biodoc – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK September 8, 2023: JOYCE CAROL OATES: A BODY IN THE SERVICE OF MIND

September 2, 2023September 8, 2023 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, biodoc, Cate Marquis, documentaries, greenwich entertainment, jennifer merin, Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of Mind, Laura Dern, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, nikki fowler, Pam Grady, sherin nicole, Stig Bjorkman

Prolific author, keen observer, insightful storyteller, compulsive writer, incisive tweeter. Joyce Carol Oates is all of these things and more, as director Stig Björkman makes abundantly clear in his thoughtfully constructed, affectionate documentary Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of Mind. Tracing Oates’ life and career over the course of several decades, Björkman makes it clear that she has well earned her reputation as an iconic American writer.

Reviews

JOYCE CAROL OATES: A BODY IN THE SERVICE OF MIND – Review by Jennifer Merin

August 29, 2023September 3, 2023 Jennifer Merin biodoc, documentaries, Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of Mind, Laura Dern, motw, Movie of the Week, Stig Bjorkman

Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of Mind is a delightful documentary delve into the persona and personal opinions of the notoriously self effacing and non-stop prolific literary goddess known as Joyce Carol Oates. Filmmaker Stig Bjorkman. a longstanding friend of Joyce Carol Oates. gives us a respectful and intimate documentary that spends its hour and a half on current interviews with Oates, as well as clips from her past interviews with Dick Cavitt and other broadcast presenters and select readings from her writings that are voiced by Laura Dern over footage of Oates at work, or hiking through the countryside.

Reviews

JOYCE CAROL OATES: A BODY IN SERVICE OF MIND – Review by Nikki Fowler

August 29, 2023September 8, 2023 Nikki Fowler biodoc, documentaries, greenwich entertainment, Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of Mind, Laura Dern, motw, Movie of the Week, Stig Bjorkman

Greenwich Entertainment’s documentary Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind is a beautiful and informative look into the life and work of the beloved and award-winning novelist by the same name, who not only wrote a series of novels drenched immensely in gender, race, socioeconomics, and politics but who wrote dramatic novels sans politics under pseudonyms which she described as getting to “start over” and “to write as if she were “writing for the first time.”

Reviews

SALVATORE SHOEMAKER OF DREAMS – Review by Martha K Baker

October 31, 2022November 6, 2022 Martha K. Baker biodoc, Ferragamo, luca guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Salvatore Ferragamo, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams

The brand name “Ferragamo” defines luxury. The fascinating documentary, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, outlines what it took for the 11th of 14 children to become a world-famous shoemaker. The biodoc traces Salvatore Ferragamo’s life from birth in 1898 in Bonito, Italy, to Hollywood, California, to his death in Tuscany at 62 in 1960.

Reviews

SIDNEY – Review by Martha K Baker

October 5, 2022October 9, 2022 Martha K. Baker barbra streisand, biodoc, Diahann Carroll, halle berry, Juanita Brady, lou gossett jr, Lulu, Morgan Freeman, oprah winfrey, richard hudlin, robert redford, sidney poitier

Sidney Poitier became a legend, as an actor, as an activist, as a Black man in racist America. He died in January, 2022, at age 94. This documentary honors him as that legend, avoiding hagiography but certainly raving about the contributions of one hard-working actor, the first Black man to win an Oscar. Within the adulation of the bio-doc, Poitier stands out from the many interviewees, who include his five daughters and two wives. His voice, largely from a 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey, remains quiet and sure, modest and cool. Winfrey produced the laudatory film of her friend, whom she called her “great Black Hope.”

Festivals Reviews

McENROE (Tribeca 2022) – Review by Marilyn Ferdinand

June 6, 2022June 13, 2022 Marilyn Ferdinand (Archived Contributor) Barney Douglas, biodoc, documentary, John McEnroe, Patty Smyth, tennis, Tribeca 2022

Every moment of documentary director/screenwriter Barney Douglas’ film contains interesting information from famous eye witnesses, including other tennis greats, as well as from an open and honest John McEnroe. This film is vital viewing for anyone who wants to see and understand the achievements and heart of this champion.

Festivals Interviews

Rosa Ruth Boesten on MASTER OF LIGHT and the Impact of Art (SXSW 2022) – Leslie Combemale interviews

March 12, 2022March 13, 2022 Leslie Combemale biodoc, documentaries, George Morton, Master of Light, roger ross williams, Rosa Ruth Boesten, sxsw 2022

Master of Light, the feature documentary debut for filmmaker Rosa Ruth Boesten, executive produced by renowned filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, was made in collaboration with subject and artist George Morton, who honed his talent as a classical painter while incarcerated in federal prison for dealing drugs. Morton is a Black man who has chosen to confront the damage he has sustained by intergenerational trauma and systemic racism both personally and as an artist. Since his release, he has worked to rise above his own and his family’s history to become a success in the white-dominated art world. Boesten comments on her experience working with George Morton, how the film changed her, and bringing attention to the vast potential and talent our society stands to lose by the racially-biased mass incarceration continuing to happen in America.

Festivals Reviews

SHERYL (SXSW 2022) – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 12, 2022March 13, 2022 Leslie Combemale amy scott, biodoc, documentsries, Joe Walsh, Keith Richards, Laura Dern, Sheryl Crow, sxsw 2022

Amy Scott’s new biographical documentary Sheryl reveals the musician’s tumultuous personal experience becoming the icon she is, with Sheryl herself opening up about the joys and challenges in her life and career. The film is straightforward and conventional, but if the mark of a good bio-doc is having a subject and interviewees that speak honestly and from time to time lay their souls bare, Sheryl hits that note beautifully.

Reviews

OSCAR PETERSON: BLACK + WHITE – Review by Martha K Baker

February 26, 2022February 26, 2022 Martha K. Baker Barry Avrich, biodoc, documentaries, Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson: Black + White

The subtitle, Black + White, refers to the color of the keys on a piano, but it also addresses racial disparities of Black jazz artists playing for a white world. Seeing Peterson play in vintage films and hearing what he said in interviews through the years and what others said about him enlivens this biodoc, which was made originally in 2020 but now is more widely available through Hulu.

Reviews

POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHE – Review by Martha K Baker

February 9, 2022February 18, 2022 Martha K. Baker biodoc, Celeste Bell, Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, motw, Movie of the Week, Paul Sng, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, punk rock. movie of the week

This biodoc of the punk rocker Poly Styrene, born Marion Elliott Said in 1957, reels from the point of view of her daughter, Celeste Bell. As co-director with Paul Sng, Bell thumbs through scrapbooks, diaries, and poems, which Bell inherited after her mother died at 53 in 2011. Five years later, Bell was ready to address this legacy. The result is historical and a little hysterical.

← Previous