The present leaves a record, impermanent as sandy footprints or lasting as a fossil. Somewhere between these extremes lie memory and videotape. Both of these make up much of the substance of True/False documentaries, but just as other forces can shape filming and memories, movies can recontextualize the record. Every year there are True/False Film Festival selections wandering beyond the boundaries, getting out of the pen and becoming instantly feral, carrying back something harder to categorize.
Take Predators, from accomplished director David Osit (Mayor) which revisits the early 2000s skeevy reality-show-in-news-clothing To Catch a Predator. Presenting unedited footage captured for the show and talking to circumspect participants, the film looks back at the slick program that fascinated and repulsed the public with its Candid Camera-like punking of men lured to a location with the promise of sex with a minor only to find an NBC news crew instead. A montage of dapper host Chris Hanson emerging from a back room to confront the patsy makes a joke of his po-faced formula and suggests the titular role of Predator might have a second candidate. This could risk glossing over the authentic bad intentions of the people caught in the show’s trap, but Osit, a victim of childhood abuse himself, weaves his personal connection into the story and lets his own ambivalence about what we should be feeling guide the point of view. He uses an extraordinarily deft touch to pull the personal out of footage shot to manipulate a universal reaction, and it’s the perfect True/False wrestling match between the objective and subjective.
Archival video played a strong role in many of the festival’s best films this year, including Deaf President Now!A standard interview and b-roll format is elevated by the verve of its participants and its wealth of firsthand recordings. The story of a weeklong student protest on the campus of all-deaf Gallaudet University naturally leans on news footage and a small amount of reenactment, but its energy comes from the surprising amount of camcorder footage of the students, reacting and coordinating in close-ups. The clarity of the 1980s magnetic tape recordings suggests the use of those dreaded anti-art initials, but machine learning does better clarifying images than creating them. The result is slick enough to slide into the Apple+ lineup.
Every year there are True/False Film Festival selections wandering beyond the boundaries, getting out of the pen and becoming instantly feral, carrying back something harder to categorize.
The old tapes haven’t been scrubbed of their digital charm in Middletown, the latest from (speaking of Apple+) Boys and Girls State directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. They’re using shelves and shelves of tapes shot in the 1990s by high schoolers making a multi-year investigative journalism project exposing corruption and environmental disaster in their small New York town. The twists of this investigation and excitement of seeing smug adults squirm under questions from what they thought were just pesky kids is satisfying and fun. The film’s other conceit, where the filmmakers reconstruct the classroom from the 90s and bring the students in for interviews, makes for such good feelings it’s easy to walk away forgetting that the project never leads to a happy ending. Moss and McBaine don’t do despair, and Middletown pivots into a celebration of a teacher and mentor who continues to press for justice decades later. In a time when the worst of us hog the attention, it’s beautiful to celebrate someone for their commitment to justice even without the promise of results.
Even a project short on material can find creative ways to get around this, none more so than the inventive but ultimately maddening Zodiac Killer Project. Unable to secure the final rights to a book about one man’s investigation of his pet serial killer suspect, director Charlie Shackleton (maker of 10-hour Letterboxd fascination Paint Drying) narrates his plan for the film over shots of the location and generic true crime inserts – bullet casings hitting the pavement, boots touching the ground, etc. A sometimes funny conceit that never quite shakes the feeling of a rambling excuse for an unfinished homework assignment, Zodiac Killer Project takes aim at true crime tropes without really finding its own footing vis-à-vis its targets. Was Shackleton’s original plan to make a film in the style of streaming schlock? And would have if the opportunity hadn’t been denied him by a guy he now mocks via the book he can’t legally adapt? For those already skeptical of true crime tenets, its revelations about the formula are all old news, and the film’s cleverness is dulled by the feeling that Shackleton is keeping his own skin out of the game.
