Documentaries I have loved

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lol.
you're doing what you said you wouldn't!

Trip Maker, Thursday, 25 November 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link

I'll be seeing the Phil Spector documentary sometime in the next few weeks. Anyone seen it? Is there lots of cool Spector to go along with freak-show Spector? Is it the most egregious bad-hair film since Joe Pesci in JFK?.

clemenza, Thursday, 25 November 2010 17:54 (thirteen years ago) link

I really liked the Louis Malle documentaries that the Criterion Collection reissued, like Phantom India, Calcutta, God's Country, Human too Human, Place de Republique, and Vive le Tour... especially Phantom India and God's Country.

jeevves, Friday, 26 November 2010 06:32 (thirteen years ago) link

five months pass...

Hoop Dreams -- I'm drunk and teary eyed watching this right now

hated old moniker, too tired to think of a clever new one (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 03:50 (thirteen years ago) link

Kings of Pastry was pretty enjoyable.

reggaeton for the painfully alone (polyphonic), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 03:51 (thirteen years ago) link

hoops dreams was very great don't get me wrong but i almost thought it was juuuust lacking on both the basketball and personal lives fronts

its realy sad he was a drowner (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 03:54 (thirteen years ago) link

basically my criticism is i wanted it to be 8 hours instead of what, 3?

its realy sad he was a drowner (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 03:55 (thirteen years ago) link

I kind of agree in that respect. saw hoop dreams while recovering from surgery in 95 and wanted more. Like more versions of hoop drams w/ different kids and stuff

blank, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 04:42 (thirteen years ago) link

haven't seen in it years but that was my reaction too

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 04:50 (thirteen years ago) link

Yeah it does feel like it could use maybe two or three more players followed.

OTOH watched Gunnin For That #1 Spot and though it was totally superficial.

hated old moniker, too tired to think of a clever new one (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 04:53 (thirteen years ago) link

I haven't read the whole thread, but KING OF KONG MUTHAFUCKERS!

Yossarian's sense of humour (NotEnough), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 09:21 (thirteen years ago) link

If you watch Hoop Dreams, you gotta watch "Recruiters" from Mr. Show. Unless you don't have a sense of humor.

Also, King of Kong was pretty amazing. And I Like Killing Flies.

BULGING! CONTAGIOUS! (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 09:44 (thirteen years ago) link

two months pass...

There were some recent lists posted on the ILF thread for favourite documentaries. I've got a month till I go back to school, so I'd be very interested in running a Favourite Documentary poll if a) there'd be enough voters (25 at least?), and b) the people running music polls don't object. I wouldn't do nominations or campaigning: just send me your list of 10, I'll tabulate the votes and count down the list. Please post any thoughts here--if there's enough interest, I'll proceed.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link

sounds cool, id participate

johnny crunch, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 16:11 (twelve years ago) link

maybe allow unranked ballots also if ppl just want to put in for 10 they generally like a lot

johnny crunch, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 16:12 (twelve years ago) link

sounds like a great idea.

sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 16:16 (twelve years ago) link

Unranked would be fine. I'd keep it to 10 because, even though I see a lot of documentaries myself, and know that there are other people on the board who do also, I realize that generally people don't. But I think a list of 10 would be relatively easy for most anyone.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 16:17 (twelve years ago) link

yeah that'd be great! always nice to have an excuse to watch lots of documentaries.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:25 (twelve years ago) link

I thought this was going to be bumped for Britain Through A Lens: The Documentary Film Mob which was shown on BBC4 tonight. It was pretty good, though didn't really tell me anything I hadn't learned in my A Level Film class.

Would definitely be up for the poll - a film poll would be a nice change of pace from all the music ones going on, too. Though I'm still sore over the fact that the 1930s one never happened.

emil.y, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:31 (twelve years ago) link

i love documentaries but lately (past couple of years) have really not felt compelled to watch them. because so many of them are so damn depressing tbh.
i do want to see the New York Times doc (also likely depressing)

obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:38 (twelve years ago) link

i watched this doc the other day (it came up on netflix) called "Dear Zachary" and i feel like i cried through most it? i wasn't even in a crying mood; it was just incredibly sad and, at the same time felt like it was just one of many stories of a similar vein that could be told, and so, in a weird way was mundane in its almost unbearable sadness. so sadder still! eegh

obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:43 (twelve years ago) link

because so many of them are so damn depressing tbh.

lol, i feel like this says something pretty bad about fiction as escapism and real life as just terribleness from which we should escape.

i would vote in this i guess? i am not v orderly. do we need definitions? are essay films documentaries?, etc?

Aa Bb Obscure Dull Blue (#000066) (schlump), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:49 (twelve years ago) link

haha i was going to follow up what i said there with something along the lines of "tbf i find most hollywood comedies depressing too"

obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:52 (twelve years ago) link

There seems to be some interest, so I'll start a thread tomorrow. I think enough people will drift in with votes for 25+.

