Urban Film Blog
List activity
42 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
29 titles
- DirectorPhyllida LloydStarsMolly McCannClare DunneRuby Rose O'HaraA young mother escapes her abusive husband and fights back against a broken housing system. She sets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself."..there are loads of Sandras not just in Dublin, but in Dayton, Durban, Dallas, Dubai, Delhi, and Da Nang — as well as right here in Boston and its suburbs."
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsMatt DillonDaphné PatakiaSusan ElleA professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life."...we find ourselves at once both in pursuit and pursued, as the fish-eye lens bends the very streets of the city around the characters."
- DirectorBill Ross IVTurner RossStarsPeter ElwellMichael MartinShay WalkerA look at the final moments of a Las Vegas dive bar called 'The Roaring 20s'.Bill Ross explains, “You’re in the desert, you’re in this fake city, but you’re in the realest part of the fake city.”
- DirectorGar O'RourkeA journey into the heart of what is widely considered the world's most hardcore gym - Kiev's enormous open-air "Kachalka" gym."...a classic example of the way people in an urban context — even (or perhaps especially) during periods of economic down-turn – are able to tap into their deep reserves of creativity, grit, and communal resources to make do (and more), creating value out of waste, forging community out of the daily magic of simply showing up and sharing."
- DirectorTal AmiranUnder Paris' glittering Eiffel Tower, undocumented Senegalese migrants sell miniature souvenirs of the monument, to support their families back home. Far from their loved ones and hounded by the police, each day is a struggle through darkness in the City of Lights."...establishes a poignant juxtaposition between the heavy pain and longing we hear and the light, lively, often trivial world we see: tourists on holiday the sparkly “City of Lights.”
- DirectorLance OppenheimStarsDennis DeanLynn HenryAnne KincerBehind the gates of a palm tree-lined fantasyland, four residents of America's largest retirement community, The Villages, FL, strive to find solace and meaning."Although the residents testify (with all the earnestness of a promotional marketing video) that The Villages is a “Nirvana” that “you would never have to leave,” we know what is really being presented: “Little Boxes” for the elderly."
- DirectorJohan PalmgrenStarsLeniIn order to rectify the poor bus accessibility at Slussen station, the city council, as per the municipal board's recommendation, erects so-called 'bus traps' on the street."...the experiment delivers an important lesson: even the simplest urban planning interventions need to account for “the human factor.”
- DirectorSophie BruneauTwelve people describe their dreams and nightmares linked to their working lives. Between poetry and social commentary their stories portray a workplace dominated by the pressures of neoliberalism.
- DirectorBrett StoryStarsClare CoulterOrdinary people in New York are asked to talk about their lives and their hopes for the future in a time marked by political division and climate change."we uncover a profound portrait of a community perched on the edge of oblivion — ecologically, economically, existentially; what the filmmakers refer to as “a portrait of collective anxiety.”
- DirectorGiorgio Angelini'Owned' is a fever dream vision into the dark history behind the US housing economy. Tracking its overtly racist beginnings to its unbridled commoditization, the doc exposes a foundational story few Americans understand as their own.
- DirectorCarlos López EstradaStarsDaveed DiggsRafael CasalJanina GavankarWhile on probation, a man begins to re-evaluate his relationship with his volatile best friend."Blending humor, drama, social commentary, and masterfully lyrical dialog, the film helps us wrestle with the big questions of today’s cities while steering clear of overly simplistic answers"
- DirectorMarilyn NessStarsDante BarksdaleTre'a BertrilleEriccka BridgefordCharm City delivers a candid portrait of citizens, police, community advocates, and government officials on the frontlines during three years of unparalleled, escalating violence in Baltimore."while the film is full of the clichés and conventions of both police procedurals and “poverty-porn,” the overall experience is refreshingly new. Viewers are neither titillated nor terrorized, but are instead invited to take their time and actually experience these places and interactions, reflecting on how they are lived and felt by the people in the documentary"
- DirectorJeremy WorkmanStarsMatt GreenFor over six years, and for reasons he can't explain, Matt Green, 37, has been walking every block of every street in New York City - a journey of more than 8,000 miles. THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET tells the story of one man's unusual personal quest and the unexpected journey of discovery, humanity, and wonder that ensues."an honest fascination with the details of life and the little mysteries of the city"
- DirectorKing VidorStarsEleanor BoardmanJames MurrayBert RoachThe life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls."the city of the 1920s is an extremely public place: notice the tension between private and public, between free will and conformity, between individual and “the crowd.”
- DirectorChad FreidrichsIn the 1960's, as the cities collapsed and the suburbs sprawled, Athelstan Spilhaus had a vision: a futuristic city for 250,000 residents, engineered from scratch in the isolated woods of northern Minnesota, to solve the twin urban and environmental crises. The Minnesota Experimental City would use the newest technologies in communications, transport, energy supply, pollution control (even domed enclosure) in an attempt to create more livable cities and an improved environment for the 21st Century. Spilhaus' proposal was compelling on a grand scale, and quickly gained powerful backers, hundreds of experts, and its own state agency. But times were changing, and not everyone fell in line with this newfangled vision for the future."a visually luxurious symphony of future urbanism"
- DirectorMatt TyrnauerStarsThomas CampanellaVincent D'OnofrioMindy FulliloveWriter and urban activist Jane Jacobs fights to save historic New York City during the ruthless redevelopment era of urban planner Robert Moses in the 1960s."two larger-than-life heroes battling over the streets, skylines, and neighborhoods of New York City."
