A tasty documentary is turned inside out in Molly Dworsky/Dave Newberg/Zachary Capp's THE RINGMASTER

Who exactly is THE RINGMASTER of this eponymously titled new documentary? Seems to TrustMovies that there are actually four of them -- the most important being a Minnesota man named Larry Lang who is said (by many, many folk indeed) to have made the best-tasting, batter-laden, deep-fried onion rings in the whole wide world. Or at the very least in these United States of America. Larry is the ostensible subject of the documentary planned to be brought to fruition by a first-time filmmaker named Zachary Capp (shown at center, below, surrounded by what turns out to be this film's actual directors, Capp's friends Molly Dworsky, left, and Dave Newberg, right).

Mr. Lang (below) may be the ringmaster of those onions, and Capp of the documentary about them, but along the very bizarre, alternately funny and pretty damned sad journey that is this film, Ms Dworsky and Mr. Newberg must replace the original filmmaker. How and why make up the "plot" here, and quite a tale it turns out to be.

If onion rings are among your favorite food (as they are mine), I don't see how you will want to miss this movie and see and hear as those rings sizzle to a golden brown. (If only The Ringmaster were in Taste-O-Vision!) 

As filmmaker Capp determines to bring Lang's rings the acclaim they deserve, he and we viewers travel around the country watching various deals made so that the onions might become the "signature" food of important sport franchises, one of which is a certain famous football team who plans to move from Oakland to Las Vegas.

One major problem is that our Larry only wants his privacy and to be able to produce his rings in peace and quiet for whomever and wherever he happens to be working at any particular time. 

And, as we learn almost from the get-go here, our Mr. Capp is a reformed gambling addict, and addiction, as we are so often told, never dies. It simply sleeps, waiting for a new "something" to attract its attention and claws. For instance: filmmaking as a road to fame and fortune.

Yes, movie fans: In the long and varied history of hybrid documentaries, I think this one really does take the cake. Or the rings. Manipulation grows and does even more than its expected damage; even as we keep grinning, smiling and guffawing, the laughter begin to curdle in our throat. Onions are famous for making their chefs cry. So, I suspect, will be the case for viewers of this small-but-packed-with-observation documentary.

As the end credits roll, we learn the outcome for some of the folk we've met here. But what the rings themselves? Are they available anywhere now? Even as produced by Larry's sister Linda? Or are they to be consigned, as is so much else these days (including our country itself), to disappear down the river of full-out dementia? 

From 1091 Pictures and running just 88 minutes. The Ringmaster opens on digital and VOD platforms this Tuesday, October 6 -- for purchase and/or rental. (Even Gene Simmons and the band KISS get involved in all of this. Who knew?)

Maite Alberdi's THE MOLE AGENT: a sneaky hybrid doc that will amuse and move you

No one seems more surprised about the Chilean newspaper ad requesting the services of an elderly male between the age of 80 and 90 -- independent, discrete and competent with technology -- than the elderly males who answer this ad, shocked that, for a change, someone wants a fellow their age rather than immediately saying no to him because of his age. The detective agency hiring needs to place the man selected inside a senior retirement home at the behest of a client who suspects her aged mother is being mistreated there.

So begins a most unusual movie that TrustMovies imagined was a narrative film (he prefers not to read all of the press release sent him about a new movie so that he can experience it without too many spoilers) but is instead said to be a documentary. If so, this film is, at the very least one of those hybrid docs that keep you on your toes and maybe cheats just a little now and then. For me, and for most of the its running time, THE MOLE AGENT -- written and directed by a young woman named Maite Alberdi (shown at right) -- appeared to be a narrative film done in strong documentary style that grows even stronger as the movie moves along.

Ms Alberdi handles the set-up, recruitment (below) and selection of the elderly spy in quick, clever fashion which anyone who has ever worked with us aged folk regarding technology will easily appreciate and enjoy. (That's Sergio, the fellow finally chosen to be the spy, above left, and his agency boss Rómulo, at right.)

