rolling documentary thread 2014

Excellent title, even if carried over from the book: Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere. (Reminds me of an old Chuck Eddy Voice piece, "Howls from the Heartland.") The filmmaker concedes the heavy influence of both Lynch and Errol Morris--it all felt pretty familiar--but if it comes your way, worth seeing. The story is almost identical to something that happened here within the past few months: teacher disappears without a trace one day, is found dead a few weeks later, no explanation, just theories. (It was a high school teacher here.) That's the main story, anyway, but it breaks off in two or three different and/or parallel directions.

I realize these lists are just filler, but it's amazing that this one would omit Wiseman's Hospital and Near Death (unless the thinking was that they're more about the patients than the doctors).

http://www.villagevoice.com/slideshow/doc-docs-8-powerful-medical-documentaries-41343880/

Saw trailers for The Dog and Rich Hill yesterday--looking forward to both, although John Wojtowicz looks like he might be a little much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjinPRE0bxw

Definitely wanna see The Dog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqE90Y2q88w

RIP William Greaves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5noJA3xDCF4

^this is awesome btw, just saw for the first time.

Hey, no one told me Godfrey Cheshire was reviewing regularly at the Ebert site! Here he is on one of my fave docs so far this year:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fifi-howls-from-happiness-2014

i don't know cheshire, or do without having noticed his byline, but he pops up on a couple of episodes of a breezy iranian cinema podcast i just started listening to: http://www.hello-cinema.net/?category=Podcast

curious about the fifi doc. i always feel like five waves behind with iranian cinema. the mania akbari & shahram mokri films all sound really neat.

GC was chief film critic of the NY Press in its '90s heyday, and in fact his review of Close-Up when it opened in NYC slayed me.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/29/godfrey-cheshire-on-closeup-abbas-kiarostami-1990

this review is excellent & i'm stopping halfway through as it gallops toward synopsising; i haven't seen close-up in forever & barely remember it beyond its most basic premise. i think i'm as fresh for a rewatch as he thought new viewers were for an epiphany. ty for the intro, anyhow.

discussion of it probably doesn't necessarily belong here - it could as easily be discussed in political, parenting or pbs threads - but: did anybody catch american promise?

didn't

DOC NYC in November:

http://www.docnyc.net/films-events/

Given that it will probably be hard to find in a week, prob will see The Overnighters this evening.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-overnighters-2014

The work week caught up to me about 30 minutes into a late screening of Last Days in Vietnam, after which I drifted for most of the rest. Stupid--what I saw was quite good. It'll be playing again in April on PBS. Mark Samels, who oversees some of the American Experience series (and executive produced Last Days) was there for a Q&A afterwards. Great story about about one of the American servicemen sharing a stage at Sundance with one of the South Vietnamese men left behind in the evacuation.

not exactly a new film, but as anyone seen Chicago Loop by James Benning (1974)? it's playing at my local documentary festival.

I'm reviewing loads of docs at my blog, from CPHDOX.

centrifugue.blogspot.com

The Postman's White Nights, The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, The Reunion, Visitors.

Bad link. This should be better: http://centrifugue.blogspot.dk/

chicago loop's great, vhs
it's part of a bill with something longer, right? american dreams? CL is beautiful

also go see the kazuo hara shit if this is RIDM

Do not miss "The Color of Noise", the amphetamine reptile doc if it shows up near you. Distribution at this point is completely up in the air, and it is awesome.

Open Secret, on Hollywood child/youth abuse incl the Singer case, has its first DOCNYC press screening cancelled -- future in doubt?

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-sex-abuse-doc-an-745907

'last days in vietnam' was pretty good. probably could have used slightly more background for younger viewers, but no big complaints otherwise. didn't realize until i googled it afterward that it was directed by RFK's youngest daughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulryEZ5Iprg

Not entirely sure this works everywhere, but Iron Ministry, brilliant Harvard SEL related doc on Chinese trains, is freely streamable at least from where I am.

http://dafilms.com/download/key/njciTzpjKb

ten films against the crisis (#1 and 4 I'm particularly fond of)

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/top-10-docs

dafilms.com is actually kind of awesome. They have a retrospective of Loznitsa docs up now. The Letter was a fine art-short, Maidan is one of the best films of 2014, so I'll def check out as much as I can. Of course, everyone should watch My Joy, and to-a-lesser-extent-but-still In the Fog.

Oh, and the link, right: http://dafilms.com/event/191-retrospective_sergei_loznitsa/

Knew I'd forgotten something.

now available for viewing in your home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6YNQWzVgpc