Maisie Crow
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Sundance 2021 Critic’s Notebook 3 (Abby Sun): El Planeta, Try Harder!, At the Ready
The mother-daughter duo in Amalia Ulman’s debut feature-length film El Planeta don’t live in the shabby glamour or reclusive dependency of Grey Gardens’ Beales, but they’re no less compelling in their affection for each other and occasional squabbles. I do find it strange my mind went to Grey Gardens, given this film represents almost its complete opposite. It’s pretty clearly fictional and scripted, though Ulman plays the main character, Leonor (or Leo for short), her real life mother Ale Ulman takes on the role of María, Leonor’s mother, and Leo has to cope with the same physical injury Ulman and […]
by Abby Sun on Feb 1, 2021 -
Sundance 2021 Critic’s Notebook 4 (Vadim Rizov): Users, At the Ready
On its website, XTR describes itself as “a premium nonfiction film and television studio serving the booming documentary film space.” The company is attached to eight feature titles at this year’s Sundance, all but one of which (Faya Dayi) credit the late Tony Hsieh’s name as an executive producer. The Zappos CEO died in November, nearly two months after investing $17.5 million in XTR; his name unites Ailey, At the Ready, Bring Your Own Brigade, Homeroom, Try Harder!, Rebel Hearts and Natalia Almada’s Users—the last sporting an end credits dedication in Hsieh’s memory. I haven’t seen Almada’s previous work, so can’t speak to how Users’s often enjoyably giganticist […]
by Vadim Rizov on Feb 1, 2021 -
On the Southern Circuit in the Time of October Surprises: Sidewalk, Third Horizon Caribbean and Hot Springs Film Festivals
Birmingham, tucked right in the middle of Alabama, is easily the biggest city in “the heart of Dixie”; its 1.1 million-person metropolitan area dwarfs the populations of Huntsville and Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. The central business district, like that of many American cities that haven’t gentrified after white flight, can feel eerily vacant on the weekends or at night. But during the Sidewalk Film Festival, whose 18th edition was held on the final weekend of August, the center of its modest downtown contains many wonders. Sidewalk knows how to throw a party; in front of the historic Alabama theater, the street is […]
by Brandon Harris on Oct 20, 2016 -
Maisie Crow’s Jackson opens Women’s Film Series in the Bronx
The Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) kicked off its 2nd annual Women’s Film Series Friday night with Maisie Crow’s Jackson, a documentary about the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi and pro-life opposition attempts to shut it down. Situated in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx, the BDC is a block away from both the only Planned Parenthood in the borough and a Bronx Expectant Mother Care, known as EMC Frontline. (“All about saving the unborn lives threatened by abortion,” is how EMC Frontline is described on its website.) The tension between these two organizations is heated, having […]
by Taylor Hess on Sep 6, 2016
