Good documentaries to watch?- Page 2

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 6:34pm

Oh boy, with these Dorian Corey details. When Paris Is Burning was shown in one of my classes even the instructor threw hosannas at how wise Dorian Corey seemed.

[canmark]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 8:11pm

Here’s a selection I could recommend. A few of these have been mentioned above.

New York stories: Bill Cunningham New York, The Cats of Mirikitani, Lost Bohemia

LGBT: Paris Is Burning, The Times of Harvey Milk, Chris & Don, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, A Jihad for Love, We Were Here

Music: Soul Power, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Shut Up & Sing, Mama Africa

War: Body of War, Waltz with Bashir, The Way We Get By

Art/Design: Helvetica, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Waste Land, Eames: The Architect & The Painter

Nature/Activism: Sharkwater, Blackwater, The Cove

Others: Inside Job, Detropia, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, The Queen of Versailles, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Teenage Paparazzo, Pink Ribbons, Inc., Manufactured Landscapes, Prom Night in Mississippi, Reel Injun, Pina, Rize, Super Size Me

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 08:11 PM

[Addison D.]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 9:34pm

YES!!! To 'Bill Cunningham New York'

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 9:42pm

^ That one is tops on my "to see" list.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 9:51pm

Isn't Bill 'mahvelous'??? He is such a uniquely, wonderful character--listening to his video every week never fails to make me smile: his enthusiasm, his optimism, his ability to see the best in everything is, just....marvelous.

It makes me so happy that he has been recognized, appreciated, lauded and feted while he is still alive.

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 10:01pm

Yes Addison, I agree. He's deserved this recognition for a long time now. Very long career!

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 10:02pm

I love Bill Cunningham New York. I wanted to give that guy a hug when he broke down.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/25/13 at 9:04am

If you dug GREY GARDENS, check out SALESMAN, also from the Maysles brothers. The film centers on a group of door-to-door Bible salesmen, eventually focusing on one of them. One of the most devastating films ever made about the U.S.

There's also Claude Lanzmann's SHOAH, the nine-odd hour long documentary about the Holocaust, that every human being should see. Far more than a catalogue of horror, Lanzmann avoids newsreel footage, choosing to interview survivors of the camps as well as guards, train operators, historians, even locals who happen to live in areas where large numbers of Jews were exterminated. One remarkable section involves a historian who gets the most remarkable information out of a train schedule -- he's able to demonstrate that these large trains crammed with humans were being run in broad daylight, that the machinery of the Holocaust wasn't exactly being hidden from view. Another remarkable section involves a survivor who returns to his small Polish village, and is greeted warmly by a group of locals who, under Lanzmann's gentle, pleasant, unobtrusive questioning, start to show some less than admirable qualities.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/25/13 at 9:26am

20 Feet from Stardom
Searching for Sugarman
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Unzipped (Isaac Mizrahi doc)
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/25/13 at 9:33am

Check out the HOLLYWOOD series by Kevin Brownlow, about American silent cinema. Absolutely essential viewing for anyone with an interest in movies.

Updated On: 11/25/13 at 09:33 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/25/13 at 9:07pm

SHOAH was one of the most profound and moving experiences I have ever had at the cinema (even though I had to go alone, as all of my friends--Jew and Gentile alike--were put off by the length).

I also want to second the support for the PARADISE LOST films and THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK.

And I'll add THE THIN BLUE LINE, by Errol Morris, which actually got an inmate off death row in Texas, of all places!

***

FWIW the new doc on Stephen Sondheim premieres on HBO on December 9th.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 12:20pm

THE BRIDGE

Filmmakers obtained a permit to film traffic crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. That wasn't their objective. The intention was to document suicide jumpers. For an entire year in 2004, cameras were running for almost every daylight minute, and filming most of the two dozen suicides and a great many of the unrealized attempts.

Although the subject is morbid the interviews with the families, friends, witnesses and even several of the attempters themselves are incredible.
The Bridge website

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 1:31pm

If you are in the mood to just put your face in your hands and weep at the cold pointlessness of human tragedy, I highly recommend PBS' JONESTOWN and THE DONNER PARTY.

[javero]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 4:34pm

Just saw THE OTHER SHORE: THE DIANA NYAD STORY. It chronicles the 61 year old swimmer's attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. Her first couple of failed attempts heart-wrenching. But damn she puts the "t" in the word tenacious. She battled highly venomous jellyfish, sharks, the elements and Father Time to defy the odds.
The Other Shore: The Diana Nyad Story

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 4:39pm

I'm watching 'How To Survive A Plague' and was sobbing before the title even showed up.

This is a hard one to get through.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/30/13 at 2:40pm

Life After Tomorrow

Just don't try to discuss it on here because there are lurkers who will curse your mother for giving birth to you if you disagree with them.

I've already said too much and must now go into hiding.