Since Nonfics is still a new and fairly small site, we aren’t able to review every documentary and nonfiction film released in the U.S. That’s why Docs In Theaters is here to provide at least a guide to all the new releases, without critical thoughts. However, when available, we will link to our own review of the film or a review at our sister site, Film School Rejects.
Bad Grandpa
Directed by Jeff Tremaine (Jackass: The Movie)
Written by Tremaine, Spike Jonze (Jackass: The Movie), Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie), Adam Small (Another State of Mind) and Fax Bahr (Hearts of Darkness)
Produced by Tremaine, Jonze, Knoxville and Derek Freda (Jackass Number Two)
Starring Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll
Official Synopsis: 86-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his 8-year-old grandson Billy, in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. This October, the signature Jackass characters Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and Billy (Jackson Nicoll) will take movie audiences along for the most insane hidden camera road trip ever captured on camera. Along the way Irving will introduce the young and impressionable Billy to people, places, and situations that give new meaning to the term “childrearing.” The duo will encounter male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants (and their equally disgruntled mothers), funeral home mourners, biker bar patrons, and a whole lot of unsuspecting citizens. Real people in unreal situations, making for one really messed up comedy. [Paramount Pictures]
Film School Rejects Grade: C+ [review]
Now playing everywhere.
Bridging the Gap
Directed by Curt M. Faudon
Official Synopsis: Filmmaker Curt Faudon takes the legendary 500-year-old Vienna Boys Choir, consisting of boys six to twelve years of age and from many diverse countries, on an exotic tour of the world. They bridge the gap of cultures and races as they sing classical and new music. [Weissman/Markovitz Communications]
Nonfics Rating: n/a
Now playing at the Quad Cinema in New York City, the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and the Town Center 5 in Encino, CA.
Caucus
Directed and edited by AJ Schnack (Kurt Cobain About a Son, Convention)
Produced by Schnack, Shirley Moyers (Kurt Cobain About a Son, Convention), Edward Parks (Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest) and Nathan Truesdell (Convention)
Executive produced by Niraj Bhatia (Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest) and Frank Mele (Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest)
Featuring Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Marcus Bachmann
Official Synopsis: In intimate, often funny and sometimes emotional detail, Caucus tells the story of the 2011–2012 campaign in Iowa as eight Republicans fight to become their party’s standard-bearer and take on Barack Obama. But to win, each has to first navigate state fairs, town hall meetings in pizza halls and agitated questions from the increasingly contentious GOP base.
Nonfics Rating: TBD
Now playing throughout Iowa. Opens in New York City on November 8th.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the screenings page on the film’s website.
Go Grandriders
Directed by Tian-Hao Hua
Official Synopsis: On average they are eighty-one-years-old, but they dream the dreams of 18-year-olds. They will tell you, through a life-long experience, “miracles do happen as long as you continue to dream!” Among these seventeen “Grandriders,” two have battled cancer, four need hearing aids, five suffer from high blood pressure, eight have coronary diseases and every one of them has symptoms of joint degeneration, yet they courageously ride motorcycles in order to feel the land they have lived on for their entire lifetime. The challenge begins as soon as they straddle the bikes: objections from family members; difficulties in getting driver’s licenses because of old age; aging bodies dealing with unpredictable weather and adverse road conditions along the 1178-kilometer journey. The day before they are about to set off, the crew leader suffers an ulcer and a drop in red blood cell count. How will he lead the “Grandriders” to their aspired destination?
Nonfics Rating: n/a
Now playing at the Quad Cinema in New York City.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the where to watch page on the film’s website.
I Am Divine
Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (Vito; Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story)
Produced by Schwarz, Jon Glover (Vito), Lotti Pharriss Knowles (Vito) and Lance Robertson
Edited by Phillip J. Bartell
Featuring John Waters, Mink Stole, Ricki Lake, Tab Hunter, Bruce Vilanch
Official Synopsis: I Am Divine is a definitive biographical portrait of Harris Glenn Milstead, a.k.a. Divine, and honors him in just the way he always craved — as a serious artist and immortal star. Divine’s entire story is told, from his early days as a misfit youth in Baltimore through his rise to infamy as a cult superstar. Like the characters he portrayed in numerous films, Divine was the ultimate outsider. He transformed himself from a bullied schoolyard fat kid to a larger-than-life personality and underdog royalty as his alter-ego Divine. Divine stood up for millions of gay men and women, female impersonators, punk rockers, the ample figured, and countless other socially ostracized people. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality and revolutionized pop culture.
Nonfics Rating: *** [review]
Now playing at Cinema Village in New York City.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the screenings page on the film’s website.
