Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Democrats are back in array!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

In my day, never was longer.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Documentaries

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Documentaries

by | 200 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Documentaries

For this week’s Medium Cool, let’s focus on Documentaries.

Seems to me like we’re in kind of a Golden Age of documentary film, with so many streaming platforms, ease of filming (on iPhones even), social media, and so on.

We’ve probably all seen some of the Ken Burns variety, classics like Hoop Dreams, and the amazing films of Errol Morris, but how about some that might have passed under the radar? What are some documentaries that really caught your attention?

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Has anyone seen “Notturno“? It’ s about the Middle East, but not the parts we’re used to seeing, nor the people, nor the culture. Filmed in that area between Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, and Lebanon.

    The first 20 minutes, especially, are mesmerizing.

  2. 2.

    debbie

    Lion in the House. Six hours about children with cancer that will rip your heart out. Still,it needs to be seen.

  3. 3.

    Origuy

    Saving Mes Aynak is a documentary currently streaming on CuriosityStream. It’s about a 5000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan. Only 10% of it has been excavated. It is threatened by development because it sits on top of a huge copper deposit. A Chinese mining company has the mining rights, believed to be worth 100 billion dollars. Naturally, being Afghanistan, the Taliban have also made it difficult for the local villagers and the archaeologists.

    http://www.savingmesaynak.com/

  4. 4.

    debbie

    Also Afterward, a documentary about an Israeli-American psychologist who returns to Israel and through dialogues with Palestinians, learns her previous stances on Palestinians and peace were very much wrong.

  6. 6.

    hells littlest angel

    One of my favorites is the rarely seen 90s documentary about elderly swingers in Southern California, The Lifestyle. By turns appalling, hilarious, sad, repulsive and just plain weird. While it is extremely, graphically sexually explicit, it is definitely not erotic or titillating or even pornographic. It’s just … well, it must be seen to be believed.

  7. 7.

    BGinCHI

    @hells littlest angel: ​
      Now I realize we could do a whole thread, easily, on weird documentaries. I haven’t seen that Qanon doc that’s out, but it looks like it’s filled with bizarro people.

  12. 12.

    Frederick Stibbert

    Ingenuous young Englishman Leo Goolden (“I’m a boatbuilder & a sailor”) is rebuilding the 1910 wooden yacht Tally Ho w/ first-rate craftsmanship. 90+ episodes on the “Sampson Boat Co” YouTube channel document the work so far, w/ the hull planking completed.

    Here’s a short teaser:

    https://youtu.be/0n1MthgLqwE

  13. 13.

    Craig

    Bay Area legend Les Blank’s whole body of work, but Burden of Dreams about Werner Herzog filming Fitzcarraldo really sticks with me. Going to the Amazon rain forest to make a movie about a crazy man who has gone to the Amazon rain forest to make a movie about a crazy man who went to the Amazon to make an Opera House. Brilliant

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    I thought OJ: Made in America was unbelievably good.

    I also heard Murderball was excellent.

    I saw a doc a few years ago that made an unbelievable impression, which I now can’t remember the name…. it’s about the Chinese government replacing the Panchen Lama.

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    We just finished watching the Hemingway documentary by Ken Burns, which got me again interested in visiting Key West. Coincidentally, our friends in Tampa called today and suggested we come visit next month and take the Key West Express boat from Fort Myers. Currently working on the details. So tired of COVID Cabin Fever.

  17. 17.

    Craig

    Truth or Consequences is a speculative sci-fi documentary about a spaceport in New Mexico and its effects on the locals. Interesting techniques, and unconventional storytelling. Playing some streaming festivals now. Full disclosure, the producer is a friend.

  19. 19.

    K488

    More of a dramatized version of the memoirs of a musician, still it knocked me out when I first saw it:  Song of Summer; the story of Frederick Delius’s last years, based on a book, Delius as I Knew Him, by Eric Fenby.  Directed by Ken Russel for the BBC, long before his controversial years in feature films.

  25. 25.

    AliceBlue

    Two classics:  Harvest of Shame about migrant workers and The Plow That Broke the Plains, focusing on causes of the Dust Bowl.

  26. 26.

    Craig

    I watched that QAnon doc on HBO. Really bad filmmaking in terms of what Q was and became. The manipulative style is off putting, the entire thing is built on unreliable narrators. The director writes and weaves himself in with these weirdos so much that the whole thing turns into a game show. Watchable as a freakshow where the viewer can decide whether it’s weirder if the crazy people actually believe what they’re saying or that they’re so weird they say they believe people are eating babies cause it gets them youtube hits.

  29. 29.

    Craig

    Just finished Exterminate All The Brutes, Raoul Peck’s documentary on HBOMAX. Excellent story of colonial exploitation. Fantastic mastery of documentary technique. 4 episodes. Really heavy story.

    His documentary about James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro is also great film making.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    @Craig:

    In terms of laying bare the “banality of evil” it was pretty effective in showing what a handful of schlubs are capable of, given a susceptible and willing audience.

  32. 32.

