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Just when the loony mother grabbed Emma’s hand, the first episode ended, leaving everyone wondering what happened next. Well, we see Emma panting and rushing her way to the car to see the red spots her mother caused on her flawless white skin. Patricia terrorized and traumatized her two little girls when she lost sleep all those years ago, and now she lies dead in a hospital bed, looking like somebody’s traumatized her instead. The second episode of Paramount Plus’ Insomnia is titled Bad Blood, and if you don’t immediately think about the Taylor Swift song, you are probably the right audience for this show.

Spoilers Ahead

What does Phoebe tell Robert and Emma?

Not being able to get a hold of Chloe, Robert calls Phoebe to babysit Will while he’s out. Phoebe notices Will being a little more off than usual, and Robert agrees, but...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

2nd Chance (Ramin Bahrani)

It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving device in the most visceral and operatic way possible. “A lot of people think I’m stupid for doing this,” he tells the camera before one of these high-wire demonstrations, and for just a moment, an air of unpredictability hangs over this bullet-proof vest magnate’s next move. – Jake K. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Devotion (J.D. Dillard)

Devotion adheres to...

The wild new documentary 2nd Chance explores the story of Richard Davis, the eccentric and reckless creator of the modern-day bulletproof vest

Wearing a green hat, spectacles and ear protectors, a man loads .44 Magnum bullets into the barrel of a gun. He hands his car keys to another man “just in case this doesn’t go right” and twirls the gun barrel while invoking Matt Dillon, the fictional marshal of Dodge City in Gunsmoke.

“A lot of people think I’m kind of stupid for doing this,” admits Richard Davis, rolling up his sleeves, adding that if it changes one person’s behaviour, it will be worth it. He proceeds to turn the gun on himself and, after a tense pause relieved only by birdsong, fires into his chest. “Easy as pie, guys!” he says cheerfully.

This review originally ran January 22, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

If, at the end of your days, you were shown a nifty graph determining the average of all the positive deeds and negative acts you inflicted on others during your life, would you be considered more of a hero or villain?

Pointing his camera along the narrow divide that sometimes exists between the two ends, Ramin Bahrani’s brilliantly inquisitive documentary “2nd Chance” explores the mythos of a self-made tycoon allergic to accountability, but whose proud creation has undeniably saved numerous lives.

This remarkably balanced non-fiction piece takes its multi-layered title from the name of the once prosperous company founded by Richard Davis, the infamous inventor of the modern bulletproof vest. Bahrani, whose narrative work centers individuals on the overlooked margins of society, finds in Davis a subject worthy of ambivalent scrutiny through...

A platoon of titles hits the specialty circuit this weekend, getting in ahead of steamroller Avatar: Way of Water and the year-end deadline for Oscar eligibility. This is a soul-searching, what-lies-ahead moment for a market still much too inconsistent for comfort, but that can be pondered later. At the moment, indie distributors are quite busy “with all these movies, and these plans to release theatrically. We are not going anywhere,” said one executive.

The Gotham Awards earlier this were were a shot of goodwill. Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski recalled “the mandate that all of us share in the specialty film business” at the ceremony in NYC, kicking off awards season.

“To all our friends at A24, at Neon, at Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics, IFC, Bleecker Street, FilmNation, Cinetic, Participant and so many other wonderful companies,” he said — accepting an industry tribute with vice chairman Jason Cassidy – “We are in there together,...

As we enter the final month of the year, much of our focus will be on wrapping up 2022 in cinema with a number of features. In terms of new releases, there are a number of notable offerings sneaking in at the end of the year and we’ve rounded up the essentials.

There are also a few caveats: we didn’t include a handful of stellar films that have qualifying runs and will be properly released in 2023—including One Fine Morning, Return to Seoul, and Saint Omer. And a number of Netflix titles will arrive on their platform this month, but received theatrical releases beginning last month, so they were featured on our November list.

Check out our December picks to see below.

12. The Whale (Darren Aronofsky; Dec. 9)

After wildly divisive reactions since its Venice premiere, A24’s tepid marketing for The Whale suggests they hope awards voters recognize Brendan Fraser...

Richard Davis achieved redneck nirvana. The crude and quotable subject of 2nd Chance, Davis transformed in the 1970s from bankrupt pizzeria owner to small-town kingpin after inventing the bulletproof vest. The phrase “redneck nirvana” had a particular meaning for him: It meant he could suddenly afford to buy anything at the local KMart. Success soon unleashed his inner manchild. Davis devoted his leisure time to blowing shit up, burning through wives and producing straight-to-vhs movies that valorized police violence. “Redneck Nirvana,” it turns out, could serve as an alternate title for a film about Davis, a larger-than-life figure whose story […]

The post “Copaganda,” Herzog and Punisher Comics: Ramin Bahrani on 2nd Chance first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Richard Davis achieved redneck nirvana. The crude and quotable subject of 2nd Chance, Davis transformed in the 1970s from bankrupt pizzeria owner to small-town kingpin after inventing the bulletproof vest. The phrase “redneck nirvana” had a particular meaning for him: It meant he could suddenly afford to buy anything at the local KMart. Success soon unleashed his inner manchild. Davis devoted his leisure time to blowing shit up, burning through wives and producing straight-to-vhs movies that valorized police violence. “Redneck Nirvana,” it turns out, could serve as an alternate title for a film about Davis, a larger-than-life figure whose story […]

The post “Copaganda,” Herzog and Punisher Comics: Ramin Bahrani on 2nd Chance first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Sadly, I can’t say Hollywood finished the year off strong when it comes to posters. Whereas some months have me trying to figure out ways to get more titles included in this column, December saw me racking my brain on which from the discard pile I could cobble together into a trio.

