Tag Archives: Real-life story

Boys State (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Meet future American politicians

Documentary “Boys State”, which won the US Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, gives us a close and intimate glimpse into a bunch of boys who may be the future of American … Continue reading

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Tesla (2020) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An unorthodox failure

Nikola Tesla was indeed an inventor ahead of his time. Although many of numerous things envisioned by him were not realized during his life and he eventually died alone in poverty in 1943, he was surely one of the pioneering … Continue reading

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The Current War (2017) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): AC vs. DC

“The Current War”, which was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2017 but only got released in US around two years later due to several reasons including Harvey Weinstein’s involvement in its production, does not have enough … Continue reading

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Mississippi Burning (1988) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Flawed but incendiary

One of my friends often mentions the last places he wants to visit in US, which are usually the ones reported on the media for infuriating cases of blatant racism. I felt same about Mississippi when I revisited Alan Parker’s … Continue reading

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Balloon (2018) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A passable film based on one extraordinary real-life story

I was quite interested in watching German film “Balloon” for a personal reason. It is based on an unbelievable real-life story which was also the basis of 1982 Disney film “Night Crossing” (1982), and that movie was incidentally one of … Continue reading

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Russian Penguins (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): A risky sports business in Russia

Documentary film “Russian Penguins” is as absurd as its very title suggests. Although I really have no idea on how much of the testaments from the interviewees in the documentary is actually true, the documentary is still engaging as cheerfully … Continue reading

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The Fight (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): ACLU lawyers against the ongoing injustices

Documentary film “The Fight”, which deservedly won the US Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmkaing when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, gives us the inspiring stories of several lawyers of the … Continue reading

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The Go-Go’s (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): When they got the beat

I like good documentaries which illuminate things beyond my current knowledge, and documentary film “The Go-Go’s” is one of such cases. Following the short but impressive history of a famous all-female American punk rock band during the early 1980s, the … Continue reading

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A Most Beautiful Thing (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Rowing for changes

Documentary film “A Most Beautiful Thing”, which was supposed to be shown at the SXSW Film Festival before it was unfortunately canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is about a group of African American guys who try to bring … Continue reading

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Father Solider Son (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): A solider and his family

Netflix documentary film “Father Soldier Son” gives us a close and intimate look into the 10-year story of one ordinary American soldier and his dear family. While it remains rather apolitical about the war which is still being continued even … Continue reading

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