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New Post: ‘Flipside’ review: Judd Apatow, Starlee Kine, and David Milch talk art and failure - https://lnkd.in/gK6jCRBz - For film festival veterans, there are several red flags in the plot description for Flipside. First off, it's a documentary in which its director turns the camera on himself, a move that can lead to a rivetingly vulnerable exploration of self, but which more often results in ruthlessly self-indulgent navel-gazing. Second, documentarian Christopher Wilcha is looking back at his past from the precipice of a mid-life crisis, a starting point ripe for wallowing. Third, his pal and collaborator in this effort is Judd Apatow, a contemporary comedy titan who is also known for beleaguering runtimes and sentimental excesses. And yet, for all the potential pitfalls that could pitch this picture into an abyss of groaning solipsism, Flipside deftly leaps over each one, landing on something funny, thought-provoking, and sublime.   SEE ALSO: Summer Movie Preview: Every film you oughta know Remarkably, Wilcha begins with a tone that might set more jaded viewers on edge, a real risk considering his key demographic will likely be fellow angst-ridden Gen X-ers. But he thoughtfully broadens focus, connecting his story of artistic ambition, capitalist compromise, and fear of mortality to other artists and creatives — including an eccentric TV personality and the TV legend David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue). Together, they form a patchwork that invites the audience to reflect on their own lives, as well as the comfort that we're not alone.Watch out, though. If you're not second-guessing your choices already, you might be once Flipside is through with you. What's Flipside about?  A record store owner looks over his stock. Credit: Oscilloscope Laboratories Named for the New Jersey record store that Wilcha worked at as a teen, Flipside is several stories all at once. The first is about Wilcha, who was a filmmaker on the rise 20 years ago, thanks to his challenging documentary The Target Shoots First. There, he'd made a mockery of his survival job at Columbia House to criticize the stodgy capitalism of his parents' generation. This was a time when being a "sellout" was a cultural crime, though rent comes dues whatever your principles.Over the years, Wilcha made more documentaries, teaming with Ira Glass for This American Life's TV show (which won him a Primetime Emmy in 2008) and shooting a behind-the-scenes special for Apatow's flop Funny People. However, his side hustle began to pay off, pushing off his passion projects to be forgotten on a shelf of dust-covered hard drives. And before he knew it, he was no longer the "damn the man" documentarian, he was a commercial director who feared he'd become what he once most loathed — reality bites, indeed.Within Flipsi

‘Flipside’ review: Judd Apatow, Starlee Kine, and David Milch talk art and failure

‘Flipside’ review: Judd Apatow, Starlee Kine, and David Milch talk art and failure

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