Dive into the archives.
- Salesman (1968)
Who ever said that selling bibles was an easy job? The Maysales brothers masterpice direct cinema documentary film is fascinating. Beautifully shot and edited, it’s a story of determination, desparation, triumph and defeat.
- Don’t Look Back (1967)
D.A. Pennebaker’s direct cinema documentary of Bob Dylan on a 3 week tour of England in 1965. Dylan’s on-stage and off-stage personality split (introverted vs. agressive) is apparent and seems center to the shape that the film takes on. There’s also an interesting comment (attack) on mainstream media at large – by both Dylan and [...]
- Steep (2007)
In Steep, director Mark Obenhaus takes a look at the history and present-day practice of extreme skiiing with striking photography and awesome stories – these people are crazy!
- Documentary Film Modes – Genres – Types
Author Bill Nichols (Introduction to Documentary) breaks down documentary film modes as such:
.
Documentary Mode
Chief Characteristic
[Deficiences]
.
Hollywood Fiction (1910s)
Fictional narratives of imaginary worlds
[absence of reality]
.
Poetic Documentary (1920s)
Reassemble fragments of the world poetically
[lack of specificity, too abstract]
.
Expository Documentary (1920s)
Directly addresses issues in the historical world
[overly didactic]
.
Observational Documentary (1960s)
Eschew commentary and reenactment, observe things as they happen
[lack [...]
- Gates of Heaven (1978)
Continuing on my recent obsession with Errol Morris, next is a look at Gates of Heaven, a poignant exploration of the pet cemetery business. It’s touching, funny and sad all at the same time. Morris’ subjects seem as if they would be willing to tell him their deepest darkest secrets. They’re total at ease in [...]
- Fog of War (2003)
Errol Morris cracks the lid open on what was really going on inside the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations at the beginning of the cold war. The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is brilliant, frightening and fascinating.
- Standard Operating Procedure (2008)
In Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris interviews some of the US Army officials who were involved in the embarrassing mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It’s pretty scary to see the low intelligence levels of these people against the relativity high degree of responsibility that they were given at the prison. In true Morris [...]
- What would you do with an extra $18,000 in your pocket
Not just a commentary on Burger King but rather the whole idea of how out of whack we have become. $18,000…the amount of extra cash each and every Burger King employee in America would have received last year if Goldman Sachs (one of the fast-food chain’s largest owners) had shared its bailout billions with rank-and-file [...]
- Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoop Dreams, the domestic ethnographic documentary film by Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx follows two inner-city teenage boys, Arthur Agee and William Gates over the course of their high school years. Despite having similar dreams of playing the NBA, life circumstances plot them along two different paths with William receiving extra care and [...]
- My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That documents the remarkable shot to fame of 4 year-year-old Marla Olmstead and her abstract paintings. Bar-Lev’s original intent was to capture the story of Marla, her art and the impact on her family with her rise to stardom. But there’s a turning point in the film where Amir’s [...]
- Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera, the original trail blazer film of technical virtuosity. Above is a trailer of sorts / re-edited short with the beautiful music of The Cinematic Orchestra. Watch the entire film here.
- We Live in Public (2008)
From director Ondi Timoner, We Live in Public is the story of one of the first DOT COM visionaries, Joshua Harris. The film just won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. It looks amazing – I just need to get my hands on it now…
- The Take (2004) :: Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
The Take is a documentary film about Argentinian factory workers – factory workers that after losing their jobs following the country’s economic downturn of the early 2000’s, decide to operate their former place of employment themselves. The film work is far from ground breaking but the ideas and story presented are eye opening. Take this [...]
- Chisholm ‘72 Unbought & Unbossed :: Documentary Film
Shirley Chisholm is the real deal. In 1972 she ran for the democratic leadership position on track to run for President – laying the ground work for Obama some 36 years later. Chisholm ‘72 Unbought & Unbossed weaves between archived footage and present day interviews to paint the story of fearlessness, determination and crack-whip intelligence [...]
- Nanook of the North (1922)
Nanook of the North is considered to be one of the first documentary films as we know them today. Robert Flaherty follows Nanook and his family over the course of year, highlighing their methods of livelyhood and survival while living in northern Quebec. We’re shown how they travel (dog sled and kayak), shelter building (igoos [...]
