Trailers for Work #1 - The Art of Reinvention: Paul Thomas Anderson & His Influences

Those of you who know me personally are aware that I've been applying my cinema nerd powers for almost three years doing promotion and publicity at Portland's own Northwest Film Center. Over the past year, I've begun to cut trailers for some of our curated series content. Here's one that I made for our upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson + influences series, which I also collaboratively programmed with my co-worker Morgen Ruff.

Hope you enjoy it. It's the fifth trailer I've made so far for the Film Center and it feels like they're getting better with each successive attempt. And maybe you'll want to come out to the series, too, which I think is fairly awesome.

The Art of Reinvention: Paul Thomas Anderson & His Influences runs  Friday, July 24th through Sunday, September 6th at the Northwest Film Center.  More info available here.

 

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THE GOLDEN COACH & LE NOTTI BIANCHE: HANGING OUT WITH RENOIR AND VISCONTI THIS WEEKEND

A couple of great films are coming to my workplace this weekend.  Luchino Visconti's fatalistically romantic 1957 adaptation of Dostoevsky's "White Nights," Le Notti Bianche is Marcello Mastroianni's first outing as a leading man playing opposite Maria Schell.  Also on tap, Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach has Anna Magnani playing an actress with three men actively vying for her favor.  The latter film will be screened on 35mm.

Le Notti Bianche (White Nights) screens Friday, September 27th and Sunday, September 29th at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum).  Click here for more info.

The Golden Coach screens at the NW Film Center.  Click here for more info.

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ROBERTO ROSSELLINI'S THE SOLITUDE TRILOGY aka WHAT I'M UP TO TODAY

Roberto Rossellini's The Solitude Trilogy has been screening over at my workplace all weekend.  Today marks the only time during the run that all three films, Stromboli, Europa '51, & Voyage to Italy will be shown in a single day.  I'm going to try to make it through all of 'em, though, if recent history has proven anything, I probably will give up before the day is done.  Extra incentive to stay at least through the 2nd film: Europa '51 is rarely screened theatrically; in fact, it's a rare 16mm print borrowed from a private collector that's being projected today.

The following film synopses are lifted directly from the NW Film Center's listings:

Stromboli:

The film where Rossellini fatefully met Ingrid Bergman, STROMBOLI—like their later VOYAGE TO ITALY—is a semi-autobiographical portrait of its star’s stranger-in-a-strange-land predicament. Bergman plays a Lithuanian war refugee who marries a fisherman on the remote Sicilian island of Stromboli in order to escape an internment camp. Moving from the environmental reality that characterized his earlier neo-realist films to a psychological realism foreshadowing Antonioni’s L’AVENTURRA (1960), Rossellini’s film contrasts the island’s desolate, volcanic landscapes with its leading lady’s emotional turmoil. The barren, sulfurous rock proves a formidable and unpredictable rival for Bergman’s ferocious will. “An intensely moving exploration of sainthood and spirituality.”—Martin Scorsese. (107 mins.)

Europa '51:

The second collaboration between Rossellini and Bergman chronicles the life of a wealthy American woman living in Rome who is thrown into turmoil when her young son commits suicide over what he perceived to be her lack of affection for him. The woman’s grief leads her to the realization that she has been living a shallow, bourgeois existence and propels her to change her ways. As if on a spiritual quest, she begins devoting her life to helping the less fortunate—a sick prostitute, an unwed mother with numerous children, and a young boy—all of which disturbs her husband in tragic reaction. While the film has been viewed as Rossellini’s vision of the state of the world in all its confusion, many also read it as an exploration of Ingrid Bergman’s personal struggle. (113 mins.)

Voyage to Italy (aka Journey to Italy):

A reserved British couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) take a break from the chaos of London and retreat to the rugged landscape of Naples, only to find that outside of the structure of their everyday lives, the tedium of their marriage begins to emerge. Under the glistening surface of its minimal plot, Rossellini’s film amasses subtle details and small moments that build towards one of postwar cinema’s most enigmatically poignant conclusions. Again, Rossellini’s use of the environment as a relevant character is a precursor to Antonioni’s bleak industrial landscapes, serving as a link between neo-realism and the subjective, psychological cinema of the 1960s. (97 mins.)

