Good documentaries to watch?

[Younger Brother]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 6:55pm

Recently, I've been watching more and more documentaries and was hoping to watch some more over the next few days. Anyone have any recommendations? It may be worth knowing some of the ones I've watched so far but they don't necessarily have to be similar

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work
Paris Is Burning
Grey Gardens
Every Little Step
Before Stonewall

[E.Davis]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 7:07pm

Love, Marilyn was breathtaking.

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 7:16pm

Even if you have no interest in Parrots, PBS has a very enlightening doc. about keeping birds as pets in cages. It' s called Parrot Confidential.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 8:07pm

I was so moved by BLACKFISH (a doc about keeping orcas in captivity and the resulting "accidents") that I watched it several times.

I was also riveted by MANHUNT: THE SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN about the FEMALE analysts who tracked him down over 20 years. (No, I'm not surprised that females did the job, only that they were allowed to do so.) And I'm usually bored by anything to do with spies and the like.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT DIANA? is another good one. It's about a mother of two and aunt of three who somehow got drunk and went the wrong way on a Westchester County expressway, killing herself and all but one of the kids.

HBO has been running a "doc series", with a new selection every Monday night. That's how I caught the HUNT FOR BIN LADEN.

As you might imagine, none of the above is exactly "feel-good".

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 8:27pm

"How to Survive a Plague". I wish it had won the Oscar last year. You might see the bodies of some posters here outside the Bush summer manse in Kennebunkport near the end.

I'm looking forward to "The Armstrong Lie" about cheating Lance.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 9:02pm

'Super size Me' and 'Food Inc' will change your understanding of our food-chain

'Valentino, the last Emperor' is an interesting look at the fashion industry and also a touching and almost subversive film about a long-time same-sex relationship;

'Rize' is a David LaChapelle film about 2 post- hip-hop dance styles. Crazy and fascinating.

'Martha & Ethel' --a film by 2 women telling the stories of the nannies who raised them. Small, but interesting. I think it was an Oscar nom (winner?) in the '90s.

'Murderball'--about quadriplegic rugby. Interesting, inspiring, powerful.

'In the shadow of the stars'--about the chorus of the San Francisco Opera. Funny, touching, beautiful & interesting. If you don't care for opera, you'll like this. If you do care for opera, you'll LOVE this.

Updated On: 11/23/13 at 09:02 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 9:32pm

"The Beaches of Agnes" an autobiographical film by Agnes Varda - you don't have to have an interest in her already, it's a work of art in itself. Highly recommended (by me).

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 10:26pm

"he Makes Me Feel Like Dancing"
"the Times of Harvey Milk"
"Common Threads"
"Into theArms of Strangers"
"Bowling for Columbine"

All oscar winners.

Also from Michael Moore, "Roger & Me"

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 10:26 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 10:59pm

I think you mean the one directed by Michael Moore, no?

[jnb9872]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 12:05am

TABLOID, Errol Morris' recent film about a story that just turned and turned and turned and got more unbelievable with every second. Mormons, kidnapping, rape, brainwashing, eventually even cloning. Nutso.

If you have Hulu Plus, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK is on their Criterion selection, and based on the five you listed would clearly be a great choice if you have never seen it.

Even if you don't care a whiff for sports, some of ESPN's recent 30 for 30 series are truly outstanding. JUNE 17, 1994 is an outstanding video collage (composed solely of footage from that day) of one day, with championship games, parades, breakout stars and living legends all competing in their sports on the same day that O.J. Simpson hopped in a white Bronco and overshadowed them all... THE TWO ESCOBARS is a knockout (that managed to be accepted into Cannes) about the intertwined tragic lives of a Colombian football player who shared the last name with Colombia's most notorious drug kingpin, and how these men were inextricably linked despite being of no relation.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 12:22am

The PARADISE LOST documentaries...you'll want to watch one right after the other, like a book you can't put down.

DANCEMAKER, about the Paul Taylor Dance Company, is pretty fantastic.

