Review by Jonathan Berk

Review by Sean Boelman

There are few franchises with as much of a lasting impact on the world as the Harry Potter series, but for some people, that impact is extremely personal. David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived tells the story of a former stuntman with a personal, tragic connection to the franchise, but in a way that does not feel exploitative or pandering whatsoever.

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived tells the story of David Holmes, who got the job of his dreams when he was selected to be Daniel Radcliffe’s lead stunt double in the Harry Potter franchise, only for his world to come crashing down around him when he suffered a traumatic spinal injury. The film is refreshingly uncynical, feeling little need to tug at the audience’s heartstrings.

It is also surprising how non-promotional this documentary is considering that it is executive produced by Radcliffe himself and distributed by a subsidiary of the studio behind the Harry Potter movies. Although there are many points at which Holmes remembers his experiences on set fondly, it always feels authentic and never like it’s crassly taking advantage of Holmes’s trauma.

The most compelling aspect of the story is the friendship that has formed between Radcliffe and Holmes. It’s interesting to see how the friendship formed as Radcliffe idolized the older gymnast-turned-stuntman Holmes, and now how they remain in touch even after Radcliffe has become a megastar.

Of course, fans who are looking to see behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Harry Potter are going to be satisfied, as the first half of the film does focus on Holmes’s career before his injury. Even for those who are not fans of the Wizarding World, the documentary offers some fascinating insight into the life and work of stunt people.

Still, it is the second half of the documentary that is likely to leave the most lingering impact on the viewer. It is a story of triumph over adversity; of the hopefulness that Holmes showed despite his life changing fundamentally because of this tragic accident. The emphasis on the work Holmes has done, with the help of Radcliffe, to advocate for greater awareness around these injuries and improving the experience of survivors.

Because the film is being released by HBO, the filmmakers had access to a large library of behind-the-scenes footage from the production of the Harry Potter movies. This, combined with talking head interviews and fly-on-the-wall footage of Holmes and Radcliffe’s advocacy work allows this story to be told in a straightforward, yet consistently powerful way.

Despite the hesitancy with which one would be reasonable to approach this documentary, considering that it is being distributed by the creators of a franchise it is somewhat critical of, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived manages to be a surprisingly no-holds-barred, moving film. What could have been a fluff piece is instead a touching, hopeful, essential movie that serves as a reminder of the power of resilience.

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived is screening at the 2023 edition of DOC NYC, which runs in-person and online from November 8-26.

​Rating: 4/5

Review by Cole Groth

As the holiday season gears up, it’s time for Hallmark to bombard us with dozens of cheap, schlocky Christmas rom-coms. The market is so oversaturated by them that when a genuinely good one comes out, it’s a shock. This year, Amazon’s Freevee looks to enter the market with their rom-com, EXMas, starring Robbie Amell and Leighton Meester. This is a good watch with some genuinely great laughs and a satisfying story.

EXMas tells the story of Graham (Amell), an overworked gaming developer, whose ex-fiancee, Ali (Meester), is celebrating Christmas with his family. Her oddball parents, Dennis (Michael Hitchcock) and Jeannie (Kathryn Greenwood), alongside siblings Mindy (Veronika Slowikowska) and Elliot (Steven Huy), have taken in Ali as one of their family members, much to Graham’s dismay. In an effort to get Ali out of his life, Graham tries to get her to be hated by his family. Will the two make up and find solace in each other? Probably. That’s for you to find out.

The script, while unabashedly generic, is hilarious. The dynamic between Graham and his sister, Mindy, stands out as the funniest pairing of the group. Most other family members are underwritten, standing in as very generic family members. So many of these Christmas rom-coms stray away from inappropriate humor. While this is still a family-friendly time, some sharp gags put this above the crowd. Graham and Ali have a great dynamic, although it’s sometimes hard to picture them as a romantic couple. The chemistry just isn’t there for most of the movie.

As a holiday rom-com, there’s not much to talk about from a technical perspective. All of these movies struggle because they feel mostly the same, with the stars and script being the stars of the show. The cinematography, editing, music, etc., are all decent. Nothing stands out from a cinematic perspective, but it’s all done well enough to be at least not distracting. Simply put, you should know that you won’t get anything more than simple laughs and basic romance out of this.

