Author Topic: Documentary recs  (Read 104375 times)

Paul DePhiladelphia

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #30 on: June 14, 2010, 03:07:55 PM »
Hey Mike I'm hard-pressed to think of a scene I love more than Ross McElwee's father being serenaded with Christmas carols by his yardman and his wife.

SJK

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #31 on: June 14, 2010, 04:07:09 PM »
Hospital - OOP Fred Wiseman - if you can find a copy PLEASE let me know

Mike, if you look on his website you could order a DVD copy of Hospital for $30, see link below:
http://www.zipporah.com/films/23


Smelodies

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #32 on: June 14, 2010, 08:59:16 PM »

Paul DePhiladelphia

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #33 on: June 14, 2010, 09:43:39 PM »
Hospital - OOP Fred Wiseman - if you can find a copy PLEASE let me know

Mike, if you look on his website you could order a DVD copy of Hospital for $30, see link below:
http://www.zipporah.com/films/23



I used to have Hospital but I'm not sure where it went. Wiseman is a master. I have about 20 of his films on dvd-r from back when I used to trade with people in the Harmony Korine forum years ago. I've only seen a handful but I really loved Blind, Centarl Park, Ballet and Belfast, Maine. Truly hypnotizing films.

DJ Clem

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #34 on: June 15, 2010, 08:54:16 PM »
I thought that Dear Zachary was well-intentioned but fell into a very sensationalistic, Court TV vibe, especially during "the big reveal." A heartbreaking but ham-fisted story.

Scofflaw

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #35 on: June 15, 2010, 08:58:29 PM »
people may have mentioned these already, but Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z-Boys are two of the best documentaries around. Especially Riding Giants.

Paul DePhiladelphia

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #36 on: June 15, 2010, 10:20:47 PM »
Still no reply on Streetwise?

here it is in 10 parts (they all work, I checked):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h-scpQ_szM&feature=related

Bryan

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #37 on: June 16, 2010, 08:05:29 AM »
I thought that Dear Zachary was well-intentioned but fell into a very sensationalistic, Court TV vibe, especially during "the big reveal." A heartbreaking but ham-fisted story.

Yup, that's true. I felt like it was a pretty amazing story, but not a great movie.

MikeInManhattan

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #38 on: June 16, 2010, 10:07:22 AM »
Hospital - OOP Fred Wiseman - if you can find a copy PLEASE let me know

Mike, if you look on his website you could order a DVD copy of Hospital for $30, see link below:
http://www.zipporah.com/films/23



Wow! Thanks for the lead! I think it is definitely worth the $30. I thought of this the other day because you can see it from the FDR.

JonFromMaplewood

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #39 on: June 17, 2010, 11:47:53 AM »
Although one of Errol Morris' stranger documentaries, something about "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" really worked for me.  I usually list it as one of my favorite films of all time. 

Maybe I liked it so much because it is so hard to explain the subject.  If someone asks me what it is about, I either offer the mundane "It's about four guys and their respective vocations" or I give the over-broad, pompous-sounding "It poses the ultimate ontological question: What does it mean to be 'alive?'"

There is a shot in that movie taken in a circus, showing a woman's ankle and a horse's ankle as they both curtsy side by side. It may be the most beautiful shot I have ever seen.


(I also loved Hands On A Hard Body, Food Inc, American Movie, Dig!, and Manufacturing Consent)
"I'm riding the silence like John Cage up in this piece." -Tom Scharpling

jbissell

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #40 on: June 17, 2010, 02:16:04 PM »
I thought that Dear Zachary was well-intentioned but fell into a very sensationalistic, Court TV vibe, especially during "the big reveal." A heartbreaking but ham-fisted story.

Yup, that's true. I felt like it was a pretty amazing story, but not a great movie.

Exactly my feelings.

Wiseman's Titicut Follies is probably perfect Depravity's Rainbow material.

fonpr

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #41 on: June 17, 2010, 05:10:00 PM »
Manufacturing Consent

Seconded, Jon. 

Music and fast-cut editing compensates for Noam's drone while not losing the message..
"Like it or not, Florida seems dedicated to a 'live fast, die' way of doing things."

SJK

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #42 on: June 17, 2010, 05:40:10 PM »
I could recommend, "Our Daily Bread".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhLesXW8S_8[/youtube]

Write up as seen on youtube page:

"OUR DAILY BREAD reveals the little-known world of high-tech agriculture. In a series of visually stunning, continuously tracking, wide-screen images that seem right out of a science-fiction movie, we see the places where food is cultivated and processed: surreal landscapes optimized for agricultural machinery, clean rooms in cool industrial buildings designed for maximum efficiency, and elaborate machines that operate on a 'disassembly line' basis.

Dispensing entirely with explanatory commentary or 'talking-head' interviews, OUR DAILY BREAD unfolds on the screen like a disturbing dream: an endlessly fascinating flow of images, an insistent gaze, accompanied only by the persistent industrial soundtrack—whirring, clattering, booming, slurping—of the ingenious marvels of mechanization employed by agri-business.
"

Also, "Control Room".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-C-pf6ZPmw[/youtube]

fonpr

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #43 on: June 17, 2010, 08:12:41 PM »
Hands On A Hard Body

I guess Mike has gotten to me.  I didn't think for a second the movie was about a truck.

I was seriously disappointed when it was.  Thanks, AP!
"Like it or not, Florida seems dedicated to a 'live fast, die' way of doing things."

Bryan

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #44 on: June 17, 2010, 08:37:18 PM »
I could recommend, "Our Daily Bread".

Ooh, this is right up my alley. Thanks for mentioning it. It's now on my list! It looks a bit like the Edward Burtynsky doc, Manufactured Landscapes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5SJ39LsDg[/youtube]