Bannister: Everest on the Track
No one had ever run the mile in four minutes—until Britain’s Roger Bannister ran it in 3:59 at an amateur track meet in 1954. This documentary catches the excitement and the thrill in Great Britain, broken by war but rebounding with Bannister’s victory and the near-simultaneous summit of Everest by a British climber. Some scientists thought that four minutes-in-a-mile was a physiological barrier as firm as the speed of light. Bannister showed them!
Rhythm ’n’ Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge went on a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bus tour of Louisiana, shooting a performance by Frankie Ford before setting off on his own to explore music in the Pelican State. He found much more than the expected zydeco in performances by contemporary country-rock acts, lachrymose country balladeers, ace gospel quartets and swampy blues guitarists. Rev. Gerald Lewis holds forth on piano in a style similar to cousin Jerry Lee.
Betrayed
Debra Winger plays Katie, a new girl in a small town. In Betrayed (1988), little clues lead to the revelation that she’s FBI and infiltrating a violent, tax-hating, white supremacist group plotting their revenge against the liberal elites who have foreclosed on their farms—and the blacks and Jews they blame for the mess the world is in. Director Costa-Gavras keeps the drama taut as Winger finds feeling for the hunky white supremacist (Tom Berenger).
Melody Gardot: Live at the Olympia Paris
The Grammy-nominated, jazz-influenced Melody Gardot staged a moodily lit, high-end post-Roxy Music show last fall at a famed Paris concert hall. Accompanied by a large ensemble, including a pair of purring saxophonists and a trumpeter, the contemporary chanteuse infused noirish sexuality into her singing and stage persona. Gardot concentrated on a batch of songs from her most recent albums, Currency of Man and My One and Only Thrill. Thierry Villeneuve directs the concert documentary.