    Craig

    @BGinCHI: it’s kind of like Tiger King. They allude to nefarious goings on, but never lay down the cards. It’s all about the spectacle. The guys who ran 8chan are real freaks, but the director doesn’t seem to care that they’re winking and nudging all the time and leading him around by the nose.

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    @Craig: ​
     
    In that vein, “Hearts of Darkness” is as rewarding to watch as the film-making of “Apocalypse Now” that it documents. There be madness.

  35. 35.

    hells littlest angel

    @BGinCHI: The Lifestyle isn’t just weird — and it’s very weird — it’s really is brilliantly done. Its subjects come off as vividly real people (but not people you’d necessarily want to know).

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    @Plain Dave: ​
     
    Did see “Crumb” and found it pretty compelling/disturbing. Very well crafted.

    Does “American Splendor” qualify as a documentary? Probably not even if Harvey Pekar appears in it as himself.

    Then there’s “200 Motels” in which Ringo Starr plays Frank Zappa but Zappa is in it as Frank Zappa.

  38. 38.

    Dahlia

    Kedi , a documentary about the street cats of Istanbul, was pretty good.

    Apollo 11 was also a lot of fun to watch.

    Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was really moving.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @Dahlia:

    Won’t You Be My Neighbor? was really moving.

    I was bowled over by it. Captured his humanity and kindness in ways I had never pondered, and bravery I never suspected.

  45. 45.

    Craig

    @trollhattan: 200 Motels is so weird, I had no idea what to make of it when my pal showed me it on a 6hour VHS with some other hard to find movies back in the late 80s.

    I had a short play with Crumb’s premiere at the NYFF in 1994. Terry Zwigoff is a very careful filmmaker. I talk to him from time to time, and wasn’t that surprising that he made Bad Santa.

  47. 47.

    Craig

    The Last Waltz is a pretty good blueprint for how to make a music documentary. About capturing a time and place with a great band.

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    @Craig: ​
     
    “Code monkey with a camera.” Suspect the only way the director gained their confidence was by first connecting on the nerd level, and their chats about network structures and cryptology and security etc. etc. seemed intended to keep the audience at arm’s length.

  50. 50.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    My Octopus Teacher was amazing. It’s up for a 2021 Oscar.

    We try to catch the Oscar-nominated short films every year. We haven’t yet watched every short documentary, but I can recommend any of the three we did see so far: A Love Song for Latasha, about a 15-year-old who was shot by a storekeeper in LA in the 90s for no reason at all, Do Not Split, about the 2019 Hong Kong riots and the 2020 security crackdown, and A Concerto is a Conversation, about the pianist / composer who provided all the music for The Green Book. Actually that last one is at least as much about his grandpa and how he figured out how to succeed despite Jim Crow.​

    Edit: Just thought of another we saw recently (2019 I think): Fantastic Fungi.

  52. 52.

    RSA

    I don’t have anything useful to add in the way of visual documentaries (though I’ll mention the Up series as a classic) but I thought I’d put in a word for books that may have similar motivation and flavor. For example, in the preface to the second edition of The Art of Blacksmithing, Alex W. Bealer wrote,

    Originally [this book] was written as a history of what I and most people considered a lost art. Its purpose was to record the techniques of the blacksmith as historical lore before the last smith died and the imagination, ingenuity and mystique of smithing were lost to further generations.

    If you’re interested in how blacksmithing works, it’s a good introduction. Lots of non-fiction books might fit here, but among those that try to capture a practice or even just a state of the world, I’ve liked

    Building Stone Walls, John Vivian
    Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs, Ansel Adams
    Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herrigel
    Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores, Bob Eckstein

  53. 53.

    cope

    Funny that this is today’s topic as my wife and I were just watching “Woodstock: The Director’s Cut”.  I recorded it a few months ago and have been savoring it in chunks.  We have one more chunk to go.

    Since this is of my g…g…generation, I find it very uplifting to see how wonderful things could be for that one shining moment before hippies discovered money.  Could we ever have been that young and free and hopeful about the world?  Hard to believe.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    Haven’t yet read thread, so apologies for any duplication. Short list, broad spectrum. Whittled down from a redwood tree’s worth of choices.

    Harvest of Shame
    Impossible Peace
    The Hitler Chronicles
    The Real African Queen
    Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States
    The Outrageous Sophie Tucker
    Coney Island
    Westinghouse: The Life and Times of An American Icon
    Family Band: The Cowsills Story
    Last Call for Titan!
    Meet the Romans
    Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit
    Code-Breakers: Bletchley Park’s Lost Heroes
    Obit.
    Trumbo
    Cosmic Vistas
    .

    Two others, separately listed as they’re dramatized depictions as opposed to straight documentary format: Fitzcarraldo and Admiral (a/k/a Michiel de Ruyter).

  58. 58.

    Craig

    Everybody Street is a great recent documentary on street photography directed by Cheryl Dunn. Showcasing geniuses like Bruce Davidson, Elliot Erwitt, Jill Freedman, Martha Cooper, Ricky Powell, Boogie and others. Great to hear and see how they all manage to find a niche for their work documenting what happens in the city around them.

  59. 59.

    West of the Rockies

    “Bronies” was weird and interesting (about adult male My Little Pony fans).

    The documentary abou Dr. Ruth was excellent.

