Off topic - documentary movies.

[Mudcat]

Damn there have been some good documentaries in the last couple years (if you're into that kind of thing).

I just saw Born Into Brothels which just came out on DVD. It was last year's winner of the Best Documentary Oscar. It's a fascinating, and in some ways chilling, story of a group of kids who are children of Calcutta prostitutes. Some of them are from generations of prostitutes. The film is about their lives and their world and also some efforts to find better lives for them and "end the cycle."

But it's not just that. There have been some really great docs recently. Off the top of my head:

The Corporation
The Fog of War
Spellbound
Supersize Me
Capturing the Friedmans
Stevie
In the Realms of the Unreal
The Life of Leni Riefenstahl (I don't remember the full, proper title but it was about the woman who was Hitler's secretary right up to the end).

That's just from the last year or two. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few good ones too.

(I'm purposely not mentioning Michael Moore. IMO there's nothing more boring than people bickering about Michael Moore.)

[moses millsap]

Supersize Me was good and engaging. I've seen two in the theatres the last few months and was disappointed by both (perhaps because the media had hyped them up so much? Even on their own, I thought both were average and grossly overrated): Murderball and Grizzly Man. I'm drawing a blank, but one of my favorite documentaries is Paradise Lost: The child murders at Robin Hood Hills. Excellent, excellent work. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117293/

[natrass]

Yeah, supersize me was a disapointment.

I reckon you only really need to see the trailer ... man lives on McDonalds for X months ... man feels sick ....

[Mudcat]

Well the MacDonalds bit was the main gimmick but the movie itself was about much broader issues of public health and attitudes, I thought.

To each his own.



I was mainly focusing on the last couple years here but, in a private message, the subject of the film Crumb was brought up.

GREAT documentary from about 10 years back.

[natrass]

No, you're right Mudcat ... Id obviously over-summarised it for comedic effect - but the bits about healthy eating and so on were, ah well, a bit obvious I felt. But yeah, the guy was quite funny with it.

Its funny, but on reading your post Im gonna watch Capturing the Friedmans again in an hour or so (I say again, haven't actually seen it all yet coz the DVD jumps about ... but Im feeling lucky).

The best I have ever seen would probably be one called the Civil War or something (and I knew nothing about the history) but it was brilliant. Was on over here at like 10.30am on a Saturday ... criminal when you see the @@@@ they put out later.

The West is tops too. In fact, i might watch that instead!! You sure can make great TV over there, thats for sure.

[Mudcat]

Well just so we're clear, I wasn't saying Capturing the Friedmans was good because it's warm, fuzzy and has a happy ending with neat little ribbons tied on it.

I wasn't suggesting the Friedmans themselves are great.

It's weird, disturbing, somewhat infuriating, sometimes uncomfortable. It forces you to think.

[Pedro]

Supersize me was awesome.

The movie was not only about a guy eating burgers and getting sick.

It was also about how giant corporatation influence america and brainwash its citizens by marketing them to death at the same time f...g up their lives by making them fat and miserable in the name of profit. That's the message I took away from it. There was a lot of things intersecting with messages of the 'The Corporation'.

"The End of Suburbia" was quite awesome, too.


Pedro

[natrass]

Sorry, mudcat, I wasn't disagreeing with you ... tell the truth Ive only seen the start of Capturing the Friedmans and i was hooked (about 25 mins). Then the DVD started to jump. Ive cleaned it and Im going to try again ... but what I saw was engrossing and, yes, totally disturbing.

I re-read my post and was thinking 'when did I say it was funny' ... and I think it might be a language thing. When we (in the UK) say "its funny" we mean "its strange or a coincidence" ...

As for supersize me ... sure, different strokes for different folks. But, Ive just remembered the bit about targeting kids which was a bit of an eye-opener. Ahhhh, I cant lie ... I just didn't like it, Ive gotta confess

[Mudcat]

No, no - I didn't take you to be disagreeing with me.

I just suddenly got a queasy feeling that people would see me saying that Capturing the Friedmans was great and think I'm pro-Friedmans.

I just suddenly had a bout of extreme self-consciousness.

For those that aren't aware, it's a doc about an extremely creepy subject (a family of alleged pedophiles).

[pags11]

Hoop Dreams...great movie...got to party with Arthur Agee about 2 months ago...pretty cool guy...

[OldeTymePlaya]

Bob Dylan fans will like No Direction Home.

[tacomax]

OK, this isn't a movie but it was a documentary which was shown on UK TV. It's about a precocious 10-year old antiques dealer who had a sex change a number of years later. It's probably one of the funniest and/or most disturbing things I've ever watched.

If you've got a few $s spare and want to trust the word of some anonymous person on an internet forum then buy it - you've never seen anything like this before, trust me.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007TKR48/qid%3D1127489109/202-8908591-9244669

[Mudcat]

That sounds intriguing to say the least. I will keep an eye open for it.