But fear not, there’s plenty to see even if you aren’t looking to see convention upended. Disney+ subscribers can look forward to NatGeo’s Sally, a biography of pioneering astronaut Sally Ride with extra attention paid to Tam O’Shaughnessy, the life partner she hid from the spotlight during her career (and NASA stuff always has great archival footage). In a slightly less conventional take on traditional doc fare, How Deep is Your Love puts a whimsical spin on an expedition to study unnamed creatures on the ocean floor. There is now an animal living where sunlight cannot find it with the informal name Barbie Pig and you must see it. How to Build a Library documents important work for literacy and culture in Kenya, though it makes a better story than film. The Dating Game is a humorous film that follows adherents of a dating coach in China who attempts to make them stand out in a nation where there are 30 million fewer men than women. It ultimately can’t make its central thread quite work out, but its astonishing sidebars into virtual boyfriends and state-sponsored matchmaking events are worth the time alone. Not a bad pick for a date night.
A True/False film might bring you entertainment or straightforward information. But it also could flip the role of the camera, question the presence of the director. Make art of footage intended to be journalistic, and file news reports on the intangible. Feel free to be suspicious of my report. It’s the True/False way. But save those tapes in your basement, you never know who might need them in the future.
About the writer
C. D. Ploughman
The weary Ploughman is a writer and filmmaker, focusing these days on documentary and educational projects. He obsesses over movies with his very patient wife and children.
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I’ve been so excited for this write-up, and obviously it did not disappoint. Love getting a sense of the gestalt of the festival (and as everyone should say, you had me at “feral”) as well as some specific highlights: definitely adding Predators, Middletown, and The Dating Game to my watchlist, in particular, but I’ll keep an eye out for basically all of this. I mean, I need to see Barbie Pig.
Thank you! It really is a special event. I know Columbia, Missouri isn’t the most accessible place for everybody, but it at least isn’t in the fricking mountains like so many festivals. Highly recommended if you get the chance.
What did we watch?
Nocturne – A songwriter is murdered, only the killer makes it look like suicide. And most of the cops accept that, but not George Raft! A fairly entertaining B-movie mystery with some tinges of noir (I think by 1946, the only crime movies that were not showing tinges of noir were the Thin Man series.) Raft does Raft things, no subtlety but enough talent to keep things moving. But this also has the feel of a pilot for some TV show that would not exist in 1946, as Raft still lives at home with widowed mother and she serves as a sounding board for him. There is even one funny scene where she and her best friend go so far as to re-enact the murder. Very TV crime show, isn’t it?
Kojak, “Sweeter Than Life” – A Very Special Episode, as Kojak learns his nephew is using drugs. So a good chunk of this deals with Kojak trying to get the kid cleaned up, with the help of a recovering junkie played by Neville Brand, and wobbled between out and out condemnation of drug use and showing compassion for addicts. The other half involves a murder the nephew and his buddy saw, and is pretty engaging, but the vibes here are about the drugs. Though there is one moment where Stavros does dare to say his boss that maybe getting drunk isn’t that different than using heroin. He retracts it, but even saying it is unusual.
Frasier, “The Club” – Frasier and Niles both want to join Seattle’s most exclusive club, but there’s only one opening, so naturally it creates conflict, but also camaraderie. And a funny twist ending. W. Morgan Sheppard has a memorable role as the club’s president.
The Shield, 5×03
– Love Lem pointedly typing out, “TO SAVE YOUR ASS,” when Shane’s questioning about why the heroin ended up in his car. I’d rub that in too, Lem.
– We now have Becca Doyle! And with her and Mara in the same episode, we have a miniature Mulholland Drive reunion, even though the two of them don’t share any scenes. I love watching Becca work, all hard-edged idealism and total commitment to whatever case she takes on, inhabiting any implied contradiction between her principles and her professionalism so thoroughly that it’s impossible to criticize her for it. She’s like the anti-Billings, and you can see why Vic immediately files her away as a potential resource.
– Claudette is feeling a little better in this episode, and she’s able to take on the work of sorting out the wrongful arrest of Every-Day, much to Dutch’s initial chagrin. Even with a secret between them–and even with Dutch getting testy with her early in the episode–these two still have the most gloriously functional relationship in the Barn, and I love Dutch eventually accepting that he’d gotten it wrong and congratulating Claudette on getting it right … and then we get Claudette’s glee at Dutch having maybe gotten himself on an accidental date: “While you were reading faces, he was reading your package.” A transcendently amused CCH Pounder is a joy to behold.
– Kavanaugh’s reaction to the death by chi-chi joke has always made me incredibly happy, especially how he shrugs off the difference between the chi-chi and ki-ki versions.