  60. 60.

    BGinCHI

    @RSA: ​
      I worked on a house rehab on Cape Cod, right on Buzzard BAy, when I was 20. I did all the hard labor and learned to do lots of stuff (plastering, carpentry, etc.). The one major think I did was build a 50-foot stone wall out of field stone with no mortar.

    I told the carpenter I had no idea how to do it, and he said, well, just do it and figure it out. A dozen smashed fingers later I did, and it was great.

  62. 62.

    RSA

    @BGinCHI: The one major thing I did was build a 50-foot stone wall out of field stone with no mortar.

    Nice! I learned the details in the same way, one crushed fingertip at a time. :-)

  63. 63.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Just thought of another one. I guess we must see a fair amount of documentaries: Wait for your Laugh, about actress / singer Rose Marie (from the Dick van Dyke Show but so much, much more) and her amazing career.

    And a couple more show biz documentaries, Ingrid Bergmann: In her Own Words, and Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. That last tells the story of how brilliant she was and how she invented a covert communication technique (frequency hopping) that could have had major impact on WW2, but none of the bigwigs wanted anything from a girl except for her to look pretty and sell war bonds. So frequency hopping wouldn’t become a thing till it got reinvented decades later.

  65. 65.

    bemused senior

    My Octopus Friend. Beautiful undersea filming of the life of an octopus,  film maker was free diving.

  68. 68.

    wenchacha

    The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography. I need to watch it again. I once had dreams of moving to New York City to be a painter, an artist. Elsa Dorfman did that, then went to do what she wanted, somewhere else.

  69. 69.

    Just One More Canuck

    @dexwood: that’s an awesome movie

    Two in particular stand out to me – Chopin Saved My Life  and  The Endless Summer

  70. 70.

    Craig

    @RSA: sounds amazing. There was a guy named Tony that ran a Blacksmith shop in San Francisco in the original building from the 1880s. Every year he’d have a holiday party and you could walk around the shop, the old forges, the huge old tools, dirt floor. Two story building on Folsom by the Bay Bridge entrance, totally surrounded by monstrous new buildings. Hope he’s still there.

    On that note The Foxfire Book is like the forward to that blacksmith book. In 1972 a school teacher in rural georgia heard from his students that the old Appalachian folk arts were dying out, so he tasked them as reporters to write articles about basket weaving, smoking meats, making moonshine, etc. to document and preserve that knowledge. Turned into a huge series of books.

  72. 72.

    Kristine

    One that always comes to mind is rather old. 1992. A NOVA episode entitled “In the Path of a Killer Volcano: The Eruption of Mount Pinatubo.” Points of view of the volcanologists, news stories from Clark Air Force Base, film of villages being destroyed. One of my favorite NOVA episodes.

  73. 73.

    patrick II

    “Flavorful Origins” is a very interesting cooking series on Netflix.  The documentary goes to various areas in China — which have very different local cuisine — and follows the development of traditional dishes from planting the crop to the often hand-made production to the exotic dishes that result.  The cinematography is also exceptional.

  76. 76.

    RSA

    @Craig:

    On that note The Foxfire Book is like the forward to that blacksmith book. In 1972 a school teacher in rural georgia heard from his students that the old Appalachian folk arts were dying out, so he tasked them as reporters to write articles about basket weaving, smoking meats, making moonshine, etc. to document and preserve that knowledge.

    How cool! Thanks for the pointer; I’ll look up the series.

  78. 78.

    namekarB

    True Appaloosa

    Horse breeder Scott Engstrom (a woman) has been trying for years to prove that the Appaloosa, a rare horse breed widely thought to have been bred by the Nez Perce tribe from wild Spanish stock, came from Asia and not Spain. With only 109 true Appaloosas left in the world, the question is vital. After spotting a horse uncannily like an Appaloosa on a TV show filmed in Kyrgyzstan, the fiery 69 year old heads for the extremely remote mountains and plains of central Asia that is only accessible by a 3-day horseback ride (or helicopter I guess).

  79. 79.

    prostratedragon

    A few arts documentaries:

    • Black Art: In the Absence of Light, a survey of contemporary Black American art and artists.
    • Great Day in Harlem, about the shooting of a notable group photo of jazz musicians. (Sonny Rollins and Benny Golson are the last standing.)
    • Betty: They Say I’m Different, about Betty Mabry Davis, the original funk queen —or was she?
    • The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith, an account of a particular loft in Chelsea in the 1950s where Smith and a number of jazz musicians had studios. Long live urban decay!
  81. 81.

    karensky

    The Wrecking Crew is a great and moving doc by Tommy Tedesco whose dad was a member of that highly sought after group of studio musicians in the late ‘60’s-‘’70’s in LA.  Also recommended is Dave Grohl’s doc called Sound City about a music studio in LA in the same era as The Wrecking Crew.

  82. 82.

    dexwood

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: We saw that at a local art theater when first released. Lovingly shot, interesting to a point, but so much repetition. So many of the same shots over and over. Streaming it at home makes it a better admission price and experience.

  83. 83.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Suzanne:  OJ: Made In America is not only one of the best docs of the last 20 years, but it’s also a damn good primer on LA, Watts Uprising, Rodney King and racist policing in Los Angeles.

