Im a big fan of Herzog´s films, especially Grizzly man and Mein Liebster Feund.
Also enjoy most features on HBO: Paradise Lost, Tyson etc…
Everything with Louis Theroux
also at the top of my mind:
-Man on wire (amazing move about a mans quest to tightrope between the twin towers)
-Capturing the Friedmans (a regular family except that the father is a pedophile)
-The Cove (doc about dolphin slaughter)
-Hoop Dreams ( about the realities/fantasies of becoming a pro basketball player)
-Fogs of War (McNamara explains his philosophy)
-Jesus Camp (Where do you send your children if you are a fundamentalist christian)
-Spellbound (entertaining about the Spelling Bee competition)
-Smartest Guys in the Room (good doc about Enron)
-Jonestown (amazing about the Jonestown cult)
-Bigger Stronger Faster (about the use of anabolic steroids in the US)
-PBS: the Mormons (fair doc on the LDS)
“Brother’s Keeper” is pretty interesting, as are “Hands on a Hard Body” (though a little dated now) and “Murderball”, to name a few. I’m sure you’ve probably seen “Grey Gardens” (the original doc). How about “Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea”& Atomic Cafe". I’d have to think on it, but I love obscure documentaries, and can probably come up with a few more later.
A State of Mind - It’s a freely shot documentary in North Korea. Surprisingly free and the directors said they were not edited or censored by the government.
The Vice Guide to Liberia - Online only. Vice is a journalist group and they went to Liberia. Very cool.
I always - well, actually not enjoy, so I’m not sure what the word is, let’s say - am interested by Nick Broomfield’s stuff, particularly the ones about Eugene Terre Blanche and Aileen Wournos.
My main recommendation though is The Bridge. Occasionally beautifully shot, intelligently edited, and unbearably moving at times. The first time I saw it I then immediately deleted it from my recordings, then spent the next three months trying to get hold of it again on DVD. It’s left a huge impression on me in many ways.
Heart of Darkness - the disastrous filming of Apocalypse Now Lost in la Mancha - another film production going haywaire, Gilliam trying to film Don Quixote
Hell House - Christians trying to warn children of Hell through theatre Touching the Void - Amazing about a mountain climbing expedition going horribly wrong
The Staircase - Best documentary ever?? Frenchman accused of murdering his wife. MUST SEE
Bus 174 - Bus hijacking in broad daylight
Overnight - How not to behave when trying to get a movie done in hollywood. Troy Duffys (Boondock Saints) rise and fall.
Dark Days - People living in NY subway system. Dark Zoo - the discovery of a ring of zoophiles
I’m mostly a science documentary fan, so here are some of those (though I second Hearts of Darkness).
The pleasure of finding things out (BBC Horizon) - Richard Feynman talks about his life. If you want to see Feynman talk about physics, “Fun to Imagine” is even better. (Example here) Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series. Obviously. Wonders of the Solar System series (BBC) with Prof. Brian Cox.
Pretty much anything with David Attenborough, like the wonderful Planet Earth.
We just saw “Unmistaken Child”, which is about the search for a reincarnated Tibetan lama. Excellent (and deeply weird.) I catch a ton of documentaries on Netflix Watch Instantly. Nobody’s mentioned “Helvetica”, about the font, or “King of Kong”, about competitive arcade gaming?
Born Into Brothels - about the children of prostitutes living in slums in Calcutta, India. Heartbreaking, but worth it.
Crumb - I second Siam Sam’s recommendation. I knew nothing about the subject beforehand, but I found this film really captivating.
American Splendor - kind of a bybrid biopic/documentary film with Paul Giamatti portraying comic book writer/artist Harvey Pekar, intertwined with footage and interviews of the real Pekar. Makes a nice companion movie with the aforementioned Crumb.
Everyone’s listed a lot of the ones I would have recommended. For something completely different, here are 3 wildly different music documentaries I loved. Keeping in mind that the best documentaries make you fascinated about topics that you otherwise wouldn’t care about, I went into them with absolutely ZERO interest in the musical genres. I came out of them with only almost zero interest in the musical genres too, but I still love the documentaries and could watch them over and over again. They’re not deep, but they’re fun.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil - although I went through an early Black Sabbath, and a Dio/Elf phase, I really don’t like heavy metal music, but this is such fun I didn’t mind the music.
