pfrank-4

VR cinema is still in its infancy, dominated by game programmers and music videos. This is a rare and interesting exception, by a Panamanian-American woman of color. You literally go on a drive with some people in a black neighborhood of LA in the back seat of their convertible, meet friends, stop and chat with them etc. The plot overall is not 100% peaceful and it confronts a difficult reality. Technically there are a few glitches in the form of visible seams and a few unresolved focal points. But generally this is very much a worthwhile product and I hope to see more VR movies (or "experiences" as they call them) like this in the future. VR really puts you into the action and that can be an excellent tool for this type of storytelling.

I have to say that I did not learn very much from this movie. Oh, it's beautifully shot all right. And you do get to see grape vines, barrels, wineries, fermentation, bottling, pruning, planting, swirling, sniffing, sampling, and much else. But it's all done in a very atmospheric rather than informative way. "Pesticides are used less and less," it says (or something like that) without going into how much and why. We see a vine being planted, but no mention of root grafting. No discussion of clones. We learn that every wine tasted different, but in what ways? If you want to learn more of the truth about wine making, get Mondovino. If you want a nice pleasant and well-scented bath in a romantic region, get this movie.

This film does exactly what a documentary should do: Get you close to the subject. In this case, it's the Tropicalia movement of the late 60s in Brazilian music, which is (I think) one of the more important manifestations of popular culture in the world. The film primarily focuses, year by year, on the two main players: Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. It traces the background of the movement and how it rebelled against both leftist political song and mindless pop to create a new Brazilian type of popular music. It moves quickly, with lots of intercutting. You need to read the subtitles carefully if you don't know Portuguese. You also need to something about who the major people are, in advance, because the director seems to expect a certain level of prior knowledge about people such as Tom Ze, Gal Costa, Helio Oiticica, Rogerio Duarte, and a few others. The film sticks pretty closely to chronology, which helps. There is a also great deal of priceless footage of the musical acts and the controversy that they caused. After the two main players a forced into exile, the film slows down a lot, but by then you have already learned a tremendous amount. Overall excellent.