Quote:
A worthy documentary on the first 60 years of jazz with an emphasis on Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and swing.
Review (Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times)
The word that comes to mind most often while you're watching Frederick Wiseman's unambiguous new documentary, Domestic Violence, is weariness. The fatigue starts with the police officers, who come off best with their measured responses in the tense aftermath of household warfare. You can only imagine how many of these incidents they've rolled into, and their ability to move through them and ask the relevant questions without being sickened by another depressing tableau is testament to their patience in their work.
Grand Prize, USA Film Festival
"A highly emotional personal essay on Christian anti-Semitism that weaves together history, autobiography and snippets of Hollywood films depicting the life of Jesus."
–Stephen Holden, The New York Times
King of the Jews is a film about anti-Semitism and transcendence. Utilizing Hollywood movies, 1950's educational films, personal home movies and religious films, the filmmaker depicts his childhood fear of Jesus Christ. These childhood recollections are a point of departure for larger issues such as the roots of Christian anti-Semitism.
Seat-of-the Pants Director: Lights! Camera! Gumption!
Meet Mark Borchardt, the funny, garrulous subject of the not-to-be-missed documentary ''American Movie.'' He's someone you won't soon forget. He has dedicated himself to making a no-budget black-and-white horror film that features homemade scarecrows and primitive acting, one that's not about to rival ''The Blair Witch Project'' in anything but the expletive department. But that doesn't matter. The point is that Mr. Borchardt cobbles together this project as if his life depended on it, because it does. Insightfully and stirringly, not to mention hilariously, ''American Movie'' shows why.
Quote:
Human Remains is a haunting documentary which illustrates the banality of evil by creating intimate portraits of five of this century’s most reviled dictators. The film unveils the personal lives of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco and Mao Tse Tung. We learn the private and mundane details of their everyday lives -- their favorite foods, films, habits and sexual preferences. There is no mention of their public lives or of their place in history. The intentional omission of the horrors for which these men were responsible hovers over the film.
Documentary mini-series about the rise and fall of the European silent film industry.
Brian Springer’s Spin has more than a passing similarity to Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway’s entertaining campaign documentary Feed, but rather than just put those missing moments from the satellite feed on display to amuse cynics and humble political players, Spin goes deeper into how and why the media distorts the images we see on television. While Feed is an effective demonstration of this particular use of satellite technology, Spin illustrates how crucial access to these uncensored moments can be in uncovering the media’s agenda. As Springer presents excised moments from coverage of the 1992 presidential primaries, the L.A. riots, and that year's Columbus Day celebrations, a disturbing pattern emerges of how carefully the American media sculpt news coverage of many events, in order, it seems, not to disturb the status quo.
Two ordinary inner-city kids dare to dream the impossible - professional basketball glory - in this epic chronicle of hope and faith. Filmed over a five-year period, Hoop Dreams follows young Arthur Agee and William Gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while striving to overcome the intense pressures of family life and the realities of their Chicago streets. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this landmark documentary chronicling two remarkable families who challenge the American dream.
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) is a documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield. It documents Broomfield's attempts to interview Wuornos, which involves a long process of mediation through her adopted mother Arlene Pralle and an incompetent lawyer, Steve. The film essentially highlights the exploitation of Wuornos by those around her, questioning how fair her trial can be given the vested interests of the police.
Quote:
A journey into the personal hell of Francis Ford Coppola, this revealing documentary adds a whole new dimension to the film Apocalypse Now. Using footage shot by Eleanor Coppola together with interviews, secret tape recordings and background material the result is far greater than the usual "Making of..." promotional video.
Depicting the effects of a mid-1980s strike by the employees of a Hormel meat-packing plant in Austin, Minnesota, Barbara Kopple's Academy Award-winning documentary American Dream observes both the daily struggles of the striking workers and the behind-the-scenes conflicts amongst the union leaders. Upset at a proposed pay cut, the local union chapter begins the strike against the advice of their parent organization, hiring an outside consultant who encourages the workers. This consultant's aggressive, no-compromise approach turns the conflict into national news but also alienates management. Soon, despite the efforts of a seasoned negotiator sent by the parent union, the company has locked out the workers and hired scabs, leading to a series of violent conflicts amongst members of the community. The workers' resolve progressively fades as the battle extends into months and years, and the financial hardships they and their families suffer leads some to doubt the value of their efforts. Kopple, who had previously covered an extended miner's strike in the acclaimed 1977 documentary Harlan County, USA, focuses on the personalities and emotions behind the strike, creating a highly charged portrait of labor that is sympathetic to the workers' distress without ignoring the strike's greater ambiguities.
Documentarian Marcel Ophüls (The Sorrow and the Pity) directed this brilliant 267-minute examination of Klaus Barbie, the infamous "Nazi Butcher of Lyons." Barbie was the Gestapo chief responsible for the death of most of Lyons' population, including women and children, during the Nazi occupation of France. After WW II, he cooperated with American intelligence agents, who helped him settle in Bolivia in 1951, conveniently ignoring his numerous atrocities. Finally, Barbie was extradited to France and put on trial in 1987, where he received a sentence of life in prison. Avoiding the usual atrocity footage, Ophüls instead comprises his film of interviews with those who knew Barbie, suffered because of him, or stood by and did nothing while he got away with murder. The accumulated details and appallingly self-serving answers to Ophüls' probing questions point an accusatory finger not only at Barbie, but at France, the United States, South America, and ultimately most of mankind. A stunning and powerful achievement, the film won the Oscar as "Best Documentary Feature" of 1988. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Quote:
A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were conducted with over one hundred women, including model Lauren Hutton and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Quote:
Filmmaker Ross McElwee grew up in the South and always marveled at how the folks there were affected by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman's legacy. Aiming to delve deeper into the region's interest, McElwee revisits the path of the general's march that took down the Confederacy. But the tone of his documentary changes when he learns his girlfriend has left him, causing him to second-guess himself with each woman he meets during the shoot.