Robbie Amell stands out as the star of the show here. He’s effortlessly funny and has plenty of charm. Leighton Meester is pretty good, too, but she doesn’t fit the role of the love interest nearly as well as Amell. Veronika Slowikowska is another star, too. Known mostly for her Instagram page (@veronika_iscool), Slowikowska does a great job of being Graham’s funny and kind sister. The rest of the family and some additional players performed pretty well.

If you’re looking for something nice, breezy, and cheerful to kick off a holiday binge, EXMas would be a good option. It won’t stand out among the true holiday classics, but it’ll definitely be better than most of the Hallmark slop shoveled out every year. It’s a simple watch buoyed by fun performances and a funny screenplay.

EXMas releases on Freevee on November 17.

Rating: 3/5

Review by Joseph Fayed

Claudia Alta Johnson, better known as "Lady Bird," was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969. These years are explored in Dawn Porter's new documentary The Lady Bird Diaries. Told firsthand by Lady Bird herself, the documentary is very poignant at times, but falls far from being groundbreaking in any way. 

Lady Bird Johnson recorded over 100 hours worth of audio passages while she was First Lady. Many of these recordings have not been made public until now. Combined with archive footage and photographs, the documentary pulls back the curtain on the woman caught in the midst of one of the most tumultuous eras in American history. 

This intimate approach should be attempted by more documentaries, especially those where the subjects are deceased. The lack of talking heads featured grips you in because it feels you have access to Lady Bird reading her own diary or something similar. Lady Bird herself kept a well crafted image throughout her life, and that remains true in her speech. There is no mic drop moment spoken by her, yet she doesn't shy away from sharing her emotions she — and many other women — are often told to refrain from showcasing. 

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Review by Sean Boelman

Biographical documentaries at festivals tend to be hit or miss — with the most fascinating often being the subjects you already know about. Even though Uncropped doesn’t have a household name for its subject, the stories photographer James Hamilton has to share with skilled filmmaker D.W. Young make this a hidden gem to keep an eye out for.

In the documentary, Hamilton offers a chronicle of his career, which allowed him to take pictures across different beats and on film sets across the United States and around the world. Although the documentary is a biography, Hamilton’s life and career are so extraordinary that it stands out.

On its surface, Uncropped may feel like a pretty conventional combination of archive materials — pulled from Hamilton’s extensive library of work — and talking heads. However, the talking heads here feel more conversational than those in your average documentary. Part of it is just that Young tends to interview more than one person at once, allowing a dialogue to form, but even when conducting a solo interview, he asks fantastic, engaging questions.

As is the case with many biographical documentaries, how much the viewer engages with the movie will depend on how interested they are in the subject. However, with a veritable hodgepodge of a resume and portfolio, there’s something for everyone’s interests in Uncropped. And while it is on the longer side — a little over 110 minutes — the sheer amount of stories Hamilton has to tell keeps it moving.

The portion of Uncropped that is likely to gain it the most attention is its exploration of Hamilton’s career as a stills photographer. Working on film sets for filmmakers including George A. Romero and Wes Anderson (the latter of which serves as an executive producer on this documentary), Hamilton effectively revolutionized the art of film stills. For anyone with an interest in cinema, this is sure to be utterly fascinating.

The other side of Hamilton’s career is his bout as a journalist, which is arguably even more storied than his work shooting film stills. Although it may not be the documentary’s primary focus, there is room for questions to be asked about the role journalists and the images they create play in culture and society in the portion exploring his more provocative work.

One of the most impressive things about Young’s approach is that he manages to make the movie feel quite unfussy. Many documentaries set on the art scene tend to feel somewhat pretentious and uptight, but Hamilton’s very low-key personality makes him a much more approachable subject. Yet audiences will still walk away feeling nothing but admiration for the tremendous artist Hamilton is.

Uncropped is a very well-made biographical documentary that is fascinating thanks to its subject’s tremendous career. Whether you’re coming into this looking to learn about cinema or the world of journalism, you’re sure to leave feeling absolutely satisfied.

Uncropped is screening at the 2023 edition of DOC NYC, which runs in-person and online from November 8-26.

​Rating: 4/5

Review by Sean Boelman

To no one’s surprise, the cinema history documentary Merchant Ivory is likely going to be a must-see for hardcore cinephiles, but is unlikely to resonate outside of that core audience. Filmmaker Stephen Soucy takes advantage of his exceptional access to subject James Ivory, creating a focus that feels somewhat skewed at times.

