JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI
Director: David Gelb (US 2011) 81 min.
Jiro Ono, considered the world’s greatest sushi chef, is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3-star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe call months in advance and shell out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. This engaging documentary shows Jiro working sunrise past sunset, striving for perfection at age 85. At the heart of the story is Jiro’s relationship with eldest son Yoshikazu, the worthy heir to his legacy, who still struggles to please his father. Featuring some of the most impeccably presented sushi creations you’ve ever seen, this is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family and the art of perfection, called by the San Francisco Chronicle “a delectable documentary.” In Japanese with English subtitles. (Richard Peterson)
Available for free with ads: Vudu
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE
Director: Doris Dörrie (Germany 2007) 94 min.
In the search for enlightenment, one need look no further than the kitchen. Cooking, as practiced by Zen priest and chef Edward Espe Brown, is not just working with food but working on ourselves. Director Doris Dörrie spends time with Brown at a Buddhist retreat in Austria and at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California, exploring our spiritual connection to food in ways that are both soothing and provocative. A tenzo, or chief cook, at Tassajara since the ‘60s and author of The Tassajara Bread Book, among others, Brown blends cooking class with Dharma teaching, imploring us to treat food “as if it was your eyesight”–a precious commodity. Offset by archival clips of his mentor, Zen priest Suzuki Roshi, Brown exhibits wisdom and passion, anger and frustration as he laments the means of modern food production and consumption, while encouraging us to salivate and meditate. In English and German with English subtitles. (Joanne Parsont)
Available for free with ads: Vudu
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
TAMPOPO
Director: Juzo Itami. (Japan 1985) 114 min.
Affectionately referred to as a “ramen western,” it stars Tsutomu Yamazaki as a cowboy hat-adorned truck driver who pulls into town with his sidekick (Ken Watanabe) and comes to the aid of a lone woman (Nobuko Miyamoto) struggling with a little noodle restaurant. Her name is Tampopo (literally ‘Dandelion’), and her platonic friendship with the noble, Shane-like savior is alternated with humorous digressions, including the story of a gastronome gangster and moll who together explore the erotic nature of food. It’s sweet, sexy, surreal…and mouthwatering. In Japanese with English subtitles. (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Criterion Channel, Kanopy
Available to rent or purchase: YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
MARK FISHKIN SELECTS
SHOPLIFTERS
Directors: Julie Cohen and Betsy West (US 2018) 97 min.
At the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, the Palme d’Or (the top prize) went to leading Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda for this masterpiece of humanistic filmmaking. The family of Osamu (Lily Franky) and Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) is extremely loving, but also very unusual. Living “off the grid” in Tokyo, they subsist on scant employment, a grandmother’s pension, and by petty thievery, which Osamu is happy to coach the kids. Filled with emotional resonance (and narrative surprises), Kore-eda’s beautiful drama demonstrates that the family we make could be stronger than the one we’re given. In Japanese with English subtitles. (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Hulu, Hoopla
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
RICHARD PETERSON SELECTS
THE WRECKING CREW
Director: Denny Tedesco, (US 2015) 101 min.
Denny Tedesco’s loving documentary, years in the making, celebrates the studio musicians who drove some of the biggest hits of the 1960s and 70s. From “Be My Baby” to “California Girls,” from “Strangers in the Night” to “Mrs. Robinson,” from “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’” to “Up, Up and Away,” and from “Viva Las Vegas” to “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the group affectionately called “The Wrecking Crew” played them all. This music-filled delight includes interviews with Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, and Glen Campbell as well as “Crew” members themselves, notably Denny’s father, guitarist Tommy Tedesco. (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Hulu, Magnolia Selects
Available for free with ads: YouTube
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
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LION
Director: Garth Davis, (Australia/UK/US 2016) 129 min.
With impressive skill and delicacy in this first feature film, director Garth Davis knocks it out of the park with Lion, an unforgettable tale of lost-and-found family identity. The film recreates the amazingly true (and truly amazing) story of Indian-Australian businessman Saroo Brierley’s extraordinary quest to find his birth mother and siblings, from whom he was separated at the age of five by thousands of miles and, eventually, by several continents. With outstanding performances by Dev Patel as Saroo, and Nicole Kidman as Sue, his adoptive mother, the film’s excellent cast is rounded out by Rooney Mara as Saroo’s girlfriend and David Wenham as his adoptive father. Also playing a significant role is the virtual geographical mapping program Google Earth, without which Saroo’s search might have come to quite a different conclusion. Under Davis’s expert direction, Lion roars with emotional power and purrs with the contented joy of finding oneself at home, at last. (Karen Davis)
Available with subscription: YuppTV
Available for free with ads: Vudu
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
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Directors: Julie Cohen and Betsy West (US 2018) 97 min
Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary, this crowd-pleaser about US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg casts light on her exceptional life and career. At the age of 87, Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But many observers don’t know about the unique personal path that this diminutive, quiet warrior pursued before she rose to the nation’s highest court. This entertaining, often humorous portrait of Ginsburg illuminates several key cases that she meticulously pursued in the interest of advancing gender equality. (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Hulu, Hoopla
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
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HIDDEN FIGURES
Director: Theodore Melfi, (US 2016) 127 min.
