Gabi Swank shares her sad story in THE GREATER GOOD, which looks at the growing controversy over childhood vaccination
THE GREATER GOOD (Kendall Nelson & Chris Pilaro, 2011)
Saturday, November 5, NYU Kimmel Center, Eisner Auditorium, 60 Washington Sq. South at La Guardia Pl., $16, 6:45
Monday, November 7, IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St., $16, 1:30
www.docnyc.net
www.greatergoodmovie.org
In a Republican debate in September, presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann called Gardasil, Merck’s HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, “dangerous,” setting off a firestorm across the country and in the scientific community over the safety of childhood vaccinations in general, with groups taking to the streets and the airwaves fighting against government-mandated vaccines. Thus, Kendall Nelson and Chris Pilaro’s The Greater Good comes along at just the right time. In the ninety-minute documentary, the directors speak with individuals on all sides of the now controversial issue. They speak with the Swank, King, and Christner families, who claim that vaccinations specifically led to their children either becoming autistic, suffering strokes, or, dying. While Dr. Paul Offit declares vaccinations safe and bemoans so many people deciding not to have their children vaccinated against anything, which led to a recent outbreak of measles at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Drs. John Green and Lawrence B. Palevsky come out strongly against vaccinations. And experts such as Robert W. “Dr. Bob” Sears, author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, and Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, are firmly in the middle, demanding that more testing be done on vaccines before they hit the market and that parents should have the choice of what vaccinations their children receive. Nelson and Pilaro supplement the film with a not-overwhelming amount of relevant data and some playful yet serious animation as they examine corporate influence on public health, the science behind the controversy, government regulation, the growing anti-vaccination movement, and the sad stories of three families dealing with harrowing personal circumstances. The Greater Good is screening November 5 at 6:45 at NYU’s Kimmel Center and November 7 at 1:30 at the IFC Center as part of the “Viewfinders” section of the Doc NYC festival, which continues through November 10, with the codirectors expected to be in attendance to discuss the film.
Get ready to smell the glove, and beware the patron saint of quality footwear. BAMcinématek is celebrating November 11, 2011 — 11/11/11 — with a special 11:11 pm screening of the greatest mockumentaries of them all, the towering classic This Is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner’s triumphant tale follows the intimate lives of three heavy metal heads — Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) — and a series of highly flammable drummers as the band attempts a comeback. The hysterical film, which does indeed go all the way up to eleven, includes cameos by Bruno Kirby, Ed Begley Jr., Dana Carvey, Fran Drescher, Billy Crystal, Howard Hesseman, Paul Benedict, Paul Shaffer, Anjelica Huston, Fred Willard, and, yes, the one and only Patrick MacNee, as well as such unforgettable hits as “Hell Hole,” “Big Bottom,” “Sex Farm,” “Lick My Love Pump,” and, of course, “Stonehenge.” The screening will be followed by a Skype Q&A with Guest and Shearer in character; here’s hoping there are no electronic screw-ups like when Smalls gets stuck in a pod during one of the film’s funniest moments.
A surprisingly exciting race against time, Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis’s Pianomania offers an inside look at a fascinating aspect of the world of classical keyboardists. The award-winning documentary follows the triumphs and travails of Stefan Knüpfer, the chief technician for Steinway & Sons in Vienna whose primary responsibility is to make sure that the company’s grand pianos are in pristine condition for the great pianists who come to play at the Vienna Concert House. Early in the film, he is running around the dark underbelly of the venue, searching for just the right bench for Lang Lang, displaying his passion and his demand for perfection. The narrative focuses on Knüpfer’s desperate attempts to ensure that piano number 109 (and then 245) is exactly how Pierre-Laurent Aimard wants it as the piano master prepares for a series of Bach recordings. “The tone isn’t breathing,” explains Aimard, who continues to point out minute problems that only he and one of the technicians seem to be able to hear, but Knüpfer is determined to do everything in his power to satisfy Aimard, using whatever means necessary to get the job done. Knüpfer, who goes deep inside 245, the camera intricately following him as he examines nearly every one of the 88 hammers and 230 strings, rarely gets mad at the sometimes diva-like dictates of such pianists as Aimard, Alfred Brendel, and Rudolf Buchbinder, instead seeing each subtle nuance as a challenge, even if it means playfully chastising someone for removing a ball of dust from a piano, since every little detail influences the unique sound of the instrument. He does lighten up significantly when working with Igudesman and Joo, who use grand pianos (and not-so-grand violins) for their comedy act, including playing a very funny joke on them. Although Knüpfer says that he considers his clients “special” instead of “neurotic,” he does admit that he himself is neurotic as he lovingly explores the many secrets and hidden magic that exist within the distinct personalities of each piano he comes into contact with. You don’t have to love classical piano to love Pianomania. The film opens November 4 at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, with codirector Cibis on hand for a Q&A following the 7:15 screening. 