McQUEEN

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Alexander (Lee) McQueen was a prodigy fashion designer from humble beginnings with a boundless imagination and a fierce determination that skyrocketed him to the top of industry.

McQueen became a household name in the 90s, when he worked as chief designer at Givenchy. It is only fitting that co-directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui have crafted a soaring documentary that celebrates McQueen’s visually stunning creations while telling his tragic story.

Thoughtful interviews with friends, family, mentors, partners, and associates harmonize with impressive clips from trailblazing fashion shows to leave a permanent mark on the viewer.

The film symptomatically serves as a crash course through the kooky world of haute couture, from the UK to Paris and back again. Here is a lush and haunting documentary that should be received on the big screen to fully appreciate the epic scope of McQueen’s outrageous designs and rebellious approach that revolutionized the fashion industry at a point in time when such a bold attack was necessary if not essential to its future.   

The filmmakers diligently connect McQueen’s dark fixation with death — a skull was the logo for his design house — to his punk inspired methods for provoking the haute couture industry at large. Daring fashion shows introducing collections based on such incendiary subjects as the abuse of women, contrast with McQueen’s gentle nature and genuine sense of humility. His 1995 “Highland Rape” collection comes across like a truckload of social dynamite.

It is rare for one person to embody so much talent, skill, and committed work ethic; Alexander McQueen did it with style, panache, and modesty. His undeniable genius continues to inspire artists of all disciplines, so too will this film. 

Rated R. 151 mins. 

STATIONS OF THE ELEVATED

    Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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Manfred (Manny) Kirchheimer fled Nazi Germany to come to America at the age of five in 1936 with his Jewish family. It was a smart move considering that the Nazis soon wiped out his entire hometown.

Kirchheimer later studied filmmaking under Hans Richter at the Institute of Film Techniques in New York City, where he learned the skills that would propel him to teach filmmaking at New York’s School for Visual Arts, and engage in a lifetime of making films.

This is important information to take into consideration when viewing Manny Kirchheimer’s films — not the least of which is the one he made about New York City’s subway graffiti art in 1977 when the movement first began.

The filmmaker's unique viewpoint — on New York City's simmering culture of underclass child artists, capitalist presentation of pop art ads, and factory-styled subway system — delivers successive punches of editorial substance.   

Set against a provocative score consisting of music by Charles Mingus, and indigenous sounds “Stations of the Elevated” eschews narration to tell its story.

Instead, Kirchheimer relies on formal compositions of New York’s subway rail yards, elevated platforms, and surrounding locations to tell a complex tale of environmental and urban dislocation where pop art billboards — depicting gigantic hamburgers, bikini-clad women, and a male smoker whose enormous mouth issues forth billowing smoke — inform ghetto children who draw on the art and atmosphere around them to create their own original art form. Stagnate frames of architecture and endless rows of subway cars expand to reveal an implied and intrinsic context that the filmmaker patiently exposes. 

Contrasting sections of giant billboards against blue skies and a verdant countryside clash with the presence of a prison and broken down ghettos where abandoned buildings provide massive playgrounds for the kids who live there. 

Through precise editing, Kirchheimer finds manifold layers of political and social resonance that he then transfers onto the viewer for them to admire, judge, consider, and contemplate.

“Stations of the Elevated” is like a dream that lingers infinitely in your mind and physical being. Kirchheimer shares his excitement at witnessing some of the first subway trains ever to be covered with graffiti as they roll on elevated tracks for the world to see, but he digs deeper into the subject by showing the inspiration for the raw and refined artwork on display.

Repeating shadows against a long brick wall resonate with the consecutive tags and spray-painted characters that mock and challenge the world from which the artists sprang. “Stations of the Elevated” (completed in 1981) differs significantly from art-installment films shown in museums in that it tells a specific story of social upheaval and harmony.

Shown as part of BAMcinemaFest 2014, the film was presented at the Harvey Theater by the director, along with a 45-minute performance by the Charles Mingus Dynasty to set the mood. I count myself as fortunate to have been there to see “Stations of the Elevated” in such ideal circumstances.

Not Rated. 45 mins.

 

FAR OUT ISN'T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY

     Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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“Far Out Isn’t Far Enough” is everything a good documentary should be.

Captivating, informative, shocking, and entertaining, Brad Bernstein’s dynamic exposé traces the lifelong struggles of multi-disciplined artist Tomi Ungerer — a man brimming with so much charisma, you can’t help but fall under his spell.

At one time the most famous children’s book author in America, Ungerer’s twisting path — from a child growing up in Nazi-occupied Alsace, France to becoming an enormously successful illustrator, political cartoonist, and author in ‘50s and ‘60s New York — Ungerer’s remarkable artistic output in so many fields practically ensured his eventual exile from America.

His gift for erotic drawing — he published many imaginative books of erotica — became a sticking point for puritanical American critics who effectively blacklisted him overnight when his “multiple activities” were exposed at a children’s book convention for the American Library Association where Ungerer was invited to speak.

Members of the crowd physically attacked the artist, prompting him to give back verbally the pain that was inflicted on his body. The damage was done. Even his supporters — including such luminaries as Jules Feiffer and Maurice Sendak — were unable to prevent Ungerer’s children’s books from being pulled from American libraries.

Few artists have so fiercely and eloquently tilled the soil in the “no-man’s land between good and bad” as Tomi Ungerer. Here is a bold cinematic portrait of one of the most honest and talented artists you could ever hope to meet.

Not Rated. 98 mins.