Sundance Institute
MOVIE REVIEW
2nd Chance (2022)
Pacifists and advocates of non-lethal force will feel a headache coming on while watching "2nd Chance," a documentary by Ramin Bahrani telling the rise and fall of the Second Chance company of Michigan and its founder Richard Davis. In the aftermath of a 1970s attempted mugging of Mr. Davis that turned into a back-alley gun battle when he resisted ("I shot two men many times. Unfortunately I was fighting three.") the victim wondered whether a better, lighter bulletproof vest than the flak jackets on the market at the time might be possible. The answer was yes, and a design of woven nylon proved to have real commercial potential. With Second Chance in business as a supplier of vests, Mr. Davis developed a party piece to prove his product's effectiveness, wearing one and then shooting himself in the chest from a range of half an inch.
Continue reading “Bullet Time” »
MOVIE REVIEW
At Any Price (2013)
Hooman Bahrani/Sony Pictures Classics
Ramin Bahrani’s last three films — namely “Man Push Cart,” “Chop Shop” and “Goodbye Solo” — followed the plights of outcasts such as immigrants and street orphans. While the first two took place in gritty New York City, the latter was set in his native Winston-Salem, N.C. So even though the Iowa cornfield setting in Mr. Bahrani’s latest, “At Any Price,” might come as no surprise, the film’s thoroughly white-bred concerns still mark a huge departure for the filmmaker.
Continue reading “Out of Left Fields” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Goodbye Solo (2008)
Travis Van Sweden/65th Venice Film Festival
I have not seen either of director Ramin Bahrani's previous two films, "Man Push Cart" and "Chop Shop," but I have read an endless list of raves about them both. Mr. Bahrani can't seem to step wrong. In his first two films, he shot in New York on real locations using non-professional actors with whom he'd worked closely in rehearsal for months before shooting. So even though my local video store doesn't carry either one, I was really looking forward to "Goodbye Solo" and my personal discovery of this great new talent. I left the cinema not quite sure if I'd seen what everyone else has.
Continue reading “Another Taste of Cherry” »