At the retirement home there are, as usual below, mostly women who, worldwide it seems, live longer than us guys. So Sergio is immediately in great demand simply by being a living male, and also because he happens to be such a kindly, intelligent and empathetic gentleman. The various women, maybe a half dozen of whom we get to know fairly well, are brought to life by being, well, those same real-life characters. You will be thinking probably even saying aloud to yourself, "This is so real, it must be a documentary!" And so it is, even if certain things appears to be either fudged or left out of our purview.

Sergio is still grieving over his late wife (who died fairly recently) and so welcomes this change of venue and this job to take his mind off his grief. And his own family members are clearly concerned for his well-being and for the legality of what is going on here. Still, the ease of Sergio's spying and the laxity of the retirement home toward what is happening with Sergio takes a certain suspension of disbelief. 

What happens as Sergio adjusts to his new home and its occupants to him, as well as how the relationship between him and his boss begins to change combine to make the movie quite special. Plus, what he and we learn about the travails of even a senior retirement residence as pleasant is this one is enough to turn your head and make you think and think again -- about your own life and those of others less fortunate.

By the conclusion of The Mole Agent, you'll have smiled a lot, been surprisingly moved and very pleased that you took the chance on this lovely little movie. From Gravitas Ventures and running just 90 minutes, the doc hits digital VOD and Blu-ray/DVD this Tuesday, September 1 -- for rental or purchase.

A different view of immigration in Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera's THE INFILTRATORS

TrustMovies admits that he went into his viewing of THE INFILTRATORS with his usual mixed feelings regarding illegal immigrants: Yes, it's a problem when people are here illegally, but if they and their families are threatened with major abuses should they return to their home country, ought we not take this into account and help them?

So, the first few minutes of this new hybrid documentary by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera (shown below, left and right, respectively) -- which tells an absolutely real story about actual characters but with the major portion devoted to actors in a totally narrative version of events -- left me with back-and-forth, positive/negative reactions. By film's finale, however, I was indiscriminately cheering for these "undocumented" men and women.

In retrospect -- two days have passed since I viewed the film -- I find myself still very impressed with the story told here, as well as the characters we meet in it, even if I have to admit that it is the truly bizarre yet quite heroic situation that our leading characters willingly place themselves in that both engulfed and impressed me most.

These young people, Marco (played by actor Maynor Alvarado in the narrative portion, above) and Viri (actress Chelsea Rendon in the narrative portion, below, left) are members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of radical DREAMers whose mission it is to stop unjust deportations. In order do this most efficiently and with the best results, these two -- already illegal and "deportable" -- get themselves tossed into the Broward Transitional Center, a detention facility used as a holding space for imminent deportations.

Once inside, they begin their education of the other prisoners regarding how best to ensure their non-deportation and even their chance to get out and rejoin their families. This takes the kind of courage and selflessness that ordinary U.S. citizens seldom ever see or experience--let alone possess. The Infiltrators' great strength comes from allowing us to take part in this, as Marco especially and Viri (later in the film) learn how to get this job done without themselves being exposed as "plants" and/or then being deported.

The movie often has the feel of a suspense thriller -- particularly one scene in which the cleaning-crew prisoners enable necessary paperwork and information to make its way both into and out of the prison -- and if, in retrospect, the film also seems a little fudgy with its facts, along with how easy it was to manage all this, trust me, you'll still be hooked.

The Dream Act and those Dreamers were in the news a lot during the first portion of Donald Trump's abominable Presidency, but they have fallen out of the news of late. This most interesting and important movie should bring them back into notice, as well as helping force us citizens to look at immigration/deportation (and all that goes with it) through a wider perspective and with more open eyes.

The Infiltrators, distributed by Oscilloscope Films, opens here in South Florida -- where this all took place (and is still taking place) -- this Friday, March 20, in Miami at the Silverspot Cinema and AMC Sunset Place, in Fort Lauderdale at The Classic Gateway Theatre, and the Living Room Theatres, Boca Raton. Click here and then click on FIND THEATERS to view the dozen-or-so currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters around the country.

Whoops -- with movie theaters closing 

left and right around the country, 

thanks to the current Corona virus, 

who knows where or when this film will actually open. 

If I find out later, I will update this post....

