yeah indeed. tarnation also.sorta at a tangent but not really; whenever, in docs, you see old super 8 footage blown up & featured, i always think it holds up stunningly well - there are those passages in the daniel johnston doc of films he'd make as a kid, i think with his brothers, and dub over with voices, and they're just beautiful to look at, very full and warm + alive. like i feel like you can make a doc as a pretty varied tapestry of different sources & still thread it together somehow.
long time since i've seen vinyl but i remember it as looking like it was shot on video
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:41 (twelve years ago) link
But yes, it really doesn't have to take all that much. I try to shoot either on my own or maybe with one other person for sound (though I sometimes do both at once), but I have not made or worked on anything much longer than 30 minutes. Sometimes I feel like if you aren't blessed with the breadth of ideas and quickness of thought that someone like Agnes Varda has, you do need a few more people just to give you some flexibility, but it is a tradeoff.
― A41 (admrl), Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:43 (twelve years ago) link
oh I wonder if The Devil And Daniel Johnston will be in here. I would have voted for that!
Yes, Alan was on his own for Vinyl, and also for the next two (I Curmudgeon and Loved)--I was interviewed but wasn't used. He made another one after that, and seems to be doing well now--he got a retrospective at last year's Hot Docs festival here--so maybe he's got others who go on shoots now. I wish I could remember the film I saw that sparked the Denny McLain idea. The director spoke beforehand, and said he'd never touched a camera till he started whatever film he showed that night. (Wondering if it was the Arthur Kane documentary.)
I was surprised that Tarnation didn't get a single vote. The Devil and Daniel Johnston got a couple.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:54 (twelve years ago) link
i think i'd be de-railing if i went too far into my thoughts on the DJ doc here, partly b/c i assume it's discussed elsewhere & partly because my complaints are fairly vague and not well remembered, but i think i was less enthusiastic about it than some. i kinda feel like it never reconciled the key weird paradox with him, which is how the sort of heaviness of everything meets the artist part. like there are such heavy moments in which he's gone off the rails, + been in terrible situations, and i didn't feel they connected with the portrait of him other than as sort of detail, as biography. i don't know.
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:57 (twelve years ago) link
when i saw tarnation i loved it; i think it's probably suffered since from seeming unique as a production rather than as a film, or for maybe seeming a little emotionally heavy-handed (which obv how could it not be, but). i think there are weird things about it.
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:59 (twelve years ago) link
Of the two, I liked the Daniel Johnston better at the time. But I remember very little in terms of specifics now, other than Tarnation was the more unconventional.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 August 2011 01:02 (twelve years ago) link
i remember loving tarnation too; i think i considered putting it on my ballot but thinking id need 2 watch it again and make sure it was actually good
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 14 August 2011 01:40 (twelve years ago) link
I saw some new work by Jonathan Caouette recently...I kind of wish I hadn't
― A41 (admrl), Sunday, 14 August 2011 03:17 (twelve years ago) link
TARNATION is an atrocious film. Ignoring all the narcissism, I find it mindboggling that anyone found it aesthetically exciting ("lol 2003"?)
― ✇ (Tape Store), Sunday, 14 August 2011 07:03 (twelve years ago) link
The narcissism was intriguing enuff, but the iMovie raindrop overlay was a bit too much.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 August 2011 07:08 (twelve years ago) link
i hate tarnation so fucking much. like in that thinking of it makes me angry sort of way.
otoh i was one of the votes for devil daniel johnston etc. so it is DOOMED
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 August 2011 07:55 (twelve years ago) link
I love you guys who hate Tarnation. I wasn't going to say anything, so I'm glad you did.
― Jeff, Sunday, 14 August 2011 08:30 (twelve years ago) link
Receiving a vote from jjjusten was the latest blow for Daniel Johnston in a life filled with tragedy.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 August 2011 12:16 (twelve years ago) link
I'll resume this with #25 tomorrow morning. My only regret so far is not naming the thread "Documentaries! The Story of Documentaries."
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 04:15 (twelve years ago) link
feel terrible using this thread for non-top-40-related material, but it seems so much smarter than reviving another docu thread, since everyone's here:
skimming this earlier, i wondered if anyone has seen any of tsuchimoto noriaki's films
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Monday, 15 August 2011 12:04 (twelve years ago) link
I said I was going to make note of first-place votes, and then forgot all about it. I'll start doing that with today's films. It's a little ambiguous on a few ballots, where there are point values but the films aren't numbered, and two or three films are tied at the top with the most points. I'll assume the one that's listed first is that person's #1.
There were three films not in the Top 40 that each drew one first-place vote: With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film, Sans Soleil, and Eyes on the Prize. Of the films I counted down on Friday, each of these also received one first-place vote: Être et Avoir, The World at War, Spellbound, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, and Shoah.
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:26 (twelve years ago) link
Sans Soleil
ILX, you fucking bastard!
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 14:28 (twelve years ago) link
#25: Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mJhtf0fqf7s/TCItcK_623I/AAAAAAAAEIw/k7KynMzaAgU/s400/paris+burning+3-1.jpg
32 points/3 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydA7-qCv570
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
Oh shit, there's a Ronald McDonald biopic?
