinger has heartbreaking talks with his family that no one should have to have. And while there’s no avoiding the damage that’s been done, there’s healing that comes from saying the unspeakable. It takes the control out of Neulinger’s abusers hands and back into his where it belongs. That’s real-life heroism.
BLUEBIRD
As the holy grail for singers/songwriters, The Bluebird Cafe is tucked away in a Nashville strip mall where the ones lucky enough to get a seat sit shoulder-to-shoulder while getting swept up in the lyrics of a song. This tuneful documentary captures that intimacy beautifully, allowing audiences to experience a close-knit concert that’s rare these days. And as director Brian Loschiavo interviews famous superstars and those aspiring to become one, chasing their dreams is something they all share. I mean The Bluebird Cafe is where dreams do come true. Loschiavo inscribes that into your head.
Where this film really succeeds is in the origin stories that cement Bluebird’s legacy and seeing its lasting influence flow through each artist and their stripped down performance. At the same time, it’s a shallow showcase for an establishment with an almost 40 year history in Music City. There’s a lot of different chords that could’ve been played narratively, but Loschiavo strums the most basic one. You’re left wanting more than the tourist version shown.
ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE
Ryszard “Ricardo” Kapuscinski, a Polish war journalist, puts himself inside the hellish conflict erupting during Angola’s independence from Portugal back in 1975. He’s in search of a cloistered rebel leader, but his trip will be one of revolting bloodshed. The Portuguese word “confusao” is mentioned to describe the anarchy and havoc of the areas Kapuscinski is covering, and directors Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow’s usage of survivor interviews, archival footage, and emphatic animation clearly reflects that.
Visually, the part-animation, part-documentary is absorbing, taking a page out of Waltz With Bashir’s book. It presents a distinct outlet to tell warfare stories like this where war is appalling but imperative at times. Still, Kapuscinski’s presented as a shoal character driven by action and restricted in feeling. That goes for most we come in contact with in the CGI re-enactments – unfavorably affecting the intended enthrallment of what they’re risking their lives for. It’s the fatal flaw in Fuente and Nenow’s historic hagiographic hybrid.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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