– Love the reveal that Mara already knows about Antwon. It’s such a loving Shane/Mara scene–that forehead kiss!–and so painful in the long run. I suspect that right now, Shane’s mostly thinking of his “team’s one thing, family’s another” promise as an extension of him keeping (more or less) clean after Antwon. It’s “I won’t do anything too risky trying to save Lem”–and we know that for Shane, staying out of trouble doesn’t prohibit, say, dumping a criminal over the border, as per last episode. In this moment, he can imagine that he still has wiggle room. But if there’s one thing The Shield is good at, it’s ruthlessly eliminating wiggle room. As Tristan pointed out in the Ten Years Later article, the show doesn’t usually give its characters the luxury of compromise.
– Also, bless The Goggins’s enthusiasm for taking his clothes off on camera. And FX’s CEO of Man Ass.
– One of my absolute favorite Tina moments in this episode, when she improvises–under incredible pressure!–the lie about gonorrhea in her throat. She really is a natural undercover, with all her charisma and her skills at playing people turned to their greatest professional advantage. (I’m also just a sucker for a good, creative liar.) Julien and Danny will have concerns about her for a while, and not unjustifiably, but this episode alone can sell you on her potential.
– Some amazing awkward comedy around the Strike Team knowing Lem’s wired up. Personal favorite: “If he wants his lawyer, he gets his lawyer!” Vic says, with frantic glances between an irate Shane and a resigned Lem. The only thing that could make it better would be if they really went the extra mile to try to convince IAD they were the good guys, and you had Ronnie saying something like, “I’m just writing a check that’s my regular contribution to a homeless shelter!”
– EDIT: And one of the biggest things I wanted to mention was the Chiklis-Johnson scene towards the end, so of course I forgot it. Incredible work from both of them, especially with the way Vic looks up and locks eyes with Lem on “I made a mistake.” It’s the same move he made way back in S1, with Aceveda (which Aceveda even references in this episode): selling the lie by committing absolutely to the part of it he can believe in. Some buried part of him has always felt the weight of killing Terry, even if it’s in an exculpatory “I wish things could have turned out differently” way that elides his own role in it, and all his best denials lean into that, “confessing” to responsibility while denying guilt. And then the “We together?” note and hand-clasp with Lem, bringing Lem back into the fold by asking a question Lem can never not say yes to. Beautiful stuff.
Shane’s face when Lem writes Angie WHILE trying to tell a dumb old racist joke! Peak Goggins faces. (Also “Must be a white thing.”)
And the way he falters and stalls out right then! Great stuff.
Also re the ki-ki joke, I do like that Kavanaugh still doesn’t understand what he’s up against. As soon as Aceveda hears the wire came disconnected when Lem confronted Vic, he knows the operation is compromised.
Yeah, Kavanaugh is still underestimating Vic and reading Aceveda as grandiosely paranoid about him, but you have no idea what you have ahead of you, Kavanaugh! I didn’t expect to make an Aceveda-Jesse Pinkman comparison here (Jesse is way more of Shane’s counterpart in general), but part of that conversation felt akin to the “he can’t keep getting away with it” breakdown.
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’s interesting to see the contrast to later, when Kavanaugh turns up the heat– his strategy, of course, being to pressure everyone all the time about everything– and starts grilling Aceveda that maybe he tipped Vic that Terry was undercover. Dude, Aceveda was the one warning you what you were up against! I think if he was involved he’d try harder to steer you away from achieving anything.
Yeah, weird flex if Aceveda assigned Terry to investigate Vic, tipped Vic off about it, and then told Kavanaugh to look at all of that more closely. I would not be at all surprised if there was some “our next shocking new twist!” show out there that worked on exactly that level of logic, though. Benioff & Weiss: “Aceveda just kind of forgot about Kavanaugh.”
Live Music – interestingly eclectic lineup, the headline act was my beloved Trust Fund, one of my favourite songwriters and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching him / them (it’s either solo or a duo depending on the gig / song) pull from their back catalogue. Tour support was Lanny, one of the frontpeople of the great powerpop band Ex-Void doing dreamy electronic laptop pop kinda stuff – sparse but compelling sound. Then there was also a Japanese keyboard player who had some great song introductions (“this one is about crispiness!”, “this song is about a famous old coffin in the shape of a pyramid! I love it!”) that made up for not being able to understand the lyrics. Unusual sound but good fun. And then a local folk-pop group opened up and sounded great, very Florist / Big Thief kinda sound I guess. One of my favourite gigs for a while, partly because of the lineup and partly because some friends were in town so we went for fantastic tacos beforehand, hell yeah.