An all-time great? Very probably. Leo Hurwitz's amazing, ever-current doc, STRANGE VICTORY

It says things that were simply never spoken of on film at the time. Couple this with visuals of gorgeous, harrowing power and you have a documentary -- a hybrid way ahead of its time -- that appears as current today as it must have seemed shocking, unforgettable and (unfortunately for the filmmaker and his subsequent career) unforgivable when it first was shown back in 1948.  STRANGE VICTORY is a hybrid documentary film I had not even heard of until I received a press release from its Blu-ray distributor, Milestone Films. Now, having experienced the movie (and a number of fine Bonus Features on the disc), I can attest -- along with a bunch of other critics -- that this is one film I shall never forget.

Though initially receiving a good-to-magnificent reception from early screenings, once the "establishment" had weighed in on the film, its writer/director Leo Hurwitz (shown at right) found himself pretty much blacklisted from being able to work in either television (in its early stages) or film.

This was because he told the truth about prejudice and racism in America back at the near-mid-20th-Century, and the powers-that-be did not want to hear this. Nor did they want the American people to hear it. They still don't. And this fact makes the movie, if this is even possible, more timely than ever.

It is just post-World War II America, and the Allies have won. So why, Hurwitz asks, does the voice and message of Adolf Hitler still pursue us? He answers this in a number of different ways and using differing means: gloriously filmed black-and-white images -- some archival (below), others shot for this movie (his cinematographers were Peter Glushanok and George Jacobson) -- that resonate with both meaning and art, and a beautifully written narration narration by Hurwitz himself that quietly, steadily, sorrowfully implicates us all in the continual holding down and back of the "others."

These would be, of course, blacks, Jews, Asians, even Catholics. Anyone who was not White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The narration sways and rolls, coming back again to prejudice in the film's most haunting sequence, taking place in a hospital room full of newborns, as our narrator explains to them what they can expect from life -- and why. This is such strong, powerful stuff that the fact that it was gifted to us 70 years ago and then not given the chance to be seen seems close to criminal. As you view the film, your realization of how little has changed in so many ways should be at least salutary, if not, finally, a call to action.

How and why Hitler was able to rise to power is also part of the narrative here. The message -- of demagogues, racism and the death of democracy -- is a vital one. But for the simply amazing visuals alone -- beautiful/ugly and resonating like crazy -- the film is a must-see. Talk about "telling it like it is." This is the documentary that first nailed it.

Strange Victory lasts only 64 minutes (on the IMDB, the doc's length is said to be 71 minutes, so I am assuming seven minutes were lost to this 2K new restoration/transfer from the original 1948 nitrate interpositive), which may also partially account as an excuse for why a theatrical run proved more difficult. But it is here now -- and really must be seen

From Milestone Films and The Milestone Cinematheque, the documentary hits the street on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday, August 14 -- for purchase and (I would hope) rental.

The disc's bonus features include the 2K restoration of Strange Victory from the original 35mm nitrate fine grain master; Leo Hurwitz’s surprising 1964 epilogue to the film, celebrating Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement; Leo Hurwitz speaking about Strange Victory, courtesy of Ingela Romare, from her 1992 film, On Time, Art, Love, and Trees: A Meeting with Leo T. Hurwitz; Barney Rosset (who produced the documentary) speaking about Strange Victory, courtesy of CUNY TV City Cinematheque and interviewer Jerry Carlson; plus six films from Hurwitz’s years as a member of the Worker’s Film and Photo League and Nykino, Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC: National Hunger March 1931, Bonus March 1932, Hunger March 1932, America Today, World in Review, and Pie in the Sky (a funny, cogent, "silent" film co-starring Elia Kazan, and made prior to his sell-out).

Women power at OPENS ROADS 2018: Marco Tullio Giordana's NOME DI DONNA and Francesco Patierno's DIVA!

Two of the eight films I've been able to view for this year's OPEN ROADS are decidedly feminist -- but in quite differing ways. One is a documentary about the famous Italian actress (still alive but not longer making movies), Valentina Cortese, the other a fictionalized account of the journey one single mother must make in bringing to justice the powerful workplace boss who has propositioned her and then made her work life miserable after she rejects his "proposal." Both are worth seeing, though the documentary is the stronger and more interesting work.