Nominated for three Academy Awards® (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer), this inspiring film is based on the true stories of three brilliant African-American women mathematicians: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Featuring an incredible cast (including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe), Hidden Figures celebrates these extraordinary unsung heroes, who broke barriers at NASA and in the United States and achieved greatness for the country in the early years of the US Space Program. (Celeste Wong)
Available with subscription: FX Now
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
At the 39th Mill Valley Film Festival, we hosted a Mind the Gap Masterclass with The Women Behind Hidden Figures, moderated by Malina Saval, and featuring guests: Elizabeth Gabler, Mimi Valdes, Mandy Walker, and Marisa Paiva. CLICK HERE to watch their insightful conversation.
JOANNE PARSONT SELECTS
JANE
Director: Brett Morgen (US 2017) 90 min
No one had studied Africa’s chimpanzees in the wild before 26-year-old Jane Goodall set up camp in Tanzania’s Gombe forest. What happened? This documentary, using never-seen-before 1960s’ footage by famed National Geographic photographer Hugo van Lawick, captures that revolutionary encounter, which still rocks science. (Joanne Parsont)
Available with subscription: Disney +, Hulu
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes
WHALE RIDER
Director: Niki Caro, 2003
Based on a novel by Witi Ihimaera, this inspiring coming of age film tells the story of Paikea, a 12-year-old Maori girl who fights for her place in her family legacy, as leader of the tribe. In a stunning acting debut, Keisha Castle-Hughes gives a deeply moving performance, which earned her the title in 2004 of youngest actress to ever be nominated for the Academy Award ® for Lead Actress (a record she held until 2013). Enhanced by the gorgeous landscapes of the New Zealand coast, Whale Rider is a testament to resilience, perseverance, and fearless spiritual connection to the natural world. (Celeste Wong)
Available with subscription: Hoopla
Available with ads: IMDb TV
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
MARCH OF THE PEGUINS
Director: Luc Jacquet, 2005
This remarkable documentary records one of nature’s most dramatic tales of survival as well as one of its greatest love stories. Each winter in Antarctica the emperor penguins abandon the relative security of the ocean and begin an arduous trek on ice into one of the most barren and life-threatening regions of the world. Their mission is the survival of their species and, guided by instinct, they engage in courtship, pair-off into monogamous couples, and subsequently mate. When the females each produce a single egg, they make the necessary return trip to the fish-filled seas while the males stay in the wilderness to protect and hatch the precious offspring. (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: fuboTV
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
WINGED MIGRATION
Directors: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats, 2001
Nominated for an Academy Award ® for Best Documentary, Winged Migration is a movie of staggering beauty that captures the everyday miracle of birds in flight. This remarkable French production utilized five crews of more than 450 people, including 17 pilots and 14 cinematographers, who followed the paths of birds over all seven continents and every corner of the globe. With the assistance of special planes, gliders, and balloons, the intrepid filmmakers bring us eye-to-eye with these beautiful creatures and enable us to take wing with them. Set to a stirring score by composer Bruno Coulais (Coraline), the images are breathtaking and nothing short of astounding, making Winged Migration an unprecedented experience. (Richard Peterson)
STERLING HEDGPETH SELECTS
FOR ALL MANKIND
Director: Al Reinert, 1989
During the four years between December 1968 and November 1972, there were nine manned space flights to the moon. Twenty-four men made the journey, the first human beings to leave the planet for another world. They carried with them their private thoughts and the collective aspirations of a nation. The film is composed entirely of footage that the Apollo crews brought back, magnificently blown up to 35mm and accompanied by a stunning, evocative score from avant-garde composer Brian Eno. Using excerpts from over eighty hours of taped interviews from the astronauts, the film constructs one composite story of their journeys. (T. Safford)
Available with subscription: Criterion Channel, Kanopy
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, Vudu
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GOD’S OWN COUNTRY
Director: Francis Lee, 2017
Johnny Saxby works long hours in isolation on his family’s remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge drinking at the local pub and casual sex. When his ailing father hires Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe, Johnny finds himself dealing with emotions he has never felt before, and an intense relationship forms between them that could change Johnny’s life forever. Bestowing San Francisco Chronicle’s highest rating, David Lewis wrote that this heartfelt drama “is profoundly moving and captures the harsh, yet beautiful moors. It’s why we go to the movies.” (Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Netflix, Hoopla, Kanopy
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
CELESTE WONG SELECTS
LEAVE NO TRACE
Director: Debra Granik, 2018
In a remote forest in Oregon, a father and his teenage daughter live completely off the grid, which is just the way they like it. When they are discovered and assigned a new living situation, they must contend with reentering a society that, while oppressive for one of them, presents a new sense of opportunity and community for the other. Featuring exceptional performances from Ben Foster and breakout Thomasin McKenzie, Debra Granik’s follow-up to Winter’s Bone is searingly emotional, intimate, and grounded, proving Granik to be an exciting voice in contemporary American cinema. (Celeste Wong)
CLICK HERE to read Zoë Elton’s 2018 interview with Debra Granik, director/writer of Leave No Trace.
