If a filmmaker or publicist contacts me regarding my reviews, it’s usually to complain—with the unhappy missive-composers often forgetting that the job of a critic is to, well, critique and not to make friends or earn pats on the back. One does not undertake this type of writing to be popular, or even liked. (I could point to my school years as evidence of this, but never mind.) If we’re lucky, a critic might see his or her name on publicity
The filmmaker Daniel Lombroso continues to amaze me. I learned of his work early in the pandemic, encountering his documentary “White Noise” at the first (but not last) virtual AFI DOCS fest in 2020. That searing film—which was on my best-of-the-year list—introduced us to true believers in the cause of white supremacy, including a young Canadian woman who is among the most intriguing documentary subjects in years
(during all of this week, Screen Comment's Eric Althoff gives readers his take on the choicest films from the 2020 crop of AFI Docs, the world's premier documentary film festival which took place online this year due to the coronavirus)
A more timely documentary there might not be the rest of this year, as director Daniel Lombroso trails some prominent figures of the alt-right as they travel the world, make speeches