Must-see documentary: Patricia Marcoccia's look at a vitally important academic/author in THE RISE OF JORDAN PETERSON

Why isn't Jordan Peterson -- clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto -- better known here in the USA? Sure, he may be beloved by certain members of the alt-right (until he tweeted that, if confirmed, Brett Kavanaugh should step down), and although he speaks out against political correctness, so does Bill Maher, and look where that has gotten him. Peterson is a hugely best-selling author, so one might imagine that he would have been invited onto the likes of an Oprah-type TV show or perhaps The View.

The main reason, TrustMovies suggests, is that Mr. Peterson is not simply controversial, he is also... from Canada. As we know (or actually don't know, since this is seldom mentioned in polite society), most things Canadian -- especially those having to do with culture -- are often ignored or found wanting by our cultural guardians here in the USA.

In her new documentary, THE RISE OF JORDAN PETERSON, filmmaker Patricia Marcoccia (shown at left) explores this very interesting fellow, his ideas, history, family, friends (and some no-longer-friends) and has pieced together a believable and (it seems to me) relatively trustworthy account of Peterson's life and times. (You might also want to read the worthwhile article Ms Marcoccia has written about why she made this film.)

As popular and successful as Peterson (seated, above) certainly was, what made him so suddenly controversial was his huge and angry objection to Canada’s gender identity rights Bill C-16, and a certain section of it that appeared to criminalize behavior, whether than behavior was intentional or not, along with the forced use of new pronouns (below) when referring to the transgendered.

This was taken to heart by many in the trans community as something anti-trans -- rather than merely anti-unnecessary politically correct speech. And thus was born yet another "Let-see-how-much-more-divisive-we-can-be!" pro vs con campaign. TrustMovies thinks of himself as thoroughly pro-trans, but he suspects that he will never be able to refer to a single individual as a "them." Grammar just doesn't permit such a stupid lapse, the use of which, by the way, does trans folk no favors, in any case. Rather, it singles them out for further attention as "oddities" rather than helping them fit into society at large. This constant concentration on what we say -- the "n" word or the use of a "correct" pronoun -- comes at the expense of and takes attention away from what we do -- murdering blacks and the transgendered. This is political correctness at its most stupid and useless.

Ms Marcoccia, who spent a lot of time with her subject, clearly finds him a worthwhile one, but she gives noticeable weight to his naysayers, too, without, I think, tipping the balance toward them. From what we see and hear here, Peterson himself is rather quick to question his own motives and ideas, trying to keep himself on track despite the siren calls of fame, adulation, and all the selfies taken with and by his many fans.

Helping him with that task is his seemingly close-knit family -- wife (above) and kids, along with his still-living mom (below, left) and dad. We also discover all the art Peterson has accrued, some of it redolent of the Marxist/Lenin/Stalin era (see four photos up), a time and a politics which the man clearly loathes yet simultaneously finds fascinating.

If a person is to be judged by the amount of alt-right followers he has attracted, then Peterson is surely guilty of something. Yet seeing him interacting with fans who look and act anything but alt-right, and hearing him speak about how to take charge of one's own life in ways intelligent and certainly possible would seem to contradict that.

When the film was shown in Canada last year, it's full title was Shut Him Down: The Rise of Jordan Peterson. This probably makes more sense up north where the man was and is a household name. It also brings to the fore how angry and unsettled his very identity makes so many people -- not, perhaps, as much because of what he thinks and says as because of what certain people make out of what he thinks and says.

Yes, this is something of a conundrum, yet Ms Marcoccia has done a sterling job of marshalling the evidence, pro and con, and bringing it all together into a thoughtful, entertaining whole. I want to know more about Jordan Peterson and his ideas, and after seeing this fine documentary, I suspect you will, too.

From Gravitas Ventures and running 91 minutes, The Rise of Jordan Peterson will play a few venues around the country in day/weeks to come --click here to see all current and past playdates, cities and theaters -- and will be available On Demand tomorrow, Tuesday, October 29, for purchase and/or rental.

Gordon & Neville's BEST OF ENEMIES tracks Buckley & Vidal and those infamous debates

Ah, the 1960s! What fun they were -- till they got kinda nasty. You know: Vietnam and all. The hippies and the Yippies. And the Chicago Democratic Convention riots. Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville's new documentary, BEST OF ENEMIES, takes us into those bygone times with flair, panache and no lack of intelligence, as the filmmakers concentrate on a series of televised debates between two very well-known intellectuals of their day -- right-winger William F. Buckley, Jr., and left-winger Gore Vidal.

