Kicking off TIFF’s documentary slate is Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi’s The Rescue, a deeper look at the daring mission to save 12 children and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. A film naturally picking up the mantle of the filmmakers’ Oscar-winning Free Solo, it’s a rousing tale of humanity that crescendoes into an unbelievable climax of selfless individuals coming together.

My coverage of SXSW continues. Ambitious, exhaustive, and utterly entrancing, Kier-La Janisse’s three-hour-plus treatise on folk horror is an education in a bottle. A deep, dark rabbit hole that examines the power of storytelling and tales inherited, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is more than a mere documentary, it’s an essential text.

Our Sundance coverage continues with a review for Rodney Ascher’s documentary on simulation theory. A film that amplifies all of Ascher’s most grating tendencies as a documentarian, A Glitch in the Matrix takes the tedious navel-gazing of Room 237 - Ascher’s cult account on hidden meanings within Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining - and cranks it up to eleven. Largely ignoring a storied bibliography of research, philosophy, and the logical complexities on the subject of simulation theory, A Glitch in the Matrix instead finds satisfaction in a glib slinging of memes and crackpot theories. Minor spoilers ahead…

One of a handful of documentary features in this year’s Fantasia Festival lineup, Feels Good Man chronicles the evolution (or devolution) of an innocuous cartoon character into an uncontrollable symbol of racism, misogyny, and the alt-right. As told by documentarian Arthur Jones, the film paints a tragic portrait of meme culture and of artist Matt Furie as he grapples with his corrupted creation. Despite some odd pacing and a tonally inconsistent focus on Furie himself, Feels Good Man is a timely and gripping examination of the dark side of the web. Minor spoilers ahead…

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s new documentary Free Solo is a thrilling look at the most dangerous form of climbing through the eyes of Alex Honnold, one of the most accomplished free climbers of all time. The film follows Honnold as he attempts to scale the daunting El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park without the use of ropes or protective gear. Glib psychoanalysis periodically threatens to sap the film’s energy, but every second focused on Honnold’s daredevil ascent is breathtaking and gut-wrenching, transforming it into one of the best documentaries of the year. Minor spoilers ahead…