By essay film (xpost), I guess you mean something like Letter to Jane. I don't know if I'd count that as a documentary myself, but if a couple of people decided that it was and voted for it, fine by me. I found a site with an overview of 100 documentaries that's very good (http://movies.sky.com/gallery-100-best-documentaries), but I notice they list Altman's Tanner '88. Excellent film, but that's just wrong.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 23:53 (twelve years ago) link

Do we get a few weeks or etc. to watch some docs we've been meaning to see?

polyphonic, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 23:55 (twelve years ago) link

My only qualifier is that I'd have to have the whole thing finished by the third week of August. I was thinking a two-week window for sending in ballots.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 23:57 (twelve years ago) link

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/Monde_silence.jpg

my fav documentary

sade lo (flopson), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:02 (twelve years ago) link

also possibly the least educational one i have ever seen :/

sade lo (flopson), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:02 (twelve years ago) link

Oof, yes, that list is very inclusive. I mean, if we were to count The War Game and Haxan as documentaries I'd have to put them at the top of my list, but I'm really not convinced that they should count.

emil.y, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:03 (twelve years ago) link

Flopson: see Rushmore! No, from what I remember of The War Game and Punishment Park, I wouldn't count them either.

clemenza, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:22 (twelve years ago) link

ah, i've never found a copy of the silent world w/subtitles, which mightn't matter greatly but leaves me hanging on. it would be nice to catch a cinema viewing also.

what happens, with these things, do we discuss in the thread & lobby for our choices or do we just dispassionately direct a sealed, sealed e-mail to clemenza

Aa Bb Obscure Dull Blue (#000066) (schlump), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 10:04 (twelve years ago) link

I'm going to start a new thread in a few minutes.

clemenza, Wednesday, 20 July 2011 12:03 (twelve years ago) link

one month passes...

Documentary I thought was okay: One Bright Shining Moment, about George McGovern. It's worshipful, which is never good, even when dealing with someone who inevitably does look like a saint next to Nixon, and the chronology's scrambled up in a way that seemed unnecessary to me. The Eagleton episode is fascinating; if that were to happen today, the media fallout would be incomprehensible. If I could go back and sit glued to the TV for any convention, the Democrats in '72 would be my next choice after '68. Watching the interviewees struggle to understand how they allowed it to happen that McGovern gave his acceptance speech at 1:30 a.m.--a great speech, they all say--is also weirdly compelling. Frank Mankiewicz is funny, and Jim Bouton smokes 'em inside.

clemenza, Friday, 2 September 2011 03:29 (twelve years ago) link

two months pass...

Just watched Born Rich, which is about heirs/heiresses in NYC, made by a Johnson & Johnson heir. A perfectly fine and well-meaning film but not especially good or insightful. If being born rich is a compelling topic, this guy failed to tap into whatever makes it so.

pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Friday, 4 November 2011 02:46 (twelve years ago) link

four months pass...

oh my god this is so incredible. i haven't seen anything this incredible in a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfX7XKg71i0

scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 02:43 (twelve years ago) link

wow! so cool. and so NSFW, so wait until you get home...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJpq7klu_Pc&feature=share

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2012 19:32 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

hbo summer doc series has been p good

watched the 1 on marilyn monroe - lots of cool footage; it's dumb 2 have actors read/act her journals but i understand it & it's otherwise well put together

this 1 on public defenders is really good! harbl shd watch it

then gasland 2 is on next week i think? & then theres one on the home invasion murder in ct which took place in the town i grew up in~

johnny crunch, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 20:53 (ten years ago) link

just tryna get your "i was in all night watching tv" alibi down huh

szarkasm (schlump), Wednesday, 3 July 2013 21:38 (ten years ago) link

otm

johnny crunch, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 21:50 (ten years ago) link

I tried to watch the Marilyn one but it made me cringe

The Pussy Riot doc was good tho

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 4 July 2013 01:53 (ten years ago) link

oh yea i forgot abt that 1 yea p good

i am in deep love w/ this girlhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Nadezhda_Tolokonnikova_%28Pussy_Riot%29_at_the_Moscow_Tagansky_District_Court_%28crop%29.jpg

johnny crunch, Thursday, 4 July 2013 02:06 (ten years ago) link

she's p rad

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 4 July 2013 02:10 (ten years ago) link

eleven months pass...

There is an excellent '04 Martin Rees science/cosmology series called What We Still Don't Know (all 3 eps on youtube) that are way better than the average Cox type dross.

xelab, Monday, 16 June 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link

one month passes...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Newburgh_Sting

^this was v good

johnny crunch, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 01:56 (nine years ago) link

The Queen of Versailles is near genius imo

warm smell of burritos (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 02:07 (nine years ago) link

Adam Curtis' The Century of the Self

Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 02:43 (nine years ago) link

anyone for Cousin Jules? Quietly devastating, as they say.

son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 02:55 (nine years ago) link

The Institute (streaming on netflix)

Leon Septamost, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 07:29 (nine years ago) link

xxp

I found Century Of Self quite mindblowing. I'd never heard of Edward Bernays and all that engineering of consent stuff before watching it.

xelab, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 07:53 (nine years ago) link

i watched "avenge but one of my two eyes" over the weekend. excellent.

everyday sheeple (Michael B), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 10:58 (nine years ago) link


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