DIVA! is the over-used but still appropriate title for the film that gives us a very oddball yet fascinating and surprisingly intelligent and even sometimes moving account of the life and career of Ms Cortese, who began her film work in Italy, moved on to Britain and finally America, before returning to her homeland and Europe to continue performing in movies and legitimate theater.

The filmmaker is Francesco Patierno (shown below), who last year made a much-heralded documentary titled Naples '44, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, and back in 2003 the well-received narrative film, Pater familias.

For whatever reason(s), though Cortese is still alive, only archival footage of her and from her movies is used here. When the Cortese character is "shown" us, she is portrayed by eight different actresses, each standing in for a specific time frame. You might think this would be confusing or simply too strange to work very well, and yet it really does. The actresses include some of Italy's best, and the words they speak -- which appear to come from Cortese's oww diaries, letters and reminiscences -- resonate and sparkle with acute intelligence and feeling. Cortese certainly had a way with words (really: what a command of language she has!) and hearing her words spoken so well, with such understanding and emotion, makes the documentary continuously alive and riveting.

The actresses include the likes of Isabella Ferrari (above), Anita Caprioli and Barbora Bobulova (below), each one quite different and yet seemingly a fine stand-in for the actress herself, as the bio-pic documentary skips back and forth in time, resonating more on an emotional plane than via any strict time line.

Intercut with these actresses speaking the words of Cortese are numerous clips of the star's film work, as well as archival photos of her younger days. (That's she in her heyday, below, and as an older actress, further below, and at bottom in one of her earliest films.)

We meet Cortese's various lovers, co-stars, directors and producers -- among them Dassin, Truffaut, Zeffirelli, Losey, Gilliam, Zanuck, Richard Basehart and many more -- as they get screen time (or at least verbal remembrances), in which Mr. Zanuck comes out worst of all. As the film rolls along, even as crazily back-and-forth in time as it goes, there's a character, a personality and a strength here that is genuinely surprising.

I have never seen another bio-pic-doc anything like this one, and I doubt I would recommend that other filmmakers try it this way. But Patierno has certainly achieved something unusual and memorable. When I think of Ms Cortese from now on, in addition to her many fine performances, this documentary is sure to come immediately to mind.

Diva! plays at Open Roads this coming Wednesday. June 6, at 8:30pm. Click here for further information and/or tickets.

Marco Tullio Giordana (shown below) has long been one of my favorite Italian filmmakers. His The Best of Youth still stands as an amazing movie achievement. He has been represented at Open Roads before, and his latest film, NOME DI DONNA could hardly seem more timely, dealing as it does with sexual harrasment of a woman by her powerful and wealthy employer. What's more, it is beautifully photographed and acted, and features a lovely supporting turn by Adrianna Asti (at left, two photos below), as one of the residents in home for the elderly into which our heroine, at the film's beginning, is hired to work.

That character, Nina, is single mom with a young daughter and a genuinely caring and thoughtful boyfriend (who in not that daughter's dad) in tow. Nina is played by Cristiana Capotondi (shown below, right and further below), an actress whom I've enjoyed since first encountering her in the wonderful Italian film, Kryptonite! (click and scroll down). She is very good in this role, as well.

As directed and co-written (with Cristiana Mainardi) by Signore Giordana, Nome di donna proceeds quickly and smartly along its designated path, with never any doubt about the kindness, strength and overall quality of heroine, which Ms Capotondi brings to fine life.

Nor is there any doubt about the incident of sexual abuse that sparks the action of all that happens for the rest of the movie. It is also more than clear that the abuser has practiced this on more women in his employ than merely Nina.

The movie is particularly good at showing us the ins and outs of the Italian justice system, workers' unions, and how the workers at this home for the wealthy elderly, when their employment is threatened by the one woman who stands up for herself, will band together against this woman and allow the sexual abuse to continue. It also shows us, via Nina's daughter and what she "learns" at school, how immigrants are so easily demonized in Italy (as they are elsewhere throughout Europe) these days.

