Movie Review: ‘Apollo 11’ is a Stunning Feat of Archival Documentary

February 27, 2019

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CREDIT: NEON

Starring: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins

Director: Todd Douglas Miller

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: G for Gravity Defiance

Release Date: March 1, 2019 (Limited)

Documentaries featuring restored archival footage are having a moment. Peter Jackson’s box office hit They Shall Not Grow Old got in the trenches of World War I. The Oscar-nominated short A Night at the Garden uncovered a 1939 Nazi rally in New York City. And now Apollo 11 puts us right alongside the crew of the same-named 1969 lunar mission. As a technical achievement, it is stunning and confounding. Every frame is made up of 70 mm film footage that was shot at the time but never previously released to the public. The richness and clarity of the visuals are breathtaking. How it all remained a secret and in such good condition is surely beyond most mortals’ comprehension.

The you-are-there sensibility is so thorough that there is even time to check out the snack bar set up for the crowds gathered to watch the launch. In that regard, it is reminiscent of the seminal 1960 Direct Cinema doc Primary. But it differs insofar as Apollo 11 director Todd Douglas Miller adds a few showy editing flourishes. Occasionally he arranges a series of shots in comic book-style panel arrangements, calling to mind Ang Lee’s Hulk, of all things. Also adding to the mix is Matt Morton’s intensely looming score. I like both of these elements on their own, but I wonder if they are saturating the already plenty powerful raw footage. But no matter what, the awe and beauty on display is unmistakably evident, serving as reassurance that humanity can still find inspiration by looking up to the stars.

Apollo 11 is Recommended If You Like: Primary, They Shall Not Grow Old, First Man

Grade: 4 out of 5 Launch Sequences

This Is a Movie Review: They Shall Not Grow Old

February 24, 2019

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CREDIT: Warner Bros./Imperial War Museum

My favorite part of They Shall Not Grow Old is the featurette after the end of the movie in which Peter Jackson lets us in on the restoration process. It makes me wish that all making-of special features played on the big screen, or at least the ones for the most technically ambitious movies. I almost would have preferred an hour and a half of the behind-the-scenes footage to the actual documentary. But of course, I needed to see the thing itself for the making-of to have its fullest oomph. And it’s not like it’s a bad doc. Indeed, when They Shall Not Grow Old switches to color, it is just about as thrilling as when The Wizard of Oz makes that same vivid transition. The other big value is the peek into a past culture when teenage boys were so eager to enlist at the first sign of war. Society is so profoundly different now. Not that I want it to go back to the way it was. Rather, I am glad we have this first-hand document in such good quality to viscerally show us both how deadly and how disgusting the trenches were.

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Human Flow,’ Ai Weiwei’s Refugee Documentary, is Oddly Constructed, But Still Essential Viewing

October 12, 2017

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CREDIT: Amazon Studios

This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2017.

Documentary

Director: Ai Weiwei

Running Time: 140 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for the Realities of Refugee Life

Release Date: October 13, 2017 (Limited)

Chinese artist/activist Ai Weiwei has extensive documentary experience, but mostly in the form of long-form video pieces. With Human Flow, a portrait of refugee life in the 21st century, he approaches feature documentary (and cinema in general) with a distinctly non-traditional visual grammar. Certain flourishes border (or cross fully into) the amateurish, particularly a bizarrely intrusive TV news-style scrolling ticker. Perhaps Ai is ahead of his time with this technique, but right now it is definitively awkward. That is not to say the whole endeavor is unprofessional. Rather, the unfailingly beautiful cinematography only serves to further highlight the unfairness of the plight of refugees. Still, it is clear that this is the work of someone not exactly fully acquainted with (or not beholden to) the norms of feature filmmaking.

Despite any technical weirdness, I would still recommend Human Flow to all audiences. Roger Ebert famously called the movies “a machine that generates empathy,” and there are few groups more in need of empathy than refugees. With its sprawling, ambitious nature, with footage filmed over the course of a year in 23 countries, Human Flow’s primary purpose is familiarizing the settled with the stories of the displaced. It is impossible (I hope) to spend two hours immersed in their experiences and not come out at least a little more concerned. From an efficiency and entertainment standpoint, Human Flow could be a lot tighter, but if it can lead to solutions for worldwide instability, then those issues don’t much matter.

Human Flow is Recommended If You Like: Looking out for the most vulnerable among us

Grade: 3 out of 5 Evil People Sent Into Space

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