Available with subscription: Amazon Prime, Kanopy
Available to rent or purchase: Redbox, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
MAUREEN GALLIANI SELECTS
THE STATION AGENT
Director: Tom McCarthy, 2003
Long before Game of Thrones, there was The Station Agent, the film that brought the extraordinary talents of actor Peter Dinklage to international attention. In The Station Agent, a laconic dwarf named Finbar, a chatty hot dog vendor, and a traffic-challenged woman mourning for her son stumble onto each other at a desolate New Jersey train station that Finbar has inherited. They each suffer their emotional burdens privately, but yearn for a human connection. Actor-director Tom McCarthy compacts epical truth and empathy in this film’s small frame and elicits perfectly realized performances from his central trio of Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, and Patricia Clarkson. (MVFF26 program note)
Available with subscription: HBO GO, Hoopla
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube
ZOË ELTON SELECTS
THE KING’S SPEECH
Director: Tom Hooper, 2010
The British Royal Family has long been a source of intrigue and story. This extraordinary film tells the true story of an inveterate stutterer, King George VI (Colin Firth) and his unconventional speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who helps him find his voice; with the advent of radio, this became key in the inspiration of his live broadcasts during WW2. George VI was the father of Elizabeth II; his wife, also named Elizabeth, is played here by Helena Bonham Carter—who recently delivered another notable performance as Princess Margaret in the second season of The Crown (on Netflix)—meaning, yes, she’s played both mother and daughter. Also, for MVFF trivia: this was our first Opening Night film to be projected digitally; before this, every Opening film was a 35mm print. (Logline by Zoë Elton)
Available with subscription: Netflix, Showtime
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, Vudu
RICHARD PETERSON SELECTS
CITY LIGHTS
Director: Charlie Chaplin, 1931
Produced during the early days of talking pictures, yet enhanced only by music and sound effects, City Lights was Charlie Chaplin’s greatest achievement as actor and director. The Tramp loves a blind flower girl who thinks he’s a millionaire, and to help her, he needs the assistance of a real millionaire who only recognizes him when tipsy! One of the greatest movies ever made, this comic and emotional masterpiece builds to an unforgettable finish. (Logline by Richard Peterson)
Available with subscription: Criterion Channel, Kanopy
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube
MARK FISHKIN SELECTS
THE ARTIST
Director Michael Hazanavicius, 2011
Winner of five Academy Awards® (including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director), this French production set in 1927 Hollywood stars Jean Dujardin as a silent film star resisting the transition to sound. Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius crafts this backstage tale as a pitch-perfect silent movie with music. (Logline by Richard Peterson)
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
DAN ZASTROW SELECTS
PICK OF THE LITTER
Directors Dana Nachman, Don Hardy, 2018
In Pick of the Litter, we follow five dogs, from the moment they are born through the intense two-year program that will prepare them to become working guide dogs and unite with their blind partners. The stakes are high and not every dog will make the cut, but those who graduate will all go on to provide life-changing services for those in need. (Logline by Kelly Clement)
Available with subscription: Hulu
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
JOANNE PARSONT SELECTS
THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES
Directors Patrick Imbert, Benjamin Renner, 2018
A warm-hearted French charmer with Looney Tunes flair from members of the Oscar®-nominated team behind Ernest & Célestine (presented here in English and featuring a stellar British vocal cast), The Big Bad Fox delivers a trio of winning comedic tales set on an idyllic country farm. Well, it would be idyllic except for its quirky, perfectly inept assemblage of bickering animals who never met a plan that didn’t go awry. Ages 6+ (Logline by Jeff Campbell)
Available with subscription: Hoopla
Available to rent or purchase: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu