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2020 offered another rich year for the documentary form, well beyond the tabloid entertainment of the likes of Tiger King
Two from Dave Brubeck: Time Outtakes, the alternate tracks for the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s classic 1959 album Time Out is very good to have; Lullabies is filled with the intimate sound of the pianist’s old age, tender affection, and distilled musical wisdom.
The filmmakers use their story to point towards a way to help us navigate through our own polarization; it has something to do with each of us widening our perspective to take in more than just our immediate experience.
At a time when ambitious women of any sort were often harshly criticized for pursuing a professional career, Barbara Rose only forged on.
The film feels amateurish in the most complimentary Stendhalien sense: created in a spirit of play, rather than a sweaty effort to advance a studio agenda.
Producer Ted Olson is on a mission in We Shall Be Reunited to do justice to the past; he imagines a beautiful alternative to the current ballyhooed origin story of country music.
Lots of artists made recordings during their lockdowns that have been released as vinyl, streams, videos and, in the case of the Attractors and Flying Vipers, even cassette tapes.
In its efforts to subvert well-known tropes, and reclaim the subgenre’s feminist cultural potency, Promising Young Woman undercuts its own transgressive potential by doing away with what makes rape-revenge films compelling.
Some of the best music documentaries of 2020 – and some disappointments
Classical Music Commentary: What’s Next for the Boston Symphony? — Lessons from the Past