Everybody to Kenmure Road (2026): review: 3/10

 *

Documentary tracing events in a Glasgow street when the Home Office attempt to arrest two foreign men, presumably for not having appropriate visas.

Neighbours and locals protest, successfully preventing their removal in a van. The crowds are joined by local politicians.

The documentary attempts to contextualise these events withing Glasgow`s history as a radical city.

The presentation of events is entirely celebratory. No effort is made to question the legitimacy of the collective action, or the reasons for the arrest of the two men: sentimentality prevails. 

The film is watchable, however, reminiscent somehow of Ealing films such as Passport to Pimlico.

Nice Ladies (2024): review 1.5/10

 *

Documentary film tracing the experiences of elderly Ukrainian women who become cheerleaders, before their troupe finds itself dispersed following the Russian invasion.

There is not enough material here to justify a film of this length. We are presented footage of women checking their cell-phones and having banal conversations with family members along with some interviews and scenes from their performances at sports events. Who cares?

a. The basic idea: isn`t it interesting how some older Ukrainian women decide to become cheerleaders! is not in fact very interesting.

b. The people in the film have nothing interesting to say.

b. The amount of good footage here might justify a film of up to about 15 minutes in length, if that.

I`m giving the film 1.5 because I am in a good mood, and feel well-disposed to Ukrainian causes. But when I left the cinema I felt like drowning myself.

Chelsea on the Rocks (2008): review: unfinished film

Length of film: 88 minutes
Length tolerated before switch off: 23 minutes
Percentage suffered: 20.24%

This is a documentary about the New York's Chelsea Hotel and the people who lived there.

Reason for switch off: Just being famous doesn't make someone interesting. The film offers no insights into the creativity of anyone and, more importantly, fails to tell a story, so the interviews conducted are dislocated and boring.

Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003): review: 4/10

Rodney Bingenheimer is a "sort of somebody" in LA, known to many stars, including David Bowie, Cher and Courtney Love.

The films interviews these people, Mr Bingenheimer's family, and Mr Bingenheimer himself, whose principle accomplishments seems to be playing records, running a bar, collecting autographs and meeting these celebrities.

He is a diminutive fellow, melancholy and tired- the films traces his interest in celebrities to his childhood abandonment by his mother.

The film suceeds in describing an LA of mindless celebrity idolatory and sad superficial relationships.

The film is overlong by half an hour. I suspect Bingenheimer seemed to offer more potential interest when the filmemakers were researching the film than transpired during its filming.

Bukowski: Born Into This (2003): review: 6.5/10

Documentary tracing Bukowski's life through interviews with him, his publisher, ex-girlfriends and wife.

There are also hagiographic accounts from famous fans such as Tom Waits, Sean Penn, and the appalling self-regarding "Bono".

Ergo, the film functions primarily a celebration of the dissolute writer. However, there is one quite shocking piece of footage where, seated on a sofa beside his wife during an interview, he begins first to insult her, and then to kick her with his feet off the sofa. The films passes quickly from this incident as if it reveals nothing.

This shallowness is mirrored by by the films failure to attempt any critical evaluation of Bukowski's writing.

Man on Wire (2008): review- 9/10

Documentary about a high wire walker and how, with the help of his team, he crosses the gap between the twin towers, New York.

A wonderful film about enthusiasm and triumph.

This is Spinal Tap (1984): review- 8/10

Good-natured spoof documentary that whizzes along nicely, following a heavy metal band on tour in the USA, providing a lot of amusement and ridiculing the rock industry and its servants magnificently.

Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008): review- 6/10

In LA, revolting thugs kill each other, usually using guns.

This, in itself, is certainly a good thing: it's hard to be upset about the gang wars- they are highly localised,and the people involved aren't really very nice. Indeed, it's a pity they don't kill each other more as then the rest of society wouldnt have to pay the cost of incarcerating them.

Lively documentary providing some interesting insights into the history of black LA, and interviews with gang members who speak a sort of English. I fear the film skirts some issues about moral breakdown within black communities, advancing the rise of gangs as necessary response to their situation.

A Complete History of my Sexual Failures (2008): review- 8/10

Doleful comedy in which a film-maker attempts to visit his innumerable exes in London and Scotland to discover why his relationships are so unsuccessful.

Very entertaining, the film serves well as a satire on independent film-making.

American Teen (2008): review- 8/10

This documentary traces the final year of high school students in Warsaw, Indiana.

It does this by focussing on some stereotypical students- a "popular girl", a jock, a nerd, and an arty girl.

The film manages to avoid both humourlesnes and cattiness, and conveys sympathetically the tribulations of the students.

Jesus Camp (2006): review- 3/10

3/10

Children from Indiana are sent to a North Dakota where they are bullied by two obese women, both cropped blondes, into Christian devotion.

Footage from the camp is spliced with shots from a radio host who is attempting on his talk show to challenge the beliefs of religious right Christians, who have three main concerns: abortion, creationism, and American-ness.

Unfortunately, what the filmmakers did not consider, apparantly, is that spending an hour and a half in the company of unintelligent people is not very interesting.

Moreover, the film is plainly not an even handed survey of the Jesus Camp, but has been made with the preconception that Jesus Camp would be a bad bad place: it therefore has the ring of propoganda.

Beautiful Losers (2008): review- 4/10

The story of a group of artists who displayed work in a particular New York gallery and who achieved commercial success.

The documentary consists largely of interviews and captures the mood of a Generation X art crowd, whose work reflects their interest in grafitti, popular advertising, signs and cartoons.

The artists percieve themselves as "outsiders", but then become very successful, and therefore definate "insiders", an irony that the film-makers do not dwell upon sufficiently.

But then the film does not really ask any difficult questions either of the viewers or of the subjects or of their work: it is essentially designed to celebrate, and is therefore less interesting than it might be.

It is also overlong, by about 20 mins.

Manufacturing Consent (1992): review- 6/10

A documentary that traces (very sympathetically) Noam Chomsky's political work, largely through old footage of TV and radio interviews and lectures.

Chomsky believes the mass media are being controlled, albeit indirectly, by the powers that be which he considers fundamentally malign; he visits an alternative, cooperative publishing firm and some independent radio stations to show alternatives.

The film seems dated, given the explosive effect on conventional media outlets of internet, and could happily be cut by at least 40 minutes.

Burma VJ (2009): review- 6/10

A video-diary account of the popular protests against the millitary dictatorship which were led by Buddhist monks.

This courageous film gives a good sense of the oppression of tyranny but lacks somewhat in necessary detail on the personalities leading the dictatorship.