Netflix Limbo is a series of articles that examines the films that may have been skipped over in your Netflix Queue but need to be watched immediately.

To leave a legacy in this day and age can be a tough thing. With so much available to you with technology; to simply document your life is no longer a feat. But what about before all that? What about before we could see a life streaming as it happens on the Internet? If you truly understand what it means to not only leave a legacy, then you will understand why Senna is such an important name.

In the self titled documentary “Senna”, the film follows the career and life of formula one racing drive Ayrton Senna. Now, I will admit my knowledge of formula one racing begins with the video game “F1 Pole Position” and ends with Sacha Baron Cohen’s portrayal in the racing farce “Talledega Nights”. From that limited experience, I can fully admit that a film chronicling an athlete of a sport I knew very little about didn’t interest me. So there it sat at the very front of my Netflix Queue for months on end. Many people told me to see this film but I just made one excuse after the next. Fortunately, one morning I was just awake enough to finally give those suggestions a try. This documentary is not only an amazing work of art but one of the finest films I have ever seen.

What truly makes this documentary extraordinary is the fact that it contains all the necessary factors needed for an amazing documentary and then some. The footage of the film is what truly makes it stand out above the rest, because that is all you see. There are no talking heads but merely voices in the background that narrate this story you feel should have been told a long time ago. We see footage from when Senna was very young all the way and through his famous career. The audience is given a front row seat to this man’s amazing life through family home movies, driver’s seat racing footage, intimate interviews, and private conversations. The footage shown throughout the film feels so personally by the end, you feel as if you truly knew Senna.

When the film ended I couldn’t help but feel impacted in a way that a documentary hasn’t done in a very long time. I not only implore you but demand of you to see this film as soon as possible. It has a story that unfolds with characters so rich you would think they had to have been written. “Senna” will have you captivated from start to finish with a pacing that simply can’t be matched. The film is directed flawlessly by Asif Kapadia, a director that after seeing this film will be one to constantly watch out for years to come.There are movies that you should see and then there are movies you HAVE to see; the documentary “Senna” is both.

“Senna” is now available on DVD/BLU Ray and Netfllix Watch Instantly

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS documents the last days of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. The film primarily focuses on James Murphy and his decision to call it quits. An interview is used as the driving narration, intercut with beautifully shot performance footage from their final performance at Madison Square Garden.

Murphy seems to be a kind and gracious man that is self-aware, sincere, and happy to be doing what he does. We start off following Murphy the day after their final gig, He wakes up with his French Bull Dog on top of him, a dog that has an eerily comical resemblance in appearance and even in personality to Murphy. It’s not hard to immediately be fond of Murphy’s personality. He carries himself with ease and seems like a no-bullshit kind of guy that loves his band, his bandmates, and the music they create. This is refreshing to see after getting to used to watching more recent “rock docs” like “Some Kind of Monster” or “Dig” that focus on the conflicts and inner-turmoil of bands. While I liked those docs and they are entertaining, it becomes kind of irritating and ludicrous to see these guys bitching about being rock stars (or in the case of Dig, lack thereof).

Murphy is sensitive and you can empathize with him and his difficult decision to retire LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. Even though it’s for selfish reasons, those reasons are respectable and understandable. If you’re an LCD fan this doc is easy to love, and if you’re not an LCD fan I think it would be hard to see this and not leave a fan. There are some appearances by Arcade Fire and even Reggie Watts in their final performance – and the production of the show is beautiful. Directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern really did an excellent job capturing the atmosphere and energy of the show. As I noted earlier, it’s beautifully shot and sounds amazing too.

When it’s all said and done, you feel like the crying fan in the final shot: you’re sad to see such a good band go, but happy you were there to see them shine.

Ever wonder where stuff that is labeled “Made in China” actually comes from? All of us have seen that label somewhere. The Last Train Home documents the tragic lives of the people who make the stuff that’s “Made in China.”

