Albert Maysles Movies
Albert Maysles and his brother, David Maysles, played important roles in the development of cinema verité documentary-making by designing highly portable cameras and sound equipment that allowed them to record events with minimal intrusion. Before teaming up with David in 1957, Albert studied psychology at Syracuse and Boston Universities, and made a film about mental institutions in the Soviet Union. The Maysles brothers' best-known documentaries are Salesman (1969) and Gimme Shelter (1970); the latter was a disturbing, controversial chronicle of a Rolling Stones concert during which four people were killed by the Hells Angels hired by the band to keep people off the stage. The Maysles captured one of those brutal murders on camera and repeatedly showed it throughout the film. The brothers worked together on a number of documentaries throughout the 1970s and '80s; their collaboration ended with David's death in 1987. That same year, their Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic was released to great acclaim; 1991 saw the release of Beatles: The First U.S. Visit, which also received an enthusiastic reception. In 2001, Albert Maysles recieved the Sundance Film Festival's Excellence in Cinematography Award for his lensing of LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2008
In 1960, filmmaker Robert Drew began work on a documentary called Primary which concerned that year's presidential campaign; one of the candidates, John F. Kennedy, gave Drew and his crew free access to film both their public campaign events and their private strategy sessions, and it was the beginning of a close working relationship between Drew and Kennedy. Drew would go on to make three more films about Kennedy after he was elected president -- Adventures on the New Frontier, Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment and Faces of November -- with the cooperation of Kennedy and his staff, and in 2008 Drew revisited his footage of the late president to create a cinematic portrait of one of the most iconic figures in American politics. Narrated by Alec Baldwin, A President To Remember: In The Company Of John F. Kennedy was edited from Drew's archival footage of Kennedy, and captures the president both at work and with his family, offering an insight into both the leader and the man. A President To Remember: In The Company Of John F. Kennedy was an official selection at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin
In 1963, Danny Williams dropped out of Harvard (over the strong objections of his family) and set out to make a career for himself in filmmaking. After editing several documentaries for Albert Maysles and David Maysles (including the award-winning Salesman), Williams met Andy Warhol, and soon became a member of the inner circle at Warhol's "Factory." Williams soon became both an advisor and a lover to the artist, and for a while lived with Warhol. When Warhol gave Williams a 16 mm movie camera, he began making films that displayed his sure and striking visual sense and sharp rhythms. Williams also was a key advisor to Warhol as they created "The Exploding Plastic Inevitable," the multimedia show which launched the career of the groundbreaking rock band the Velvet Underground. But Williams fell victim to the clashing egos that were a large part of Warhol's circle, and when he began receiving press attention that suggested the EPI was as much Williams' creation as Warhol's, Warhol broke off their relationship and a shattered Williams returned home to his family. After a few days, Williams went out for a drive and vanished, never to be seen again. Danny Williams' niece, Esther B. Robinson, offers an intimate look at the remarkable life and unexplained death of an important but little-known creative force in A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, which features interviews with a number of Factory associates (including John Cale, Billy Name, Gerard Malanga, Paul Morrissey, and Brigid Berlin), as well as highlights from several of Williams' long-lost experimental films. A Walk Into the Sea received its North American premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigid Berlin, Paul Morrissey, (more)
- 1992
Made in partnership with pioneer filmmaker Albert Maysles, this documentary is an intimate exploration of the human drama involved in this heated debate. Focusing on both the historical, and above all, the personal, this documentary reveals the painful decisions behind the political discourse. From illegal back alley abortions to the angry picket lines of recent years, Abortion: Despertate Choices illuminates the human experience which quite often gets lost in the shuffle. ~ Cara Saposnik, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Sandwiched in between 1968's Monterey Pop and 1970s Gimme Shelter was documentary filmmaking brothers Albert and David Maysles' groundbreaking 1969 look at door-to-door salesmen in America, About Salesman. With themes covered previously in the fictional Death of a Salesman and later in Glengarry Glen Ross, the Maysles' film attempts to unflinchingly present a window into the harsh realities of the life of the American salesman by following around several door-to-door Bible peddlers. While a handful of participants are featured, the main focus is on Paul Brennan, an aging salesman who, after a successful career, has begun to suspect that he's lost his gift for selling expensive Bibles to his lower-class customers. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Accent on the Offbeat documents how musician Wynton Marsalis and choreographer Peter Martins collaborated on the creation of the ballet titled "Jazz." In addition to offering up footage from the performances, the filmmakers show how both men, who each possess very different work methods, learn to coexist. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1983
