Michael Galinsky Movies
- 2004
The hard work of bringing a criminal to justice goes under the microscope in this documentary. In 2003, a team of filmmakers began work on a profile of Samantha Steinberg, a sketch artist working with the Miami-Dade County Police Department in Florida, who creates portraits of fugitive criminals based on descriptions from victims. Midway through filming, one case Steinberg was associated with became a hot topic in Miami -- she had created a sketch of a serial rapist who was believed to be responsible for seven assaults in Miami's Little Havana district. With few leads, Fernando Bosch and Elio "Chills" Tamayo, the detectives assigned to the case, distributed the sketch as widely as possible and attempted to bring in as many people as possible who resembled the picture for DNA testing. While media coverage of the case sent the community into a panic as the rapist remained on the loose, the fact the man in the sketch was African-American led many activists to accuse the Miami Police of racial profiling, with the detectives left between a rock and a hard place. Code 33 follows the case from Steinberg's initial sketch to the eventual capture and confession of the rapist. Code 33 was directed by David Beilinson, Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, and Zachary Werner; Beilinson, Galinsky, and Hawley previously collaborated on the award-winning film Horns and Halos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In 1999, as George W. Bush's bid for the presidency was gaining momentum, free-lance writer J.H. Hatfield contracted with St. Martin's Press to write a biography of the Texas governor and son of former U.S. President George Bush. When St. Martin's published Hatfield's book, entitled Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, it gained overnight media attention for its allegation (supported by unnamed sources later revealed to be insiders in the Bush campaign) that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, but the Bush family exerted political pressure to have the incident wiped from the records. Alarmed by the controversy the book had generated as well as revelations about Hatfield's past which cast suspicions on his credibility (including the fact he was a convicted felon), St. Martin's buckled under pressure (some allegedly exerted by the Bush family and their legal team) and recalled the book. After Fortunate Son disappeared from shelves, Sander Hicks, a young political activist and punk rock singer, approached Hatfield with a proposal to reissue the book through his small leftist publishing company, Soft Skull Press. Horns and Halos is a documentary which examines the controversy over the book but places its main focus on two major players in this story -- Hicks, whose energetic idealism doesn't always mask his naïveté or his endless self-promotion, and Hatfield, a kind but troubled man whose ambition and desire for literary success, coupled with a desire to tell an important but controversial story, proves to be his undoing. Horns and Halos was named Best Documentary Feature at the 2002 New York Underground Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sander Hicks, J.H. Hatfield, (more)
- 1999
Musician Michael Galinsky of the group Sleepyhead co-directed (with Suki Stetson Hawley) this look at one music fan's troubled life. Unai (Unai Fresnedo) is a young man from Spain who lives for rock and roll, spending his days listening to "music about problems" and bringing notable bands from America and Europe to his country for tours. However, things start going bad for Unai one day -- a club owner refuses to pay Unai for shows he booked, his drug dealer wants cash and wants it now, and Come, an American band Unai is bringing to Spain, are waiting to be picked up from the airport. Stuck on all sides, Unai opts to blow off everyone and hits the road with his friends Ignacio (Ignacio Fernandez) and Mary (Katy Petty) in hopes of finding something better down the highway. Radiation features concert footage from Come, Stereolab, Will Oldham, and El Inquilino Communista. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Unai Fresnedo, Katy Petty, (more)
Tara (Tara Jane O'Neil) is growing weary of her life at the Rocket House, a party pad filled with crashing slackers, artists, and rock bands. She works as a ticket taker at a movie theatre and hangs out with a group of friends who are equally aimless, skateboarding through the streets of Louisville, KY, and just generally waiting for their lives to start. Her brother, Otis (Ian Svenonius), is the arrogant lead singer of a local rock group called the Guilloteens, and one night after a gig, Tara and her pals steal the band's van (still full of equipment) and head off into the night. The next morning they find themselves in Chattanooga without money or food, so they pose as a touring rock band called Truckstop and talk their way onto the bill of a local punk show. Despite being utterly unfamiliar with the instruments in their hands, they pull off the ruse, and the band they play with loves their noisy, chaotic sound. Even after their secret is revealed, their hosts give them encouragement and tutoring to allow Truckstop to continue on the road. What starts as a romantic adventure, though, degenerates into bickering, bad luck, and boredom. Half-Cocked features members of indie bands like Retsin, the Make Up, Rachel's, and June of 44 as actors, plus an appearance by Memphis rockers the Grifters. The soundtrack includes music by Freakwater, Sleepyhead, Unwound, Smog, and others. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