The main characters are a father and mother and their daughter. The mother and father work in a city 1800 kilometers away from their family’s farm. Their sole aim in life is to work hard so that their kids can go to school. Grandma cares for their children, who they only see once a year during the much-anticipated Chinese New Year Holiday. All year the parents anticipate this visit, and vie with other migrants in rowdy crowds acquire the coveted train tickets home.

But in spite of their good intentions, the kids are bitter at their parents for leaving them all those years. And as the story unfolds, we’re given an unflinching view of how economic and social forces have driven this family into a desperation.

The film is a brilliant work of art from a thematic perspective. It is simple and beautiful on the surface and fraught with passion and pain underneath. In many ways it reminded me of the work of the late brilliant Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Like Kurosoawa’s work, Train creates a deep sense of empathy with the misery and hopelessness of peasant life. But unlike Kurosawa, it does not offer a savior. No bold samaurai ride out of the mist to save the poor peasants. In Fan’s version of the world, the peasants live in a hell of their own making. And Fan offers no clear solution, but simply shows us the vastly unnerving choice faced millions of peasant workers in China.

Fan could have made this a dry, journalistic piece about the plight of the worker, or a rant against western consumerism. He could have had experts and professors and learned folk talk about economic forces. Instead, he forces us to watch as real people are crushed by those forces. He puts their pathos in our face. By bypassing the abstract, he kept the story human.

The Last Train Home is also a cinematic work of art. Its use of ambient sound is far superior to any other documentary. These sound effects combine with outstanding cinematography to provide rich contrast between the pastoral Chinese countryside and the roiling cities. The viewer is immersed in the story because he is immersed in its environment. Fan shot much of the film, and, much to my delight, he? bucked the verite filmmaking trend of sloppy, poorly exposed handheld camera work. In fact, there were a couple shots in this film that sucked the breath out of me.

The Last Train Home also utilizes a strong story structure, as key plot points center around the central event of the train ride home for the New Years Holiday. The viewer is familiar with the routine, and measures character change by the way they behave on each successive trip.

The characters in The Last Train Home speak only when necessary. This is great because it forces you to guess at what they are thinking or feeling. It makes you try to see the events unfolding onscreen through their eyes. This is also the film’s greatest flaw, because near the end of the film, I was sick of trying to guess what was going on in the daughter’s mind while she brushed her teeth. Did she think, “I hate my parents,” or, “I hate this train,” Or, did she think, “I need a new brand of toothpaste”? But there were two points (which I will not give away) where the film spoke volumes of gutsy exposition without a single line of interview—just good-ol’ visual communication. I’ll take that any day over a verbose talking-heads fest.

The Last Train Home is a brilliant film, and a watershed documentary. I would love to see more films that aspire to this quality of visual storytelling. It’s a Zeitgeist doc, which means it received funding and technical assistance by the folks at Sundance Institute. I’m going to keep my eye on their future releases, and I’m officially a fan of Lixin Fan.

Ok, so I watched Buck on Netflix last night, hoping to learn something about filmmaking. Although it won an audience choice award at Sundance last year, this film taught me less about filmmaking and more about what type of audience to expect at the nation’s premier film festival. You might find it inspiring if you like horses, or if you’re a big proponent of treating animals and people with respect. The film constantly draws parallels between parenting and horse training.

I like documentaries that are deep, character driven stories. Buck offers a two-dimensional image of a man who’s already undergone his most important human changes. There’s nothing in the way of real, onscreen character development. It’s all backstory.

I had to pin my eyelids to keep them open. Buck’s pace plods like an old mare, or more accurately, as slow as the main character’s cowboy drawl. I mean no disrespect to this man, of course. He’s quite amazing, actually. He can have a bucking bronco eating out of his hand in minutes. He rides a horse like it’s his own four legs. He can rope and shoe and saddle, and out-cowboy anybody. Yes, Buck’s quite the man. It’s the film that makes him boring.

We learn of his childhood with the ubiquitous panning photographs and testimonials from friends. It is indeed a painful history. Buck’s mother passed away when he was small, and his drunkard father beat him cruelly. Instead of succumbing to this pain, Buck has overcome it. He’s broken the cycle of abuse, and uses gentleness and empathy to break wild horses to the saddle. The film chronicles this journey with emotional interviews, interwoven with scenes from Buck’s traveling horse-training clinics.