The Solitude Trilogy: Stromboli, Europa '51 & Voyage to Italy screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum).  Click here for more info.

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PIFF 36: AMERICAN WINTER

Offering a glimpse at what it is to fall out of the middle class, Joe & Harry Gantz' American Winter whispers a harsh truth into the ear of the viewer: it could happen to anyone.  The eight Portland-based families to which it is happening in the film deal with it in a variety of ways, but most wear a look akin to PTSD as they struggle to stay afloat in a society with little safety to offer those who have fallen behind.  Their stories are all similar; the primary breadwinner lost their job (or in one case, their life) and has been unable to find new means of support, leaving their entire family vulnerable in the midst of an economic crisis the likes of which most of us have never seen before.

The Gantz' efforts here ditch the more lurid, voyeuristic aspects of their work on television (Taxi Cab Confessions) for an honest inside view of families struggling for their lives.  American Winter began as a profile of users of Portland's unique non-profit 211info, a resource hotline that connects people to emergency services based in "health, community, and social services."  While the non-profit is still a part of the final piece, the filmmakers smartly chose to follow the experience of a small group of families seeking out 211's help.  The result is a film that lives on the humanity and despair of these victims--ordinary folks like you and me--who are dealing with the biggest tragedy of their lives.  Depressing?  Yes, but also absolutely necessary; American Winter is a great piece of social filmmaking.

Highly recommended.

American Winter will screen at the 36th Portland International Film Festival at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Sunday,  Feb. 17th at 3pm and at Cinemagic on Monday, Feb. 18th at 7:30pm. 

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UNIVERSAL 100TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES STARTS TOMORROW AT THE NW FILM CENTER

This coming Friday night, the Northwest Film Center begins their month-long cinema party for the newest centenarian on the block, Universal Pictures.  What that celebration translates to is the return of 17 films dating from between 1916 (Lois Weber & Phillips Smalley's rarely screened silent Where are My Children?) and 1989 (Spike Lee's career-best Do the Right Thing).

There's a whole lot of good running throughout the schedule, but, if I could only pick a few to see, I wouldn't miss Douglas Sirk's 1954 melodrama Magnificent Obsession, Erich von Stroheim's 1919 silent Blind Husbands, or Anthony Mann's 1950 western Winchester '73.  And, of course, you can never go wrong with Jaws or To Kill a Mockingbird.

Here's a blurb pertaining to the series from the UCLA Film and Television Archive that I swiped off the Film Center's site:

“The Universal Film Manufacturing Company incorporated in 1912, the result of a merger between a number of independent companies that had been battling Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Trust. Universal would go on to become the oldest continuously operating film producer and distributor in the United States. In an industry defined by change, Universal’s spinning globe logo has remained, along with its back lot and tour in Universal City, Calif. 

From its beginning under Carl Laemmle, there existed a tension between Universal’s need to produce low-budget ‘programmers’ and the ‘major minor’s’ desire to compete alongside better-capitalized studios—with their national theater chains—on the level of big-budget A pictures. Ironically, while several of Universal’s early ‘prestige’ titles are beloved classics today, including ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930), it remains the B pictures, including its iconic 1930s horror cycle (FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE MUMMY), that epitomize its contribution to film art and commerce. This irony informs Universal’s post-war emergence as a global entertainment power. After anti-trust actions leveled the playing field in the 1940s, Universal moved into the A-list with superlative mass entertainment that ennobled populist genres, including westerns (WINCHESTER ’73), thrillers (THE BIRDS), and sex farces (PILLOW TALK). Universal also innovated new industry practices, pioneering the ‘percentage deal’ and embracing television production. 

 It changed the game again with JAWS (1975), which established the ‘blockbuster’ formula that still dominates the industry today. Throughout its history, Universal has translated economic necessity into a uniquely American challenge to the distinctions between prestigious and popular entertainment.”

And here's an awesome video clip featuring all the various permutations of the Universal Pictures logo over the years:

 Now on to the trailers!!!

The Universal Pictures: Celebrating 100 Years series begins at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Friday, January 4th at 7pm.  More info available here.