  84. 84.

    Phylllis

    Three terrific music documentaries: The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart; Tina, which is showing on HBO now, and Family Band: The Cowsills Story.

    Also, one that has stuck with me for years after seeing it on PBS: Hear and Now, about the director’s parents, both deaf, who opted for cochlear implant surgery in their 60’s I think. Her dad, Paul Taylor, invented the TDD system.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    Must be others who also remember the “You Are There” series on CBS.

    Can still hear Walter Cronkite’s sonorous tone: “What sort of a day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times. And you – were – there.”

  87. 87.

    Spanish Moss

    I really enjoyed “Sherman’s March”. Saw it in the eighties at the Kennedy Center, I have no idea if it holds up. The documentarian set out to make a film about the lingering effects of Sherman’s march in the south, but his girlfriend broke up with him at the beginning of the project. While he did trace Sherman’s route as planned, he ended up making a very different sort of documentary. A funny and moving journey of self discovery that involves quite the cast of interesting characters he meets along the way. I remember some part of it involved some militia-type people that I found shocking and a little scary. This was my first exposure to that movement, I never dreamed it would grow as it has.

  88. 88.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Homecoming– Beyonce documentary/concert from Coachella

    We also loved Wild Wild West, the Heaven’s Gate documentary and the Night Stalker documentary (not the Original Night Stalker one, though that one was good)

    I think American Movie and Paradise Lost (West Memphis Three) are my two fave classics.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    “Senna” about the Brazilian Formula One driver is well done, and not targeted at just racing enthusiasts. Whoever plowed through what must have been thousands of hours of video archives had quite a task.

  93. 93.

    namekarB

    Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World

    The vessel is Infinity, a hand-built gypsy boat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000 mile Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica. Unlike all the other boats headed south, Infinity is no ice-reinforced yacht crewed by professional sailors, rather, Infinity lives in the moment and sails on a whim, without permission or insurance of any kind.

  94. 94.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Oh fuck, how did I forget THE HILLARY DOCUMENTARY on Hulu.  Should really be required viewing.  She is such an exceptional and empathetic person.  SOOOOO different than the Witch/CorporateShill that the media and so many voters have claimed her to be.

  95. 95.

    JR

    It’s not exactly high art, but it was highly entertaining: King of Kong. Worth the watch for the absolute insanity that is Billy Mitchell alone.

  97. 97.

    Kristine

    Any of the recent David Bowie documentaries. “Five Years” was the first. It covered five pivotal years in his career, up to the Let’s Dance era. A subsequent program covered the years up to his death.

    The recent Go-Go’s documentary on HBO  was also really good.

  98. 98.

    Mousebumples

    Last summer, we watched The Last Dance, which was good as expected.

    Athlete A (also on Netflix) is about reporters at the Indy Star breaking the Larry Nassar sexual abuse story in the world of USA Gymnastics and Michigan State.

    Difficult to watch, given the subject matter, but I felt it shined an important light on a painful part of sports that most in power would prefer to try to ignore.

  99. 99.

    Craig

    @trollhattan: Another great one. Really explains that world, great tragic story. And for gearheads watching the onboard camera of him driving at Monaco is eyepopping ecstasy.

    Similar vien Marc Neale’s movies ‘Faster’, and ‘The Doctor, The Tornado, and The Kentucky Kid’ are about Grand Prix motorcycle racing, but you don’t even have to like racing,bor motor cycles to enjoy them. They’re more about the nature of competition, and the extremes that people and companies will push themselves to get to their goals. Narrated by Ewan Mcgregor.

  100. 100.

    Wag

    A friend from high school makes documentaries. He recently made a film about an architectural landmark in Colorado, the Sculpture House, also know as the Sleeper Hour, because it was prominently featured in the Woody Allen movie. 

    Enjoy!

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    While not sure both fit entirely within a strict definition of documentary, two wildly disparate productions, Connections and The Battle of Algiers merit topical mention.

  104. 104.

    laura

    Late to the post so, I’m probably repeating, but the Linda Ronstadt “The Sound of my Voice and the Carter Family “Will the Circle be Unbroken” were each excellent. I’ve got a very soft spot for Arthur Killer Kane “New York Doll”. Each of these moved me to tears.

  105. 105.

    billcinsd

    Herzog’s “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” was sort of already mentioned

    and I would add WE JAM ECONO – THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN the acclaimed feature-length documentary on the too-brief life of one of the most revered, intriguing, and inspired American bands ever. At the heart of their story is the immeasurable personal and musical bond between bassist Mike Watt and singer and guitarist D. Boon. Childhood friends, their unbridled creativity and political views were the foundation of this groundbreaking band which refused to be categorized as Punk.

    The film weaves together personal tales from Watt and drummer George Hurley with archival interview footage of the band and rare live performances. New interviews with over 50 musicians, artists, journalists, and friends help tell the Minutemen story, from their humble beginnings in the harbor town of San Pedro, California, to the tragic 1985 death of D. Boon in a highway accident in the Arizona desert.

  106. 106.

    Suzanne

    I love “Helvetica”.

