Jesse Moss’ documentaries often take on heavy material, and his last film — 2014’s The Overnighters — was no exception. The experience of profiling pastor Jay Reinke — a North Dakota minister whose decision to open up his congregation to homeless laborers seeking oil field work placed him at odds with his flock — took a heavy toll on Moss. His new documentary The Bandit is a completely different kind of movie, an archival-based profile of Burt Reynolds and his good friend Hal Needham. Moss examines their complicated relationship through the making of 1977’s Needham-directed Smokey and the Bandit, a film still in regular circulation […]...
- 3/14/2016
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Overnighters, Jesse Moss's documentary feature, earned many comparisons to The Grapes Of Wrath upon release last year, and at first glance seems to merit them. Its portrait of impoverished Americans migrating to North Dakota in search of work recalls that novel and film's almost Biblical image of California as the land of milk and honey, and its central figure Jay Reinke seems cast in the part of its Christ figure Jim Casey. Reinke, however, is a far darker and more conflicted character than any of Steinbeck's migrants, and the sentences of his trials more ambiguous in their meaning.
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- 6/6/2015
- by Anders Nelson
- JustPressPlay.net
#20. The Skeleton Twins
#19. Obvious Child
#18. A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness
#17. Wild
#16. 112 Weddings
#15. The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga
#14. Tales of the Grim Sleep
#13. The Boxtrolls
#12. Enemy
#11. The Guest
#10. The Lego Movie
Despite my love of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, nothing could prepare me for the sheer joy projecting from every pixel, effortless kineticism that carries the raucous narrative, nor the surprising intellectualism that serve as the building blocks of the entire film. Writer/directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have performed a cinematic miracle in bringing a beloved inexpressive children’s toy to life with more vivacious wit than the vast majority of films release this year, animated or not.
#9. The Strange Little Cat
Ramon Zürcher’s student project turned festival darling debut is an odd, wholly original work that bears little resemblance to anything on this list. Essentially a non-narrative dinner party film about...
#19. Obvious Child
#18. A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness
#17. Wild
#16. 112 Weddings
#15. The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga
#14. Tales of the Grim Sleep
#13. The Boxtrolls
#12. Enemy
#11. The Guest
#10. The Lego Movie
Despite my love of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, nothing could prepare me for the sheer joy projecting from every pixel, effortless kineticism that carries the raucous narrative, nor the surprising intellectualism that serve as the building blocks of the entire film. Writer/directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have performed a cinematic miracle in bringing a beloved inexpressive children’s toy to life with more vivacious wit than the vast majority of films release this year, animated or not.
#9. The Strange Little Cat
Ramon Zürcher’s student project turned festival darling debut is an odd, wholly original work that bears little resemblance to anything on this list. Essentially a non-narrative dinner party film about...
- 1/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
As is usually the case, 2014 held a rich vein of great nonfiction cinema … that went mostly untapped by any wide audiences. But just because documentaries are perpetually under-served by popular (and even critical) attention doesn’t mean that we should neglect these films. This is a celebration of all the best docs to come out this year.
But first, for the sake of full disclosure, here are all the notable docs of 2014 that I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet:
1989, 20,000 Days on Earth, Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, Big Joy, Big Men, Code Black, Evolution of a Criminal, The Great Flood, The Great Invisible, The Kill Team, National Gallery, The Missing Picture, Maidentrip, Manakamana, The Naked Opera, Virunga, Watchers of the Sky, What Now? Remind Me, Whitey
Next,we have some honorable mentions — other docs of 2014 that are well worth seeking out:
A Will for the Woods, Art and Craft,...
But first, for the sake of full disclosure, here are all the notable docs of 2014 that I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet:
1989, 20,000 Days on Earth, Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, Big Joy, Big Men, Code Black, Evolution of a Criminal, The Great Flood, The Great Invisible, The Kill Team, National Gallery, The Missing Picture, Maidentrip, Manakamana, The Naked Opera, Virunga, Watchers of the Sky, What Now? Remind Me, Whitey
Next,we have some honorable mentions — other docs of 2014 that are well worth seeking out:
A Will for the Woods, Art and Craft,...
