Whirlybird
Matt Yoka's documentary snaps a picture of a city -- and a family -- in transition. (This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.) (Editor's note: as one of the film's major subjects, Zoey Tur, is a transgender woman whom we see both before and after her transition, we will defer to Zoey's stated preference in the film to refer to pre-transition Zoey as "Bob" (he/him).) The '80s and '90s were a tough time for LA -- Rodney King, the LA riots, wildfires, the OJ Simpson trial. Southern California seemed at once the beating cultural heart of the country and a walled-in prison slowly crumbling on itself. But of course, it was catnip for a news media that increasingly favored "if it bleeds, it leads" content and the increasingly blurred lines between journalism and paparazzo. LA was also the home of helicopter news dispatches; since the city was so spread out, reporters relied on choppers to get to a fire, shooting, or crash quickly and grab heart-stopping footage they could sell to outlets. Continue Reading →