As such, I did still leave a couple good ones out. Not because of an embarrassment of riches, but because there were others that better fit into the arbitrary boxes of subheads I ultimately was able to create. Sorry, No Bears and Saint Omer.

That’s not to say some of the ones below are bad. They just might be a bit uninspiring. Sometimes studios pick “serviceable” over “exciting.” It’s their prerogative.

Superimposition

There’s something inherently fake about Empire Design’s poster for Pale Blue Dot and I think it has everything to do with the typography.

One of the chapter headings within Ramin Bahrani’s documentary “2nd Chance,” which profiles the eccentric and controversial inventor of the bulletproof vest Richard Davis, is “Print the Legend,” a line drawn from John Ford’s American classic “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” Time and again in the film, Bahrani probes Davis for the truth, to own up to misgivings or inflated stories in his life, only to find him unwilling — or incapable — of admitting otherwise.

But rather than view Davis’ frequent stonewalling as a roadblock, Bahrani, who made his feature documentary debut with “2nd Chance,” saw it as an opportunity to embrace the myth of Richard Davis and unpack the contradictions of the man and the America he influenced with his invention.

“There seemed to be the possibilities of dealing with someone stuck with a real cognitive dissonance about who he is, what he’s done and the...

Richard Davis is a complicated figure. As an out-of-work pizzeria owner who then invented the modern-day bulletproof vest, his larger-than-life personality led to marketing campaigns where he’d shoot himself (192 times!) in the chest to prove the quality of his product. His life and career then takes a turn of contradictions and falsities and, in his first documentary feature, Ramin Bahrani speaks to the man and those closest to him to try finding some truth.

Ahead of the theatrical release of 2nd Chance this Friday, December 2 from Bleecker Street and Showtime, I had the opportunity to speak with Bahrani about his uniquely American tale of mythmaking, diving into his first feature-length documentary, unreliable narrators, and the documentarians he looks up to and collaborates with.

The Film Stage: How did you come across the story of Richard Davis, and what was the process knowing this would be your first feature-length documentary?...

How far would you go for the American dream? Richard Davis was one man intent on having his own American dream at any cost; Davis’ story is told in the new documentary “2nd Chance.” He would become famous for his contribution to the bulletproof vest and a dramatic demonstration of its reliability — shooting himself 192 times. What followed was far from what the inventor thought would happen and ultimately saw a downfall of epic proportions.

Continue reading ‘2nd Chance’ Trailer: Ramin Bahrani’s First Documentary Centers On A Man Chasing The American Dream at The Playlist.

The true American dream? A former Marine turned bankrupt pizzeria owner invents the modern-day bulletproof vest, and to prove its functionality, he shoots himself almost 200 times.

Sundance documentary “2nd Chance” is directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ramin Bahrani and charts the rise and fall of Richard Davis, the creator of the bulletproof vest. A hero to police and the military until tragedy brought him down, Davis offers an American story of guns, violence, lies and self-deception, the official synopsis reads. Starting back in the 1970s, Davis was viewed as an eccentric revolutionary whose decades-spanning career in weaponry culminated in self-taped videos (“Second Chance vs. Magnum Force” was already featured on RedLetterMedia’s “Best of the Worst”) and the pursuit of larger-than-life celebrity, especially among police.

“Initially when I had heard about it, I thought it was going to be a typical rise and fall story that had a moral,” writer-director Bahrani told IndieWire earlier this year.

"Hits the jackpot." This doc is crazy!! Bleecker Street + Showtime have revealed the trailer for 2nd Chance, the first documentary made by acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker Ramin Bahrani. This first premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it also stopped by the SXSW, Miami, and Chicago Critics Film Festivals. I raved about this doc in my Sundance coverage, one of the best films of this year's festivals. 2nd Chance is a documentary chronicling the life of Richard Davis, the (vile) man who invented the modern concealable bulletproof vest / body armor – shooting himself 196 times in the course of his career to prove the effectiveness of his vests. But that's not actually what this film is really about, it's about his obsession with cops shooting robbers, and how he permeated & encouraged a culture of violence. I wrote about it in my Sundance review: "A reminder there are people who will...

While there is a documentary-like authenticity to much of his work, particularly his early films, director Ramin Bahrani hasn’t directed his first feature-length non-fiction film until this year with 2nd Chance. Profiling the rise and fall of Richard Davis, the Sundance hit captures the life of the bulletproof vest magnate who shot himself 192 times as part of marketing ploys for his product. His story takes much more peculiar turns from there and ahead of a December 2 release, the first trailer has arrived from Bleecker Street and Showtime.

