9 posts tagged “documentary”

I’m not very good with “Best of” lists.
I think that they’re kind of boring. So why not let someone else do the hard work. Here’s a list that I disagree with in some choices but support in concept and dedication.  I’ve seen about ninety of the movies here. And the only places where I disagree is that certain “grittier” and “uglier” documentaries didn’t make it.

But I guess that’s just the way it goes.

Anyway, check out the list and download the free PDF e-book, discover, ignore, discuss, complain. It’s all in the love of good filmmaking.

Thanks to Kevin Kelly for creating the list, it looks like it took a real bit of hard work.

from netflix 

This documentary, first broadcast on PBS in 1983, opened the world's eyes to the phenomenon taking over New York City. The urban landscape -- in particular, the ramshackle subway system -- had been transformed by graffiti artists who invented a new visual language to express themselves. Adding to the phenomenon, MCs, DJs and B-boys rocked the city with new sounds and moves, as street-corner break-dance battles turned into performance art.

For my money Style Wars is one of the best documentaries on youth culture out there. Sure, it's about Graffiti, an New York City subway trains - But it's also about self expression and growing up in an environment where you have to struggle to be heard.

I always think of this film as a perfect companion to Dogtown and Z-boys. Although this was made during the heyday of Graffiti culture and Z-boys came around as reminder to all of the glory days. They both have an energy to them that says a lot about the people involved.

It's great to watch Style Wars and think that these kids influenced people all over the world to express themselves through street art. What's also amazing is how unique and individualistic each Graffiti Writer is, they all have their own philosophies about what they do. And they are brought together by their love of their chosen medium.

Whenever I watch them meet up at the writers bench I think about the Surrealists all hanging out in Paris struggling to figure out a way to prove their art form to the world. Maybe it's just me but I feel that the work of these kids is every bit as valid if not more so. But, I'm no art critic.

What i do know is that this movie stands out as a shining example of curious filmmakers (on assignment from PBS) who without prejudice discover a "subculture" and respectfully portray them in away that would make the subjects proud.

From imdb

In December of 1969, four months after Woodstock, the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane gave a free concert in Northern California, east of Oakland at Altamont Speedway. About 300,000 people came, and the organizers put Hell's Angels in charge of security around the stage. Armed with pool cues and knifes, Angels spent the concert beating up spectators, killing at least one. The film intercuts performances, violence, Grace Slick and Mick Jagger's attempts to cool things down, close-ups of young listeners (dancing, drugged, or suffering Angel shock), and a look at the Stones later as they watch concert footage and reflect on what happened.

There's a few Documentaries that amaze to no end, Gimme Shelter is one of them. Sure it's about the Rolling Stones and how great it to be in a Rock band (not to mention "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World" as the Stones themselves proclaimed themselves) but it's also about america and it's also about the arrogance of youth the end of the peace and love era that was the sixties and into a scarier more violent 70's.

I used to sit and watch Gimme Shelter just for the amazing camera work. The sheer audacity of it, the fearlessness is inspiring. The scene in the recording studio where the band is playing back an early recording of Wild Horses always stands out to me as one of the greatest moments in Documentary film (bold statement, I know). In the scene Albert Maysles is zooming into the faces of the members of the band and stops on the face of Drummer Bill Wyman. Wyman stares into the camera coldly, a look that very clearly states "You do not belong here" and what does the Maysles do? He zooms in. He doesn't pan away he moves closer. It's a confrontation through cinema, it's the filmmakers stating "I belong here because I have this camera" It's fearless. I think that that scene confronts a lot the inherent problems in Docs. Does the subject behave differently around the camera? What does the presence of the camera do to the subjects? and What is ethical to record?

Gimme Shelter does something that I don't remember ever seeing before or since. A rough cut of the film is shown to the band and their reaction is filmed.Mick Jagger is questioned about what he meant at certain times. When something is confusing the film literally backs up and clarifies itself. It's a spectacular to watch

 it's perfect in every way, It's lyrical, and gorgeously photographed. Shot on film, the movie has a soft depth of field that docs rarely have anymore.

Gimme Shelter is truly a masterpiece of Documentary film making and a perfect concert film.

If you have seen this film or plan on seeing it, please let me know.

Wanna know what I"m watching? Add me to your Netflix Friends or just take a glance at my queue!

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There seem to be more and more of these lately, I feel I can almost do a Google Movie of the Day, but I don't know how effective that would be seeing is how they get pulled so fast....

Anyway,

I found a GREAT BBC Documentary (man, the BBC sure does know how to make a solid Doc) on Iran from the inside, not quite as impartial as the recent State of Mind (a film about another country in the "axis of evil". But it's still good nevertheless.

If you get a chance you should check it out.

Enjoy!

Click here to watch Rageh Inside Iran

If you don't mind watching a feature length movie on your computer, you may want to watch the currently Academy Award nominated Jesus Camp over on Google Video.

