So long as there is injustice in the world, there will be documentaries. Yoav Potash’s “Crime After Crime” almost-six-years-in-the-making documentary tells the horrific story of Deborah Peagler, a California woman serving a life sentence for murder, and an “incarcerated survivor of domestic violence.” Shot inside California’s largest women’s prison, this Sundance Film Festival entry and selection of the Oprah Winfrey Network Documentary Club, offers twists, turns, outrage and no simple solutions as it follows Peagler and her legal team in her attempts to gain release after twenty-six years in prison. The amount of apparently false evidence against her is almost comic in its extremes, mocking the idea of American justice even in summary and assertion. As the director-producer-editor writes in a director’s statement, “I hope ‘Crime After Crime’ advances a national dialogue about the rights of battered women, and in the years ahead, I hope that its success will further enable me to be involved in the creation of films that have a direct and meaningful impact on people’s lives.” Virtuous hopes. 95m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
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Fine Line: A Review Of Shortcomings It's a season for the comeuppance of a curmudgeon in Randall Park's smart, biting "Shortcomings," adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name.
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A Drag Getting Old: A Review Of Indiana Jones 5 In the protracted opening couple of reels, a very young, computer-crafted Harrison Ford plays a younger cultural marauder who first encounters the dull MacGuffin of the title.
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