12Paradise Lost changed my life a little when I watched it in high school. What does it really mean, to be judged by our peers? And what if one’s life is on the line? How are we okay with our government ordering individuals’ deaths, often on impatient whims, often without evidence? After almost 18 years, the West Memphis 3 were released from prison in August of 2011, but are still not “free”. This documentary series is as much a semi-biography of Damian Echols, Jessie Miskelly and Jason Baldwin as it is a hard observation of our justice system.
Catch the premiere of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), dir. by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky tonight on HBO, and/or read Ebert’s advance review of it by clicking above.
Clip from the second documentary I watched last night:
This Filthy World (2006), dir. by Jeff Garlin
I’m not a fan of everything John Waters has made - I don’t think I’ll watch A Dirty Shame or even Pink Flamingos all the way through again - but I revere his vision and hold his artistic integrity and sense of humor in the absolute highest regard. This lecture doc shows Waters at his sharpest, real-talking and often pushing the boundaries with his captive audience: just the way he likes ‘em.
This one’s also under Netflix’s “Critically-Acclaimed Documentaries”.
Trailer for one of three documentaries I watched last night:
Pearl Jam Twenty (2011), dir. by Cameron Crowe
Only recently did I start actually listening to Pearl Jam, and while it came as a surprise to me that I actually do like them, I was even more surprised at how absolutely terrifying Pearl Jam’s explosive rise to fame really was for the band. This documentary features personal dialogs with each band mate - including the megadreamydreamy Chris Cornell - supplemented by tons of archival footage of Pearl Jam dating back to the band’s earliest days.
I’ve noticed, after watching a couple band documentaries of grounded groups who’ve gotten big real quick (Wilco, Sigur Ros), that there is a look that one seems to adopt after their career becomes its own entity beyond their control. Jeff Tweedy and Eddie Vedder both communicate with very quiet gestures that no matter what they do, complete control of their art is now impossible. They carry the emotional weight of people who have loved them, hired them, helped them get noticed and get signed, followed them, stalked them, tried to kill them, killed themselves, killed eachother. It’s bittersweet, and really made me think about why “getting famous” is always the end-all when really the apex of one’s art comes from the meaning the artist finds in their own work.
This documentary’s obviously great for any Pearl Jam fan who wants a more personal take on the band’s evolution, but it’s also a solid rock doc in general. Highlights definitely include the Ticketmaster trial, the hair (oh my god, all that hair), and learning about the phases through which the members of Pearl Jam constantly changed and bettered themselves as a group. Highly recommend; catch it under Netflix’s “Critically-Acclaimed Documentaries” section.
Jem Cohen’s rockin’ documentary on post-hardcore band Fugazi, Instrument (2003), is up on YouTube in its entirety! Go watch it now!
Hafu is a film about the experiences of mixed-Japanese living in Japan.
Japan is changing. Meet the new generation of mixed-Japanese.Check out more about the upcoming film here: hafufilm.com
Also, film needs donations. Help if you can!
Japan’s long been one of my desired destinations for a total immersion culture study. The concept of Hafu (a loan-word from the English word “half”) is not only meant to explore this phenomenon occurring in what once was an almost completely homogenized society, but to also give us insight into how we take “mixed race” for granted. I’m pumped to see how this turns out. And if you have the means to donate, click the link above!
(via iscaro)
For Dinesh Sabu, documentary is a “safe, mediated” way to process trauma and to “develop a language to understand it”.
Unbroken Glass Demo from Dinesh Sabu on Vimeo.
At one point there was a Bomb the Music Industry documentary in the works. Is that still happening?
Yeah, that’s still happening. I like music documentaries a lot and all the ones that I think are really interesting take place over a long period of time. And Sara Crow (the director) felt the same way. So I think that’s where we’re at—if the documentary came out today, there really wouldn’t be an ending. There’s a lot more to capture. It’s funny because since the Kickstarter campaign people have been like “Where’s the documentary?” But [Sara] doesn’t want to make a documentary in just a year and half. Like, fucking Dig! took like eight years to make. I think Some Kind of Monster took three or four years to make. And those movies are awesome. So I think to make it a really good movie people just have to be a little more patient.
-Megan Seling interviews Jeff Rosenstock in The Stranger this week. Check it out!
Sara Crow is so cool. Better believe I’ll be the first to see this when it premieres at the Gene Siskel Film Center (even if I’ve already seen it).
In its entirety, the short documentary Litany Of Happy People/Zdravi ljudi za razonodu (1971), dir. by Karpo Godina
Soundtrack by Laboratorije Zvuka
Godina, a Serbian cinematographer and director, is arguably the most well-known of the Yugoslavian Black Wave filmmakers as one of the few Black Wavers to screen at Cannes. Litany Of Happy People, a gorgeous political portait of life in the province of Vojvodina (with a killer soundtrack, might I add), won an award at the Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival before it was banned for allegedly containing subversive elements.