Gordon and Neville (the filmmakers are shown at right, with Gordon on the left) lay out the framework for their film very well, carefully setting the time and place and taking us back into this era with an excellent eye for politics, culture, and especiallly television. ABC, on which the debates were shown, was the third-rated (out of three) network at the time (Fox had yet to exist), and the debates went a long way toward goosing ABC's ratings to a new high in which it beat out both CBS and NBC. The history we get of all this is solid, smart and telling.

We also get a good look at the two men involved, and this is where the documentary particularly shines. Instead of giving us the expected leaning toward the ultra-liberal Vidal (below, right) at the expense of the ultra conservative Buckley (below, left), the filmmakers give both men a decent shake, exposing their strengths as well as their weaknesses. All this leads to what one might indeed see as the climax of the debates (and the film), at whick point Gore calls William a "crypto-Nazi," and Buckley bangs back by outting Vidal as a "queer."

A confrontation like this one was "hot shit" in its day, and in fact still has the power to shock us, due to the livid anger we see expressed via both men. By the time it arrives, however, we've gotten to know the guys a little too well. Both were entitled and rich, and while Buckley tried to hide this, Vidal was perfectly happy to admit it, even as he condemned wealth and class in our country. Yet if Buckley proved his ususal sneering and obnoxious self, Vidal, too, seems awfully self-satisfied. One of the points the film brings home is that these two pretty much deserved each other.

Along the way we get some smart commentary from the likes of Frank Rich ("ABC was the Budget Rent-a-Car of the news programs"), Dick Cavett, Andrew Sullivan, Ginia Bellafante and Christopher Hitchens (among many others), with all of this edited down into a fast-paced, sleek and entertaining 87 minutes. Old-timers will relish having a re-look at one of the major cultural events of its day, while youngsters may get a taste of what television's past had to offer before those dreary, dreaded reality shows took over.  

From Magnolia Pictures, Best of Enemies begins its theatrical run this Friday, July 31, in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver, with openings in dozens more cities across the country in the weeks and months to come. Click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates with cities and theaters listed.

Naming it: Matt Wolf's doc, TEENAGE, traces the moniker/history of an altered state--adolescence

Hello? If the term teenage is relatively new, that state-of-being and its concerns have been around at least since the time of Romeo & Juliet. For some reason, however, director and co-writer (with Jon Savage, from his book on the subject) Matt Wolf decided to make a documentary all about... what? I'm not exactly sure. Ostensibly Wolf & Savage want to explore the coming of the "teenager" -- which supposedly occurred around the turn of the 20th Century, though the name itself arrived closer to mid-century -- along with the changes all this presaged.

To manage this, Mr. Wolf, pictured at left, picks out the adolescents of three countries -- Britain, Germany and the USA -- and follows a few of them from around the beginning of the 20th Century onwards. Why only these three countries? Well, why not? You gotta start somewhere. And so we do. The filmmakers offers up everything from the Boy Scouts (of both Britain and America) and Britain's "bright young things" to America's roaring '20s flappers and 1940s jitterbuggers. They're all here, along with a lot more, and they're singing and dancing and goose-stepping up a storm (yes, we get Germany's Hitler Youth, too). To what purpose, I'm not certain.

Part of the filmmakers' point, I think, is that youth usually foments change in a culture, and this is certainly true. So we see some of England's kids at the end of World War I offering up homosexuality, bisexuality and any kind of "other" sex you might want, while the much more uptight America has to incorporate sex into its dance crazes -- swing and such. And Germany? Well, it places all its youthful energy into conquering the world and exterminating the Jews. Beware the political leader who so insistently courts the young.

If German youth had a lot of answer for, America get its black eye via its own Black population (that it is still trying to figure out how to deal with, whether it's a ghetto inhabitant or a mixed-race President). We hear about the "sub-debs" and the Teen-age Bill of Rights (from 1945), and we end around the start of the Atomic Age. (Although, in a movie that tries to cram in everything, we also get that famous shot of the student in front of the tank in China's Tiananmen Square).

In terms of style, Wolf fills his film with some terrific archival footage, but also, I believe, does some visual "re-creations, using voice-overs by actors such as Ben Wishaw and Jena Malone. These are the least successful portions of the film, falling somewhere between documentary and narrative, and ending up much less energized than most of that fine archival footage. Due to the slap-dash, all-over-the-place, toss-in-anything-that-might-apply nature of the movie, Teenage left me less than satisfied, though I did appreciate some of its stunning images (above and below), sprightly pace and short (78-minute) running time.

But if you're really interested in teens in various countries around the world, how their music informs and adds to their culture and how their attitudes of rebellion and protest can make waves (that sometime sink those teen rebels), I heartily suggest you watch movies such as Britain's Bright Young Things, America's Hair and/or the under-seen Swing Kids, Iran's No One Knows About Persian Cats and especially Russia's Hipsters for a crash course in the connections between kids, culture, rebellion and music.