- 12/11/2014
- by Dan Schindel
- SoundOnSight
"The Overnighters" director Jesse Moss found a haunting metaphor for the American dream in a despairing North Dakota oil boom town. The result is an Oscar-contending documentary (now up for top Cinema Eye Honors) that provokes a spectrum of reactions. After a hometown screening in Williston, Drafthouse Films' Tim League hosted a Q&A with the former mayor and a local journalist who investigated Jay Reinke, the charismatic pastor with an open-door policy who scandalized the town. In this Toh! exclusive video, Williston folks speak up about how this potently disturbing documentary has touched their lives, in one way or another.
- 11/13/2014
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
There are few films that have made an impact on the docu landscape like Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters, which made its debut at Sundance earlier this year (it’s where I sat down with the director for a wonderful little interview) and yesterday evening received, a pair of nominations (including Outstanding Feature) from the 2015 Cinema Eye Honors. A remarkable film that sees a small town in North Dakota crumble under the weight of desperate men’s hopes as they flock to the modern oil boom town for work. In this exclusive clip, we see just a sampling of the work that the film’s subject, Pastor Jay Reinke, and his buckling congregation of church goers do to help these men get back on their feet when they’re at their lowest. As Reinke’s right hand man comfortingly emphasizes to these men, “Anytime you’re here, you’re safe.”
Via the Drafthouse Films folks,...
Via the Drafthouse Films folks,...
- 11/13/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
After picking up the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in January, the documentary "The Overnighters" has been on a helluva run, hitting festivals around the world, and picking up more hardware along the way. Now the film is rolling out to theaters, and today we have an exclusive clip which highlights the drama that has won over critics and audiences. Directed by Jesse Moss, "The Overnighters" chronicles the work of Pastor Jay Reinke of Williston, North Dakota who opens the doors of his church to the sea of workers coming to the state to try and grab a slice of the oil boom. But not everyone can live the American Dream, and those who can't make ends meet find refuge under Reinke's roof. Things get more difficult when the City Council tries to shut down the pastor's efforts. It's a movie we included among our Best of 2014 So Far, and...
- 11/3/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
★★★★★More American nightmare than American Dream, Jesse Moss' Sundance award-winning documentary The Overnighters (2013) looks at the crisis at the centre of the economic collapse within the post-Empire confines of contemporary America. Coming at this point through the prism of Lutheran Pastor Jay Reinke, Moss is free to portray many positives within a tirade of negatives. Williston, North Dakota is America's 21st century equivalent of gold rush-era San Francisco. The average rent in the town has spiralled to post-New York and Los Angeles levels, but work in the fracking industry is apparently easy to find and six-figure salaries are the norm amongst employees.
- 10/30/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Directed by Jesse Moss, new documentary The Overnighters , details the attempts of a Lutheran pastor named Jay Reinke to help the homeless migrants who flocked to the oil boom town of Williston, Nd, in search of work. "The lure of the boomtown and its powerful place in the American imagination resides in its seductive promise of redemption and fortune for the brave and the desperate," Moss says in his director's statement. "It is this theme—played out in stark, raw terms in North Dakota and viewed through the prism of Pastor Reinke’s Church—that drew me to this story.
- 10/23/2014
- by Clark Collis
- EW - Inside Movies
One of my favorite documentaries, in fact one of the very best documentaries this year, is one called The Overnighters from director Jesse Moss. The film follows a wild, almost unbelievable story set in North Dakota about a local Pastor named Jay Reinke who risks everything to help his new neighbors. It won over crowds at the Sundance Film Festival this year, picked up a Special Jury Prize, before going on to play at the Tribeca, Sheffield, Montclair, Sydney and New Zealand Film Festivals, winning awards at Full Frame, Miami and San Francisco, too. Drafthouse Films bravely picked up the doc and it's now playing in select theaters. I was lucky enough to meet up with Jesse Moss for an interview in New York last week and it was wonderful. We talked for nearly 30 minutes about everything from his own drive to make docs, to the openness of Jay Reinke,...
