Last documentary you watched?

The Dark Charisma of Adolf HItler

I recorded them to watch in more detail, but - unusually for Laurence Rees - it didn't seem that intriguing.

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007 (2012, directed by Stevan Riley). Excellent.

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (2011, directed by David Gelb). The life and times of one of Japan's most revered sushi masters, the 85-year-old Jiro Ono, proprietor of a Tokyo subway station restaurant that seats ten and boasts three Michelin stars. A slightly pretentious documentary but absorbing nonetheless.

I'm watching this at the moment.

SHINE A LIGHT (2008, directed by Martin Scorsese). What starts out as a fly-on-the-wall rockumentary of a legendary and idiosyncratic band on tour (SPINAL TAP for real, if you will) swiftly becomes a straight concert film of the Rolling Stones performing to a small and star-studded crowd (comprising the likes of Bill Clinton and Bruce Willis) at a benefit show in Manhattan. While there's no denying the still-impressive musicianship of Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, the enduring appeal of some of their songs and the frankly phenomenal energy and showmanship of Mick Jagger (63 at the time), it's telling that Scorsese chooses every so often to cut away to brief clips of old television interviews of the Stones in their prime. It's not entirely clear why he does this - is it to provide a potted history of the band (as though some viewers may be wondering how long these fellas have been at it - was it maybe some time in the 1980s that they first made it big?), or merely to break the monotony? Is it to show how much the Stones have changed across the decades or how little? Is it just to celebrate the fact that these guys have being doing their thing for a preposterously long time? Whatever the reasons, this footage of yesteryear is more compelling and resonant than anything else in SHINE A LIGHT and makes one wish that Scorsese had made a documentary about the Stones along the lines of the one that he went on to make about George Harrison. As it stands, SHINE A LIGHT is watchable - and, more crucially, listenable - enough, although, as a no-frills concert movie that occasionally seems poised to veer off into more interesting territory without ever really doing so, it falls some way short of providing full, erm, satisfaction.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE (2009, directed by Mat Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom). Naomi Klein takes on so-called disaster capitalism. Interesting and thought-provoking, with some excellent use of archive footage, yet also a somewhat heavyhanded and extremely one-sided affair that also seems too short to fully explore the various issues it raises.

THE STONE ROSES: MADE OF STONE (2013, directed by Shane Meadows). An essential watch for Roses fans like myself, but what others will make of it I've no idea. May well have one of the most extraordinary opening shots in cinema history.

JOY DIVISION (2007, directed by Grant Gee). A poignant and absorbing look at the brief career of one of the best British bands of the 1970s.

Sarah Polley's THE STORIES WE TELL

I didn't know that broad from Zack Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake was a documentary director. And not a bad one, either.

Quite an engaging documentary detailing the discovery of the director's biological father and an interesting analysis of how and why humans tell stories.

CROSSFIRE HURRICANE (2012, directed by Brett Morgen). The Rolling Stones' career is given a fiftieth anniversary celebration with this absorbing documentary (produced by the band) stuffed with fascinating archive footage that makes this as much a slice of social history as a look at these rock legends. Regrettably, though, pretty short shrift is given to much of the band's doings after the turn of the 1980s - okay, so most of their best music was made in the 1960s and 1970s, but the 1980s and beyond presumably saw them become bigger than ever (and bigger than just about anyone ever) as a live act and I wish the film showed more of the Stones' modern era. Still, this makes a fine cinematic companion to Philip Norman's excellent biography The Stones.

Thanks for the recommendations, Loomis. Love the Stones - and their lifestyle and history almost as much as the music.

You're right about the later years too. Very interesting how they outdid so many modern bands in arena tickets. And the energy... Yikes.

Any American TV viewers, I need help. I was watching a JFK documentary on the History Channel a week before the 22nd. I've been trying to remember the title, but have drawn a blank. If anybody remembers what this documentary was, you'd be doing me a service. It was on at about eight PM. It was a really good documentary, too.

A German documentary about Ivan the Terrible. I must confess I never really knew much about him before. What a tragic life story.

Ivan Groznyi was one of history's greatest monsters. A sadistic maniac with virtually unlimited power.

A part of me wants to say the original THE BAD NEWS BEARS, because, having been through little league just a few years before that movie came out, it was so close to the real thing it was almost frightening. But to tell the truth, BNB isn't as cynical as it could have been.

Actually most recent doc watch was a few months back, a long film about folk horror movies, title escapes me. Focused on WICKER MAN and WITCHFINDER GENERAL among others, and was very engaging. Before that it was probably the Orson Welles doc that Netflix did around the time of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND coming out.

EL SENDERO DE LA ANACONDA
About the Colombian part of the Amazon and the indigenous people there. I sometimes envy them their way of living.

Saw a documentary about the life and death of Brian Jones. Seems like he was murdered after all.

Finally got through all the episodes of The Beatles: Get Back

Excellent, essential, etc. I'm sure BI has seen it?

Found this sorta review of the documentary which doubles as great writing about the band.

https://ianleslie.substack.com/p/the-banality-of-genius-notes-on-peter

Quote :

We get glimpses of how overbearing and annoying [Paul] could be. He doesn’t shout or bully but he is so clear, at least in his mind, about what he wants from a song that he can leave little room for the others to feel like they are anything but session musicians. We see him react to whatever George says with minimal interest, and pay scant attention to George’s songs. At the same time, he is self-aware enough to know he is annoying people, and emotionally intelligent enough to diagnose the underlying problem: that the group needs a decision-maker but resists anyone who tries to take the role. Paul’s creative vitality makes him the navigator but the others aren’t keen on him driving the car. In the flowerpot conversation, we hear Paul reassuring John that he’s the boss, has always been the boss, John demurring. Paul has power without legitimacy; John has legitimacy but no longer wants power.

Am not a Disney+ subscriber, but way well give it a go if it pops up elsewhere.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Am not a Disney+ subscriber, but way well give it a go if it pops up elsewhere.

Neither am I...

BATMAN AND BILL
Finger, of course. About the one man crusade to get BF the recognition he deserved as co-creator of Batman.

Saw a doc last night about a European scientific expedition to the Antarctic. Surprised to learn there are 70 000 tourists going there every year. Fascinating environment.

KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK
Co-produced by his daughter Frances, this is an interesting dive into the life and art of a troubled, artistic soul.

Hollywood Bulldogs - very entertaining docu about the British stunt performers who worked on TV shows and movies from the 60s to the 90s such as The Avengers, The Saint, Indiana Jones and of course Bond.

Familiar faces are interviewed (Paul Weston, Vic Armstrong and Rocky Taylor to name but three). Amusingly (but unsurprisingly), all interviewees are agreed that by far the worst director to work for was Michael Winner.

A FORBIDDEN ORANGE
Story that centers around the banning of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in certain areas in 1971, and in Spain in particular. Narrated by McDowell. ACO was not the first Kubrick film to be banned there. The same happened with SPARTACUS and LOLITA for different reasons. It also focuses on the work by the Valladolid Film Festival to get it shown.

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist

Same director did one a few years back some of you all might have seen called 78/52 which dissected the Psycho shower scene.

Roughly same idea here (perhaps a little less philosophizing) but with Friedkin and the dissection is happening to the entirety of The Exorcist. Biggest takeaway was how absolutely seriously he approached the film, saying there was no talk about it as a "horror film" and he felt he could not approach the material as a skeptic would.

He also seems to be somewhat frustrated by his ending of the film, saying he could not explain the mechanics of it today as he sat there. But then presumably this is where the title of the doc comes in, suggesting the ambiguity to the director might itself provide the film's final coloring.