The ‘Kim’s Video’ Documentary Would Like to Rent Out a Space in Your Heart

April 5, 2024

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Be Kind… (CREDIT: Drafthouse Films/Screenshot)

Starring: Yongman Kim

Directors: Ashley Sabin and David Redmon

Running Time: 85 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: April 5, 2024 (Theaters)

If you’re a film buff who spent any time in New York City between 1987 and 2008, then you’re probably familiar with Kim’s Video and Music, the East Village rental store that was famous for its wide selection of obscure (and often bootleg) cinematic offerings. In the documentary Kim’s Video, co-director David Redmon sets out to discover what happened to the joint’s extensive VHS collection. His journey leads him to a town in Sicily and a collaboration with Yongman Kim, aka the “Kim” in “Kim’s Video.” If you’ve visited the Lower Manhattan location of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, then chances are you know where this story is ultimately headed

So now, instead of a traditional review, I would like to take this space to reminisce about my own story of growing up at the video store and invite my readers to do so as well in the comments section. I took up residence in NYC too late to become a member of Kim’s, but there were a few rental options for me to check out in suburban southeastern Pennsylvania in the 90s and early 2000s. The nearest and dearest was the local branch of West Coast Video. There was also a Blockbuster in the area, but West Coast was a little bit closer and a little bit cooler. It really only offered new and major releases, so it wasn’t the place where I expanded the depths of my cinematic taste into the bizarre and the unknown, but it certainly served its purpose. It was where I rented Monkeybone, after all. I also have a vague memory of Addams Family Reunion being prominently displayed in the new release shelves for an inordinately long amount of time.

Moving onto my high school and college years, when I would spend a fair amount of time at a friend’s house that was around the block from a Hollywood Video. That chain had what I believe was a loyalty program named “MVP,” which left me flummoxed about why this store was so enamored with a hockey-playing chimp.

Much of Kim’s Video the documentary consists of various movie clips, as Redmon fancies himself the protagonist of all the stories he encountered via his Kim’s Video membership over the years. As someone who tends to live much of my life through a parasocial lens, I could see where he’s coming from, and I reckon I’m not the only one.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Rentals

‘Occupied City’ Review: Looking Back at What Happened in The Netherlands During the Holocaust Via Four-Hour Documentary

December 22, 2023

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Occupied City (CREDIT: A24)

Narrator: Melanie Hyams

Director: Steve McQueen

Running Time: 262 Minutes (Including a 15-Minute Intermission)

Rating: PG-13 for A Disturbing History Lesson

Release Date: December 25, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: In a year of high-profile lengthy theatrical releases, Occupied City is the longest endurance test yet. Clocking in at over four hours (with a break in between), this documentary from director Steve McQueen features footage of modern-day Amsterdam juxtaposed with voice-over narration describing events that happened during the Holocaust at various buildings in the Dutch capital. The visuals were shot during some of the most intense chapters of the COVID-19 pandemic, which invites you to draw historical parallels, if you please. But for the most part, it’s all presented profoundly matter-of-factly.

What Made an Impression?: Exhibiting the Evidence: I’ve never seen any movie quite like Occupied City, and I’m kind of surprised – almost stunned, even – that it’s getting any sort of commercial theatrical release at all. It might be worth seeing just on the basis of that uniqueness alone. But you might also come to the same conclusion that I did, which is to say: this feels more like a museum exhibit than a movie, wherein the narration would play on a loop in a room throughout the day while the images are projected on the wall.
Viewing Strategy: Extending that museum exhibit idea, that would likely be a preferable way to take in Occupied City, since it would allow you to get up and stretch and keep the blood flowing. As for the cinematic form that it actually exists in, it at least helps that there’s an intermission to prevent a total lack of mobility. But even if you do get up at some point during either of the two halves, don’t worry. McQueen himself has said that pee breaks are part of the experience. After all, four hours isn’t massive enough to fully capture this subject, so you’re going to be missing out on something anyway. You might as well embrace that fact and not lose touch with the outside world too much if you do decide to go see Occupied City.

Occupied City is Recommended If You Like: Thoroughness, University lectures, An even-keeled speaking voice

Grade: 3 out of 5 Amsterdams

‘Kokomo City’ Review: A Quartet of Black Trans Sex Workers Give Us the Scoop

July 26, 2023

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Way down in Kokomo… (Courtesy of Sundance Institute and Magnolia Pictures | Photo by D. Smith)

Starring: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Dominique Silver

Director: D. Smith

Running Time: 73 Minutes

Rating: R for Unfiltered Conversations and Some Unfiltered Nudity

Release Date: July 28, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Sex workers tend to operate within the shadows of society. And for transgender sex workers, that’s even more true. But director D. Smith is pulling back the curtains on that world in the documentary Kokomo City, as she touches down in New York City and Atlanta to interview four of these ladies: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver. For a little more than an hour, they get the chance to spill as much tea as they want. No explicit detail is spared, nor should it be, if we want to get the full picture. So reserve your judgment and let go of your pearls, because they’re got plenty of stories to tell.