Wooo, live music and tacos! Wish I could have heard the song about crispiness.
Wish GRANTED: https://yamawarashi.bandcamp.com/track/saku-saku
Woooo live music! But wait, music and tacos but no Tacocat? Is this even vomas?!
Woooooo live tacos and fantastic music!!
A rundown of the shorts we saw at True/False:
Animal Eye – Experimental science class video, if that makes sense, using the eyes of animals to ruminate on the human connection to nature. Not for those too squeamish to take the eyeball scene in “Un Chien Andalou,” but playful enough to rise above the weight of its topic.
Guardian of the Well – Climate change-related drought drives this dusty look at a well in Chad and the thirsty cows that crowd it. There’s a class of film, especially environmentally conscious ones, that are urgent, important, and hard to remember in detail. Not that you have to distinguish an individual scream to be moved by a wailing crowd.
Lanawaru – My personal favorite of the bunch, a docudrama of a native community near Colombia, Mexico depicting the strategies, rituals and incantations when community member goes missing. I say docudrama because in its perfect framing and audio even on the river this is obviously not verité. You may have heard me grumble about films that use this technique in the past, and it’s because that strategy puts a larger burden on the filmmaking and documentaries that fall short in that area have nothing of interest to fall back on. No such problem here as every scene is beautiful, each character rendered deftly, the scenes documented valuable. There’s a gorgeous shot on the water near the end that took my breath away.
No se ve desde acá – A peppy experiment drawing a connection between the hardships of immigrants to the United States in the 1970s and the dream of a luxury capital in Miami. The connection isn’t as strong as it could be, though the energy goes a ways to bridging shaky points. Extra credit for splicing in the Plan 9 From Outer Space “Visits? That would imply visitors!” scene.
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing – The Ploughwoman and I have a standing rule that any film with the word “poetic” in the title requires the other to sign off before we attempt it. This is why. I stand with this filmmaker’s thesis. I am fascinated by the archival footage of wildflowers in Palestine they have found. I do not care for their bad poetry to be placed on top of it.
Razeh-del – The Ploughwoman’s favorite and possibly her favorite of the whole festival. A colorful account of Iran’s first women’s newspaper and its back and forth with articles and letters from readers, mostly surrounding the censorship laws cutting off a female-led film from the public. Movie censorship fights and cranky letters to the editor? You know I’m there. Fantastic the way the film can integrate text without making it feel like a Final Fantasy battle.
All in all, a really strong block. Almost universally experimental to some degree, though my wife argued that it was not experimental at all, which makes me smile. She’s always been a smart viewer, but I think her experimental literacy has grown over the years so that some collage technique here, a few jump cuts there doesn’t register as unusual. Or maybe I’m the dull one (I wouldn’t have minded a “Moomin” https://www.the-solute.com/lunch-links-moomin/ to break things up a bit.)
Oooh, Razah-del sounds good. In terms of newspaper crankitude, this was a good read if you missed it: https://defector.com/the-cranks-next-door
That’s great stuff, Defector’s whole theme week of “Nuisance” has been a pretty brilliant, a sideways view into the zeitgeist. It will be much more than a nuisance when things start falling apart and the bodies pile up, but it’s possibly important to report that it’s all rooted in the most annoying mildews that we failed to scrub.
Animal Eye? Guardian of the Well? …I’m gonna go play Animal Well!
Poppa’s House, “Graduation”
Old Poppa’s House, where there’s no in-laws
Old Poppa’s House, he’s in man-opause
Old Poppa’s House, they won’t leave him alone
Ivy’s mother is getting her Masters, which finally gives us a chance to dig into her own parental issues. Other than her being a fan of Poppa, there isn’t too much there… until she invites Ivy’s ex-husband, a retired football player, to the graduation party. And Poppa susses out that his motives for wanting to get back together with Ivy may be less than genuine…
…meanwhile, Junior and Nina are trying to throw Trey a birthday party, and this annoying wiener kid influencer is attending, so they have to make it extra-special to get a good review. Goku is prominently involved.
