Docs, 1/11.

"At the Berlin Festival next month, when audiences watch Errol Morris's new documentary about the American abuses at Abu Ghraib, they will be confronted with dramatic reconstructions of some of the most notorious incidents that took place in the benighted Baghdad jail." In the Independent, Geoffrey Macnab talks with documentarians about "the truth that a newsreel or a bald statement of 'facts' can't convey. The nagging question is just how far documentary-makers should be allowed to manipulate events in their pursuit of this truth, however they define it."

Monika Bartyzel passes along news from Variety that Zeitgeist Films has picked up Chris & Don: A Love Story, Guido Santi and Tina Mascara's documentary on the relationship between writer Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy. Also at Cinematical, Erik Davis asks, "So, Did Morgan Spurlock Really Find Osama Bin Laden?"

"The spanking-new 35 mm print of Let's Get Lost, Bruce Weber's 1988 cult documentary, underscores the otherworldly beauty of the film - a lush, black-and-white valentine to jazz legend Chet Baker," writes Ernest Hardy in the LA Weekly. More from Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times: "The images of a frail Baker (only 58) are a shocking contrast to the footage of him as a young James Dean lookalike, yet they are both such powerful and indelible alternate realities that it's hard to say which one wins out." At the Nuart for a week, starting tonight.

"Next weekend, the award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney will see the long-awaited theatrical release of his torture documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, as well as the premiere of Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson," at the Sundance Film Festival." Nicolas Rapold talks with him for the New York Sun.

"Audience of One manages, as the best docs will, to tell a resonant, character-driven story that makes us think, all the while laughing and cringing." For in the Austin Chronicle, Anne S Lewis talks with director Michael Jacobs. The film screens Wednesday at the Alamo Drafthouse @ the Ritz.

"Powerful, moving and disturbing, the documentary Nanking depicts the horrific events that occurred in the Republic of China's then capital in late 1937 and early 1938," writes Kevin Crust. "If the Westerners' accounts are compelling, the interviews with the Chinese are heartbreaking." Walter Addiego, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, agrees. But also in the LAT, Robert W Welkos talks with the filmmakers.

"Millions (A Lottery Story) is not so much about six lottery winners as about six people who I watched with growing fascination and affection," writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Annie Wagner in the Stranger: "Unlike Autism: The Musical or Temple Grandin's memoirs, you see the kid first, and the autism second. Billy the Kid is about liking KISS and kittens, about the role of poetry and professional wrestling in contemporary life, about not being able to get even the thing you thought you were settling for. It's heartbreaking."

Posted by dwhudson at January 11, 2008 11:59 AM