What Made an Impression?: Tale as Old as Time: In my 35 years on this planet, I can’t remember a time when the culture at large was more open-minded about both sex work and transgender people. Of course, there’s also been a concerted pushback against the progress of queer groups, but that resistance makes it clear just how visible they’ve become. This is all to say, I can’t imagine Kokomo City arriving in theaters anytime before now. (Although, it does feel like the sort of thing that you might have stumbled upon on HBO or Showtime at 3:00 AM 25 years ago.) Its existence is remarkable, but it treats its subject matter as unremarkably as possible. As the ladies talk about guiding their clients through taboo desires and navigating threats of violence, it’s all so matter-of-fact, and I imagine it’s always been that way for them.
Casual Intimacy: When D. Smith sat down with her interviewees, I don’t think they imagined that some random white cishet male critic would be analyzing their stories so closely. Or maybe they did! By committing their stories to a documentary, it opens up the possibility that any theoretical audiences could stumble upon them. And they seem to be okay with that. Or at least, they were comfortable enough around their director that they were willing to be open about pretty much anything without worrying about the secondary listeners. That sense of intimacy was underscored particularly for me during some footage shot at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a location I’ve run through on plenty of occasions. I certainly haven’t lived the same experiences as these ladies, but I’ve trod the same ground, and so surely have millions of others.

Kokomo City is Recommended If You Like: Talking heads, LGBTQ activism, Gossip

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Confessions

Winter is Coming, with ‘The YouTube Effect’

July 10, 2023

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Now Playing (CREDIT: Drafthouse Films/Kanopy)

Starring: YouTube

Director: Alex Winter

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rating: Not Rated

Release Date: July 7, 2023 (Theaters)

The YouTube Effect, the latest documentary from Alex Winter, is here to let us know that our most popular video-sharing website has had quite the devastating effect on humanity. Just how massive has that effect been? To quote Carl Sagan (who does not factor into this documentary at all), “Billions and billions.” While this is no great revelation, this state of affairs remains unnerving nonetheless. So what should we do? I for one will take inspiration from Winter’s most famous creation and suggest simply increasing the Iron Maiden-to-everything else ratio.

Grade: I Like Watching YouTube on the Big Screen (3 out of 5 Upvotes)

‘Every Body’ is an Essential Documentary About the Intersex Community

June 27, 2023

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Every Body, EVERY Body, Every Body, EVERY Body (CREDIT: Courtesy of FOCUS FEATURES / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)

Starring: River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, Sean Saifa Wall

Director: Julie Cohen

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: R for A Little Bit of Language and Nude Images

Release Date: June 30, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Perhaps the least widely understood letter in the acronym LGBTQIA is the “I.” It stands for “intersex,” which refers to individuals with biological sex characteristics that don’t fit neatly into the male/female binary. It’s estimated that about 1.7% of the population have some sort of intersex characteristics. In some cases, those traits may remain undetected, but in others, surgery may happen to confirm a particular sex assignment. The documentary Every Body focuses on the stories of three intersex individuals (River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, Sean Saifa Wall) of varying physical appearance and gender identity to posit that maybe the treatment of intersex people shouldn’t be as one-size-fits-all as it has historically been.

What Made an Impression?: Gender Reveal Pandemonium: Every Body opens with a montage of gender reveal parties and their elaborate, often violent methods of introducing a coming baby’s identity. The sequence is matter-of-factly over-the-top, even without showing some of the most notoriously destructive examples of this phenomenon. The point is that society is so focused on gender, often to a comical extreme, which ultimately leads to the suggestion that ultimately maybe we could settle down a bit and replace these gender reveals with the theoretically simpler alternative of “human reveal parties.”
An Infamous Case: Perhaps the most crucial sequence of Every Body involves River, Alicia, and Sean being introduced to the story of one of the most well-known intersex persons, who actually wasn’t intersex at all. Born in 1965, David Reimer’s penis was mutilated when he was a baby by a botched circumcision. Reconstructive surgery was pretty much nonexistent at the time, so his mother followed the teachings of psychologist John Money, who believed that gender identity could be conditioned through behavioral intervention. So David was raised as a girl, but his fundamental boyhood couldn’t hide for very long. His story is presented here mostly in the form of an old Dateline episode, but his story remains vital, and the added context of everyone’s reactions justify its conclusion.
Getting to Know Them: A documentary like this one is only as compelling as its subjects, and on that score, River, Alicia, and Sean are interesting and inviting individuals. Their viewpoints of the intersex parts of their identity are deeply and firmly considered, and they’re happy to explain themselves to a cinematic audience. And chances are you’ll also be happy to start a parasocial relationship with them.

