The Outsider

Twenty-four-year-old NYU film-school graduate Nicholas Jarecki followed in the footsteps of older brothers Andrew and Eugene by making his feature debut with a documentary on a controversial topic. But while Andrew examined child-abuse hysteria and domestic dysfunction in CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (2003) and Eugene tackled the root causes of American intervention in Iraq in WHY WE FIGHT (2006), Nicholas opted for a brown-nosing portrait of professional provocateur James Toback, who's spent the better part of three decades making movies about feverish gambling, sex addiction and the allure of thug life. Jarecki, who met Toback while interviewing filmmakers for his book ...