Can anyone ID this documentary / series of documentaries?

Cafe Society
1

Back in the mid- to late-nineties or possibly early 2000s on PBS (would have been either WNET-13 i or WLIW-21 in here NY), I remember seeing a documentary, or perhaps a few of them, by a director whose name I unfortunately can’t remember. Yeah, I know, that’s real helpful, huh? Okay, more details:

The hallmark of these films was that the director would basically set up a group of cameras throughout a U.S. town, IIRC either rural, remote (e.g. up in Maine or New Hampshire), or perhaps one dominated by a single industry (such as coal mining or textile mills) – and basically just shoot God-only-knows how many hours of film to produce a multi-hour documentary without any voiceover or narrative. It was basically similar to a bird’s eye view of life in this particular town, except not bird’s eye, more like… mailbox’s eye.

I seem to recall this director did a few of these films, and I also remember that despite the utter lack of a particular POV (aside from whatever the director chose to include in the film, which obviously did impose somewhat of a narrative or perspective), the unvarnished, simple story of life in this town was fascinating.

For a while I thought I might be thinking of David Sutherland, director of The Farmer’s Wife and The Country Boys for Frontline. I’m watching the latter on PBS’s website now for the first time; the Farmer’s Wife doc isn’t available, unfortunately, but it was incredibly powerful tale about the hardships of a smallish farm relying on bank loans that always seemed to be coming due, and a wife’s attempt to keep the family fed and together while the husband seemed – IIRC – always reaching too far for his abilities or past their means.

But Sutherland does impose narrative and does interview his subjects, so as much as I love his work, he’s not the guy I’m thinking of.

The doc might have shown up on Frontline, like the Sutherland films, but all I remember is watching it late at night, mesmerized by the tiny day to day moments of a town very far removed from my own urban and suburban experiences.

Does anyone know whom I mean?

2

I’m raising this post from the dead because I realized I never did get an answer to it. Maybe three years later someone will know/recognize the documentarian’s style?

Edited to add: I just noticed the timestamps and dates of both posts. I see that in three years, my ridiculous insomniac hours haven’t changed! :smiley:

3

I don’t know the specific one you are looking for, sorry, but in addition to Frontline, PBS has another documentary series called POV and this may have been part of that.

4

Frederick Wiseman, perhaps?

5

Oh my gosh, I think that’s him! I’m guessing the films I saw were Aspen and especially Belfast, Maine, both of which were made for PBS. Belfast was from 1999, so that would pinpoint the time accurately. Plus I remember the locale being somewhat hard-up, financially, and I don’t think Aspen sounds right for that!

Of course it doesn’t look as if either are particularly easy to find, but I’ll try my darnedest. I didn’t realize Wiseman was the man behind Titicut Follies, which I’ve heard of but haven’t seen.

And people say zombie threads are useless! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dewey Finn!

6

You’re welcome. Your description sounded like cinéma vérité and he was famous for his use of the technique (although I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of his movies).

7

Bumping a zombie: This thread popped up while I was posting something else, and this does indeed sound like the work of Frederick Wiseman. His docos generally have extremely long running times (“Belfast, Maine” was about 3 1/2 hours, and a more recent one called “Berkeley” was over 4 hours) and are best watched in segments.

“Titicut Follies” is more of a standard running time, around 1 1/2 hours, and it may be on YouTube.