The life and legacy of Matt Shepard (second from right) is celebrated by his friends and family in documentary
MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE (Michele Josue, 2014)
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Opens Friday, February 6
212-398-2597
www.mattshepardisafriendofmine.com
www.amctheatres.com
A ghost hangs over every shot of Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine, the spirit of a young man whose life was cut short in senseless, brutal violence. On October 6, 1998, twenty-one-year-old Matthew Wayne Shepard was mercilessly beaten by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson and died in the hospital less than a week later, a tragic victim of homophobia. Shepard’s beating and death became front-page news not just in his home state of Wyoming but around the world, ultimately leading to hate crimes legislation including, in 2009, the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The death of Matthew Wayne Shepard sharpened focus on homophobia and crimes of hate, but in 2010 a group of his friends, led by filmmaker Michele Josue and her husband, Liam McNiff, set out to tell the story of the person they knew simply as Matt. “I miss my friend, and I’m not ready to let him go,” Josue says at the beginning of her debut feature, Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine. Josue meets with Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis, who talk about what Matt was like as a child and how they learned about his sexual preference; such school friends as Zeina Barkawi, Nikki Pearson, Tim Galles, and Kate Chill, who discuss their close bonds with Matt at schools in Wyoming and Switzerland; his teacher Cynthia Whisenant and guidance counselor Walt Boulden, who shed more light on his character; and others who knew Matt more peripherally, including the undersheriff who handled the case as well as the bartender who was working the fateful night Matt met up with McKinney and Henderson. Josue also delves into a horrific event that happened to Matt in Morocco, something that changed him drastically. The sentimental film includes never-before-seen home movies, photographs, and diary entries that paint a fascinating portrait of a small, skinny kid whose life touched so many.
As expected, the award-winning film festival favorite is overly worshipful of Shepard, even as it does get into some of his demons, especially near the end. Although it doesn’t directly address any of the Matthew Shepard conspiracies out there — in particular, The Book of Matt, in which journalist Stephen Jimenez offers a different theory of why Shepard was beaten and killed — the film feels very much like a defense against those who question the story. Many scenes are also far too personal and intimate, with friends and family members sharing thoughts and worries that are best saved for therapy sessions as they process their grief and guilt on camera. Even so, Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine is a powerful, important document of the care and love that emanated from Matt Shepard, both in life and in death.
To many, the fall of Saigon immediately brings to mind images of men, women, and children climbing the gate at the U.S. embassy, desperately trying to board American helicopters and escape the country as the North Vietnamese army approached. Director and producer Rory Kennedy takes viewers behind the scenes of that madness in the harrowing and revealing documentary Last Days in Vietnam. Kennedy, the youngest daughter of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, and editor Don Kleszy have woven together remarkable footage from 1970s Vietnam as more than a dozen insiders share their compelling stories, which play out like a gripping thriller with a surprise, emotionally powerful ending. At the center of it all is the late U.S. ambassador Graham Martin, a stubborn patriot who continually refused to vacate the embassy until it was almost too late. U.S. Army captain Stuart Herrington gets personal as he talks about trying to help potential refugees. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and White House press secretary Ron Nessen discuss President Gerald Ford’s attempts to persuade Congress to fund a major evacuation. CIA analyst Frank Snepp and Special Forces advisor Richard Armitage delve into the military’s plans, while South Vietnamese Navy captain Kiem Do, South Vietnamese Army lieutenant Dam Pham, and Vietnamese student Binh Pho tell what it was like from their vantage points. USS Kirk chief engineer Hugh Doyle, USS Kirk captain Paul Jacobs, and Marine pilot Gerald Berry reveal stunning stories of bravery and daring during the evacuation on land and sea and in the air. If you think this is old news, you’re mistaken, as the film offers a whole new perspective on this seminal moment in the history of two nations — and it’s nearly impossible to watch it without thinking that something similar might occur in Iraq and Afghanistan soon. An American Experience production and nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Last Days in Vietnam is screening February 8 at 7:30 as part of the Maysles Documentary Center series “Oscar Buzz Presents” and will be followed by a Q&A with Kennedy (Ethel, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib); the series includes such other Oscar-nominated and shortlisted films as Laura Poitras’s Citizenfour, Sam Cullman, Mark Becker, and Jennifer Grausman’s Art and Craft, and Al Hicks’s Keep on Keepin’ On.
Thank goodness Lukas Moodysson changed his mind. After his 2009 film, Mammoth, and the death of his father, the Swedish director of such indie faves as Show Me Love, Together, and Lilya 4-ever was extremely depressed and considering quitting the movie business. But he was eventually inspired to make a happy film, and the result is the absolutely delightful We Are the Best! A liberal adaptation of his wife Coco’s semiautobiographical graphic novel Never Goodnight, the film, set in 1982 Sweden, follows the adventures of thirteen-year-old best friends Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin), a pair of outsiders who think they are rebellious punk rockers, making statements by running down the up escalator at the mall and writing an anti-sports song. Joined by fourteen-year-old Christian classical guitarist Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), they form a punk band to rival middle school heavy metalers Iron Fist. Determined to show that punk is not dead, they futz with their hair, attempt to bond with a teen-boy punk trio, and try their darnedest to gel as a band, even though drummer Bobo and bassist Klara don’t really know how to play their instruments. All the adults in the film, primarily Klara’s parents (Lena Carlsson and David Dencik), Bobo’s mother (Anna Rydgren) and her strange friends, and the two youth recreation leaders (Matte Wiberg and Johan Liljemark, real-life members of the band Sabotage), are pretty goofy themselves, not exactly your prototypical role models, so silliness pervades in wonderfully funny ways.
