Category: documentary

documentary Reviews

EOY Catch Up: RM: Right People, Wrong Place

by Morgen Schuler

Kim Namjoon, better know as RM and member of the musical supergroup BTS, released an album early in 2024 titled Right Place, Wrong Person (RPWP). Within the world of ARMY, BTS’ fanbase, it was beloved just as any release from any of the members always are. However, it didn’t end up being as much of a commercial success as his bandmate Jeon Jungkook’s Golden or Park Jimin’s Muse despite those two albums bookending his own release. That doesn’t diminish the quality of the songs contained within RPWP; as a matter of fact, it is a deep dive into the emotional state of RM as a man and an artist that doesn’t go for the easy listen or immediately relatable lyrics. It just gets better the more often you listen to it. That becomes even more evident with a viewing of the accompanying documentary he created as the album was produced.

documentary Festivals SIFF

It is once again time for SIFF DocFest

by Chris Burlingame

The time is nigh for SIFF to kick off its third(!) DocFest, a festival of many of the most interesting documentaries around the world. It all goes down starting tonight and running through next Wednesday at the Uptown. I’m most interested in catching two documentaries about two very different writers: John LeCarre and Tom Wolfe. But there’s a lot more to catch the attention of us documentary lovers.

documentary Reviews

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time does justice to the story of a complex man

by Morgen Schuler

It’s nearly impossible, from a third party perspective, to give the full account of a man’s life. To read about him in a book, a magazine, or a newspaper, to talk to those who knew and loved him, it’s barely a caricature of the actual person; a two-dimensional facsimile. Fortunately for him and for us, director Robert Weide didn’t have to stoop to such measures to discover what made Kurt Vonnegut tick, he lived it. He met him, grew to know him, grew to love him, and over several decades’ time this film became a footnote in a friendship that would come to define him. Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time is a love letter, a friendship that would span many years, many life changes, and bring meaning to both their lives.

documentary Reviews

What We Left Unfinished reveals depth in the golden era of Afghan filmmaking

by Morgen Schuler

Miriam Ghani has unearthed an engrossing bounty of cinema and history from 1970’s and 80’s Afghanistan. Several established filmmakers of the time give first-hand accounts of their experiences making movies while footage from several of their unfinished works are continuously running in the background. It creates a rich tapestry of the frankly mad circumstances of the time.