Jake Kring-Schreifels said in his review, “It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving...

Showtime Documentary Films and Bleecker Street will release “2nd Chance,” an upcoming documentary from director Ramin Bahrani, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 2. The film will expand to additional cities on Dec. 9. Showtime will offer the doc on air, on streaming and on demand for its subscribers in spring 2023.

Bahrani’s feature-length documentary debut explores the life and legacy of Richard Davis, the charming and brash inventor of the modern-day, kevlar bulletproof vest, who shot himself 192 times to prove his product worked. Davis, who parlayed his self-tested invention into the launch of Second Chance — which became one of the largest body armor companies in the world — offers an American story of guns, violence, lies and self-deception. The death of a police officer wearing a Second Chance vest spearheaded Davis’ fall.

“I’m very happy to work with Showtime and Bleeker Street for the release,” said Bahrani.

Showtime Documentary Films is partnering with Bleecker Street to give Ramin Bahrani’s Sundance darling “2nd Chance” a theatrical release later this year ahead of its debut on Showtime next spring.

“2nd Chance” is “The White Tiger” and “Chop Shop” filmmaker’s feature-length documentary debut and tells the story of Richard Davis, the man who invented the modern-day bulletproof vest and shot himself 192 times in order to prove to law enforcement and the military that his creation actually worked.

Bleecker will release the film in New York and Los Angeles beginning Friday, December 2; it will then expand to additional cities on Dec. 9, potentially thrusting it into the Oscar race. We do not yet have a Spring 2023 debut date from Showtime.

Bahrani in “2nd Chance” demonstrates that though Davis was a hero to police and the military, tragedy ultimately brought down his business empire following the death of a police officer...

Ramin Barhani’s 2nd Chance, the feature-length documentary that Showtime Documentary Films landed after its Sundance Film Festival premiere earlier this year, is now headed for theaters ahead of its TV debut next spring.

Showtime is teaming with Bleecker Street for the latter to release the pic beginning December 2 in New York and Los Angeles, before expanding it the following frame.

Related Story Showtime Takes Ramin Bahrani's Documentary '2nd Chance' – Sundance Related Story Bleecker Street Strikes Canadian Distribution Deal With LevelFILM As Toronto Gathers Steam Related Story Film Review: Regency-Era Rom-Com 'Mr. Malcolm's List'

The two companies already are in business together via a three-year output deal that began this year which gives Showtime access to Bleecker movies for on-air, on-demand and streaming premium services.

2nd Chance tells the story of Richard Davis, the charming yet brash inventor of the modern-day bulletproof vest who shot himself...

Two MTV Documentary films vying for Academy Awards attention — Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” and Tanaz Eshaghian’s short “As Far as They Can Run” — garnered the top nonfiction honors at the 23rd annual Woodstock Film Festival.

“Last Flight Home,” about Timoner and her family’s last days with her father, won the best documentary prize, while “As Far as They Can Run,” about disabled children in rural Pakistan who have been deemed “useless” by their communities, took home the fest’s best short documentary award.

“Last Flight Home” premiered at Sundance earlier this year before opening the Telluride Film Festival in September. This year marked Timoner’s first time at the Woodstock fest.

“The greatest joy I have is sharing my work in person,” Timoner told Variety. “The reason I make films is to impact people and this film is doing that more than any other film I’ve made.

Kicking off this Thursday is one of the finest annual showcases in indie filmmaking, BAMcinemaFest, taking place at Bam Rose Cinemas. Among both well-curated highlights from recent festivals and world premieres, we’ve rounded up six essential features not to miss.

The festival also includes a number of notable new shorts, including Lynne Sachs’ Swerve (see our trailer premiere), Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck’s The Last Days of August, Rodney Evans’ Portal, and more. Check out our feature picks below and learn more here.

2nd Chance (Ramin Bahrani)

It’s an eerie image. Richard Davis stands out in a field, wearing a kevlar vest, and points a pistol into his belly. Then he pulls the trigger, skips back a bit, and checks his red-burned skin. Over the course of his life, he would do this—shoot himself—192 times, proving the efficacy of his life-saving device in the most visceral and operatic way possible.

Holiday camps – don't knock 'em. In this so-called 'austere' day and age, it's possible to get your very own package deal holiday by scuttling down to your local holiday camp or caravan park. There's the usual quota of kids' clubs, cheesy entertainment and some poor rascal who's being paid jack squat to stomp around in a boiling hot mascot suit on a very hot summer's day. So what with pompous arse George Osborne wielding the axe again, a holiday camp in good old Blighty is less of a financial risk than jetting off abroad.

They've always been popular though – they were hot property in the 1980s, when wonky sitcom Hi-De-Hi was on the telly – another example of a sitcom in which you could play 'Spot The Doctor Who Guest Star'. So where else could you find the one-time wife of Mehendri Solon, Vorg from Carnival Of Monsters and “Jolly What...