The cinematography is simple and steady. It is very TLC. Some moody, brooding imagery could have really helped me get into the story, but alas, it was woefully lacking in art and style.

The film also features a cameo from Robert Redford, who hired Buck to work on the set of The

Horse Whisperer. Together they tell a little anecdote about how Buck coaxed one of his horses to walk over and nuzzle the main character. The sequence doesn’t add much, rather it feels like a cheap way to get Redford to appear in the film. But, maybe I’m being too harsh.

The most excitement comes when Buck’s assistant gets bit in the face by an ill-tempered young stud. Buck waves some flags at it, but eventually tells its owner that there’s no hope for the beast. I was hoping to see him tame this one. But, hey, this is real life, not a movie. He also has some choice words for the horse owner, which he delivers in his standard, avuncular tone: “This horse tells me a lot about you.” He tells her in no uncertain terms that it’s her fault that the horse is out of control. He approaches people and horses alike with the same, no nonsense honesty, and they actually listen to him because they sense that he cares. He’s quite winsome.

We also learn about how he’s close to his daughter, and his wife, and his foster mother. His family relationships show how he’s avoided repeating the mistakes of his father. The whole film has no dramatic arc, no character change, no plot, really. A documentary must either show a character change, or attempt to change audience perspective. A good documentary’s foundation is a real story, not just a portrait. This film is only worth watching if you want to see what sort of movie is adored by Sundancers. Frankly, I expected much more.

by Jackie Richard

Dragonslayer is such an honest glimpse into a complex group of idealistic punk-metal, skate kids that are entirely focused on right now. They live to skate and party and be with friends. Nothing else really means anything.

I love documentaries where the filmmaker stays out of the way. This film was such an honest portrayal of the young skate legend Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, a 23-year-old Fullerton, CA native. Like many street skaters, Josh is a nomad. He bops around from couch to RV to tent to the woods to the streets. He isn’t driven by money, or food, or security, so his character is at times difficult to relate to. Especially because he’s too far gone half the time to say anything insightful. His only ambition is to skate, and to numb and suppress his emotions as much as possible with drugs and alcohol on a daily basis.

While he’s obviously flawed, there’s also such an intense sadness about him that makes his decisions seem more pathetic than outrageous. It was clear from the beginning of the film that his family wasn’t a priority or even present at all. And it’s unclear how many years that’s been the case. The guy definitely had the cards stacked against him.

Contrasting layers of reality helped add dimension to how Josh’s story is portrayed. Life for Josh and his entourage is gloomy and sporadic, but the backdrop of their lives is perpetual Southern California sunshine. Their whole life’s a never ending party, without rules or regulations, yet they appear trapped in their existence.

Director Tristan Patterson captured these complexities really well with the steady pacing, bumpy handheld camerawork, and quick cuts. The film’s editing really helped establish the mixed tone and subtle melancholy that left the viewer doubting how good of a time everyone was really having.

This film definitely offers a fresh look into a youthful subculture that’s existed for decades and that isn’t going anywhere. A subculture that almost feels more like an epidemic than a choice.

THEATRICAL SCREENINGS
OPENS NOVEMBER 4- NEW YORK, NY @ CINEMA VILLAGE
OPENS NOVEMBER 11- LOS ANGELES, CA @ DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT
OPENS NOVEMBER 18- SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ ROXIE THEATER
OPENS NOVEMBER 18- DALLAS, TX @ TEXAS THEATRE
OPENS NOVEMBER 29, DECEMBER 6- MINNEAPOLIS, MN @ THE TRYLON
OPENS DECEMBER 2- SEATTLE, WA @ NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
OPENS DECEMBER 2- PORTLAND, OR @ HOLLYWOOD THEATRE
OPENS DECEMBER 2- BELLINGHAM, WA @ PICKFORD FILM CENTER
OPENS DECEMBER 9- SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA @ PALM THEATRE