by Stacey Osbeck

This is my final set of capsule writeups. The following feature documentaries offer a window into the human condition from unusual vantage points. They cover a wide spectrum of emotions from intensity (76 Days) to heartwarming (Through the Night) and even pure feel-good (Tiny Tim: King for a Day). All three are streaming as part of the 2020 DOC NYC festival running until November 19th. 

76 Days 

It’s a strange sensation watching the coronavirus at the start. Before Covid-19 became a pandemic, or even an epidemic, it was an unknown disease consuming Wuhan, China. 76 Days, a feature documentary directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous, starts off fast and the pace quickens from there. From inside hospitals, we follow medical teams at the virus epicenter during Wuhan’s 76 days of lockdown. 

One may consider passing over such a film after we’ve had such a hard spring and an even harder summer, but that would be a loss. What makes this documentary so engaging is not the healthcare, it’s the human care. Under unbelievable duress, these frontline workers bring forth the depths of their humanity. Doctors and nurses go to extraordinary lengths to make infected patients, who must stay separated, feel connected. They pass messages from family members, hold up phones for people under intubation so they can hear a familiar voice, stop by for friendly chats. 

Behind glasses and goggles layered under plastic visors, the staff truly become faceless heroes. Even requiring their names written big in marker on their hazmat suits to tell each other apart. Away from the patients one woman tells a coworker how her family thought she was crazy to show up at the hospital and help. She said she had a hero’s dream, which the other woman echoes. This dream helps them push past their fears to save lives in this desperate situation. If you’re looking to watch an incredible film with superheroes, this might just be the perfect one to come out of 2020. 

Through the Night 

Nunu stayed home with her own children when she was a young mother. But one day, a family friend called after surviving a terrible car crash. She asked, ‘please can you look after my child all day, overnight, until I’m out of the hospital?’ Nunu thought, ‘I can do this.’ That’s what started it. Now, 22 years later, she and her husband, Pop Pop, still run one of the few spots offering 24 hour child care out of their home in New Rochelle, New York. Director Loira Limbal’s feature Through the Night chronicles this facility, which today’s economy has made increasingly necessary. 

For many of these parents, the usual support systems have fallen through: a divorce, a death in the family, having to take on three part time jobs, working the night shift to make ends meet. In the film, it keeps being referred to as daycare because there isn’t really a term in our vocabulary that touches on night care for children. Our language hasn’t caught up to the need. 

Nunu’s place isn’t just a safe spot for kids to sleep, it has become a second home that offers stability and love. Before children get tucked in on their night mats, they’ve had help with their homework, made crafts, played games, had a movie night or dance party (disco lights included). But, with Nunu getting on in years and her health taking a toll, she questions how much longer she can do this and, when she stops, where will these kids go? 

Tiny Tim: King for a Day 

One day, Tiny Tim prayed to Jesus and then woke up with a high voice. Which makes complete sense. It had to be divine intervention. How else could anyone explain such a strange character, singing with a ukulele about tiptoeing through the tulips, becoming America’s biggest star? Johan von Sydow’s Tiny Tim: King for a Day explores this gentle soul’s uniquely American catapult to fame. 

“Weird Al” Yankovic narrates Tiny’s personal diaries for the film. Such perfect casting appears emblematic of how this trailblazer opened doors for others who were, well, weird. In 1968 Tiny landed a guest appearance on Laugh-In and from there his career exploded. George Schlatter, who welcomed him to appear on that episode, admitted it’s strange to say but Tiny Tim arrived at a time when the country needed Tiny Tim. 

With his falsetto voice and stringed sidekick he covered The Doors and Sonny & Cher. He signed his first record deal with Frank Sinatra’s label. Diane Arbus photographed him and Andy Warhol filmed him. He famously married a fan on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. 40 million people tuned in to the wedding. Only one other event had more views and that was the first man walking on the moon. 

This film is great fun from beginning to end and will make anyone a believer in following their dreams. 

These flicks are available to watch from November 11 until November 19 at DOC NYC, click here for info.