    Also has the best IMDB review ever: “This is an 80 minute long movie about a font.”

  107. 107.

    Craig

    @dexwood: that movie is a trip. I’d also recommend Banksy and The Rise of Outsider Art. A more traditional take on Banksy’s scene. Another good movie about outsider art is Beautiful Losers it’s about a bunch of artists like Shepard Fairey and Barry Mcgee that came up at the intersection of the art world and skateboarding.

  108. 108.

    Wag

    @RSA:   I would second your recommendation for the Up series.  A brilliant set of films. The last one is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting as these kids that you’re gotten to know over the course of 54 years.

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Suzanne: Where would B-J be without its pedantry? Helvetica is a typeface, not a font. Helvetica Bold, 12-point, for example, is a font.

  110. 110.

    rosalind

    “Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops” – follows two San Antonio Police Officers who created a new way of handling mental health calls. the scene where they talk down a suicidal woman from an overpass filmed through their patrol car camera alone worth the watch.   [website says it is now streaming on HBO]

    https://ernieandjoethefilm.com/

  111. 111.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    What I hate: Prime offers docs on my heroes: Al Sherman, Louie Prima, on and on… all I see is various insignificant talking heads, well, talking….just hit the highlight reel, p!ease. The Stooges doc was spot on, though.

  112. 112.

    Gin & Tonic

    @RSA: If you’re going in the direction of books about a craft, I’ll have to put in a word for George Dyson’s Baidarka.

  113. 113.

    Phylllis

    @billcinsd: Reminds me of Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. Big Star never had commercial success, for many reasons, which they don’t shy away from talking about in the doc.  Riveting story.

  114. 114.

    S. Cerevisiae

    I love any of the BBC nature series with Sir David Attenborough, the natural world is incredible and I like to watch the behind the scenes bits that show what the crew goes through to get the shot.

  115. 115.

    Craig

    The classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot. The world of 80s metal through the eyes of Judas Priest fans outside a concert at DCs Capital Center.

    That and ‘Decline of Western Civilization’ about the early 80s punk scene in LA created a genre. Decline part 2 about the late 80s Sunset Strip metal scene has some rewards as well.

    Along those lines is We Are Twisted Fucking Sister about that bands years of struggle and just missed opportunity in the Tri State club scene, right up to their big break. Great film.

  117. 117.

    RSA

    @Wag:

    The last one is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting as these kids that you’re gotten to know over the course of 54 years.

    Thanks for the recommendation. I think the last I saw was Up 49. One of the wonderful things about the series, in contrast to so much of modern media, is the time it spans.  If I’ve missed the past 5 or 10 or 15 or 25 years of the series, I can still catch up.  I haven’t missed anything—or if I have, the series will bring it back to me.

  118. 118.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Mentioned this during the non-fiction thread a couple of weeks back…The Ascent of Man, a 13 episode BBC series, Jacob Bronowski, 70’s vintage, an enlightening and inspiring survey of human accomplishment.

    Unfortunately, not streaming anywhere but available on DVD. There is a book based on the series, perhaps more accessible, but I’d love to see this one again sometime.

  119. 119.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    @billcinsd: Once in my life, I (and friends) Hung with Watt. Chapel Hill, around the pool table, after Firehose. Hangin’ with Watt was everything you heard about. Even 30 minutes. Hipster Saint Eternal.

  120. 120.

    Craig

    @S. Cerevisiae: brilliant stuff. I’ve worked with some of those people over the years and they are some of the bravest, most patient, precise, and humble people you’ll ever meet.

  121. 121.

    hueyplong

    Adding another shoutout for When We Were Kings.

    And I’ll never get enough of the Santana portion of Woodstock and the Ravi Shankar part of monterrey pop.

  122. 122.

    RSA

    @Gin & Tonic:

    If you’re going in the direction of books about a craft, I’ll have to put in a word for George Dyson’s Baidarka.

    Thanks! This looks right up my alley.  I’ve come across Dyson before, Turing’s Cathedral, but I didn’t know of this direction.

  123. 123.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    @RSA: That was one hell of a teacher: go ask the old folks and tell me what you know. Inspirational.

  124. 124.

    laura

    @Plain Dave: I have a huge Tower Video sign for Crumb that they were just going to throw out. I had to wait until the video had been out a few weeks. It is one of my treasures and probably worth less than the material it was made from. That movie – it’s not for everyone, but it’s very much for some.

  127. 127.

    dnfree

    They aren’t really documentaries, but “All the President’s Men” and “Spotlight” highlight actual journalistic achievements, and what journalism can do at its best.

  129. 129.

    namekarB

    Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

    Iconic filmmaker Werner Herzog embarks on another unforgettable journey into the heart of a remote natural environment. Deep in the Siberian wilderness, a mere 300 people inhabit the village of Bakhta on the Yenisei river. Through insightful narration by Herzog, Happy People follows Siberian trappers through the Taiga’s four seasons to tell the incredible story of a society untouched by modernity.

  132. 132.

    Craig

    I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. Documentary series about Michelle Mcnamara’s investigation into the Golden State Killer, and the continuing investigation after her tragic death. Scary and amazing. Her husband Patton Oswalt breaks my heart. Really interesting filmmaking.

