Senna, about Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna was something I found it hard to believe that I would find entertaining (not being much of a motorsport fan), but I checked it out on a friend’s recommendation, and it really sucked me in.
I guess that is what good documentaries do, regardless of subject matter.
The Celluloid Closet - about depictions of gays and lesbians throughout cinematic history.
Ken Burns’ Civil War
WWII in HD - features color footage taken during the war and is pretty educational as well as entertaining (in a sobering kind of way.)
Young at Heart - old people sing contemporary/rock music.
Obsessed - not exactly a documentary, more like the TV show Intervention, but it’s the most accurate depiction of OCD/anxiety disorders and their successful treatment that I have ever seen. The therapists use prolonged exposure therapy which is actually the best evidence-based treatment for OCD.
Brother’s Keeper
Just found out that Helvetica, which I recommended in my OP, is the first of a trilogy of documentaries. We watched the second one last night: Objectified, about industrial design. I found it less interesting than the first. The third is Urbanized, about urban planning, and I think I’ll really enjoy it.
Yes, I had forgotten about Brother’s Keeper, excellent documentary. After BK, Berlinger and Sinofsky made the Paradise Lost docs about The West Memphis Three, which are also very good.
I Think We’re Alone Now - Follows 2 damaged individuals who to this very day continue to stalk 80’s pop star Tiffany. It’s not the most well put together film, but the subjects are great to watch.
Oh man, that was really disturbing. Both the “fans” are obviously unwell and very socially awkward. You end up feeling sorry for them, but on one level, they know what they’re doing is outside the bounds of “normal.”
Mad Hot Ballroom, about children learning competitive ballroom dance.
Watched The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia last night. Absolutely terrific. By turns funny, sad, and horrifying. My wife didn’t want it to end.
Thanks for the recommendation.
A Certain Kind of Death. See what happens to bodies recovered by the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office that are never claimed by next of kin.
There are no party hats involved, I hope.
This one keeps popping up as a ‘suggestion’ for me. Based on your description, I’ll give it a shot.
I’ve just watched Marwencol, and it was fantastic. I don’t have enough superlatives to describe it.
I think one of the indicators of this is that I want to know more than what the program showed me. We don’t get a real clear picture of the scale of Marwencol (other than the fact that the dolls are 1/6th scale) – how big a village is it? How much “countryside” is there around it? Another thing I found somewhat distracting at first was how so many scenes showed the dolls in changed positions, to represent continuing scenes in a story. And I kept wondering to myself, “How much of this place is a static display, and how much is in constant resetting for Mark to play out his scenarios?”. And he had theses elaborate stories about what happens to his characters – is he replaying these stories over and over, or are his stories evolving too? I think this was partly answered at the very end with the reaction of his “alter-ego” to his own beating.
I’m very grateful to you, Equipoise, for having brought this to my attention.
No, and you probably won’t feel like having a party after watching it either. 
You’re welcome, thank you for telling me. I had some of the same questions as you, and the answers are probably on the net somewhere, but I never went looking for information because, well, I don’t know exactly why, just that it was self-contained enough for me. I’m like that with most documentaries though.
I have seen Marwencol and Deep Water from reading this thread.
I thought Marwencol was amazing…then I saw Deep Water and was blown away. Deep Water is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen.
Wow, what a story. Go. See. This. Movie.
I can’t believe it.
I can not believe that they found the boat, got the log-books, and revealed everything. What a sad story.
Stream this movie now, folks! It’s great!
Interesting. I saw Deep Water maybe a year or so ago, and thought it was very well done and worth seeing. But I saw it as a rather standard documentary with a really compelling story to tell. When I think of it, Marwencol may be the very same thing, but it hit me emotionally much harder than Deep Water. I think it’s about the subjects of the film. I found it much easier to sympathize with Mark, who was digging himself out of a hole that he was thrown into by others. In Deep Water, the guy (can’t recall his name now) basically spends almost the whole film digging himself into his own hole and ultimately unable to escape it.
One of my favorite documentaries is the 2005 film Rock School, about the original Paul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia. The reviews on the Netflix site are wildly mixed, mostly because a lot of people are offended at the idea that Paul yells at the kids, probably imagining that it is their special snowflake being yelled at, and would probably prefer the bullshit infesting the modern world where everybody gets an award for just showing up. Life doesn’t work like that.
But the proof is in the pudding, the film opening with a 12 year old wunderkind playing Carlos Santana’s Soul Sacrifice. I took my 15 year old niece to see it in the theater, and we both loved it. After that, I saw the All-Stars (the best kids in the program) on tour, and have started a business videotaping performances by various School of Rock franchises. Some of the kids are just OK, and will not pursue music, but I’ve seen a large number of kids in the program who have become amazingly talented performers who I’m going to keep an eye on for years to come.
By the way, shortly before the documentary crew started filming, Viacom sent a crew to shoot at the School for 3 days for a proposed reality series, then vanished and wouldn’t return calls. Later that year, they announce the Jack Black movie School of Rock. But the real thing is (IMO) much more entertaining.
Thought I’d revive this to mention a very good documentary I just watched – Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird. I may be biased because of my love of both the book and the movie, but I found it compelling viewing. It has very old interviews with Lee, who is still alive but hasn’t given an interview since 1964, nor has she written any novels since. It looks at both the book and the film, and tries to put both in the context of the civil rights movement that was just starting to get national attention around the same time. I thought it was fascinating.
Sorry to be coming late to this but I love documentaries most of all and watch them more than any other kind of film.
Movies I have enjoyed through Netflix include:
“Dear Zachary” – Warning: It’s a murder story that will suck you in and then break your heart. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) - IMDb By the guy who made the cute short 'Validation." Validation - YouTube
I really loved “Man on Wire.”
And “John Waters: This Filthy World.”
“Behind the BurlyQ” was fun.
“Tom Dowd and the Language of Music” hasn’t been to Netflix in a while but it needs to come back. Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (2003) - IMDb The trailer will kill you.
I could go on and on … dammit.
Oh, and check out the Ed Roth story: “Tales of the RatFink.” http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/tales_of_the_rat_fink