An Impossible Job: ILX's 40 Favorite Documentaries

haha i just looked up belfast, maine. 245 minutes! with this glowing review on imdb:

This is not a film for anyone under 35. Wiseman manages to portray Belfast as some sort of hellish retirement community. The entire film is done without a hint of humor, and Wiseman seems to be taking these people's gray little lives as over-seriously as they do. Rarely do any of the people of Belfast crack a smile - it's as if living in Belfast has literally sucked all of the joy out of their lives.

This film fails on every level. As entertainment, it fails miserably. As serious documentary, it fails because it grossly distorts your image of Belfast - the youth of the town are completely ignored, and the elderly, the infirm and the retarded are represented again and again. As character study it fails because of episodic nature of the film - we never stay with any person long enough to really learn anything about them.

"Belfast, Maine" is one of the worst mistakes in the history of the documentary. A poor, poor film.

People were voting for their favourites, not trying to assemble a correct list.

Never get this distinction, but carry on.

(Among music docs, some of you could at least have gone for Theremin)

I'd rather listen to Anvil than two hours of Theremin (/barely hyperbole).

is man on wire good? tbh i find that kind of dangerous feat of skill really stupid and careless and annoying rather than awesome. total dick move imo.

Titicut Follies is pretty spry and entertaining, fwiw.

Yeah, Man on Wire's filmmakers seem to adequately work the dick angle.

Theremin got three votes, including one from me, but not enough points.

I've gotten into many discussions about that favourite/best distinction over the years, but it's a long one and probably a separate thread. I do not make such a distinction when drawing up lists, but I've encountered people who do.

As for Wiseman, he got votes for a number of films, but it was the old problem of spreading the votes around.

who voted for Paris Is Burning besides Eric and me?

I did!

tightrope walking btwn towers >>>>> Philippe Petit saying "EET WASS MY DWEAMMM" for two hours

This is not a film for anyone under 35.

i HAVE to see this now

I didn't like Man on Wire. King of Kong was great. I wish I had voted in this.

xpost You really don't have to see it.

i am going to lobby so hard for "not suitable for anyone under 35" to become an MPAA rating

"rated ADD"

(Among music docs, some of you could at least have gone for Theremin)

― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Monday, August 15, 2011 5:18 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'd rather listen to Anvil than two hours of Theremin (/barely hyperbole).

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 15, 2011 5:20 PM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Probably would have voted for it had I seen it seeing as it's tough to make LT's life boring. And Josh, that is sacrilege. Anvil really isn't about the music at all for me, anyway. It's about the story.

I liked Anvil better as American Movie.

Me too. Still liked both, though.

Man On Wire was my no.1, you philistines. For giving me an even stronger image of the towers than their destruction, somehow - I cam out feeling euphoric, there was something religious in the way it was done I think. Worth watching for the stills alone.

xpost I was mostly just referring the Morbs' comment that "the music is dreadful" as a demerit against the film's quality.

I've mentioned before that I don't like crying in documentaries. One instance where I find it moving is when the guy with the big mop of white hair breaks down while recalling the Twin Towers walk. It happens all of a sudden--we just see him cover his face with his hands. (It's in the clip above.)

I didn't like the way they filmed scenes to make it look like a heist film.

nearly all the music-related picks so far pale before the Metallica doc (and I'm not crazy about their music either).

I will reluctantly watch docs related to metal, but videogame players? No fucking way.

yeah but it's not really about video games

perhaps not, but you have to look at some

The Metallica film also got three votes. Again, not enough points.

gross!
xpost

I came to The King of Kong as someone who had literally never played a video game in my life--regular pinball back in high school, yes, but not video games. That was a large part of its fascination, the idea that this world still existed in 2011.

The peaks of the Metallica film are super high, but there are enough valleys to detract from them. Some of my fave stuff is in the deleted scenes, like Kirk in driving school or Lars whining that no one ever throws him birthday parties.

THE METALLICA FILM IS CALLED "SOME KIND OF MONSTER".

*ahem*, sorry.

smh at this list

<3 U

smh at this list

― ✇ (Tape Store), Monday, 15 August 2011 19:27 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

u were gone tape store, watch what happened. what is yr top ten

Well, you should have voted--I spent two-plus weeks trying to solicit votes. Morbius and Eric at least voted.

Man On Wire was my no.1, you philistines

Mine too. Glad to see it get a decent placing.

ILX Members of the Academy

god i don't know, xxpost

but very quickly, a tiny handful of the many major omissions on this list:
seventeen, demon lover diary, portrait of jason, fucking fred wiseman!!!, a married couple, en construccion, west of the tracks, in vanda's room, godspeed you! black emperor, sans soleil, sayonara cp, close-up, on the bowery, the seasons, perfumed nightmare...

Three of those received votes, plus four or five Wiseman films. To make the Top 40, a film needed 20 points/2 votes minimum. Seventeen and Sans Soleil you could have moved into the Top 40 for sure, probably top 25.

just to be clear, clemenza, i don't think anyone is attacking you--it's cool that you put this together, it was bound to disappoint me (half of the list i just posted is pretty hard to find, unless you belong to the right website or have money to buy from overseas)

I wouldn't put Close-Up and On the Bowery as docs, m'self

I've felt very much under assault today. I've been commiserating with Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich on Facebook.

Serious question, Tape Store: have you seen most/all of the results so far and are dismissing them because yours are better or do you just not like the look of the results? I'm asking because the discussion on the ballot thread and so far here shows me that there's a *lot* of documentary films that I've never seen.

(clemenza, you've done a stand up job with this poll and I've enjoyed the useful contributions to this thread plenty)

Yeah, Clemenza, it's not your fault or anything, but these results are pretty wan.

Even by ILX film poll standards.

I am just gonna listen to ten albums this year (up from 2 last year) and vote in the year-end ILM poll

Bill, I've seen 24 of the films on this poll (I'm not big into music films).

I'm just kidding about feeling under assault. I honestly don't understand getting the least bit worked up over the results when you're dealing with such a small sample size, though. Maybe I'm just too open-minded when it comes to documentaries--much more so than with narrative films--but I look at the list so far and I see a lot of good films of those that I've seen, and a few more that look really interesting of those that I haven't. I'm also not sure why Morbius assumes that voters haven't seen lots of documentaries. The assumption really comes down to, "I know you haven't seen many documentaries, because if you had, you'd of course be voting for the same films as me." Why would you think that? (And for what it's worth, 10 of your 20 made the Top 40--seems like a pretty good percentage to me. Only two of mine made it, and I'm okay with the results.)

I look at the list so far and I see a lot of good films of those that I've seen, and a few more that look really interesting of those that I haven't.

THIS.

yeah same

I don't get why people bitch about ILX film polls as though they were published lists in Sight and Sound or whatever. I prefer to treat polls like this one as: "Here's what a bunch of people who have similar tastes and interests as I do (given that we post on the same message board) think are some good documentaries." (And since ILX is not principally a film board, I would hardly expect to find a list teeming with old, obscure, and foreign-language titles.)

xposts, so yeah, I agree with the last few posts