Meanwhile, Teenage -- from Oscilloscope -- opens this Friday, March 14, at the Landmark Sunshine, and the following Friday, March 21, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's NoHo 7 -- after which it will hit another ten cities around the country. Click here, then scroll down a bit, to see all currently scheduled playdates.

A mature Josh Hopkins adds ballast to Ben Hickernell's quiet, thoughtful LEBANON, PA

 

Only to distinguish it, I imagine, from last year's "tank movie," the title of Ben Hickernell's new film is LEBANON, PA -- which is one abbreviation too many for full impact. While we wouldn't want to confuse the content of this city-mouse-meets-country-mice, culture-war tale with Beirut or terrorism, the word Lebanon arrives so freighted with everything from religious to historic to present-day significance, it seems almost a shame not to let it stand on its own. Or find another, less-recently used title. Since Mr. Hickernell (shown below) has chosen to go the PA route, we'll follow him because his film proves worth seeing for a number of reasons.

These include its take on religion, city life vs country life, "Christian" living, teenage pregnancy, forced marriage, adultery and abortion -- to name a few of the things that weave their way through the narrative of what is, considering all of the above, a surprisingly quiet and thoughtful movie. Mr. Hickernell -- who looks awfully young to be have already written, directed and edited his second movie (the first one, Cellar, arrived six years ago) -- finds plenty of positives and negatives in all of the people and situations he tracks here, and his ability to allow us to see these fully and to understand why and how they impact on each other is what makes his movie more than merely worthwhile.

This wider angle and deeper context is particularly true of the movie's view of religion. We see its kindly face in the daughter CJ (a lovely performance by newcomer Rachel Kitson, above), as she says grace with her newly-discovered cousin Will, played by Josh Hopkins (below). Later, in the what is probably the scariest scene in the movie, as CJ and her boyfriend are forced to meet with their priest and both sets of parents, they are told that when they marry -- no "if" here -- the group will ensure that they have everything they need including "good jobs." Suddenly religious faith turns into a kind of prison in which everything from the social network to gainful employment is frighteningly "assured" for those who follow the faith and its rules.

All of the situations found in the film are viewed from both the angles of the religious right and from the liberal left, and while I believe the filmmakers sympathies finally lie with the latter, he does not make the "citified lefties" always right. In fact, they -- Hopkin's Will, his mom (played by Mary Beth Hurt, below), and the ad agency where he works -- all come off as not a little tainted. And the quieter life of Lebanon appears initially placid and appealing enough to attract a fellow who has just experiences a romantic break-up and the loss of his father.

Back and forth we go with our characters -- eventually including a pretty teacher (Samantha Mathis, below), married but frustrated with hubby and career, who gets entangled with Will -- as they move forward, backward and sideways, trying to handle all the change that must come.

The loveliest -- and key -- scene arrives as CJ's boyfriend (well-played by Josh Hunt) apologizes and explains to the confused girl why and how he now feels. Thanks to the filmmaker's skill at conception and execution, along with the fine performances from his cast, these few moments, beautifully written, are both moving and on the mark.

I make no claims to greatness for this little movie. The filmmaker is still learning his craft, but he, along with Mike Lemon, who did the casting, have chosen their actors very well. Hopkins, known mostly for his work on TV, is getting older now, with a face that is nicely showing its age (but a body that's still in terrific shape). He brings real gravity to the situation, even though he is called upon mostly to react to things. The writer/director understands well that it's the outsider, acting as an unbeknownst-even-to-himself catalyst, who enables the oncoming change, and Hopkins'  face mirrors beautifully much of what is going on here.

Ms Mathis and Ms Hurt are both, as usual, in fine form, and though neither is called upon to do a whole lot of "acting," what they give us is truthful and smart. Ian Merrill Peakes, above, as dad to CJ and her brother Chase, has the strongest role as the man torn between his religion (which includes his favored place in society) and what might be best for his kids. You feel his pain, as well as his inability to withstand the shock of the new.

The younger set is well-drawn, too (the mean girls in this film are spurred on both by jealousy and religion), with Kitson, Hunt and Hunter Gallagher (above) as CJ's brother Chase, all doing splendid jobs. I don't know whether or not the movie will draw many tourists to its titular town, but it's certainly put the place on my memory map, and I suspect it might do the same for yours.

Lebanon, PA opens this Friday in New York City and Philadelphia, and next Friday, May 6, in Lebanon, Pittsburgh and Harrisburgh, PA. Click here to discover all the cities and theaters at which the film will be appearing.  There will also be a number of Q&As with the film's stars, with the filmmaker and even the composer (Matt Pond PA). Click here for the most current update on the personal appearances.