- 10/22/2014
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Jesse Moss' "The Overnighters" was one of the breakout documentary hits of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, taking home a Special Jury Prize. Set in Williston, North Dakota, "The Overnighters" depicts the problems in a small town when oil prospects bring in an avalanche of new jobs and an even larger onslaught of potential workers, many drawn by the opportunity to restart lives stalled by prolonged unemployment or murky pasts. Caught in the middle between a wary community and the invading horde aspiring to the American Dream is Pastor Jay Reinke, who opens the doors of the Concordia Lutheran Church to this influx of settlers. If you'll recall my review from Sundance, I had reservations about the last quarter of "The Overnighters," which seemed to overreach for conclusions based on narrative twist-of-sorts. However, for much of its running time, "Overnighters" is provocative in the most literal sense of the word.
- 10/22/2014
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
The oil boom of North Dakota has drawn thousands of migrant workers looking for work and homes. The Overnighters, a documentary by Jesse Moss, tells the story of pastor Jay Reinke, who let those who could not find work stay in his church. In this clip, Reinke tries to reclaim a motor-home left behind by one of the overnighters, only to meet resistance from a neighbour. The Overnighters is released in the UK on 31 October Continue reading...
- 10/16/2014
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Documentarian Jesse Moss likes to make his films on his own, armed with a camera and a lot of curiosity. His early efforts focused on fascinating characters and topics, from the virtual wars that American soldiers fought before heading to Iraq (Full Battle Rattle) to an up close and personal account of con artist James Arthur Hogue (Con Man).
For his latest film, The Overnighters, Moss spent 18 months in the boomtown of Williston, North Dakota, where he became a close friend of the town’s revered and controversial pastor, Jay Reinke. What began as a modest human-interest story turned into one of the most compelling looks at an American community to come onto the screens in years. The film was one of the hottest documentary titles at Sundance earlier this year, where it won the Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking. It is now playing in limited release across the United States,...
For his latest film, The Overnighters, Moss spent 18 months in the boomtown of Williston, North Dakota, where he became a close friend of the town’s revered and controversial pastor, Jay Reinke. What began as a modest human-interest story turned into one of the most compelling looks at an American community to come onto the screens in years. The film was one of the hottest documentary titles at Sundance earlier this year, where it won the Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking. It is now playing in limited release across the United States,...
- 10/16/2014
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
The searing documentary The Overnighters asks a lot of hard questions. The hardest may be, "What does community mean?"
Shot in Williston, North Dakota, filmmaker Jesse Moss's documentary -- which Drafthouse Films is releasing Friday in Austin -- captures the tiny town in the midst of the current North Dakota oil boom. The boom is a blessing and a curse: The townspeople welcome the unprecedented economic boost, but have mixed feelings about the influx of thousands of oil field workers.
The main problem is housing. Most new arrivals have nowhere to live, so many sleep in their cars, trucks and RVs, parked wherever they can. Another problem is less about logistics than human nature: The workers are roughnecks in every sense of the word -- desperately poor men, often with little education, all chasing quick money and some running from their pasts. To the good and decent citizens (in...
Shot in Williston, North Dakota, filmmaker Jesse Moss's documentary -- which Drafthouse Films is releasing Friday in Austin -- captures the tiny town in the midst of the current North Dakota oil boom. The boom is a blessing and a curse: The townspeople welcome the unprecedented economic boost, but have mixed feelings about the influx of thousands of oil field workers.
The main problem is housing. Most new arrivals have nowhere to live, so many sleep in their cars, trucks and RVs, parked wherever they can. Another problem is less about logistics than human nature: The workers are roughnecks in every sense of the word -- desperately poor men, often with little education, all chasing quick money and some running from their pasts. To the good and decent citizens (in...
