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DOC NYC — A–Z of films

2024

  • 0

  • 2073
    Review preview for 2073

    As much as 2073 mentions things, it digs no further.

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    A futuristic docudrama lamenting the state of the world to come.
  • Architecton
    Review preview for Architecton

    As much as Architecton rues humanity’s depletion of our resources, it also marvels at our ability to harness materials for our own ends.

    Sunil Chauhan · 3.5 out of 5
    A documentary meditation on architecture and how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveals our destruction - and offers hope for survival.
  • The Battle For Laikipia
    Review preview for The Battle For Laikipia

    The documentarians invested several years in the project and it pays off in this impressively balanced assessment of a conflict over land that has been exacerbated by climate change and drought.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.
  • Black Box Diaries
    Review preview for Black Box Diaries

    Documentaries don’t get much more personal or intimate than this

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.

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  • Dahomey
    Review preview for Dahomey

    Vigorously covering all bases, Diop cuts elegantly to give each position ample space.

    Sunil Chauhan · 3.5 out of 5
    Documentary about the return of artworks to Benin that were looted by French colonisers.
  • Daughters
    Review preview for Daughters

    For the most part the film comes across as a celebration of this moment as a light in the darkness, but it will likely leave some viewers additionally uncomfortable.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, DC, jail.
  • Devo
    Review preview for Devo

    Most impressive for distilling mountains of archival footage, with the help of the trusty talking-head interview.

    Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
    Born in response to the Kent State massacre, new wave band Devo took their concept of "de-evolution" from cult following to near–rock star status with groundbreaking 1980 hit Whip It while preaching an urgent social commentary.
  • Eternal You
    Review preview for Eternal You

    If it sounds like an uncanny valley from the start, Block and Riesewieck illustrate just how bizarre and, sometimes, downright creepy this can be using genuine exchanges that have occurred.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product.

  • I

  • The Last Of The Sea Women
    Review preview for The Last Of The Sea Women

    Too often scoots over things when it should take a breath and better look.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Portait of the endangered tradition of haenyeo fishing and the threats it faces today.

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  • Mistress Dispeller
    Review preview for Mistress Dispeller

    A film that is built upon patience and which takes a philosophical rather than judgmental stance.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair.
  • My Stolen Planet
    Review preview for My Stolen Planet

    Through a collage of footage shot by numerous brave protesters, she pieces together a statement about film as identity, in a country where the individual slowly fades away.

    Sergiu Inizian · 4 out of 5
    Farah, an Iranian woman, is forced to migrate to her private planet to be free. She buys other people’s memories in the form of Super 8 films and records and archives her own to create an alternative history of Iran.
  • My Sweet Land
    Review preview for My Sweet Land

    Hairabedian patiently captures all this with an intimacy that stems from trust, with Vrej viewing her and the camera increasingly as a confidante as time passes.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    For 11-year-old Vrej, life in his homeland Artsakh is like a paradise, but when war starts again, can he carry a nation’s hopes on his young shoulders?
  • A New Kind Of Wilderness
    Review preview for A New Kind Of Wilderness

    A heartfelt film.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    In a forest in Norway, a family lives an isolated lifestyle in an attempt to be wild and free, but a tragic event changes everything, and they are forced to adjust to modern society.
  • Nocturnes
    Review preview for Nocturnes

    By night, Shreyank Nanjappa’s inspired sound design captures the furious beating of wings and, layered on top of them, the shuffling and chirrupping and all the curious calls of the moths as they rush in to land.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayas, moths are whispering something to us. In the dark of night, two curious observers shine a light on this secret universe.
  • No Other Land
    Review preview for No Other Land

    No Other Land brings humanity and particularity to a topic that is too often discussed in the abstract.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities and the unlikely alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
  • Porcelain War
    Review preview for Porcelain War

    A tactile and colour-infused film.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.

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  • There Was, There Was Not
    Review preview for There Was, There Was Not

    While the physical violence of the war stays in the background with the constant noise of war sirens and bombs, the psychological one is impossible to hide.

    Pavla Banjac · 3.5 out of 5
    Four women try to rebuild their lives in Artsakh decades after the war, as another one breaks out.

  • V

  • Will & Harper
    Review preview for Will & Harper

    Greenbaum pinpoints the tension between the hate eating away at parts of US society and the tremendous potential that the country still has.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America.