Every Body is Recommended If You Like: The concept of cura personalis

Grade: 4 out of 5 Humans

Look Up to the Sky, It’s Time to Say ‘Good Night Oppy’!

November 2, 2022

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Oh, what a night! (CREDIT: Prime Video)

Starring: The Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

Director: Ryan White

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG for The End of a Technological Life Cycle

Release Date: November 4, 2022 (Theaters)/November 23, 2022 (Amazon Prime Video)

What’s It About?: It’s the early 21st century, so you know what that means: it’s time to explore Mars! Twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity lifted off from Earth in the summer of 2003, with both arriving on the red planet in January 2004. The latter, known affectionately as “Oppy,” was the second arrival, but he’s the star of the show here. Obviously the best view of this journey would have been hitching a ride with Oppy, but he wasn’t taking any passengers. So the next best option would have been keeping an eye on the action at NASA’s mission control. But the time has passed for that, of course, so for those of us who aren’t aerospace engineers, we can get caught up with all the action via a documentary on the big screen. And that’s what brings us to Good Night Oppy.

What Made an Impression?: If you’re a fan of space travel and unlocking the secrets of the universe, you’ll find plenty to geek out over in Good Night Oppy. Or if you’re a youngster, maybe this will be the formative moment to unlock a lifelong passion. But for those of us with a more passing interest, there isn’t a ton here in the way of shocking revelations. The possibility of life on Mars is a story that occasionally makes its way to the nightly news, after all. But this is still a winning experience, thanks to the unbridled enthusiasm of everyone on NASA’s rover teams. Vicariously soaking up their excitement is the major appeal here.

Good Night Oppy is Recommended If You Are: A NASA Employee or an Aspiring NASA Employee

Grade: 3 out of 5 Rovers

‘Moonage Daydream’ Transports Us to the David Bowie Dimension

September 12, 2022

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Rockin! (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: David Bowie

Director: Brett Morgen

Running Time: 140 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Brief Snippets of Profane Rock ‘n’ Roll

Release Date: September 16, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: David Bowie lives! Not in the most literal sense, of course. But certainly in plenty of metaphorical senses, as his entire discography remains readily available to listen and re-listen to, while his on-screen appearances are also similarly accessible. But in the six years since his death, his presence has never been more profoundly felt than in the new Brett Morgen-directed documentary Moonage Daydream. It’s a montage primarily consisting of rare and never-before-seen concert footage and interviews. Edited in a stream-of-conscious, mostly chronological fashion, it gives off an uncannily transcendent vibe of simultaneous familiarity and revelation.

What Made an Impression?: If you’re a fan of David Bowie, Moonage Daydream will make you fall in love with him all over again. If you’re not a fan, hopefully you can at least appreciate the deep dive into his psyche that this film offers. And if you’ve somehow never heard of Bowie, hoo boy, I don’t know if there’s any way for you to fully prepare for this experience.

This is the type of movie where you could rearrange the order of every single scene, and it would still feel pretty much the same. Or maybe it would feel a little different, but still equally satisfying. In my attempt to recreate it in my mind since watching it a few weeks ago, I’m not sure what followed what exactly. I didn’t take as many notes as I usually do, as it felt much more appropriate to let the whole thing just wash over me. (The only Bowie quote I did write down was “What’s my relationship with the universe?”, which feels apt.)

Mixed in with all the Bowie-centric footage are snippets of thematically similar pop culture artifacts, including quick clips of some choice sci-fi B-movies, like Plan 9 from Outer Space and This Island Earth. Is this some sort of cosmic message assuring us that Ziggy Stardust has found his otherworldly place alongside these classics? I’m certainly happy to interpret it that way.

Moonage Daydream is Recommended If You Like: Koyaanisqatsi

Grade: 4 out of 5 Personae

‘¡Viva Maestro!’ Review: Get to Know Gustavo Dudamel!

April 6, 2022

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¡Viva Maestro! (CREDIT: Greenwich Entertainment/Screenshot)

Starring: Gustavo Dudamel

Director: Theodore Braun

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rating: Unrated (But It Would’ve Been a G or PG)

Release Date: April 8, 2022 (Theaters)

I’m not much of a patron of classical music performances, but I do love going to the movies (obviously). Which is to say, despite not being in his target audience, I am familiar with Gustavo Dudamel, as his conducting of the L.A. Philharmonic was featured in a “One Night Only” event broadcast to cinemas several years ago. And I saw the pre-show ad for that performance a lot. Even in that one 30-second snippet, it was clear just how preternaturally charismatic he was, even considering the baseline of gesticulation in his line of work. So when I found out that I would be going to see a documentary about him, I figured it wouldn’t take much to make him compelling. Suffice it to say, ¡Viva Maestro! doesn’t get in the way of itself.