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS if you want to see how people can twist denial into truly kaleidoscopic dimensions.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 1:10am

Check out the 'UP' films--a British doc series that began with '7 UP'--a movie that asked a bunch of 7-year-olds about their lives, their hopes, their aspirations, etc. It was followed every 7 years by a follow up film--'14 UP', '21 UP', '28 UP', etc.

I stopped at '42', but I know there was at least 1 or maybe 2 more.

If you want a crash course in understanding what 'class' means in the UK, check these out. Completely fascinating.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 1:45am

I came on this thread to recommend How to Survive a Plague, but I see Namo has beat me to it, and his assessment is spot-on. I have watched it several times now, and it always gets to me. This needs to be at the top of your list.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 2:08am

Plague is wonderful. I wonder if the fictionalized ABC TV movie version is still in the works...

Again on a gay angle, The Celluloid Closet, a history of the depiction of gay men and women in Hollywood is, of course, out of date, but really well done.

[nmartin]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 9:25am

Whether you're a fan of Dietrich or not, Marlene (1984)is a wholly fascinating documentary by Maximilian Schell.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 11:50am

I love Marlene, especially when Dietrich herself is involved in the exploring old footage aspects with Schell by her side. Her resistance to him constantly asking about Orson Welles is a hoot. 'Cross yourself, Max!'

Marwencol- A beautiful documentary on Mark Hogancamp, a man nearly beaten to death, recreating his entire life and Upstate NY town through a WWII-era European village kit with figurine dolls representing him and the town folk as a means of confronting that moment in his life as a kind of psychological therapy. I cannot do it justice, it needs to be seen to be believed.

Exit Through the Gift Shop, not so much a document on street air as it is about the artist Banksy, who has directing credit, really playing with the documentary format and the audience.

F for Fake, a doc of which Exit Through the Gift Shop is a clear descendant but with Orson Welles chronicling art forgery and playing with the audience. It's Welles' last great film.

The Imposter, quite possibly the greatest Hard Copy/Unsolved Mysteries episode ever created. The central figure, the real-life con-artist Frederic Bourdin, is one of the great psychopaths captured on film.

Paris is Burning- I mean, if you call New York home this is a must-see. Or if you wonder where all those phrases from Drag Race came from or even where Vogueing came from you should watch it.

Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters- Both by Steve James. The former is a near 3-hour intersecting odyssey of two high school basketball players and the hardships by having your only real gateway to college to be great at basketball. The latter is about anti-violence community action groups in the South Side of Chicago.

Anything by Frederick Wiseman though High School, Welfare, Titticut Follies, and Hospital are the must-sees. He has a new doc out called At Berkeley but even as a Wiseman fan I cannot really insist anybody unfamiliar with his style to watch a 4-hour long film.

Harlan County USA- I mean it's canon among the greatest documentaries ever made.

Gimme Shelter- Haunting and seeing The Stones in their most sobering, human moments adds another fascination layer.

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 11:50 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 3:02pm

After you see "Paris is Burning," we'll fill you in on the most remarkable detail of what happened after the filming.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 4:16pm

Namo, is it more about Jennie Livingston the director or the subjects of the film? There were lawsuits, I know that.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 4:24pm

Murderball (quadralegic rugby) & Grizzly Man (a man killed by the very grizzly bears he thought needed his protection in Alaska) both very powerful and thought provoking.

Also, take a google search for Morgan Spurlock's list of the Fifty Documentaries to See Before You Die. I can't vouch for all of them, but I am certainly making my way through the list! (Although a good number of films already mentioned here are on that list.)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 5:17pm

The original poster said he DID see Paris is Burning in his first post. I haven't seen it in a long time, but now I'm curious -- so spill :P

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 5:27pm

Come to find out, Dorian Corey, one of the drag queens in the film, had a pretty big skeleton in her closet.

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 5:42pm

I've seen the marvelous Paris is Burning several times, but I never heard about that, Namo. hmmm

NOW i have! very strange.

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 05:42 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 5:46pm

A mummy skeleton! Ugh!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 6:18pm

He was apparently an abusive person. And nobody knows who shot him. Perhaps Dorian had been an ancient Egyptian queen in a previous life?

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 6:22pm

oooooh….Anck su namun…….