Documentaries

Sympathy for the devil worshipers

Andrew O'Hehir — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:01:00 PST

It's taken more than a full decade for the most widely demonized and vilified music scene in rock history -- the Norwegian black metal scene of the early to mid-'90s -- to get anything close to a fair treatment in a documentary film. In truth, the job isn't finished yet. As crafty and compelling as Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell's "Until the Light Takes Us" is, it may go too far in its understandable desire to correct the bias and prejudice of mainstream journalism.

"The End of Poverty?": How the rich steal from the poor

Andrew O'Hehir — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:13:00 PST

So here's the real question about capitalism, the one nobody really wants to face: Does it create gross inequality as an unfortunate byproduct of its energy and dynamism -- or is gross inequality itself, between rich and poor, between the industrialized North and the underdeveloped South, the principal product of capitalism over the last five centuries?

"Brick City": Like "The Wire," but true

Heather Havrilesky — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:19:00 PDT

Cynicism is a luxury item. You might be able to afford it, but not everyone can. If you're young, you can roll your eyes at the world without paying much of a price. If you're rich, you can shake your head and sigh from the comfort of your climate-controlled, pest-free, meticulously clean square footage.

Let a thousand eco-documentaries bloom!

Andrew O'Hehir — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:20:00 PDT

Clockwise from top left, images from "Fuel," "Crude," "Food Inc." and "The End of the Line"

The family who just said no

Andrew O'Hehir — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:18:00 PDT

Colin Beavan and his daughter at the market

Will Ecuador's Indians bankrupt Chevron?

Andrew O'Hehir — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:19:00 PDT

Who's to blame for the mortgage crisis?

Andrew O'Hehir — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:03:00 PDT

Argot Pictures

An image from "American Casino."

Eco-pirates of the Antarctic

Andrew O'Hehir — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:29:00 PDT

Image from "At the Edge of the World"

Art, commerce, Anna Wintour and "The September Issue"

Andrew O'Hehir — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:27:00 PDT

Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

R.J. Cutler, director of "The September Issue."

"The September Issue"

Stephanie Zacharek — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:03:00 PDT

R.J. Cutler's vibrant and mischievous documentary "The September Issue" is only partly a movie about fashion. At its heart, it's really a movie about work, about the ways individuals compete with, grate against and inspire one another in the workplace. The movie documents the creation of the largest and most anticipated issue of Vogue magazine's yearly cycle -- in this case, specifically, the September 2007 issue, the fattest in Vogue's history -- by tracking the frustrations, confrontations and backstage machinations of the players who put it together, from the fashion editors to the art director to the guy who mans the office's color copier. Presiding over this aesthetically attuned circus is editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who, as Candy Pratts Price, the executive fashion director of Vogue's online adjunct, Style.com, says in the movie, is not just the high priestess of the whole enterprise but the pope.

Woodstock never dies

Jacqueline Linge — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:18:00 PDT

Forty years ago this weekend, over 500,000 people descended upon Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, N.Y., for a three-day music festival. Miles of ink have been spilled in the years since then mythologizing the mud, the bad acid trips and the music, and creating something fresh out of this cultural legend is not an easy task -- even for an Academy Award-winning filmmaker like Barbara Kopple.

When we thought we could save the Earth

Andrew O'Hehir — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:16:00 PDT

"Earth Days" (opens August 14)

Critics' Picks: Suicide boys

Heather Havrilesky — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:24:00 PDT

HBO's "Boy Interrupted," premieres Monday, Aug. 3, at 9 p.m.

Bond and Cousteau track the dolphin killers

Andrew O'Hehir — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:30:00 PDT

Photo Courtesy of Oceanic Preservation Society

Dolphins jump on location of "The Cove."

Roundup: Movies not to miss

Andrew O'Hehir — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:20:00 PDT

Courtesy The Fish Film, Open Eye Pictures, IFC Films

Images from "The End of the Line," left, "Under Our Skin," and "Dead Snow."

Behind the food industry's iron curtain

Andrew O'Hehir — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:25:00 PDT

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Listen to the interview with Robert Kenner

Movies not to miss: "Unmistaken Child"

Andrew O'Hehir — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:30:00 PDT

Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories

Tenzin Zopa in "Unmistaken Child."

"Objectified"

Stephanie Zacharek — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:19:00 PDT

Thinking too hard about the power, mystery and beauty of everyday things can give you a headache. That headache can blossom into a migraine if you consider that everything around you was, at some point, designed by someone, badly or well or possibly just indifferently. But Gary Hustwit's documentary "Objectified" -- which is ostensibly about industrial design, although its real subject is the way the objects around us can come to mean something in our lives -- is so straightforward, sensible and thought-provoking that it alleviates that design noise instead of adding to it.

Interview with Kirby Dick

Thu, 07 May 2009 03:01:00 PDT

Andrew O'Hehir interviews the filmmaker about what happens when gay politicians stay in the closet. Read the full interview here.

Tribeca: Best of the fest

Andrew O'Hehir — Tue, 05 May 2009 11:38:00 PDT

Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival

Clockwise from top left: Scenes from "The Eclipse," "Defamation," "About Elly" and "The Fish Child."