When making a documentary about a living person, one central question is (or at least should be): Why now? What about this particular moment in time is so significant to this particular person’s life? Considering the inherently difficult and mercurial nature of filmmaking, I imagine that the main reason is that this just happened to be when director Theodore Braun was finally able to put together everything he needed. But whether it was planned or serendipitous, ¡Viva Maestro! captures Dudamel at a crossroads, as political strife in his native Venezuela prevents him from being able to return home while he’s in the middle of an international tour. Ultimately, that is more of a backdrop than anything else. Dudamel has always been reluctant to publicly share his political views, and ¡Viva Maestro! doesn’t press him much on that matter.

Thus what we have here is a mostly straightforward portrait of what it’s like to be one of the most famous and acclaimed conductors in the world today. I found the most compelling scenes to be Dudamel’s rehearsals with his orchestra. The word to describe them is “exacting.” Every note has to be played correctly to the exact right fraction of a second. That might sound like something out of Whiplash, but there’s also warmth at the core of Dudamel’s instructions to mitigate the intensity. This isn’t the life for me, but it is the life for people who have dedicated themselves to playing an instrument. People flock to this guy; ¡Viva Maestro! keys right in on his loyalty and dedication.

¡Viva Maestro! is Recommended If You Like: Holding your arms at perpendicular angles

Grade: 3 out of 5 Batons

An Animated Documentary About a Refugee? Thank You, ‘Flee’!

December 2, 2021

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Flee (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Amin Nawabi

Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Disturbing Corruption and Poor Living Conditions

Release Date: December 3, 2021 (Theaters)

In the days leading up to my viewing of Flee, it was always the Red Hot Chili Peppers that popped into my head whenever I said the title to myself. But of course, this movie has nothing to do with a certain rock ‘n’ roll bassist, so this information is kind of irrelevant, but I like my readers to know where my mind was at when they’re reading my reviews. And Flee had that mind captivated to the point that Flea no longer occupied my headspace pretty much immediately.

Instead, this Flee refers to the act of fleeing, which a man by the name of Amin Nawabi has had to do quite a bit over the course of his life. He’s an Afghan living in Denmark by way of Russia, with a few other bumpy stops along the way. We meet him at a point in his life when he’s finally able to stay in place much more than in his younger on-the-run days. This stability has helped him to open up and tell his story to his friend Jonas Poher Rasmussen, who went ahead and directed this film. Most of Amin’s journey was unrecorded at the time (save for a few fortuitous pieces of security footage), so Rasmussen resorts to animating the tale along with a soundtrack of Amin recounting his memories. The end result is basically a vibrant and heart-tugging artistic therapy session.

Like countless other refugees, Amin and his family are just trying to escape the threat of violence in their homeland. And then like just about everyone else in post-Soviet Russia, they have to make their way through the muck of chaos and corruption (which is of course more suffocating for outsiders). And on top of all that, Amin is coming to terms with his queer identity after growing up in a country that doesn’t even have a word for “gay.”

But Flee is far from an unrelenting horror show. There are moments of sheer joy, particularly through Amin’s pop culture touchstones. He’s enamored with a certain musclebound Belgian action star, and whenever he gets to watch some kickboxing on TV, it’s fully infectious. There are also a couple of lovely music-fueled bookending scenes, as a young Amin listens to a-ha’s “Take on Me” on his Walkman, while towards the end his first trip to a gay club is soundtracked by Daft Punk’s “Veridis Quo.” He made it through, I’m glad I got to hear his story, and I bet you will be, too.

Flee is Recommended If You Like: 80s synth pop, Queer acceptance, Jean-Claude Van Damme

Grade: 4 out of 5 Fake Passports

‘Julia’ is on Fire

November 13, 2021

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Julia (CREDIT: Sony Pictures Classics/Screenshot)

Starring: Julia Child and Friends

Directors: Julie Cohen and Betsy West

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: November 12, 2021 (Theaters)

The beginning of the Julia Child documentary Julia features footage of Ms. Child in the kitchen to the tune of Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic hard rock classic “Fire.” Which had me going, “Awww, yeah!” I love that sort of juxtaposition! The rest of the movie is a fairly typical biographical documentary, what with its mix of archival footage and interviews with family, friends, and fans. But that opening has me wondering about other potential mashup ideas: the Barefoot Contessa set to Metallica, perhaps? Emeril Lagasse chopping away while Phish jams on? The Swedish Chef bork bork-ing as Yoko Ono howls with abandon? Chime in if you’ve got any other ideas!

Grade: 3 Chopped Fingers in the Beef Bourguignon

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