From imdb

A documentary about the rise and fall of filmmaker Troy Duffy. An aspiring writer-director who got the dream of a lifetime when he sold a script to Miramax as his first feature to direct. But beneath the seemingly happy deal that made Duffy the man of the hour, was an arrogant egomaniac whose ambitions alienated friends, and burned bridges in the film industry. Overnight is a movie about how one director ultimately ruins a promising career that could have been from an overnight success.

Troy Duffy has been called the biggest asshole ever, but to be honest I kind feel bad for him. Truth be told he has the right attitude to make it in Hollywood. He was strong minded, determined, and would not take now for an answer. But he just didn't know when to stop being that and realize that not everyone is trying to fuck you over.

Sure to make you cringe with Duffy's go-for-the-jugular personality. It's an amazing thing to watch a man lose his head up his own ass.

If you have seen this film or are going to see it please let me know.

Watch the Trailer

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Boy Overnight
Overnight on imdb
Overnight on RottenTomatoes

From the Site:

Award-winning director Steve James' (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) Reel Paradise tells the extraordinary story of one American family's unique adventure running a cinema in one of the most isolated villages on the planet. John Pierson, noted indie film maven and author of Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes uprooted his family for a year and moved to Taveuni, a remote island in Fiji. John's passion is the 180 Meridian Cinema, which becomes the island's focal point of entertainment after he makes admission free and starts showing the most current popular worldwide releases - everything from Bend it Like Beckham to Jackass. In the meantime, his wife, Janet and their two kids, Wyatt (13) and Georgia (16), immerse themselves in Fijian culture, discovering in very personal ways what it is like to be the outsider.

Documentarian Steve James' choices have always struck me as interesting.  He seem to be cut from the the same cinematic cloth as the Maysles'. He has a love for the unexpected,  a desire to capture moments that go beyond words.  Even when the project is commissioned, (making it an instant candidate for the propaganda label) he manages to find something poignant.

James' has found a story that goes beyond just showing movies to the hard-working, under privileged  people of Fiji. Young love, the relationship between parents and their children as they step into adulthood, economic diversity, race, friendship. All topics that don't require a trip to Fiji to be able to relate to them.

But my particular favorite theme of the film is the one of communication. Whether it's how John Pierson deals with the people of Fiji or how he deals with his family. You get the feeling that for all his ability to talk/yell his way into and out of problems, he would rather you just shut up and watch a movie with him.

As Pierson says in the film "...life goes on, movies go on..."

If you have seen this film or want to see this film please let me know.

Watch the Trailer

Add "Reel Paradise" to your Netflix queue
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"Reel Paradise" on imdb
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You know,  I've been wanting to do a "Movie of Day" for awhile now. But, rather than bore you with the excuses as to why I never did. Movie of the Day will be updated (gasp!) EVERYDAY! So without further ado. Here we go.

This weeks MOD is Thin,  the first film by reknowned VII photographer Lauren Greenfield.

From the site:

The HBO documentary film focuses on four young women struggling with anorexia: Brittany, a 15 year-old who strives to be thin to gain acceptance among her peers, and whose mother has also suffered with the disease; Shelly, 25, who has been battling anorexia for six years, and who enters Renfrew with a feeding tube surgically implanted in her stomach; Alisa, 30, a divorced mother of two who struggled for decades with a relentless compulsion to purge; and Polly, 29, who has spent years in and out of treatment and often challenges the Center's policies and procedures. The camera follows these women to places most have never ventured: one-on-one and group therapy sessions, emotionally wrought mealtimes, early morning weigh-ins, heated arguments with staff, and tense encounters with family members. In following their stories, we come to learn that each woman's fight for recovery is unique. Some will sabotage their own treatment; others will make significant strides; and still others will make progress only to discover that their insurance will not cover the long-term care they need to truly get well. What emerges is a portrait of an illness that is frustrating in its complexity and devastating in the pain it inflicts on its sufferers and those who care for them.

Being sold as a companion disc to the book of the same name and airing on HBO, "Thin" is by no means a perfect film. In fact it's really rough around the edges. It's greatest achievement is in it's ability to  raise questions about how we view ourselves and each other. This film holds a wealth of brutally honest and raw emotions that make up for the small lack of a narrative. Greenfield's film ultimately feels like her photographic work.A collection of moments in which the truth is so startling that we ask ourselves "How could this happen in America?"

If you have seen this film or are going to see it please let me know.

Add "Thin" to your netflix queue
Buy "Thin" on DVD
Buy "Thin" Book
Visit the Site.

Jonathan Glazer's new commercial for Sony's new HD televisions is an amazing piece of work. Like most of Glazer's work it features an homage to Stanley Kubrick, in the this case it's a musical one. ("The Blue Danube" was featured in Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey")

 The spot, which took 10 days to shoot and utilized 250 people, features a fireworks show made up of exploding paint mortars. Imagine what a building demolition would look like with liquidy bright colurs instead of grayish plumes of smoke. Gorgeous stuff!

Here's the spot on youtube. For a higher quality version of this video, click here.