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 Shadows off the beaten pathIndies, foreign, docs and shorts...
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EVEREST: THE OTHER SIDE |
FROM INSIDE OUT: THE ARCHITECTURE OF PETER ZUMTHOR |
SUPER NATURE
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| See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 13.Sep.26 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Everest: The Other Side Review by Rich Cline | 
MUST  SEE
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 dir Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi prd Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Shannon Dill, Anna Barnes, Bob Eisenhardt, Janet Yang with Jim Morrison, Hilaree Nelson, Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Graydon O'Neill, Quinn O'Neill, Yukta Gurung, Pemba Sherpa, Erich Roepke, Esteban Mena, Carla Perez, Mikey Schaefer, Jeremy Jones, Tom Hornbein release US 30.Oct.26 26/US National Geographic 1h50  TORONTO FILM FEST Now streaming... |
 Jaw-dropping cinematography puts us right on the icy slopes with intrepid mountain climbers as they spend five years trying to do something unprecedented: after scaling the rarely climbed northern face of Everest in China, Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson intend to ski back down. Filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi get fully involved in this expedition, tracing the huge emotional currents that run throughout this unpredictable story. These people aren't climbing mountains just because they're there; they have strongly personal motivations. Alongside staggeringly vertiginous footage of them climbing (and skiing), the film follows them home to their families. At the centre, Jim and Hilaree have a happy life in Colorado with her teen sons Graydon and Quinn, who have reason to worry when their mother says goodbye. Sure enough, over the years covered here, several people are seriously injured. One dies. But there's a sense among all of them that they simply can't give up. So the film's final act is magnificent. Ascending Everest takes months of planning and preparation work, plus a massive team of logistic specialists and sherpas. And going up on the Chinese side adds extra visa challenges as well. Because they are also mountaineers, the filmmakers are embedded with this team right through the entire process, including the long months between attempts, tracing details in ways that are meaningful and often moving. At one point, Jimmy wonders how this kind of climbing is justifiable, when lives are at risk. But they all know the answer, because it transcends logic. Cameras also take us to visit the families of two of the lead sherpas, which offers strong insight into Nepalese culture as well as parallels with family concerns across the whole team. So the film is a vivid reminder that happy moments like birth and weddings go hand-in-hand with injuries and even death. And while the filmmakers document several astonishing events, filming in a way that is simply dazzling to watch, it's the deeper emotional connections these people have between them and with the mountain that linger. It's an inspiring depiction of the tenacity of the human body and spirit.
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From Inside Out: The Architecture of Peter Zumthor Review by Rich Cline | 
Now streaming...
|  Continuing to push the possibilities of 3D filmmaking, Wim Wenders takes an immersive documentary look at the life and distinctively naturalistic work of Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It's a strikingly intimate film that is packed with audacious artistic flourishes. While it feels overlong, it's also the kind of film in which we never know where we'll go next. And it becomes a remarkable ode to earthy creativity. Zumthor is intrigued by concepts of space, creating obviously hand-crafted buildings that complete the landscapes in which they sit, looking like they were always meant to be there. So he uses unadorned construction materials. And while no two of his projects look alike, there's a strong family resemblance. His buildings include museums that surround protected ruins, distinctively offbeat chapels, groundbreaking living spaces and spectacularly minimalistic thermal baths in the Swiss Alps. He narrates the film with personal observations on how he sees the world, and his amazement that his construction can actually become a home. Wenders gives the film an ethereal, magic kick by sending artists, craftsmen and ghostly figures into Zumthor's creations. He explores a wide variety of buildings with gorgeous 3D camerawork that prowls into the corners with cheeky curiosity, Zumthor's work emphasises function over design, using windows to dramatically frame a location and let in lots of light. The farmhouse he created for the Luzi family is a fascinating example of open-handed liveability. And his outrageously expansive new gallery for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is jaw-dropping from every angle. Along the way, creators, writers and filmmakers roam these spaces, sometimes commenting on their meaning and impact, but mostly just existing within them. In the final sequence, musician Sophie Hunger wanders through an empty, recently completed building singing a song inspired by Zumthor. This is a resolutely quirky and dreamy film that includes a wide range of mesmerising buildings in unusual locations, each with its own personality and meaning, including the home Zumthor build for his wife Annalisa. And in the end, he hopes his work takes on its own life, showing its age. It's inspiring to see how Zumthor is bringing a sense of hand-made physical presence back into popular architecture.
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| Queer Edward II Review by Rich Cline |
MUST SEE
|  dir-scr Theo Rollason prd Ben Fowlie, Sebastien Rabas, Michael Sherman with Derek Jarman, Tilda Swindon, Stephen Waddington, Annie Lennox, Sarah Swords, Sandy Powell, Peter Tatchell, Jody Graber, Nigel Terry, Andrew Tiernan, Keith Collins, Jonathan Ross, Ian McKellen release WP Sep.26 vff, UK Oct.26 lff 26/UK BBC 1h37  Is it streaming?
|  With comprehensive access, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey roamed the sets as Derek Jarman made his resolutely queer film Edward II for the BBC in 1991. Some 35 years later, director Theo Rollason assembles this material effervescently, highlighting resonant context for the period, including the project's collision with OutRage and the Aids epidemic. And vest of all, it captures Jarman's sheer joy at doing what he was meant to do. This was one of Jarman's biggest films, even if the budget was still very tight for this tenacious crew. Shot on 35mm, the cast included Stephen Waddington as Edward, Tilda Swinton and Annie Lennox, plus Peter Tatchell and his army of unruly young OutRage activists, who invaded the next door stage at Bray Studios to confront Cliff Richard as he rehearsed a religious show. Crises like this pop up throughout the production, putting production manager Sarah Swords through her paces. But the atmosphere on-set remains lively, happy and, most importantly, fiercely artistic. Through all of this, Jarman only once laughs off a cold, even as he is already in later stages of HIV infection. Although he feels that the new meds have saved his life, he would only be able to complete two more films before his death in 1994 at age 52. But he is clearly happiest when at work, collaborating with his family-like cast and crew, which includes his adored boyfriend Keith. Along the way, Seamus captures casual conversations with many of the people on-set, speaking offhandedly about a range of topics. Rollason edits this together only with footage from the period, including clips from news coverage and chat shows. What's strikingly apparent is that this documentary should have been released alongside the film in 1991, but of course political opinions were generally unfriendly to gay artists, reminding us of the importance of the protests that were happening in London at the time, including one recreated in Edward II. Indeed, Jarman's contemporary setting for the historical narrative was unprecedented in its honesty about LGBTQ history as it intersects with the present day. Queer people have been fighting to simply live their lives for centuries, and while the law eventually came around, it's shocking that the social issues feel as bracingly timely and urgent today.
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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL © 2026 by Rich Cline, Shadows
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