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SFFILM Festival

NUTS!

Directed by Penny Lane

USA | 79

29 Apr
Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 8:45 pm PT

Description

What starts as a simple story of a goat testicle-grafting cure for impotence blooms into a kaleidoscopic almanac of early 20th-century quackery—and a cracking courtroom thriller in Penny Lane’s mind-blowing new documentary NUTS!. Definitely bespectacled, probably taller-than-average, and dubiously claiming to be a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, JR Brinkley parlays his canniness as a country doctor into an empire, albeit that of a megalomaniacal, Nazi-sympathizing, border-hopping radio and direct-mail baron and private-hospital profiteer. The rise of Brinkley’s fortunes continues unchecked and seems unstoppable—until a zealous medical journal editor dares to question his claims. Lane’s prior film, the tour-de-force Our Nixon, established a style of rigorous research, due diligence and cockeyed archive pillaging. NUTS! takes that specific mix of ingredients and adds another layer with the addition of animated sequences by multiple artists. The documentary is an exuberant romp through an offbeat (and by now obscure) chapter of American history. If Brinkley were alive today, he might deem it the ultimate cure for lethargy, mental sluggishness and malaise. —Mike Keegan

Director Penny Lane

After making a number of documentary shorts, Penny Lane made her feature debut with archival-footage doc Our Nixon (2013), which won the Ken Burns Best of the Festival prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, among other honors. In 2012, Filmmaker Magazine named her as one of “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

Trailer

//player.vimeo.com/video/158394255?autoplay=1

Film Details

Language English

Year 2015

Runtime 79

Country USA

Director Penny Lane

Producer Penny Lane, Caitlin Mae Burke, James Belfer, Daniel Shepard

Writer Thom Stylinski

Editor Penny Lane, Thom Stylinski

Cinematographer Hallie Kohler, Penny Lane, Joseph Victorine, Angela Walley, Mark Walley

Music Brian McOmber