Not Yet Begun to Fight
Directed by Shasta Grenier (Class C: The Only Game in Town) and Sabrina Lee
Produced by Lee
Edited by Grenier
Official Synopsis: Retired Marine Colonel Eric Hastings remembers flight missions ‘high above the death and destruction’ in Vietnam. From the cockpit, he traced meandering ribbons that cut through the jungle. He recognized the shapes of the trout streams of home. Every night, he dreamed about fly-fishing. When he returned home to Montana in 1969, to a nation decades away from diagnosing PTSD, he went to the water. He tied a fly onto a line and cast. The river, he says, healed him. In the space between war and a new battle, Not Yet Begun to Fight unfolds: The Colonel reaches out to five men, a new generation returning from war. He brings them to the river and shares his secret: there are places where you can still be consumed by a simple act, find joy in a fight, and be redeemed as you gently release another creature, unharmed, into quiet waters.
Nonfics Rating: n/a
Now playing at the Quad Cinema in New York City.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the screenings page on the film’s website.
Spinning Plates
Directed, produced, edited and written by Joseph Levy
Produced by Miranda Bailey (Unraveled), Jacqueline Lesko (Kiss My Grits: The Herstory of Women in Punk and Hard Rock) and Matthew Leutwyler (Greenlit)
Official Synopsis: Spinning Plates is a documentary about three extraordinary restaurants and the incredible people who bring them to life. A world-renowned chef competes for the ultimate restaurant prize in Chicago, while privately battling a life-threatening condition. A 150-year-old restaurant in Iowa is still standing only because of an unbreakable bond with the community. And a fledgling Mexican restaurant in Tucson struggles as its owners risk everything to survive and provide for their young daughter. Their unforgettable stories of family, legacy, passion and survival come together to reveal how meaningful food can be, and the power it has to connect us to one another.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2012 Austin Film Festival
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2012 Naples International Film Festival
Winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature at the 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Winner of the award for Best Documentary at the 2013 Maui Film Festival
Winner of the award for Best Documentary at the 2013 Vail Film Festival
Nonfics Rating: n/a
Now playing in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the tickets/in theaters page on the film’s website.
The Square
Directed by Jehane Noujaim (Control Room; Startup.com)
Produced by Karim Amer (Rafea: Solar Mama)
Executive produced by Daniel E. Catullo (Rush in Rio), Gavin Dougan (Pandora’s Promise), Geralyn White Dreyfous (The Invisible War), Maxyne Franklin (Hell and Back Again), Alexandra Johnes (Emmy winner for Mea Maxima Culpa), Sarah E. Johnson (The Invisible War) and Mike Lerner (Oscar nominee for Hell and Back Again)
Edited by Christopher de la Torre (Rafea: Solar Mama), Mohamed E-Menesterly, Karim Fanous, Pierre Haberer (Being W), Stefan Ronowicz (Enemies of the People), Shazeya Serag, Ingy Wedan and Pedro Kos (Waste Land)
Official Synopsis: The Egyptian Revolution has been an ongoing rollercoaster over the past two and a half years. Through the news, we only get a glimpse of the bloodiest battle, an election, or a million man march. At the beginning of July 2013, we witnessed the second president deposed within the space of three years. The Square is an immersive experience, transporting the viewer deeply into the intense emotional drama and personal stories behind the news. It is the inspirational story of young people claiming their rights, struggling through multiple forces, in the fight to create a society of conscience.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best World Cinema Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival
Winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival
Nonfics Rating: ***** [review]
Also check out Christopher Campbell’s interview with Noujaim and Amer at RogerEbert.com
Now playing at Film Forum in New York City. Opens next week in Los Angeles.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the screenings page on the film’s website.
When I Walk
Directed, produced and co-written by Jason DaSilva (Lest We Forget)
Produced and co-written by Alice Cook
Executive produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher (Cutie and the Boxer), Yael Melamede (Inocente), Stanley Nelson (Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple) and Peter Starr
Edited by DaSilva, Cook and Keiko Deguchi (Deaf Jam)
Official Synopsis: In 2006, 25-year-old Jason DaSilva was on vacation at the beach with family when, suddenly, he fell down. He couldn’t get back up. His legs had stopped working; his disease could no longer be ignored. Just a few months earlier doctors had told him that he had multiple sclerosis, which could lead to loss of vision and muscle control, as well as a myriad of other complications. Jason tried exercise to help cope, but the problem only worsened. After his dispiriting fall on the beach, he turned to his Mom, who reminded him that, despite his disease, he was still a fortunate kid who had the opportunity to pursue the things he loved most: art and filmmaking. Jason picked up the camera, turned it on his declining body, and set out on a worldwide journey in search of healing, self-discovery, and love.
Winner of the award for Best Canadian Documentary at the 2013 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Winner of the award for Most Popular Canadian Documentary at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature at the 2013 VC FilmFest — Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Nonfics Rating: *** [review]
Now playing at the IFC Center in New York City. Opens next week in Los Angeles.
For details on current and upcoming theatrical openings, check the screenings page on the film’s website.
