just before the tech market meltdown in 2000-2001. While it provides a rare inside look at how the start-up game worked (or didn’t work in this case), the film is really more a character study of two--very different-young businessmen. 20-something entrepreneurs Tom Herman and Kaleil Tuzman—the classic inside and outside man-try to launch their own American dream of a new web business, The sweep of a French vineyard shown in the documentary MONDOVINO. only to see it crash in the fickle world of Wall Street. Made by globalization (the film covers wine making in France, Italy, California, and Argentina, inter the great documentarians D.A. Pennebaker alia). It discusses viniculture’s geography, scale, and Chris Hegedus. family history, mingled with what is, for many, an almost religious feeling for wine. This is a War/Dance (2007) salubrious conversation-starter, a film to view An inspiring documentary which shows with your best friends, after which you have an the transformation of a group of poor, waranimated discussion over a couple of bottles damaged Ugandan orphans, having suffered a of Chateau Latour or Montepulciano or Three ghastly fate in an East African conflict, into a Buck Chuck... joyous music and dance team ready to compete in a national music festival. The film, made by documentarians Sean Fine and Andrea Nix, Murderball (2005) Super-tough quadriplegic athletes--who focuses on several individual Ugandan kids— DON’T need your sympathy--compete in all charmers and each with a story more heartfull-contact rugby in souped-up wheelchairs, breaking than the last—who live in a northern and we get to know them up close and per- refugee camp where they are given training sonal. We see them overcoming unimaginable in traditional African music and dance. They obstacles and smashed lives to compete in the then travel to the country’s capital, Kampala, Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004. This to compete in the National Music Festival. A documentary uncovers a fascinating, highly heart-stirrer. competitive world you didn’t even know was out there and reveals characters, like the amazing athlete Mark Zupan, who are fascinating to know. The film’s drama is much aided by depicting a true world-class rivalry between teams from the US and Canada.
Music from the Inside Out (2006) Intimate, inspiring look at one of our best symphony orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra. The genesis of the film came from the musicians themselves, who, after a “bitter” 1997 strike, began to brainstorm ideas on how to restore some luster to the orchestra’s reputation. They approached filmmaker Daniel Anker about making a film, wherein they revealed their love of music and playing. The musicians, led by concertmaster David Kim, are interviewed about their motives for musicmaking, then are shown on tour, participating in chamber music, and—in the finale—pulling out the stops on a luscious Brahms symphony.
Startup.com (2001) Compelling video document of the rise and fall of a New York dot.com in the days
Wordplay (2006) A documentary charmer dealing with the crossword puzzling world through the grandaddy of the genre, The New York Times puzzle, long edited by the paragon of puzzlers, Will Shortz. The film is full of delights, starting with the easy-going, thoughtful intelligence exhibited by Shortz himself, a puzzler apparently out of the womb, who started the American Puzzle Tournament in 1978, eager to see how the best puzzlers might do against each other. The finale of Wordplay is a gas, a rousing contest between players with whom we have already come to identify. While “Wordplay” can be unreservedly recommended to puzzlers, others may get caught up in it, too, because this is a kind of very “serious fun.” Long-time Hill resident Mike Canning has written on movies for the Hill Rag since 1993 and is a member of the Washington Area Film Critics Association. His reviews and writings on film can be found online at www.mikesflix.com. The site has full reviews of “Bonhoeffer,” Every Little Step,” “Mondovino,” and “Wordplay.” ★ capitalcommunitynews.com ★ 101