 
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TALES OF THE NIGHT: SHADOWS TELL THE TALE

With Tales of the Night, director Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress) returns once again to his trademark silhouette animation style to tell a series of stories drawn from the building blocks of folk tales from around the world.  Rather than just adapt these tales unaltered, Ocelot uses aspects of the stories, changing them as he feels fit, to fashion something entirely familiar yet charmingly different.  As a framing device, he offers a up crew of theater players, scheming ways and means of telling the fables in new and exciting ways, leaping into the narratives shortly after devising their dramaturgical strategies.

Visually, Ocelot's characters offer a surprising amount of expressiveness, despite being conceived in a shadow puppet-style.  Facial expressions and character movements pop against the vividly colored, near psychedelic backgrounds and one never runs the chance of confusing one character for another, thanks to the quite distinctively drawn designs, which change fancifully from story to story.  Even though it's the same "actors" inhabiting the major roles in each tale, Ocelot's allows them a miraculous bit of technology (is it a 3D printer?) that radically transforms hairstyles, garbs, etc.  And it's no end of fun to see the short bits where the actors pore through various documents drawn from art, history, and literature to decide what form to take on in order to best spin the next yarn.

The stories themselves are the main attraction, though.  Ranging from plots built around a magic tom-tom to a Caribbean excursion through the Land of the Dead to the lamentable tale of a man tricked into sacrificing his best friend for love, each of these six vignettes is captivating, admittedly some more so than others (I was less into the Aztec tale then, say, the one involving a werewolf, but that's mere quibbling, really, in light of how entertaining the film is as a whole).

Best of all, this is a kid-friendly feature; all but the smallest of children should do just fine with the level of excitement and (very mild) sense of danger presented over the course of the film.  It's the rare animated film that works for all ages, though parents might want to seek out dubbed screenings of the film if their kids aren't ready for English subtitles yet.

Tales of the Night screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Friday, November 23rd at 7 & 8:45pm, Saturday, November 24th at 4:30, 6:30, & 8:30pm, Sunday, November 25th at 2, 4, & 7pm, and Monday, November 26th at 7pm.  All screenings before 5pm are dubbed in English for younger audiences.  All screenings after 5pm are in French w/ English subtitles.  More info available here.

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NW FILMMAKERS' FEST PLACES THE FOCUS ON REGIONAL MAKERS

As the 39th Northwest Filmmakers' Festival gets underway this evening at the NW Film Center, it's worth noting the marked difference between it and the MANY film fests hosted within the city limits each year (seriously, Portland, do ya like film much?).  Whereas POWFest, PIFF, QDoc, and all the other acronym heavy festivals populate their schedules with submissions around the globe, the NW Filmmakers' Fest places the emphasis on the makers, themes, and film community that's risen out of the NW region.

Call it a flavor, if you will, but one can't help but detect something different percolating below the surface of films made here in the Northwest.  Maybe it comes from being surrounded by more trees than buildings or perhaps it's the rain (or the coffee), but the political, social, and narrative concerns broached by so many of our region's filmmakers tend to shy away from the formulaic patterns thrown down by the big H-Wood (that's Hollywood, for those weary of made up slang).

Chel White's Bird of Flames

Given the small amount of time that I have to blog today, I'm just going to cut straight to the chase here.  I've only been able to view a small slice of the films screening at the fest, so there's bound to be gads of fine films programmed into the schedule that have yet to pass before my eyes.  With that in mind, I can definitely recommend a large handful of titles to catch over the next week and a half.

Lewis Bennett's The Sandwich Nazi

Let's start with the shorts:

Tonight's Shorts I presentation, which repeats again next Friday, contains several must-see short form works, including Lewis Bennett's The Sandwich Nazi, a beautiful and profane portrait of a deli shop proprietor with an endless series of outrageous stories to tell.  It's definitely not for the kiddies (unless your kids love hearing about some aging dude's sex life), but adults will be cackling throughout.  I'm also fond of Orland Nutt's bizarrely engaging Dear Peter, Wood Chips, an open letter to a friend that has the effect of transforming the mundane into something far more epic.  Nathaniel Akin's animated short A Tax on Bunny Rabbits, winner of the judge's award for best animated work at the fest, bounces around the screen for two minutes in a most pleasing and silly way.  I haven't seen Joanna Priestley's Dear Pluto yet, but I have viewed enough of her past work to know to seek out anything she makes.

Nathaniel Akin's A Tax on Bunny Rabbits

The compilation of works that make up the Shorts II program (scheduled for Sat. the 10th & Thurs. the 15th) includes the stunningly surreal Chrysta Bell music video Bird of Flames, directed by Chel White, likely the best (and weirdest) short at the fest that I've seen; of course, one would absolutely expect strange imagery matched to a song produced by and featuring David Lynch.  Also worth getting excited about: Kimberly Warner's CPR, which I raved about when it played POWFest earlier in the year, and Bahar Noorizadeh's Lingo.

Kimberly Warner's CPR

Shorts III has Tess Martin's beautifully animated piece The Whale Story, based on the Radiolab segment "Animal Minds."  I also really enjoyed Melissa Gregory Rue's Century Farm, Jarratt Taylor's The New Debutantes, and Rob Tyler's The Way We Melt (full disclosure: I'm friends with those last three filmmakers, but, y'know, if I didn't like the work, I would just neglect to mention it).  Shorts III plays on Sun. the 11th and Sat. the 17th.

Rob Tyler's The Way We Melt

As for the feature-length films on the schedule, the easy picks are Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister and James Westby's Rid of Me, both of which received high profile releases and favorable press.  Just as worthy of recognition is Tom Olsen's The Crime of the D'autremont Brothers, a non-fiction piece exploring the forgotten history of a 1923 train robbery in Ashland, Oregon.  Matt McCormick's The Great Northwest returns to the Film Center for the fest (see my earlier review for it here).  And Jon Garcia's much talked about locally-produced film The Falls gets another local go-round.  I'm personally hoping to see Steve Doughton's Buoy over the next few days (it plays at the fest on Sat. the 17th), so keep an eye on the blog, since I expect to review it before the screening.

Tom Olsen's The Crime of the D'autremont Brothers

Anyone in the mood for some trailers?
Here, now, are the coming attractions (some of which I didn't mention, chiefly because I haven't seen the films):

Coast Modern Trailer from Coast Modern on Vimeo.

The Crime of The d'Autremont Brothers from Anchor Pictures on Vimeo.

The 39th Northwest Filmmakers' Festival begins on Friday, November 9th.  The festival website can be accessed here.

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BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING: HERE COMES MR. KNOW-IT-ALL

Beauty is Embarrassing relays the weird, wonderful, and true story of Wayne White, a multidisciplinary artist whose chief goal is to inject strong doses of humor into the art scene.  Exuberant and profane, White is best known for his puppet designs (and puppetry) for Pee Wee's Playhouse, as well as the music videos he made for Peter Gabriel ("Big Time") and Smashing Pumpkins ("Tonight, Tonight").  But the documentary also chronicles White's return to the world of painting, where he's become a bit of an overnight success with his word paintings, campy thrift store paintings re-contextualized by the bold and absurd statements ("Eastern Fuckit" and "Here Comes Mr. Know-It-All," for instance) that White paints on top of the original image.

Displaying a naked vulnerability for the cameras, White is certainly willing to perform, quite entertainingly at times, for director Neil Berkeley (The Cool School), but there are also plenty of unguarded moments as the artist discusses his upbringing, success, and the eventual burnout/breakdown that set in during his tenure in Hollywood.  Ol' Pee Wee himself (Paul Reubens), Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh (who composed the music for Pee Wee's Playhouse), Matt Groening and a series of art critics show up to discuss White's work, but it's Wayne's wife, Mimi Pond (a cartoonist and writer--she wrote early episodes of The Simpsons), his parents, and his old friends who best convey the true beauty and restless energy that characterize both the man and his unbridled creative output.

This is a blindingly brilliant film, one that feels like it's tapped directly into the source of White's boundless forward drive.  Berkeley has orchestrated an intimate and engaging portrait of a courageous soul who creates because he has no choice and knows no other way to exist.  Beauty is Embarrassing thrills as much as it inspires, even those who are prolific in their chosen fields will walk away feeling like they could up their game after seeing Wayne White in action.  Like the man it portrays, this film kicks serious ass.

Highly recommended.

Beauty is Embarrassing screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Friday, November 2nd at 7:30pm, Saturday, November 3rd at 7pm & 9pm, Sunday, November 4th at 4:45 & 7pm, and Monday, November 5th at 7:30pm.  Wayne White will be in attendance for the Friday night show.  More info available here.

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BAD BRAINS, PRIMITIVE FOLK, BLOODSUCKERS, THE OUTBACK & MORE - A WEEKEND PACKED W/ OPTIONS

I'm not sure if it was posting 10 times in seven days last week or just how busy things have been while shutting down my day job at Video Verite, but you might have noticed that the blog's been fairly quiet this week.  Even without posting this week, we finally passed 30,000 hits yesterday, a small milestone for our humble, little film obsessed site, indeed.  Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read, comment, and encourage me to continue posting.

Even with all the other regular life distractions at hand, I was still able to catch a small handful of films opening this weekend at the local indie theaters.  Here now is a sampling of just a few of the many options available in PDX for the cinematically curious.

In Search of Blind Joe Death, dir. James Cullingham

A documentary on the immensely, influential primitive folk picker John Fahey.  The film brings together a wide swath of individuals, ranging from members of Calexico to Pete Townsend to musicologists and various associates, to heap much deserved adulation at the feet of the late steel string guitarist.  Fahey's life and (especially his) music form a story worth exploring and I've often wondered why no one had made a film about him.  In Search of Blind Joe Death is a compelling view for both fervent followers and those completely unfamiliar with Fahey's legacy.

In Search of Blind Joe Death plays one-night-only at the Hollywood Theatre on Saturday, October 21st at 7pm.  More info available here.

Step Up to the Plate, dir. Paul Lacoste

A look inside the Bras family cooking dynasty as world famous chef Michel Bras prepares to hand the reins over to his son Sébastien.  Although high-wire acts of culinary mastery are featured throughout the film, the food actually takes a backseat to the family dynamics in the film, distinguishing it from the overcrowded foodie doc scene. 

Michel and Sébastien butt heads over both Michel's established recipes and some newer innovations that Sébastien hopes will help restaurant goers discern what it is that he brings to the table.  Director Paul Lacoste wisely keeps Sébastien a mystery to the audience until very near the end of the film, allowing for a multi-layered, slow reveal that greatly enriches the viewing experience.

Highly recommended.

Step Up to the Plate begins its run at Living Room Theaters on Friday, October 19th.  More info available here.

Bad Brains: A Band in DC, dir. Ben Logan and Mandy Stein


Washington D.C. hardcore band Bad Brains were a complete anomaly when they first emerged in the punk scene of the late 70s.  Being an all African-American punk group in a mostly white playing field was one thing, but Bad Brains was also the fastest, most technically innovative group that anyone had ever seen playing this kind of music. 

Directors Logan and Stein tell the story of the band's formative years while following them on the road during a recent, tumultuous reunion tour.  Their cameras don't stop rolling even when things get rough between the band (singer H.R. displays his notorious mental health issues for the camera, causing things to go sour near the end of the tour), adding much needed tension to a film that might otherwise just be an exercise in nostalgia.

The film features interviews with Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, The Beastie Boys, and many others who were on the scene during the band's heyday. 

Bad Brains: A Band in D.C. screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) as a part of the Reel Music Festival series on Friday, October 19th at 8:45pm.  More info available here.

Wake in Fright, dir. Ted Kotcheff

This 1971 fever dream of a film started the ball rolling for the Australian New Wave.  Detailing the downward trajectory of John, a Sydney-based schoolteacher (Gary Bond) on vacation in the Outback town of Bundanyabba (referred to as "the Yabba" by the natives he meets), the film throws our hero into a volatile mix of gambling, alcoholism, and kangaroo death unlike anything I've ever seen.  Donald Pleasence shows up about a third of the way through the picture as Doc Tydon, a drunken physician living in squalor.  Once they meet, John and Doc's paths are tied together to the bitter, marsupial-wrestling end.

Recommended for those who revel in the weirder, more disturbing side of cult cinema (probably not ideal viewing for card carrying members of PETA).

Wake in Fright begins its run at Cinema 21 on Friday, October 19th.  More info available here.