This documentary records artist Christo's major wrapping projects and is one means for him to gain both recognition (which he has in ample measure) and funding. All of his enormously large-scale wrappings -- including those of buildings, trees, the Pont Neuf in France, and the hanging of a cloth fence for 24 miles along the California coastline -- involve almost as much labor as an architectural construction and are funded by himself and his wife Jeanne-Claude. His wrapping of the Berlin Reichstag took 17 years to complete. Featured here is his transformation of several islands off the coast of Florida into grandiose pink water lilies floating on a deep blue sea. But Christo does not just walk up with a full crew and machinery in hand and get to work. As shown here, his confrontations with august city fathers from Berlin, Paris, and Miami further illustrate the classic, head-on clashes between art and a pragmatic bureaucracy that can either nip a project in the bud or promote it. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1978
When Christo set out to erect a fabric fence across 24 miles of California ranch land, he encountered massive resistance from landowners and bureaucrats alike, in addition to conservationists who thought he would harm the landscape. Permission was eventually obtained from the California Coastal Commission, among other county, state, and federal agencies. The fence extended across the rolling hills of northern California to the Pacific Ocean, and provided what Christo referred to as "an obstructive membrane" that he hoped would change the public's perception of the land. ~ Alice Day, All Movie Guide
- 1994
One of the latest efforts of famed outdoor avant-garde artist Christo is chronicled in this documentary. Christo's 1991 project, on which he and his wife Jeanne-Claude spent $26 million, was to erect over 31,000 20-foot high umbrellas along certain Japanese and California valleys. They were to remain in place for two weeks. Nature did not cooperate and people on both sides of the Pacific died for Christo's artistic vision. The film follows the birth of the project through its problematic execution. The relationship between Christo and Jeanne-Claude is also observed. Included are interviews and footage of a California couple who got married beneath the umbrellas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
An Academy Award-nominated film, Christo's Valley Curtain follows the construction of the artist's grand idea, a drape hung between two Colorado mountains. Known for surrounding a Florida island in pink and covering Berlin's Reichstag in silver fabric, Javacheff Christo set his sights in 1972 on the Rifle Gap in the American Southwest. Using nine tons of orange nylon, the project took ironworkers by surprise. As they helped to hang the wind-blown curtain over a quarter mile, they slowly fell for the unusual artist. The Maysles brothers document the gradual acceptance of the extraordinary by the everyday. ~ Sarah Ing, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Such documentary filmmaker legends as Jean Rouch, Frederick Wiseman, and Barbara Kopple appear in this loving tribute to cinema verite and its profound influence on film. Director Peter Wintonick, whose previous efforts include the acclaimed Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1993), makes a compelling case that Canada's National Film Board was at the vanguard of the cinema verite movement. The movie also features vintage footage of teen heart-throb Paul Anka and a behind the scenes look at John F. Kennedy's primary run for president. Both interviews and clips attest to the absorbing vitality that cinema verite brought to film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, (more)
- 2008
Fascinated by the group of aging Holocaust survivors who spend their summers together at the Four Seasons Lodge in the Catskill Mountains, filmmaker Andrew Jacobs documents their collective memories, close friendships, and rich traditions at a time when their favorite retreat hovers in an uncertain state of flux. Every year since 1979, this small group of German and Polish Jews has gathered at the Four Seasons to reminisce about their childhoods and find comfort in one another's company. Like old friends, they often bicker and argue, but it generally isn't anything that lodge president Carl can't resolve with some friendly advice. This year, the regular vacationers at the Four Seasons hopelessly split between those who want to see the resort sold, and those who hope to see it stay intact. But this particular group has been through so much together that whatever may come of the Four Seasons, their familial bonds will remain as strong as they ever were. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Albert and David Maysles, pioneers in the cinéma vérité movement of documentary filmmaking, chose for their subjects of this film a mother and daughter with celebrity connections. Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie (or, as they are called by the brothers, Big Edie and Little Edie), are aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In the early '70s, their 28-room mansion in Long Island's tony community of East Hampton was found to be a health hazard, and the two women, in their seventies and fifties, were threatened with eviction. Jacqueline Onassis paid for the house to be put in good order, and two years later, the Maysles paid the ladies a series of follow-up visits. This is not fly-on-the-wall filmmaking; the brothers are sometimes shown on-camera, and both women talk directly to them. Big Edie reminisces about her husband (from whom she has long been separated) and her youthful singing career; Little Edie ruminates over memories of her thwarted romances and confides that she has to get out of Grey Gardens (the name of their estate), although she has been living there since 1952; and the two women pick at each other for transgressions past and present. The women share their home with at least five cats and several raccoons, for whom Little Edie leaves out food in the attic. They are not recluses; they host a modest 79th birthday party for Big Edie, they employ a gardener, and they are often visited by Jerry, a young handyman/lost soul whom Little Edie calls "the Marble Faun," after the Nathaniel Hawthorne story. "It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present," Little Edie says near the beginning of the film, and it becomes clear that both women are much more comfortable reliving their respective youths (in some ways, Little Edie has never left hers) than facing their rather bleak old and middle age. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- 2007