  133. 133.

    phein61

    “The Decline of Western Civilization: Part I” about the LA punk scene circa 1980.   Part II can be safely missed, but Part I is an American odyssey.

  134. 134.

    Gin & Tonic

    @RSA: He wanted to document and recreate the development of the Aleutian skin-on-frame boats, but used non-traditional materials. There are books on more traditional approaches, let me know if you want some references.

    I’ve built a Greenland-style kayak, but out of wood. Next, I think, I’ll be trying the skin-on-frame method.

  135. 135.

    phein61

    @hueyplong: I’ve included the Santana section from Woodstock in my funeral/memorial video playlist, I want my kids/grandkids to spend some time with that.  Can you believe Greg Rolie was only 23?

  136. 136.

    Don K

    @AliceBlue: 
    I think I saw “Harvest of Shame” as a teenager. Saw “Titicut Follies” by Frederick Wiseman in high school, and never recovered. Definitely recommended.

  137. 137.

    Mary G

    A lot of my old favorites have been mentioned and I agree it is a golden age of documentaries. HBO and Netflix have so many I want to see I often can’t pick so this thread is helpful. The Hillary documentary on
    Hulu is great even though I had to stop many times to vent my rage at the press tipping the scales.

  138. 138.

    phein61

    And I have to say this, or she’ll kill me if she ever finds out I didn’t:

    Robbie Robertson said my wife’s name in a PBS documentary, Native America, in the section about Cahokia.

    When she dies, that’s what she wants on her tombstone: Robbie Robertson Said My Name!

  139. 139.

    Steve in the ATL

    @UncleEbeneezer: I litigated against her a compile of times in the Oughts and wasn’t impressed. Maybe she was just phoning in by then. I recalled that she had done some big, great things before, but it’s not uncommon for people to coast after that.

  140. 140.

    RSA

    @Gin & Tonic: I’ve built a Greenland-style kayak, but out of wood. Next, I think, I’ll be trying the skin-on-frame method.

    Wow! It’s one thing to read about traditional techniques, another thing to actually try them.  (With me, the basics of stone wall building were enough; my wife went further in a different area, indigenous practices in weaving and embroidery.) I hope you feel a well-deserved sense of accomplishment in looking at your work. Plus the fun of taking your crafts out on the water!

  141. 141.

    Miss Bianca

    @namekarB: Oh, I heard about this one just the other day! I really want to see it!

    I suppose it’s my turn to throw one into the ring, here…Latcho Drom is an amazing documentary from the early 90s tracing Romany music and culture across the world, but it used to be extremely hard to find. Worth the hunt if you are a world music lover.

  143. 143.

    Uncle Omar

    Always late, but I enjoyed two Stacy Peralta semi-docs,  Riding Giants about big wave surfing from the 60’s to the 90’s and Dogtown Boys about the kids who made skate-boarding cool–Peralta was one of them.  There’s also Bolt Usain Bolt preparing for the Olympics and a look at his background.  After watching it I began to wonder if there has ever been such a happy meshing of DNA and training.  He is the only sprinter who could run a world record and spend the last ten meters counting the house.

  144. 144.

    S. Cerevisiae

    People have mentioned Woodstock, I just got the 3 disc anniversary blue ray and it has a ton of outtakes that didn’t make the movie; 3 by CCR, a 15 minute song by the Dead, Mountain, Johnny Winter, and some different songs by bands in the movie. You can go on disc 2 and put together a playlist of outtakes longer than the film.

  145. 145.

    raven

    @Spanish Moss:  It was good a couple of years ago. The woman he hangs with on Ossabaw Island is Winnie Wood

    My training is in linguistic theory, rhetorical theory, and the teaching of writing; my primary interests are in the ways people use language and image to influence others, to make knowledge, and to change the world. At Wellesley, I directed the first-year writing program for 17 years (1992-2009) and currently co-direct the Cinema and Media Studies Program (with Professor Maurizio Viano).

  147. 147.

    Kent

    @Spanish Moss: I watched Sherman’s March in the 1980s or whenever it came out.  I was either in college or grad school and I thought it was brilliant.

    I have no idea how well it has aged.  It had a certain Borat quality in his ability to pull out racists by just letting them talk without comment.

  148. 148.

    Kent

    @Uncle Omar: I’ve wondered how much further Bolt could have driven down the 100 and 200 world records had he actually focused on that task instead of what was apparently just the sheer joy of being the fastest man in history.

  150. 150.

    Plain Dave

    @laura:   “Last Kind Words”, by Geeshie Wiley, one of the songs in the soundtrack, was recorded just down the river from us.  The Chair Factory building used by Paramount Records back in the late 20’s and early 30’s was still standing when we moved here in ’93.   It’s gone now, torn down by the Wisconsin DNR as part of their dam removal project but Grafton honors the artists who recorded here with Crumb’s portraits of them hung on the lamp posts in Paramount Plaza where a piano keyboard sidewalk has their names engraved on the black keys.  I sometimes wonder if Crumb has visited.

