Critic’s pick
Revisiting a life through photographs.
‘A Photographic Memory’
Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s mother, Sheila Turner Seed, died when she was 42 and Rachel was 18 months old. In this documentary, she seeks to connect with her mother through her photography.
From our review:
It’s a film that captures the unsettling sensation of reaching middle age, knowing the length of the road ahead is uncertain but certainly shorter than it’s ever been, and not being able to see past the age your parent was upon death.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s pick
Reviving the story of an apartheid photographer.
‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’
The South African apartheid photographer Ernest Cole died in 1990 in Manhattan after he was exiled — this documentary, directed by Raoul Peck, reviews some of the photos featured in his 1967 photo book “House of Bondage.”
From our review:
Peck makes use of keen observations excerpted from Cole’s writings and moves fluidly between stills (compassionate toward their subjects, damning of the subjugators) as well as quietly captivating photos he took of street life in Harlem and rural life during a road trip to the South in the 1960s and ’70s. The result is an elegantly wrought documentary that pulls off the trick of leaving viewers sated yet also craving more.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s pick
Observing the making of a Jewish identity.
‘Sabbath Queen’
Directed by Sandi DuBowski, this film follows the story of Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israel-born gay man who was ordained as a rabbi in 2016.
From our review:
How he went from the Radical Faeries’ joyous, transgressive vision of queerness — which led to creating his drag alter ego, Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross — to embracing Conservative Judaism is the subject of Sandi DuBowski’s fascinating look at the act of questioning yourself and your family, your surroundings and your decisions.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Resistance and resilience under Taliban rule.
‘Bread & Roses’
Three Afghan women present their harsh new reality in the years after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan.
From our review:
While the immediacy of the storytelling may blur out precise details, it excels at building stakes. When, in one memorable scene, young girls address the camera to demand brighter futures, the movie’s message and ongoing mission are thrown into sharp relief.
Watch on Apple TV+. Read the full review.
A dispatch from Ukraine.
‘The Porcelain War’
The directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev take viewers through a journey of what art during wartime can represent.
From our review:
The film lurches between its varying components and tones. As the filmmakers repeatedly tie an inspirational bow on art and beauty, the good intentions yield cold comfort.
In theaters. Read the full review.
How are witches portrayed in pop culture?
‘Witches’
The director Elizabeth Sankey’s documentary illuminates how women have been portrayed as witches onscreen, and how that may have been influenced by female-specific mental health issues including postpartum psychosis.
From our review:
Based on the real women’s accounts, the fictional renderings don’t seem outlandish — the satanic underpinnings of witchcraft, clearly a superstitious, and deeply misogynistic, justification.
Watch on Mubi. Read the full review.
The post 6 New Documentaries Our Critics Are Talking About This Week appeared first on New York Times.
