The Reivers — See, it’s my own fault, really. I saw “William Faulkner” and I thought “seriously f*cked up southern gothic”, but what I got instead was “The Apple Dumpling Gang plus whores and horses”. A sugary coming of age story that I could have gone without.
‘Tis Autumn — The slighty rough filmmaking got on my nerves at first, but the subject at hand (the mystery of Jackie Paris) quickly won me over. A really nice jazz doc and a fascinating story.
Crossing Arizona — standard doc with insight into the lives of the people who are literally at the frontlines of the illegal immigration debate. One on side you’ve got the right-wing blowhards taunting their own right-wing government for not properly securing the border, and the other side you’ve got the humanitarians trying to save the lives of the Mexicans who are taking increasing risks to cross over. In the middle you have the low-wage workers trying to push through it all and get to the jobs. All this on a background of ballot initiatives, posturing for the media, how NAFTA created the problem, etc. Covers many angles, worth seeing.
Sweet Land — A beautiful film and an engaging , sweet story, and that’s coming from someone who usually gags at that kind of stuff (see Things From Trees). It had me in a pleasant fog all the way home. It doesn’t hurt that Elizabeth Reaser is so easy on the eyes …