Ray Lobo

The Old Town Girls is about the consequences of decisions.

After watching the documentary, I hope that as critiques of the male gaze become more and more mainstream, audiences will see through the many cliches and understand the ideology objectifying women in cinema. And as they gaze back, I hope we all realize that they have complex stories to tell.

One wishes that the directors would have devoted more time to his past, how he came to be interested in Philosophy, and how he came to harness it as a tool useful in conflict resolution. Even still, McAverey and his staff’s love for the children comes through clearly.

Guzmán’s skills as a documentarian have not eroded one bit. His soft narration reminds one of Werner Herzog sans his, at times, metaphysical excesses. The director captures incredible footage of the protests as a functioning organism, a sublime wave of furious power.

Riotsville, U.S.A. brilliantly uses the aesthetic of its archival footage to not only place us in a historical era but also to inform, to critique state power.

There’s a throughline in this country’s history that goes from The Asian Exclusion Act to Chol Soo Lee’s case to publicized cases in the last few years of hate crimes against Asians. Free Chol Soo Lee reminds us that when we sit on the sideline and do not actively fight against discrimination and the stereotyping of Asians, real people, such as Chol Soo Lee, suffer.

The Story Won’t Die gives us hope that what happened in Syria won’t be drowned out or forgotten and that bold artistic expression that disrupts the West’s status quo will also not die. These young Syrian artists keep such hopes alive.