  151. 151.

    citizen dave

    @billcinsd: Have not seen the Minutemen doc but will check it out–thanks!  Recently I found SST 032 “My First Bells” 1980-83.  It’s a cassette of the first 6 EPs and “various compilation LPs”  All my other Minutemen is vinyl.

    The Woodstock movie is of course legendary.  Funny yesterday I watched a short Neil Young 1980s interview clip and one of the comments was about how Neil refused to be filmed for the Woodstock movie because he thought the moviemakers were exploiting the festival or something like that.  I know the story.  Maybe he just wasn’t getting paid…

  152. 152.

    jonas

    The 2018 Netflix documentary Shirkers is an odd film that gradually draws you in to a seemingly inconsequential, but increasingly gripping, story — a group of teens in early 90’s Singapore set out to make an indie film with the help of a strange American, Georges, who serves as their director and mentor and who then mysteriously absconds with the original print of the film. The filmmaker, now an adult living in LA, tries to piece the story back together through a series of flashbacks to figure out who Georges was and why he stole her project. Kind of like a “Reply All” podcast if it were a documentary film. Anyone else seen this?

  154. 154.

    raven

    And, just for BG,

     

    Athens, GA: Inside/Out is a documentary film about the mid-1980s music scene in Athens, Georgia, U.S.[1]

    The film features interviews and concert footage of local bands who were a part of the scene at the time of the documentation as well as local legends R.E.M., Pylon, and The B-52’s. It also features an interview with famous folk artist Howard Finster and Athens poet John Seawright reading his work, “I Broke My Saw.” Among the bands featured are Kilkenny Cats, Flat Duo Jets, Time Toy, the Bar-B-Que Killers, Dreams So Real, and Love Tractor. Local legendary personality ORT’s storytelling also features prominently in the film. A soundtrack was released on vinyl and cassette.

  155. 155.

    Another Scott

    @Kent: i remember one race in particular when he was shattering the record and pulled up when he saw that he was easily beating whoever was second.  It was always being just fast enough to reach whatever goal he had in the race, never about setting some ultimate record.

    Gotta respect that, but it would have been great to see just how quick he could have been.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  156. 156.

    Origuy

    I want to put in a word for Indie Game: The Movie, a documentary about three independent game makers. My connection to it is through my housemate, who is a friend of one of the makers in the film. We went to the premier.

  161. 161.

    citizen dave

    @raven: Slight correction–and I skimmed it in places–it’s Croz, not Neil in the interview with Stills.  I’m a HUGE Neil fan and likely would have watched it at some point if he had done this.  (He might be sitting in the background–have no idea–didn’t watch it all).

  164. 164.

    hueyplong

    @patrick Il: Just watched it

    When the guitarist talked about how Carlos brings emotion into the performance instead of limiting himself to technically precise playing I wondered if he was thinking about Al DiMeola.

    The segment made me wonder if there is a Woodstock-like version of Carlos’ Jungle Strut.

  166. 166.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    That CNN Lincoln series that aired recently was pretty interesting imo. I watched the first few parts that chronicled his early rise through politics and it pulled no punches in emphasizing how horrifyingly racist he was by modern standards. He spoke openly about the superiority of whites over blacks; he thought slavery was wrong and slaveowners had outsized political power. In this respect, he was no different than a lot of other Northerners of his time

  167. 167.

    NotMax

    (slaps forehead)

    How could I have left Shoah off the initial list? More than a documentary, it’s a testament.

  170. 170.

    frosty

    Travels By Narrowboat. Narrator chucked it all, bought a canal boat, and is full-timing around England at ~1 mph. Lots of good views of the countryside plus a little bit of info on history and operations.

    ETA and what he’s cooking for dinner.

  171. 171.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    The Dancing Outlaw is my all time favorite.  It’s more of a spoof from the 90’s.  An Appalachian clogger. Genius.

  173. 173.

    C Nelson Reilly

    @Craig: The “Two Headed Cow” doc about the Flat Duo Jets is great – Dexter is an interesting character to say the least

  177. 177.

    schrodingers_cat

    India is the epicenter of COVID-19 now. I feel so helpless that I can’t do much to help. My SIL who is a pathologist is pulling 7 day work weeks as other medics.

  179. 179.

    artem1s

    hands down my favorite documentary about art is Levitated Mass.

    And since so there are so many Herzog films listed here I have to mention My Best Fiend, the tribute documentary Herzog made about his relationship with Klaus Kinski. It’s as bizarre a story as any of the roles Herzog wrote for Kinski.

  180. 180.

    Warren Senders

    The Pete Seeger biography, “The Power Of Song” is one of my favorites.

    Other great music documentaries:

    “Theremin, an Electronic Odyssey,” about electronic wizard & inventor Leon Theremin.
    “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” about the Motown house band.
    “20 Feet From Stardom,” a tribute to the world’s greatest backup singers.
    “Straight, No Chaser,” about Thelonious Monk.
    “The Dreamer That Remains,” about the iconoclastic composer/visionary Harry Partch.

    and

    “A Great Day In Harlem,” a film about a whole lot of great jazz musicians standing on a particular street corner one morning.​​

  182. 182.

    patrick II

    @hueyplong:

    Fil, the guy doing the analysis, has a doctorate in musicology. I always learn something when I watch his videos. In this case it was the call and response musical conversation, ending in “agreement” when they end the song in a unified melody. Always loved Santana at Woodstock, but now look at it a little differently.