American Dad!, “The Sickness”
From influencers and Goku to Rogu the influencer. The family watches one of Rogu’s unboxing videos, and then he gets sick at the end… and they realize the video is three days old and they haven’t seen him since, and Roger is a terrible (in character this week as a working single) mother (of an alien tumor that grew from him). So they set about trying to find the cure for an alien disease. Pretty back-to-basics in the sense that it focuses on the family and little else, which is nice to do from time to time.
Mythic Quest, “The Room Where It Happens”
Some strong drama this episode as well as comedy. Ian and Poppy are reaching a place in their work relationship where Ian’s neediness will have to take a backseat in Poppy’s life to her baby, and that’s not something you can really work around. It’s really kicked off by Dana asking them for help getting free and clear rights to her own game, but of course, these two can’t not turn everything back into being about their own issues.
Meanwhile, David and Rachel are called to Congress for a hearing on child labor in video games, and whether Playpen encouraging users to develop their own games counts as child exploitation. David encourages Rachel to be as bland as possible and not say anything committal, but Rachel, inspired by Hamilton (already a mistake), decides she’s going to speak truth to power… not realizing she doesn’t really know what she’s talking about, and also, you know, their company makes shitloads of money; MQ is power. Reality ensues. (“Oh, and, uh, he died. Alexander Hamilton. He stood up for what he believed in and he got shot dead.”)
The C-plot is pretty slight for Brad and Jo, but Carol and the game testers are quite funny.
Royal Crackers, “Catalina”
Rewatch. Still possibly the funniest TV episode of last year. Definitely has the funniest scene. I don’t know why I can’t get more people to watch this.
I feel very passive-aggressive upvoting this without watching Royal Crackers. This is possibly a psychological scheme on Nath’s part…
Haha, it’s working!
As I just told Conor, it’s on Max via adult swim. Even if you don’t want to watch the whole series right away – and the pilot is a bit rough, for sure – I’d say, even just the first five minutes of “Catalina” – some of the funniest TV I saw all last year. I think it’ll be funny even if you’re not familiar with the characters.
Is it on Max? I need a new show. (Worn out What We Do In The Shadows.)
Yep! Via adult swim.
First episode is a little intentionally abrasive in that adult swim way, so if that bugs you, stick with it because it pretty much goes away after the pilot.
Also like how this episode of Poppa’s House shows he’s both evolving and principled; as I’ve said before, this isn’t a Tim Allen show. When the ex confesses he only wants to get back together with Ivy to rehabilitate his public image, Poppa says he’s going to tell her.
“She’ll hate you if you do that.”
“I’ll hate myself if I don’t.”
M*A*S*H, Season One, Episode Thirteen, “Edwina”
This one is actually quite unusual for the show – it’s built around a single peculiar person who shows up and sets chaos in motion, but it’s weird because there’s a million episodes of this show like that, and Hawkeye quickly rises as the protagonist (to his annoyance). I think it’s just the vividness of the character (and the weirdness of the plot) that catches my attention. One thing I love about this show is, like Star Trek: The Next Generation, the cast and crew put a lot of work into making even one-episode or one-scene characters vivid and real, so that even the cheesy one-episode romances actually are entertaining.
I don’t think much of this one but it’s pretty funny to me that the women of the camp can openly manipulate Hawkeye as easily as he manipulates any system, due to his very clear motivations (to help the helpless and get laid).
“You’ve got sexy knuckles? I didn’t think that was possible!”
This also has another example of Hawkeye flirting with a man, as a joke.
white lotus me: “We’re hitting some diminishing marginal returns in the formula”
Uncle baby billy, stoned out of his gourd, staring at a bunch of cages full of cobras: “hey now. In heaven, there are no diminishing marginal returns. ‘There will come a payday hallelujah what a pay day…”
resident alien, into season 2. I want to give a shout out to Corey Reynolds as sheriff Mike. He takes a little character actor role and infuses it with sheer bravado and charisma. From his first introduction “I’m sheriff Mike, but everyone calls me ‘Big Black’” he steals every scene. (No one calls him that. But he is tall and the African-American sheriff of a Colorado mountain town).