Dracula, dir. Tod Browning

As I pointed out last week, without the success of the 1931 version of Dracula, Universal Pictures might not have continued producing what are now unquestionably a series of the best monster flicks of the silver screen.  Taken on its own, though, Dracula is a masterpiece of the macabre, filled with more shadows than light and powered by an unparalleled and unforgettable performance by Bela Lugosi in the title role.

If you haven't seen the film in a while, or even if you have, there's no better time to revisit it than now while the Hollywood Theatre has a 35mm print on hand. 

Dracula plays at the Hollywood Theatre on Saturday, October 20th and Sunday, October 21st at 2pm.  More info available here.

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THE MINERS' HYMNS: DOWN IN THE HOLE

Nobody doubts that coal mining in the 20th century was a hard, grimy trade to ply, but The Miners' Hymns adds noble to the list of words appropriate for describing this type of labor.  The film is the latest release from Bill Morrison, best known for Decasia and a series of short works (Light is Calling among the best of them) based in archival footage so ravaged physically by the hands of time that the deterioration produces unexpected and painterly qualities.  This time around, Morrison sets aside his usual fascination with decaying source materials, a choice that is surprising at first, and yet, the results are no less hypnotic to behold.

The film focuses on the coal mining industry of Durham, England, allowing us to gaze upon the coal miners as they drink, work, and fight in solidarity.  Morrison organizes the footage into discrete sections that move through the day and/or lifespan of the industry, carefully integrating the region as a player in his narrative.  For instance, after watching the miners toil underground for a long stretch, we see as an immense amount of coal is piled high in an above ground pit.  Morrison soon cuts to a group of children playing in these artificial hills of black rock.  Union demonstrations, clashes with authorities, and a ceremonial march through the backdrop of Durham play largely into the final third of The Miners' Hymns.

All of this occurs without narration; as per usual, the filmmaker resists being tied to a strictly literal retelling of the history as it flits across the screen.  Instead, the rough proximity of these events form their own hazy and vaguely familiar narrative, decipherable while still oblique enough to gather up mystery.  The original score by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson intertwines seamlessly with the visual motifs that Morrison has stitched together here, heightening the imagery and rhythm of the edits into something greater than the sum of their parts.  The lasting impression of this audio/visual collaboration is that these miners as a combined force were superhuman in their efforts.  Even if the negative health effects experienced by that population can't be expunged from memory while viewing it, The Miners' Hymns offers a heroic portrait of these men who toiled beneath the earth's surface.

Highly recommended.

The Miners' Hymns screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) as a part of the Reel Music Festival series on Monday, October 15th at 7pm.  More info available here.

 
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AKA DOC POMUS: A STRIKING FIGURE, SHOT FULL OF SONGCRAFT

Born Jerome Felder, Doc Pomus was an extraordinary figure when he first hit the music scene, a white, Jewish blues singer paralyzed by polio as a child.  The fact that his music was exceptional only added to the befuddlement of audiences and record executives.  The new documentary AKA Doc Pomus delves into both the striking figure he was as a performer as well as the absolute phenom that he later became as a songwriter in the Brill Building scene of the early rock and roll era, penning such classics as "Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment," "Little Sister," "A Teenager in Love," and countless more hits.

Drawing from a wealth of interviews ranging from conversations with his ex-wives and son to the many musicians whose paths intersected with Pomus (Ben E. King, Lou Reed, Shawn Colvin, B.B. King, Dion, etc.), the documentary paints Pomus as a sometimes tortured genius who was blessed with extended periods of reprieve from his sorrows while effortlessly drawing from them for lyrical inspiration.  The endless soundtrack of hits speaks far more loudly than any of the interviews could about this man, responsible for so many of the songs that defined the times in which he lived.

If there's a fault to find, it's in the repetitive nature of the interviews as the discussion shifts to the end of Doc's life, something that commonly occurs in these kinds of biographical documentaries (see the otherwise fantastic Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)? for another example of such missteps).  Overall, AKA Doc Pomus is a treat for fans of both his songs and the particular era of rock and roll in which he wrote them.

AKA Doc Pomus screens at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) as a part of the Reel Music Festival series on Friday , October 12th at 7pm.  More info available here.

 
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