- 10/15/2014
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
Early in 2014, many film columnists penned pieces about how, ten years after the box office behemoth of The Passion of the Christ, Hollywood studios were finally starting to embrace the dollars of Christian audiences through films that openly approached religious themes. Two films with sanctimonious declarative sentences in their titles – God’s Not Dead and Heaven is For Real – led this surge in faith-based titles. However, since those hits, audiences have abandoned films aimed at the devout, resulting in a stream of flops that included one-weekend wonders like Persecuted and The Identical.
The newest film with a religious angle is a documentary, The Overnighters. The title refers to a large group of stragglers from around the United States that found refuge on the floors and in the parking lot of a Lutheran church in the town of Williston, North Dakota. Many came to town with the promise of making a...
The newest film with a religious angle is a documentary, The Overnighters. The title refers to a large group of stragglers from around the United States that found refuge on the floors and in the parking lot of a Lutheran church in the town of Williston, North Dakota. Many came to town with the promise of making a...
- 10/15/2014
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
Intense music drama Whiplash, already a big winner at Sundance and the Deauville American Film Festival earlier this year, should drum up plenty of audience interest in its debut this weekend, even though it faces a crowded specialty market that also features several other notable newcomers, including the Bill Murray comedy St. Vincent, Hilary Swank‘s You’re Not You and Jeremy Renner‘s Kill the Messenger. All are what I’d call “big” specialty releases, with big names attached that should attract big attention.
The weekend also includes what I’d call some “small” releases, including documentaries The Overnighters (another Sundance winner) and I Am Ali, about the former heavyweight boxing champion, alongside the Mormon Church-backed Meet the Mormons. All will be clawing for attention in a market that’s seen more than 30 films debut in the past three weeks.
That said, Whiplash should be a real career turner...
The weekend also includes what I’d call some “small” releases, including documentaries The Overnighters (another Sundance winner) and I Am Ali, about the former heavyweight boxing champion, alongside the Mormon Church-backed Meet the Mormons. All will be clawing for attention in a market that’s seen more than 30 films debut in the past three weeks.
That said, Whiplash should be a real career turner...
- 10/10/2014
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline
Throughout the filming of his heart-wrenching new film, The Overnighters, director Jesse Moss acted as a sort of cinephilic one man band, shooting the story of Pastor Jay Reinke and the desperate men he’s been helping in the modern oil boom town of Williston, Nd all by his lonesome. Over the course of 18 months, off and on, Moss buckled down and lived amongst the weary men sleeping on the floors of Reinke’s church to observe what exactly was taking place in this over-saturated small town. Just after the film’s premiere, yet before it took home the Special Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival, I sat down (in Park City) with Jesse to discuss how he discovered the situation in Williston, if he felt if the rampant fear within the town was justifiable, what it was like shooting all alone in such a vulnerable situation and much more.
- 10/7/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Love Thy Neighbor: Moss Finds Faith In Oil Boomtown
In the small town of Williston, North Dakota, a modern day boomtown is growing exponentially as men down on their luck and desperately seeking work flock with hopes of being hired in the newly fracked oil fields that surround the town. This influx of migrant workers has brought an unforeseen strain on the community, as the large majority of them ride by bus or train into town with nothing more than a bag full of cloths and a heart full of hope, and hence, have no where to sleep. Those that do manage to drive themselves out in beat up minivans and lived in winnebagos have very few places to legally sleep in their vehicles. Enter Pastor Jay Reinke and his overnighters program that allows these world weary men to take refuge after dark in the Concordia Lutheran Church, much...
In the small town of Williston, North Dakota, a modern day boomtown is growing exponentially as men down on their luck and desperately seeking work flock with hopes of being hired in the newly fracked oil fields that surround the town. This influx of migrant workers has brought an unforeseen strain on the community, as the large majority of them ride by bus or train into town with nothing more than a bag full of cloths and a heart full of hope, and hence, have no where to sleep. Those that do manage to drive themselves out in beat up minivans and lived in winnebagos have very few places to legally sleep in their vehicles. Enter Pastor Jay Reinke and his overnighters program that allows these world weary men to take refuge after dark in the Concordia Lutheran Church, much...
- 10/7/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
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