Say Amen, Somebody - I’m an atheist who has no interest in religion or gospel music in general, but I do love this documentary! It’s rousing (music-wise, maybe spiritually-wise if you’re so inclined), moving, funny, fun, fascinating, and I liked it so much I bought the VHS, then the DVD. I also bought the soundtrack! You come to really care about the people profiled and if you’re not moved by Thomas Dorsey telling the story of how he came to write "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" because his wife and newborn baby died, you’d be a cold, cold person. (the story is in the last part of this clip from the movie)
Songs like “I’m His Child” make this heathen want to get up, dance, raise my hands to the skies and praise the name of the writers, singers and filmmakers responsible! I used to play this song on my alternative music radio show.
Some of it is funny, although maybe not always intentionally so. This is an interesting scene of 2 very famous gospel singers talking about how hard it is to raise a family but then have to leave them to go sing all over the country, and Willy Mae’s story of how God told her bitching husband to shut the fuck up about it is hilarious. Well, to me, because I’m a heathen. (this clip includes the song I just linked to, in much worse quality, which is why I provided a separate link) Louie Bluie - Speaking of Terry Zwigoff, as Siam Sam did, the movie he made before Crumb was another documentary about a fascinating musician named Howard Armstrong, nicknamed, duh, Louie Bluie. Armstrong died in 2003, but my husband and I were lucky enough to meet and see him perform a few times at a club called Rosa’s here in Chicago. I got my soundtrack LP signed too.
This guy’s quite a character, says what’s on his mind and doesn’t care if he’s politically correct or seen as cultured. And his music and fiddle playing is fantastic! Unfortunately that’s the only clip I can find from the movie on YouTube, but here’s a clip of music with Louie Bluie on violin, Carl Martin on banjo and Ted Bogan on guitar. Here’s another clip of music, with long-time (duh) collaborator Ted Bogan singing and Louie Bluie on violin.
Oh, I just found another clip, this one from a part of the movie where Armstrong and Bogan talk about playing the circuit in the 30’s, and how they were able to work all the time because they could play and sing in several different languages and styles. They cut out the story though.
We bought the VHS as soon as it came out. Louie Bluie has never been on DVD until now, but Criterion is releasing what looks to be a fantastic version in August. I wonder if that’s why there are so few clips on YouTube, because I could have sworn there were more a few years ago. Shame on Criterion for only releasing one preview clip, one not containing music, and one likely to piss off fans of Picasso. That’s a funny clip, but it’s probably the least interesting clip in the whole movie. Show his music, his amazing background, his awesome art.
I haven’t seen that, but one of 5 movies I saw last night was a documentary called 8: The Mormon Proposition, about the church’s role in helping pass Prop 8 in California. It wasn’t brilliant, but it was informative, moving, and anger-inducing. Saying anything more would make it Pit material.
:smack: Yeah! I forgot that one. How could I forget that one? Loved it when it was nominated for an Oscar and Kongar-ol Ondar showed up in traditional garb, and looked like he was having the time of his life, just grinning to beat the band. He totally flummoxed Joan Rivers. He was like an alien from outer space to her.
No Direction Home - Scorcese on Bob Dylan Kids are alright - Great doc on the Who
**Amazing Journey **- Best doc on the Who so far Nico Icon - Dark, depressing and dirty doc about singer/model/actress Christa Pfägen a.k.a Nico Dont Look Back - DA Pennebaker’s classic doc on Dylan Gimme Shelter - Stones infamous concert at Altamont Speedway in 69(?) Charlie is my darling - Rather obscure doc from -66 on the Stones. Made by their first manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Worth to see if you can get hold of it. Some Kind of Monster - Metallica goes to therapy But I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times - Pretty good one on the maniac/genius Brian wilson
Equipoise beat me to most of my favorite music documentaries. But I have to put in a good word for Tom Dowd & the Language of Music. It’s about a recording engineer who had such an astonishing life that, were you to re-write it as fiction, it would be rejected for not being credible. For instance, He worked on the Manhattan Project when he was a teenager. The people interviewed include Ginger Baker, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Ornette Coleman, Aretha Franklin…
Extremly well done sport doc. They follow a given NFL team in preseason training camp. You get to see the dynamics of the team and the brutal selection process on who actually makes it to the team. Good even if you dont like football.
**Inside Maximum Security: ** Best american prison doc I have ever seen. The camera team have incredible access to the inside of the prison.