- CreatorFrank SpotnitzStarsAlexa DavalosLuke KleintankRufus SewellIn a dystopian America dominated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, a young woman discovers a mysterious film that may hold the key to toppling the totalitarian regimes.
- DirectorCeyda TorunStarsYaman BarlasSariArzu GölA profile of an ancient city and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the Cat."One senses that Istanbul is a more caring, communal, functional city thanks to the influence of these strays."
- DirectorLiang ZhaoUnder the sun, the heavenly beauty of grasslands will soon be covered by the raging dust of mines. Facing the ashes and noises caused by heavy mining , the herdsmen have no choice but to leave as the meadow areas dwindle. In the moonlight, iron mines are brightly lit throughout the night. Workers who operate the drilling machines must stay awake. The fight is tortuous, against the machine and against themselves. Meanwhile, coal miners are busy filling trucks with coals. Wearing a coal-dust mask, they become ghostlike creatures. An endless line of trucks will transport all the coals and iron ores to the iron works. There traps another crowd of souls, being baked in hell. In the hospital, time hangs heavy on miners' hands. After decades of breathing coal dust, death is just around the corner. They are living the reality of purgatory, but there will be no paradise."The very vastness inures us to the horror of watching a valley turned into a wasteland, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow."
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalEdward BurtynskyStarsInocencia González SainzMarcus SchubertBill NanceA documentary on how water shapes humanity.
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalStarsEdward BurtynskyPhotographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsDavid HemmingsVanessa RedgraveSarah MilesA fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park.
- DirectorLucy WalkerKaren HarleyJoão JardimStarsVik MunizOn the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro is Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill, where men and women sift through garbage for a living. Artist Vik Muniz produces portraits of the workers and learns about their lives.
- DirectorChad FreidrichsStarsSlyvester BrownIrvin DagenElmer Fiedler2011 "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" explores the rise & fall of titular housing complex in St. Louis, examining racism & gov. Policies through interviews with former residents & historical footage. Ft racism, urban poverty & inequality in America.
- StarsKlaus LöwitschBarbara ValentinMascha RabbenSomewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His successor Dr. Fred Stiller experiences odd phenomena. A good friend, Guenther Lause, disappears in the middle of a conversation and a week later nobody has ever heard of him. And those fits of dizzyness - Stiller cannot believe himself to be fool. There has to be an explanation for all this. Could Simulacron have something to do with it?
- DirectorThomas JenningsStarsShaquan YoungThousands of New Yorkers with severe mental illnesses won the chance to live independently in supported housing, following a 2014 federal court order. FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate what's happened to people moved from adult homes into apartments and find more than two dozen cases in which the system failed, sometimes with deadly consequences.
- Photographs taken by Kentucky schoolchildren in the 1970's, their lives since then, and the linkage of personal memory to the passage of time.
- "My Brooklyn" follows director Kelly Anderson's journey, as a Brooklyn gentrifier, to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood. The film documents the redevelopment of Fulton Mall, a bustling African-American and Caribbean commercial district that - despite its status as the third most profitable shopping area in New York City - is maligned for its inability to appeal to the affluent residents who have come to live around it. As a hundred small businesses are replaced by high rise luxury housing and chain retail, Anderson uncovers the web of global corporations, politicians and secretive public-private partnerships that drive seemingly natural neighborhood change. The film's ultimate question is increasingly relevant on a global scale: who has a right to live in cities and determine their future? "Fate of a Salesman" examines America's changing urban landscape through the lens of one store. In its 60th year of business, Men's Fashion Center in Washington, D.C. is at the brink of closure, up against a tough economy and rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. Salesman Willie Carswell, a Vietnam vet and recovering alcoholic, faces the fight of his life as he and his fellow salesmen struggle to keep the doors of Men's Fashion Center open. Just as the film's title borrows from Arthur Miller's play, "Death of a Salesman," so does the film's form. Shot much like a stage play, the drama unfolds within the same set. Amidst racks of pinstripe suits and feather adorned hats - the clothing of a bygone era - the characters struggle to come to terms with their vanishing way of life.
- DirectorLlewellyn M. SmithIn the midst of the economic meltdown, 'Gaining Ground' explores the innovative, grassroots organizing efforts of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) in Boston. Over the course of two years, we watch a new generation of leaders working to prevent foreclosures and bring jobs and opportunities for young people to one of the city's most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods. DSNI was created 25 years ago when the community had been devastated by bank redlining, arson-for-profit, and illegal dumping, and has become one of the preeminent models for community-based change.