― JimD, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:34 (twelve years ago) link
#24: Winter Soldier (Fred Aronow/Robert Fiore/David Gillis/David Grubin/Jeff Holstein/Michael Lesser, 1972)
http://www.fromthevaultradio.org/home/wp-content/images/FTV008_Memorial%20Day%20Special/john%20kerry%20winter%20soldier.jpg
32 points/4 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucmDbv-Ck60
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:35 (twelve years ago) link
No director is listed for Winter Soldier, so I listed the cinematographers. To head off any complaints, I chose the Kerry still simply because its dimensions were most suitable--if I remember correctly, he's not in the film much.
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
Don't be afraid to watch WS, Kerry's not in it that much.
xp!
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
Not only did I psychically divine complaints, I psychically divined where they'd come from!
http://www.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/images/lowrez/jckarnak211.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:45 (twelve years ago) link
#22: The Century of the Self (Adam Curtis, 2002)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/images/bernays_lead.jpg
35 points/2 votes/1 first-place vote
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUYFr-uDQgg
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
#22: Hype! (Doug Pray, 1996)
http://thefilmist.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/hype3.jpg?w=280&h=175
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZh_qP6lv98
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:52 (twelve years ago) link
For a second, thought there was a documentary called "Would Smash"
― Mark G, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:52 (twelve years ago) link
Nice that Paris is Burning placed, but I'm reading you all so hard over the Marker snub.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 14:55 (twelve years ago) link
#21: Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cTV4oFOmN74/Svmunhm_clI/AAAAAAAAAao/3elVrc4hyp8/s320/dylan_l.jpg
35 points/3 votes/1 first-place vote
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6HcA6kEJc
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 14:56 (twelve years ago) link
Don't give a shit.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 14:56 (twelve years ago) link
I like DLB fine but didn't vote for it. Hype! is nice but for fuck's sake.
who voted for Paris Is Burning besides Eric and me?
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2011 14:59 (twelve years ago) link
#1 in this poll is gonna have, like, 6 votes total.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
#20: Grey Gardens (Albert Maysles/David Maysles/Ellen Hovde/Muffie Meyer, 1975)
http://www.mayslesfilms.com/films/images/greygardens/greygardens.jpg
35 points/5 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyaRYMFWYxs&feature=related
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
Eric, you're not even close. But by all means, keep the complaints coming.
Happy gay day, An Impossible Job: ILX's 40 Favorite Documentaries poll thread.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
Century of the Self was my adam curtis selection.
I'm really glad someone gave Hype! a first place vote. I gave it 5 points and wasn't sure if it would rank, but I think it owns really hard.
― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
The banana I ate for breakfast is as close to being the best documentary ever.
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:04 (twelve years ago) link
But by all means, keep the complaints coming.
I'll keep quiet so long as stuff like Grey Gardens are in the mix.
But the next lame music doc that shows up, I'm paging Tape Store to thread.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
#19: Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
http://i2.listal.com/image/113777/600full-koyaanisqatsi%3A-life-out-of-balance-photo.jpg
35 points/6 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY4L5npPdao&feature=related
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
damn, wouldn't have even thought of koyaanisqatsi. forever since i saw it, also.
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
I voted for it. Koyaanisqatsi was a very moving experience the first time I watched it. Powaqqatsi bored me to tears, and I never saw the third one.
― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:08 (twelve years ago) link
#18: Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
http://silverdocs.com/media/images/films/lg/StopMakingSense-a.jpg
38 points/5 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHJmPcILfg8&feature=related
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
also don't look back is excellent just as a study of bob dylan's bubble, milieu, brain, fans, times, &c, irrespective of it being a music doc.
i actually think powaqatsi's good, just incredibly frustrating if you go in expecting something molded by recurrence and rhythm, like the first. it has that great really-long-train shot. koyaanisqatsi's one of those things that i loved first seeing, but was p young when doing so, so am inherently suspicious of my judgment of.
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
Eric, there isn't much music in Don't Look Back; I don't think you hear BD perform a complete song aside from the Subterranean Homesick "video."
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
I haven't seen Stop Making Sense since it came out--not a fan--so I hope the YouTube clip is indeed from the film.
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
Srsly, people.
― third-generation stripper (Eric H.), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
as I've said, Demme's is my favorite concert film, but I chose not to consider them documentaries. Just like many of you apparently chose not to consider political films documentaries.
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:12 (twelve years ago) link
i ignored concert films with one exception, but Stop Making Sense is way up there with the best and a personal fav. good album too
― bruce actual springsteen (schlump), Monday, August 15, 2011 11:10 AM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark
yeah you might be right. my predominant memory of it is as a movie consisting of slow shots of indian peasants herding cattle. it didnt have the same pizzazz for me, i guess
― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
what do you mean by political films, morbs
#17: Brother’s Keeper (Joe Berlinger/Bruce Sinofsky, 1992)
http://media.ifc.com/img/movies/main-image/310x229_brotherskeeper.jpg
40 points/2 votes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlDSGMAyUrE
― clemenza, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:14 (twelve years ago) link