I’m not saying anyone should remake blazing saddles, often held up as the paradigmatic film you can’t make today, but if they did, heat me out: Corey Reynolds and Allen Tudyk. This guy is dying for a Black cop-white cop buddy movie. We used to be a proper country.
spider and his amazing friends. The three year old is still obsessed. This is a stronger and more durable obsession than the five year old has had at any point. I want to give a shout out to the writers for one joke. Rhino and Doc Ock are stuck to a balloon. Rhino, alarmed, exclaims “we’re gonna float to the moon.” Doc Ock dismissively says “we’re not going to float to the moon.” Instead of his fears being allayed, Rhino gets more worried and shouts “We’re gonna float to MARS???!!!” This joke kills me every time, even though I have seen it at least 12 times. Thank you toddler show writers for having a few solid gags so that I can maintain some semblance of sanity.
Year of the Month update!
March is going to be Silent Era Month, where you can join these writers in examining your favorite silent movies and anything else from the 1910s and ’20s!
Mar. 4th: Lauren James: The Most Dangerous Game
Mar. 11th: Bridgett Taylor: Something Fresh
Mar. 15th: Sam Scott: One Week/The High Sign/The Electric House
Mar. 20th: Cori Domschot: Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Mar. 24th: Tristan J. Nankervis – Birth of a Nation
Mar. 26th: Sam Scott: Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie
Mar. 27th: Lauren James: The Well of Loneliness
Mar. 31st: John Anderson: The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
And in April, we’ll be movin’ on up to 1999, so you can write about any of these movies, albums, books, et al!
Apr. 7th: J. “Rodders” Rodriguez: The Scooby Doo Project
Apr. 16th: Sam Scott: Spongebob Season 1, Wakko’s Wish, Elmo in Grouchland, and/or Bartok the Magnificent
Apr. 28th: Tristan J. Nankervis: The Sixth Sense
“A sometimes funny conceit that never quite shakes the feeling of a rambling excuse for an unfinished homework assignment” ahahaha, very nice. The write-ups I’ve seen for this have been glowing but the description had me suspicious and you nail the vibe I’m sensing. Excellent write-up.
I’m waaaay in the minority on it so far, and I attribute it partly to 1) it’s a light watch being seen among festival fare so far and partly 2) my time in the production and editing trenches, where less of this is a surprise to me and it’s like watching the same magic trick explained for an hour and a half (I think I would have liked a short version, something that felt more like blowing off steam than replacing the original idea, just go full sour grapes). Shackleton is a very funny presence and his aw-shucks* showmanship keeps this from being a disaster. I’d still recommend it over his ten-hour paint drying experiment, but I felt the need to pump the brakes on the enthusiasm for it (the always-insightful David Ehrlich points out how he’s playing in territory forged by Jafar “This is Not a Film” Panahi and the comparison does no favors to Zodiac).
*Or whatever the British equivalent to aw-shucks would be. Oy-blimey?
Barbie pig, Barbie pig! Does whatever an ocean creature does!
There’s also a massive purple sea cucumber called “The King.” Why is he purple? Nothing has seen him for thousands of years! That mfer is the king indeed, and you get to watch a robot arm try to put him in a box.
I’m interested in Deaf President Now! It was before my time in D.C., but I remember when the aforementioned deaf president retired (almost 20 years ago) there were additional protests because his chosen successor was not popular with students, possibly because she wasn’t “deaf enough,” to use a phrase that was thrown around at the time.
That was a bit of controversy around the first deaf president as well, who wasn’t born deaf, but lost all his hearing in an accident. But he was already on staff and had the culture bona fides (or enough for the majority of students, anyway) and certainly a step up from the hearing board members who clearly thought themselves superior to the deaf, a strange position to take when leading a deaf institution. Good movie!
Yes, when Jordan left his picked successor (who wss the provost) had been IIRC born deaf but communicated orally in her family (which included one deaf parent) and didn’t learn sign until she was an adult. Eventually she was passed over for a guy who was born deaf and used sign as a child.
a strange position to take when leading a deaf institution
But shockingly common!
I’m so excited to see it, especially with right-wingers taking aim at Deaf culture and ASL.