  183. 183.

    billcinsd

    @There are those who call me…tim… (Still posh): Yeah, fIREHOSE played Salt Lake City, and my friends were having a nachtspiel and invited the band. They weren’t leaving town for a while so they showed up and were quite nice people. But that was true of many of the mid-80s indie-rock/punk bands. They had to work pretty hard to get anywhere and were happy to have fans to share some time with.

  185. 185.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Just for the pure enjoyment of watching people ski is any of the Warren Miller ski films.

  186. 186.

    JML

    For the more nerdy among us…I really enjoyed Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons. (available on Prime) We’ve unfortunately lost more than a few of the early & influential greats, but this doc does a nice job of getting a well-rounded look at the art and evolution of fantasy art through the D&D lens, which was hugely influential on the genre. Plus, some of this crew are super entertaining.

    I’ve been fortunate enough to meet several of these giants at various cons and they’ve been a joy to talk to , so I can image how much fun this doc was to make. (you could seriously make an entire series just out of “Storytime with Larry Elmore” IMHO.)

  189. 189.

    Uncle Omar

    @Kent: Bolt is Carl Lewis only 4 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier and all 20 pounds are fast twitch muscles.

  190. 190.

    NotMax

    A late entry: The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition.

    (Maybe save it for viewing when sweltering in 100 degree heat this summer.)

  191. 191.

    Sister Golden Bear

    British historian Dr. Lucy Worsley has a number of fun and interesting documentaries, including History’s Biggest Fibs (yeah, it’s a click-bait title) and If Walls Could Talk, exploring the history of British homes, from peasants’ cottages to palaces.

    The latter is really interesting because it also deals with a lot of broader social history, such as how the concept of privacy has changed over the centuries, and looking at why things we take for granted today — such as hallways — had to be invented (or why most palaces were a series of linked rooms that you had to walk through, regardless of who was in them).

  192. 192.

    TEL

    Reading through the comments and I’m realizing I’ve seen a lot of documentaries! Haven’t seen any mention yet of Muscle Shoals – about FAME studio and Muscle Shoals sound studio in Alabama and the many artists who recorded there and the unique sound it was known for.

  193. 193.

    Emma

    @West of the Rockies:  I would actually recommend Jenny Nicholson’s Brony documentary on Youtube instead (which has been nominated for a Hugo for Related Work, very cool). She’s one of the creators of the fan parody “Friendship is Witchcraft,” and she explains all the myriad ways that documentary was an insult to bronies and MLP, despite being made by and for bronies. Sorry, this is on my mind today after discussion at LGM of the latest mass shooter being a brony.

  195. 195.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Don’t know if this applies to this discussion, but I watch a lot of German TV, both ZDF and ARD websites. But on YouTube, there is a channel named NDR Doku, northern Germany network, that produces fantastic documentaries on all aspects of life in northern Germany. I have been especially impressed by their documentaries on live along the coast of the North Sea and Baltic, and on the islands in the North Sea. One of them “Land Unter, was about one of the islands which during major storms is fully inundated except for the hill they have built up on which the house and farm buildings rest. There are several such refuges on the island, where the inhabitants lived. The doku included footage of one such storm, and documented how they rounded up all their animals and housed them with food in the barns, and included footage of the North Sea inundating the island except for the hills on which the houses are placed. Absolutely fascinating. I think most of the videos have CC, and you can try the auto English translation, although it is at times hilarious. I watch them not only for the content, but to practice my German comprehension skills, so I leave the German subtitles running.

  196. 196.

    HeartlandLiberal

    “Magnus,” documentary about current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. One of the best documentaries I have seen. Key element, support of his family, with whom he still is close with, and who are there to support him in his championship matches. I watched it on Netflix a year or more ago, but it appears to have vanished there. I just checked, and if you have Amazon Prime, it is available to watch free, but with ads. The second half of the candidates match to challenge Magnus for the championship resume today, April 19, in Yekaterinburg. It had started 390 days ago, but was interrupted by the COVID pandemic. The winner of the candidates will face Magnus beginning November 24th 2021 in the championship match. FWIW, I am a huge fan of Magnus Carlsen, and he is currently still the strongest chess player, and I expect he will win for his FIFTH championship title.

  197. 197.

    ...now I try to be amused

    A commenter mentioned Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man. Two other great documentaries shown on PBS in the 1970s:
    The Age of Uncertainty (by John Kenneth Galbraith)
    The Story of English (by Robert MacNeil) Sometimes you need subtitles to understand English!

    Other docs I recommend:
    War: A Commentary (by Gwynne Dyer)
    The Gatekeepers — Interviews with ex-directors of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet
    Word Wars — The subculture of tournament Scrabble
    Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) — They Might Be Giants

  200. 200.

    ulib

    The Lost City Of Cecil B. DeMille – a fascinating doc about the birth of Hollywood. essential to anyone who loves movies. I watched it on Amazon Prime.

Comments are closed.