- Add Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends... to QueueAdd Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends... to top of Queue
Cinema verité icon Albert Maysles captures the best in very Gypsy music while highlighting the diversity of the Romani people in this documentary tracing the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan six-week concert tour across North America. Featuring five bands from four countries, the Gypsy Caravan showcases a variety of musical styles ranging from flamenco to Indian folk, Romanian violin, Raga, and jazz. The result is a celebration of song and dance that's sure to thrill music lovers of all ages and backgrounds. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taraf de Haidouks, Esma Redzepova, (more)
- 2001
The cotton-growing industry has long had a tight hold on the political and economic lives of many people in the Mississippi Delta, and this documentary -- directed in part by Albert Maysles -- explores the toll King Cotton has taken on one woman and her family. Laura Lee Wallace, known to friends and family as LaLee, has spent all her life in Mississippi's Tallahatchie County. The product of a long line of cotton farmers, LaLee has grown up in dire poverty, and her children and grandchildren are poor prospects for a better life, given the region's failing school systems. At the urging of the major cotton firms, Tallahatchie County's schools used to routinely shut down during the harvest season so children could join their parents in the fields, and conditions have gotten only marginally better, with the county's ill-funded school system facing a possible takeover by the state government unless scores improve on the next round of standardized aptitude tests. With both money and job opportunities scarce, LaLee faces an uphill struggle to support her extended family, which now includes several grandchildren left to her care by sons and daughters unable to care for their offspring themselves. LeLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton was produced for the premium cable television network HBO; prior to it's HBO debut, the film was presented at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In an era where fact, fiction, and legend have become increasingly difficult to distinguish, Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine set out to explore the politically charged climate in America and find out just how documentary director Michael Moore has evolved from a simple filmmaker into an icon of left-leaning politics. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The concert movie Masada: Live at Tonic 1999 captures the jazz band performing nearly a dozen songs including "Jair," "Sippur," "Beeroth," "Shechem," and "Paran." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
From Michael Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan to the movie-making capital of the United States, director Mike Wilson's inflammatory documentary travels across the country to hold the controversial Sicko director's allegedly questionable tactics up to the light for closer examination. Wilson is a filmmaker who wants viewers to question what they see and hear in the media, and he's willing to travel thousands of miles in order to highlight why you too should remain skeptical about Moore's motivations as a filmmaker. The result is a meditation on the American Dream, and the manner in which diligence and determination can eventually pay off for the folks who aren't willing to let their dreams fade. Additionally, by speaking with such well known media figures as Penn Jilette and John Stossel as well as a host of highly respected scholars, Wilson highlights how Moore manipulates interviews and statistics to serve his own personal agenda. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The first concert film of the rock & roll era, Monterey Pop is an invaluable record of some of the major musical figures of the late 1960s. The organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival, held June 16-18, 1967, wisely chose to record the proceedings on film for commercial distribution. Even if some of the festival's big acts -- The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, and Buffalo Springfield -- didn't make the final cut for various reasons, the roster of performers who did reads like a who's who of the era: Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin), Simon & Garfunkel, and The Mamas and the Papas (that group's leader, John Phillips, was one of the festival's principal organizers). The festival's "international" tag is well-earned by one performer in the film: Ravi Shankar, whose final-day performance was one of the festival's highlights and closes the movie on an exuberant note. Though the festival seemed to be anticipating nearby San Francisco's Summer of Love, the film chooses to concentrate on the musical performers, with only brief intimations of the burgeoning counterculture. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
