Sebastião Salgado follows same trajectory as Leni Riefenstahl

Wim Wender's hauntingly beautiful documentary traces Sebastião Salgado's evolution from social photographer, a witness of the human condition, to nature photographer.  This is a motion picture director making a film about a still photographer, such an interesting dynamic.

Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's photographer followed the same trajectory, disenchanted with propaganda films, she devoted her life to studying African native cultures and at age 71 was certified as a scuba diver in Malindi, Kenya just about when I was there snorkeling.  Her coral reef books capped her amazing career.

Salgado loses his faith in mankind, as extraordinary witness, yet his wife acts as a silent partner offering a kind of in absentia companionship.  

Chloé Zhao Walks Thin Line Between Documentary and Drama in "Songs my Brother Taught Me"

The directorial debut of Chinese-American filmmaker Chloé Zhao, Songs my Brother Taught Me,  can easily be mistaken at first as a documentary of the Lakota Indians on Pine Ridge Reservation in the South Dakota Badlands. Until the first kiss.  This film is about isolation and the challenges of breaking away from home.

Nonprofessional actors mumble dialogue that sounds improvised.  First-time native kids populate this film, lending it an authenticity that would be missing in a tighter screen play.  You pick up information as the film proceeds, which can impede comprehension.

This style calls to mind the Taiwanese film The Assassin, Hou Hsiao-Hsien (2015), much more obscure yet filled with breathtaking panoramic cinematography like this film (Joshua James Richards).

horseback riders dwarfed by landscape in The Assassin

horseback riders dwarfed by landscape in Zhao film