Chronicler of the making of her husband’s Apocalypse Now whose footage and recordings were the basis for a documentary and book In March 1976, Eleanor Coppola arrived in the Philippines, her three young children in tow, to film behind-the-scenes footage on the set of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s new movie Apocalypse Now, which transposed the plot of Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness to late-1960s Vietnam. No one could have known then that production on this war epic would stretch on for more than a year, delayed by catastrophic weather, medical emergencies, military conflict ..read more

Thomas Pickering blends approachable narration with well-presented information in a welcome reminder of the Michael Moore method Here is an ebullient, confident campaign documentary from Thomas Pickering, the kind of punchy and straightforward film-making that we used to see all the time in the 00s that was effectively made popular by Michael Moore. Clear ideas, sympathetic (if choir-preaching) interviews, approachable narration and presentation, strong graphics – and all of it leading to a website on the final credits where you can go to get involved and find out more. Pickering is a vegan wh ..read more

Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the film captures the recording sessions of the band’s final album After decades out of circulation, the Beatles’ 1970 documentary Let It Be has been restored by Peter Jackson’s production company. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Let It Be captures the recording sessions of the band’s final album of the same title. It was originally released mere weeks after the Beatles officially announced their split. None of the members of the band attended its premiere in 1970 ..read more

Two endurance sailors’ perilous voyage is supposed to lead them to empathy for refugees’ plight – but they sure take their time discovering that Here is a well-intentioned but brief, unsatisfying and oddly structured documentary, supposedly about refugees and boat people … although the refugees’ experiences are only discussed in the final 10 minutes or so. The film is actually about two Egyptians, Omar Nour and Omar Samra, energetic and prosperous young entrepreneurs who in 2017, in a spirit of adventure, took on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a well-established annual endurance event ..read more

From fake news in 1902 to livestreaming a man asleep – and everything in between, the big picture gets a bit lost Although being distributed in the UK with the title Fantastic Machine, this documentary about the camera through history originally had the much more prolix, pretentious and charming moniker And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine. The line is a quote attributed to Edward VII who is said to have reacted with awe when he saw a film of his own coronation – although the footage in question was not of his actual coronation but filmed by French director Georges Méliès with French ac ..read more

Academics, artists and curators delve into the background behind Sargent’s glossy society portraits in this polished documentary With impeccable timing, as the show it explores is still running at London’s Tate Britain, here is an appreciation/profile of the American painter most famous for his brilliantly rendered portraits of the late Victorian and Edwardian upper crust and nouveau riche. The art world being what it is, the film takes its cue as much from the similarly themed Sargent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (with whom the Tate has co-produced the show); an institution ..read more

Documentary reveals the cost to Nepalese villagers of harvesting a supposed aphrodisiac that sells for more than gold in China Every year, thousands of Nepalese villagers make their way to the Himalayan foothills in search of a fungus called yarsagumba. Known for its aphrodisiac properties, the elusive substance sells in China for a price higher than gold. Following Lalita, a young mother among the countless trekkers, this intimate documentary from Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis paints a stirring portrait of a community exploited by modern commerce. Living in the largely agrari ..read more

When Victoria Villegas learned how her cousin had fled the Dominican Republic, and was gay like her, she was moved to chart his life There have been experimental, freestyling essay films and memoiristic documentaries around for years, going back to Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil or Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I. But just lately it feels like the sprawling poetic-realist subgenre is flourishing, especially in the sunny uplands of film festivals. Like an extension of the creative-writing exhortation to “write about what you know” young documentary-makers are increasingly shooting movies about not ..read more

Tran Anh Hung’s simmering gastro-romance is the latest dish in a cinematic feast ranging from The Godfather to The Lunchbox The term “gastroporn” got thrown around a lot when The Taste of Things was in cinemas recently, but I’m not sure it’s quite right for Tran Anh Hung’s sumptuous culinary romance, seductive as all the cookery on display is. Though it has many a languid, exquisitely lit pan over the finished dishes created by Benoît Magimel’s 19th-century gourmet – including a giant, glistening vol-au-vent that I’ve been thinking about for months – it’s less about money shots than it is abou ..read more

Thrills abound in a smart, funny tale of mobile phone innovation, while Zack Snyder’s space opera returns for an epic battle ..read more