The Documentary Film Thread

[The Nal]

Been caning the American President docs recently

- Reagan American Idol

- PBS American Experience JFK

- PBS American Experience Nixon

- The President (History Channel)

All excellent. PBS really is the biz. Check out the gold here in the American Experience series.

Edited December 23, 2014 by The Nal

[The Nal]

New (ish) James Brown documentary produced by Mick Jagger. A missed opportunity. Sort of skims the surface without going anywhere really.

[The Nal]

This looks fascinating.

As does this upcoming doc on Walt Disney.

Edited March 2, 2015 by The Nal

[When Jokers Attack]

This looks fascinating.

As does this upcoming doc on Walt Disney.

Watched that trailer then just went back on YouTube again there and this popped up in my suggestions

http://youtu.be/-BkW2kJYALg

[t8yman]

Loved CITIZENFOUR last week on C4. Anyone who thinks Ed Snowden is a traitor is fucking deluded.

[The Nal]

Watched that trailer then just went back on YouTube again there and this popped up in my suggestions

Been searching for that for months! Cheers, made my day!

Watched Two Days in October last night. Vietnam again. Really good. All the American Experience stuff is on youtube. Goldmine.

http://youtu.be/OVVinmU55zQ

[The Nal]

Last Days in Vietnam was only ok IMO.

Nothing really about the political side of things, nothing really from the North Vietnamese side of things. Just a lot of (excellent) footage, talking heads and stories about how they got out.

[Ted Dansons Wig]

The Culture High is excellent (about the pros and cons of legalisation of MJ and how the drug companies keep it illegal). Its on Netflix.

Theres also a 2 hour Adam Curtis doc on iplayer "Bitter Lake" about the dumbing down of news and information. Its almost a full piece to the 2 minute slot we got on Charlie Brookers 2014 Wipe. Superb as all Curtis's work is. Its a bit of a tricky one to find - you have to go to iplayer radio for some reason - but it is there.

have put this up before - but in case you didnt see the Charlie Brooker piece:

Edited March 10, 2015 by Ted Dansons Wig

[lost]

Cracking book, princes of the yen has been turned into a doc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY

[lost]

Montage of Heck trailer:

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

[t8yman]

What an incredible piece of work "Bitter Lake" is. Everything about it is so incredibly well done. I can't recommend it highly enough.

It starts fairly slowly, and I thought I knew where it was going, but it wasn't presented in a way I was expecting. Curtis does an incredible job of examining how middle east politics have evolved over the last century, and how the superpowers influenced said change, and how Saudi Arabia and Wahabism flourished on the back of oil and the US dependence on it.

The footage is fantastic, I loved the way many shots are obscured - a direct mirror on the way the stories are obscured by our leaders and news organisations. The soundtrack was brilliant and the narration perfect - voiceover was used sparingly, only when absolutely needed yet eerily absent at times.

An incredible study on why simplifying a complex situation can never work. Its rarely black and white, rarely good vs evil, and never a good idea to think it is.

I loved it.

and this song is the perfect soundtrack choice, never heard it before watching the film but I love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-tI4VsDyWI

Edited March 19, 2015 by t8yman

[lost]

An incredible study on why simplifying a complex situation can never work. Its rarely black and white, rarely good vs evil, and never a good idea to think it is.

I like this about alot of Curtis's work, he doesn't take the traditional left vs right paradigm view of the world where a simplistic argument is made that if we get the "right" guys in charge everything will be ok, he explains it almost like chaos theory where politicians from both sides can make what they think are well meaning decisions but they can reverberate out with devastating consequences years later.. It is quite a nihilistic view of the world though, I wonder if that's why he used alot of Nine Inch Nails soundtracks.

[When Jokers Attack]

The footage is fantastic, I loved the way many shots are obscured - a direct mirror on the way the stories are obscured by our leaders and news organisations. The soundtrack was brilliant and the narration perfect - voiceover was used sparingly, only when absolutely needed yet eerily absent at times.

Spot on.

I read a lot of criticism about the pacing of Bitter Lake because of those kind of shots, they were some of my favourite parts.

I watched Century of Self a few days later and also loved that. Will need to watch more of his stuff.

[t8yman]

"The Power Of Nightmares" was fantastic.

On another note - I mentioned this in the telly thread, but it belongs in here more. Watch "Jinx" its an HBO 6 parter about a real life murder mystery, with some genuine WTF moments in it. The story has actually re-emerged in the last few days in the news, so try and avoid everything you can about Robert Durst in the press if you intend to watch it. Its incredible. we are only up to ep 4 so far, I cant wait to see where it goes in the last 3.

[When Jokers Attack]

I actually started watching The Jinx last night, was pretty late so fell asleep but got about 15 minutes left in the first episode, very interesting stuff.

Unfortunately I know the outcome as saw something on Twitter the other day.

[t8yman]

Jinx was fantastic. I kind of avoided the spoiler, but even if you know the basics - its a hell of a finale.

and I am now in love with this track

Edited March 24, 2015 by t8yman

[When Jokers Attack]

One of my favourite Eels tunes.

[The Nal]

Nabbing The Jinx now. And Bitter Lake.

Which one will the missus enjoy more?

[t8yman]

jinx I reckon, its a well paced story, presented in a traditional manner, whereas bitter lake is a bit more experimental in its presentation. My mrs loved Jinx, I doubt she would have sat through bitter lake.

[modey]

Grabbed all the episodes of jinx today, never heard anything about him or his story before but the first episode has got me very interested..

[The Nal]

jinx I reckon, its a well paced story, presented in a traditional manner, whereas bitter lake is a bit more experimental in its presentation. My mrs loved Jinx, I doubt she would have sat through bitter lake.

Watched the first two last night. Really good! Missus loved it aswell.

[t8yman]

You havent even scratched the surface of the craziness!

[The Nal]

You havent even scratched the surface of the craziness!

I can imagine. It gets more crazy with every minute! Gripping stuff.

Also been watching a lot of gangster documentaries on youtube. Lots of great ones on there. Theres a really good one on the real Donnie Brasco I watched this week.

https://youtu.be/wDRKRLgGZWY

Edited March 26, 2015 by The Nal

[When Jokers Attack]

I can imagine. It gets more crazy with every minute! Gripping stuff.

Also been watching a lot of gangster documentaries on youtube. Lots of great ones on there. Theres a really good one on the real Donnie Brasco I watched this week.

https://youtu.be/wDRKRLgGZWY

Give this one a watch if you haven't already seen it.

[lost]

There was a Trevor McDonald doc on the mafia that started last week.. first episode was ok but nothing to get excited about.