The documentary tells the story of Merchant Ivory Productions, the film production company formed from the collaboration between producer Ismael Merchant and writer/director James Ivory, who together created some of the most acclaimed independent films in all of history. Fans might recognize some of their films like A Room With a View and Howards End featured throughout the documentary.

Unlike a lot of cinema documentaries, Merchant Ivory isn’t really about behind the scenes drama or gossip. Instead, it’s an ode to one of the most fruitful collaborations in film history. Sure, it does start to feel a bit like a fluff piece at times, but it’s a compelling watch for anyone who is a fan of cinema.

For a film named after such an iconic collaboration, it is somewhat frustrating how one-sided Merchant Ivory can be. It often feels like there is much more of a focus on Ivory than Merchant. Although there are a few reasons that could explain this — it could be that Merchant was a more behind-the-scenes presence compared to Ivory, or maybe it’s that Merchant passed away nearly two decades ago — it’s still not the portrait of a collaboration one might have hoped for.

However, in exploring Ivory’s story in tremendous depth, it does get to explore some aspects of his story with which viewers may not be as familiar. In particular, the aspects of the film about Ivory’s sexuality are fascinating. Although there was some discussion of this leading up to his Oscar win for the Call Me By Your Name screenplay, this documentary allows his experience as a gay man to be told from the earlier days of his career.

As one would expect, Soucy tells this story using a lot of great archive materials. There is plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and stills to pull from, and it also seems like the filmmakers had unrestricted access to the Merchant Ivory Productions library. The result is a documentary that is sure to be catnip for cinephiles. 

Merchant Ivory also offers lots of great talking heads, with Ivory himself as well as many of his former collaborators. The documentary managed to attract some bonafide A-listers with whom Ivory has worked in the past, including Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, and Hugh Grant. The only iffy thing about the film’s interviews is that Soucy inserts himself inconsistently. It’s enough to notice, but not enough to become a legitimate device.

Merchant Ivory is arguably more effective as a biography of James Ivory than as a portrait of his collaboration with longtime partner Ismael Merchant, but it’s a strong cinema history doc either way. The film knows its audience and caters to their interests.

Merchant Ivory is screening at the 2023 edition of DOC NYC, which runs in-person and online from November 8-26.

Rating: 3.5/5

Review by Sean Boelman

Review by Sean Boelman

The Disappearance of Shere Hite debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim, and is now receiving a prime awards season release. While the documentary is worth watching for the strength of its material alone, the standard filmmaking approach is not quite as engaging as one would hope.

The movie tells the story of famed sex researcher Shere Hite, whose (in)famous book The Hite Report reinvigorated the conversation around female sexuality and pleasure. Although the title refers to the underrecognized nature of Hite’s work, the film really spends a lot of time talking about the impact she had.

Like its subject, The Disappearance of Shere Hite is largely unafraid to pull any punches when it comes to its themes. In addition to discussing sexuality in an incredibly frank way, the documentary offers a blunt (yet entirely essential) skewering of the patriarchal system that threatened to censor the work of this seminal figure.

One of the biggest issues with the documentary is that it is simply too long. Although the story being told is undeniably important, at nearly two hours in length, there’s also not much reason that it needed to be as long as this. The movie goes off on a few tangents that don’t add much to the story.

If the film does one thing well, it’s that it gives the viewer an intense admiration for its subject. However, what the movie fails to do is effectively engage with the controversy she stirred up. Although the intent seems to be to disprove the caricature many critics created of Hite, the more effective way to do so would have been to humanize the character, rather than creating a myth of her in the opposite direction.

Director Nicole Newnham’s (Crip Camp) use of archive footage in the film is very straightforward and conventional. In addition to these materials, Newnham conducts a number of talking head interviews with modern-day sexologists — who, as expected, shower effusive praise on the subject — adding context to the importance of Hite’s story. 

The casting of Dakota Johnson as the narrator — speaking the words of Hite — is an inspired choice, especially considering that her role in the Fifty Shades trilogy essentially cemented her status as the modern embodiment of female sexuality. However, while she is a great, audacious choice to be the narrator, the way in which the narration is used is as conventional as the rest of the movie.

The Disappearance of Shere Hite is the type of documentary whose success is carried on the merit of its subject more so than its storytelling being anything special. There’s no denying that it’s well-made, but it does feel a bit too conventional to have such an unconventional figure at its center.

The Disappearance of Shere Hite is screening at the 2023 edition of DOC NYC, which runs in-person and online from November 8-26.

Rating: 3/5

Review by Dan Skip Allen