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julianhappen
Reviews
One of Us (2017)
Not Quite as compelling as you know it could be
Definitely worth a watch and overall, there are many interesting bits. You kind of feel dragged through a prescrptive, doctrine of having to depict a certain number of characters in a documentary in a certain manner.
Overall, the film is best when it shows us true insights, but it too often feels maudlin and sentimental, in drawn out slowed down camera shots that don't add that much to our understanding of these people.
And at the end of it, you don't feel to have gone too much into the nitty gritty, more just the outward politics of the hasidic Jews and their philosophies. Sure, there is an attempt to show the inner struggle of the main characters, but it comes off leaving the viewer in a limbo, perhaps where you could consider the main characters to be.
This film doesn't have the emotional reach as it thinks it has perhaps, and so falls short on educating and leaving us with anything much but a cloudy, uncertain mood. Still, it is worth a view for the little insights and moments, which come and go all too quickly.
American Anxiety: Inside the Hidden Epidemic of Anxiety and Depression (2023)
A very important area of investigation and exploration
A very solid investigation into the nature of anxiety and depression, which is an epidemic in American (and western society). This documentary goes into the psychology of what these issues are, why they exist in the individual and society, how they feel and what experts think about different treatments.
Particularly interesting is the exploration of talk therapies, how they can be effective and also exploring new therapties such as psychedelic theraries as well.
For a significant proportion of the population, this film should be essential viewing, and a very easy way for such people to be informed about these critical issues can affect them and the people around them.
The Berlin Bride (2019)
A somehow inevitable piece of moving (p)arts which stragely stirs
Even though The Berlin Bride was made in 2019, the film stock and formulation of the film will have you thinking you are watching a film from the 1980's or early 90's.
It seems some sort of archetypal dreaming is captured here, which has a certain striking resonance.
Bartlett's film is a true Indie creation, unconstrained to commercial agendas, reminiscent of the work of Dennis Potter and David Lynch, slipping into or emerging at times into striking symbolic abstruseness.
Certainly this film is not for everyone, but for some people they will find it strikes a chord they didn't know were there, which will reverberate, perhaps deeper than thought.
In this archetypal dreaming, there is a certain immovable and yet moving nature to the whole feature, beyond its surrealist wrapping.