Summer Tour – ★★☆
It was a day of documentaries, and this was the weakest of the three. A missed opportunity and an interesting enough premise; following around a couple of young deadheads (Grateful Dead fans) as they drove their van around America. I felt like they could have dug a little deeper, spent more time exploring the history of this community, and less time having us watch the central subjects dancing by spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning. A strange juxtaposition of people who mainly were about being good to others, yet seemed totally okay with sneaking into shows without buying tickets.
The Cycle of Love – ★★★☆
Interesting documentary about what happens when you’re young, fall in love, and decide to bicycle your way from India to Sweden to do something about it. Likely the biggest “Will they, won’t they?” of the festival. I’m guessing it was for dramatic effect, but it did feel like they weren’t telling the audience the full side of the woman’s tale.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem – ★★★☆
An important watch, enlightening, often entertaining, and mostly interesting. This is a documentary made 50 years after footage was shot in the 1970s at Duke Ellington’s home in Harlem, where many of those who were part of the Harlem Renaissance of the early decades of the 1900s came together for an afternoon to discuss the times and the results of it. Like spending an afternoon at a family gathering of an older generation, there was laughter, as well as disagreement, and if anything, it shows that for the advances of humanity, some things don’t change.
