Davis Guggenheim is a filmmaker that chooses sides. His films have taken him from the challenging first-year experiences of Los Angeles public school teachers to the on-stage crescendos of the roc…
Frederick Wiseman isn’t interested in generalities. For decades, the now 85-year-old master of American documentary has been weaving nuanced, dramatic narratives from the multiplicity of ordinary huma…
By Jamie MaleszkaAn unconventional life calls for an unconventional telling. Laura Israel’s biographical portrait of iconoclast photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank is tailor-made to its subject. U…
By Jamie MaleszkaWithin moments of meeting filmmaker Hubert Sauper, you are struck with a certainty: he can assuredly talk with most anyone. His latest documentary, We Comes As Friends, is a jaw-dropp…
Joshua Oppenheimer is a singular filmmaker. Masterfully, his vision is articulated not solely on screen but within the viewer himself, in that space between the limit of words and intuition. Reverbera…
Stray Dog feels like a well-worn postcard that has seen a lot of miles.The documentary offers a telling of life in rural America — an overlooked America — where neighbors matter, patriotism is a lifel…
Nonfics is now a newsletter! Please support documentary criticism by subscribing here: nonfics.substack.com. The Wolfpack is a story of becoming. It is a stranger than fiction weave of family, …
By Jamie MaleszkaWith The Lion’s Mouth Opens, director Lucy Walker has crafted a verité valentine to life’s most formidable moments. The documentary, at a potent 28 minutes, is an unremitting wallop o…
By Jamie MaleszkaThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced this year’s list of people invited to join their organization, which among other responsibilities and perks allows them t…
By Jamie MaleszkaShot over a period of five years, Ryan McGarry’s directorial debut, Code Black, follows the filmmaker and fellow doctors-in-training as they cut their teeth at Los Angeles County Hosp…