So how to fight all this? While Giordana, his cast and crew deliver the goods, all right, and his film is consistently interesting as it moves along its charted course, everything begins to look a little too easy -- almost pre-ordained. "I don't want to brag, but I've won every case," her lawyer (Michela Cescon, below) tells Nina. One wonders, what with the Italian courts so noted historically for their rather lax understanding of justice where the powerful are concerned, how all this can work itself out so easily. Well, maybe Italian courts are changing these days? God knows, American courts certainly are -- for the worse.

In any case, once the movie reaches its conclusion, you can feel free to bask in good feelings. Whether or not you'll be able to believe it all is another matter. I wonder if even Giordana actually believes it. The film's final nasty joke involving a newscaster, together with the ironic song played on the soundtrack, indicates that, for all the feel-good going on here, there remains an awfully long way to go toward gender equality.

Worth seeing, Nome di donna screens at Open Roads today, Saturday, June 2, at 3:30pm (with a Q&A with the director following the screening) and again Tuesday, June 5, at 4:30pm. To see the entire Open Roads schedule, click the link preceding. And to see TrustMovies' earlier posts on this year's series, click here, here and here.

MANSFIELD 66/67: P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes' snarky ode to that blond bombshell

Part camp, part history, part gossip/rumor, part archival treasure trove, part animation, MANSFIELD 66/67 purports to give us the inside story of not-quite super-star Jayne Mansfield, her relatively short life, thirteen-year career and grizzly death. Certainly as much mockumentary as documentary, the movie joins the ever-growing ranks of what are now termed hybrid docs. Whatever you might have thought of Ms Mansfield -- if you're even old enough to remember her -- chances are you'll leave this semi-sleazy little movie feeling that the star somehow been cheated out of any kind of genuine bio-pic.

To be fair, the film's press release describes the doc as "a true story based on rumor and hearsay, where classic documentary interviews and archival materials are blended with dance numbers, performance art, and animation." That's an on-the-mark description, and the film's lengthy "disclaimer," which is the very first thing you'll see on screen, seems to underscore this idea.

As directed by P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes (shown above, with Ebersole on the right), the movie is almost consistently hit and miss, beginning with a post-disclaimer choral group singing a kind of ode of Ms Mansfield that's campy and cute. But when the group comes back again, below, as patrons of a hair salon, its routine is mostly obvious and unfunny.

Over and over during this mock/doc, you may find yourself asking, Why are they showing us this? And so damned much of it, too? Mostly, TrustMovies suspects, this is simply "filler," so that the film will last the requisite full-length running time.

Information-wise, the doc's ace-in-the-hole would seem to be Mansfield's relationship with Satanist Anton LaVey (above), but even this is babbled about for far too long without giving us much of anything ether definitive or all that important. The movie includes interviews with everyone from John Waters (in tackier mode than usual) to Kenneth Anger, Mary Woronov and gossip monger A.J. Benza, plus some would-be historians, culture mavens and assorted drag performers (one of whom is shown below).

The worst thing about the film is the blond would-be Mansfield look-alike (who looks almost nothing like the star, save for some blond tresses) and may be a female impersonator, in any case. This person takes up far too much screen time, dancing and carrying on and dragging out this too-long movie by maybe ten or fifteen minutes too many. Is she/he the director's girlfriend/boyfriend or son/daughter, perhaps? Who knows? Who cares -- except that s/he brings the movie down considerably.

The doc is not a dead loss. There are some fun and/or funny moments along the way, and recapping this sex goddess' career may spark some interest in her oeuvre from the younger set.

Overall, however, this is the case of a possibly good idea gone south or maybe just a bad one given a few good laughs before being done to death. Ms Mansfield, who made some fun films during her short stay, deserves better. And so perhaps does even the bizarre Mr. LaVey (above).

From filmbuff and running 84 minutes, the movie opens today, Friday, October 27, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Ahrya Fine Arts in conjunction with a couple of Ms Mansfield's better-known movies. You can check the theater's daily schedule here. Otherwise, the film will plays at a number of cities around the country. Click here to view them all.