Quote:
Like the fuzzy history of the Zapruder film or the legendary saunter of the Patterson Bigfoot footage, the short rock doc Heavy Metal Parking Lot proves that length is in no way a direct correlation to any kind of timeless point-and-stare curiosity. Passed around over the years via sloppy VHS dubs since its East Coast public access television debut in the mid-1980s, this feature runs just under 17 minutes, but in that time it packs a weird comic wallop, operating under the simple premise of interviewing a batch of long-haired tailgating stoner types partying it up in the parking lot of the Largo, Maryland Capitol Centre before a Judas Priest/Dokken concert in 1986.
Description: 'The Times of Harvey Milk', conceived and directed by Rob Epstein and produced by Richard Schmiechen, documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco's first openly gay supervisor. The film, at times humorous, at times tragic, documents the rise of Milk from a neighborhood activist to becoming a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination at San Francisco's city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath.
The Killing of America 1982
A hard-hitting shock-u-mentary about the rise of violence in the home of the brave. From the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy to the violent protests against the Vietnam war. From the ritual murders by Charles Manson’s ‘family’ to the rise of serial killers like Ted Bundy, Son Of Sam and John Wayne Gacy. From random sniper attacks on innocent civilians to the mass suicide of the Jim Jones cult in Guyana. THE KILLING OF AMERICA shows the real violence of America and the truth is often more disturbing than fiction.
THE KILLING OF AMERICA was co-written and co-produced by Leonard Schrader. Unlike his brother Paul’s dramatic recreations of the collapse of the American dream in TAXI DRIVER, HARDCORE & LIGHT SLEEPER, Leonard’s observations in this latter day mondo movie are based purely on the facts. THE KILLING OF AMERICA rises above genre contemporaries like FACES OF DEATH by posing serious questions about America’s gun laws and the cost of freedom
Plot summary: Atomic Cafe is a review of the atomic age and the beliefs held by Americans at the time. Many things such as Burt the Turtle who was the figurehead the "Duck and Cover" campaign are featured. Along with these film clips are portions of Army training films and demonstration films concerning atomic testing. All of these clips are combined to show how little the experts knew about atomics at the time. And even more to the heart, the point is to show the extent propaganda was used to mollify the fears of the American public, and her soldiers.
"For his second documentary feature, Errol Morris originally set out to chronicle Vernon, FL, because it had the highest rate of a particular sort of insurance fraud -- dismemberment performed for profit -- than any other place in the country. Nothing of that original idea survives in the film itself. Instead, Morris seems perfectly content letting the camera roll in front of the other eccentrics he found there, using his trademark approach of simply letting his subjects do the talking themselves. Many of them exhibit unusually close relationships to animals, including a turtle keeper, a worm farmer, and most memorably, an extremely enthusiastic turkey hunter. Other highlights include a sermon offering a close reading on the significance of the word "therefore" and a couple with a jar of sand from White Sands, NM, that they insist, thanks to radiation, has begun to multiply." -- Keith Phipps
Blurb from Wikipedia:
Gates of Heaven is a documentary film by Errol Morris about the pet cemetery business. It was made when Morris was unknown and did much to launch his career.
The film, like Morris' other works, is unnarrated and the stories are told purely through interviews. It is divided into two main sections. The first concerns Floyd "Mac" McClure and his lifelong quest to allow pets to have a graceful burial. McClure's business associates and his competitor, a manager of a rendering plant, are interviewed. Eventually the business fails and the 450 animals have to be dug up and transported to the Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park. This operation is run by John "Cal" Harberts and his two sons. This business is far more successful, and continues to operate today, run by Cal's son Dan Harberts.
A documentary on the history of garlic. Blank interviews chefs, garlic lovers, and historians about the their love of the 'stinking rose.'
From lesblank.com:
Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, and a flavorful musical soundtrack.
Description: IMDB - This anti-drug film is the second in the "Mods trilogy" the first is "They call us Mods".It´s the same persons as in the first film: The very young people has now grown up but now they take drugs and many of them dies.Kenta and Stoffe(they meet one time in the film and plays bowling) is no longer best friends.Stoffe dies in this film because of drugs.The last film in the trilogy is about Kenta´s and Stoffe´s children.
Marjoe is an 1972 Academy Award winning documentary film produced and directed by Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan about the life of evangelist Marjoe Gortner. Marjoe was a precocious child preacher with extraordinary talents, who was immensely popular in the American South. His parents earned large sums of money off him up until the point he outgrew his novelty. Marjoe rejoined the ministry as a young adult as a means of earning a living part-time, not as a believer, but as a charlatan. The film Marjoe documents his last revivals before coming out publicly as a phony. At the time of the film's release he generated considerable press, but the movie was never shown in theaters in the Southern United States, based on the fears of the distributor over the outrage it would cause in the Bible Belt.
Essene is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organizational priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules, work, worship, values, love, and play.
Quote:
Many people consider Texas bluesman Mance Lipscomb to be the greatest blues guitarist and songster of all time. This glowing portrait of the legendary musician (also life-long husband and sharecropper) is among Blank's special masterworks. Instead of growing bitter, tough times made Lipscomb sweet.
Posts
All Comments
