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ALL PURPOSE DOCUMENTARY THREAD


hammerva

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More info about the 2023 Oscar nominated documentaries

 

All That Breathes

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As legions of birds fall from New Delhi’s darkening skies, and the city smoulders with social unrest, two brothers race to save a casualty of the turbulent times: the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to their city's ecosystem.

 

All The Beauty and the Bloodshed

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Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

 

Fire of Love

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From National Geographic Documentary Films comes the extraordinary love story of intrepid French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died just as explosively as they lived — capturing the most spectacular imagery ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes.

 

A House Made of Splinters

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In this poignant and deeply intimate documentary three kids temporarily removed from their parents find friendship and flickers of hope inside the worn walls of a remarkable orphanage in Eastern Ukraine, as a group of dedicated social workers create moments of joy and respite from childhoods all but lost.

 

Navalny

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Poison always leaves a trail. The fly-on-the-wall documentary follows Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, through his political rise, attempted assassination and search to uncover the truth. 

 

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I haven't watched the 2nd part of it yet but the first part of the Bill Russell documentary on Netfix is great.  Very detailed on his career and his history in dealing with the civil rights struggles in the 60's.   I assume it will be explained more but you can see why Bill doesn't have the greatest opinion about Boston and their fans.  Lots of people interviewed as well from the NBA past and current.   

 

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Alex Gibney's next project is a documentary about Elon Musk.  

Just a reminder, among Alex's previous work:  The Smartest Guys in the RoomGoing Clear: Scientology, and The Inventor: Out For Blood.  

Apparently even Musk knows this is a very bad thing for him.  

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Just watched (almost all of) the Nothing Lasts Forever doc on diamonds that I believe Rippa posted the trailer for awhile back. Out of nowhere, Riz Ortolani's theme from Cannibal Holocaust comes on the soundtrack. 😆 Fittingly, the segment ends with footage of a lion digging into a dead elephant. It appears they used several different film themes, and to great effect. Though it doesn't dig into the politics of blood diamonds beyond that very telling moment of devourment as a De Beers exec is saying how much good his company does for Botswana, the rest is a fascinating look at the diamond industry and how it's being rocked by the invention of synthetic diamonds, and digs into the intrinsic nature of owning a diamond and why. Aja Raden is particularly great pontificating on all this in a sharp (dare I say diamond?)-tongued fashion. They also cut it into a hard letterbox and sepia-toned the film which makes perfect sense, along with the spy-thriller musical hits, with the topic, to both underline and take the piss out of it. Great doc.

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Watched Stand on Showtime about the former Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) and it is definitely worth watching.   Never mind what happened during his NBA career he had suffered through a tough childhood and college years at LSU with his 'Tourette Syndrome and living in a very racist part of Mississippi.   The only real issue I have with it is this idea that Rauf was one of the greats of all time.  He was very good player especially in LSU but an all time great?  Not sure about that.    By the way it is strange to think that a team with Chris Jackson,  Shaq, and Stanley Roberts and they couldn't even make it to the Elite 8 is really something.     The most interesting person in the whole controversy with the Anthem is coach/GM Bernie Bickerstaff.   You could argue that he left Abdul-Rauf to hang and be blackballed by his actions but I am sure he had his own levels of pressure to succeed.  And they you get to 2001 part of his life and man what a brutal period of his life.  Imagine getting your house burned down by the KKK and basically could get no sympathy because 3 months later is 9/11 and hatred of all Muslims was an all time high.   Then the infamous HBO sports interview about 2 or 3 months later.     At least at the end the players at that time kind of admit that did nothing to stand up for him unlike what ended up happening with Kapernick

 

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I forgot about one of the funniest moments in Nothing Last Forever. One of the main characters is this guy Hillman who is seriously worried about the synthetic diamonds. He ends up giving a presentation on it in Vegas. Before the presentation he's sitting in his room with his entourage, yarmulke on, bottles of Jack and tequila bedecking the table they're sitting around and he says "We've got to play craps after the meeting. Absolutely." Then he runs onstage in what appears to be a red MAGA hat, takes it off... and there's the yarmulke 😆

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On 3/25/2023 at 8:04 AM, Curt McGirt said:

So did they have an entire film crew following them around and staying at the hotel that whole time? Did they own a drone, for that matter?

Are you questioning the premise of this obviously-totally-true documentary? 

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Watched the documentary series 11 Minutes tonight. It's the story of the Las Vegas Route 91 Festival Shooting. It's freaking incredible. And hard to watch. And incredible. 

The focus is on roughly 10-12 people but you get a broad spectrum of perspectives. The whole thing is told through interview recollections so completely first-person. These are powerful, detailed, and amazing. 

And then there's the footage. So. Much. Footage. Including

Spoiler

footage from inside a hospital where the floors are HEAVILY streaked with blood AND the breaching of the gunman's hotel room with footage inside. 

 

Seriously cannot recommend it enough. 10/10.

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On 3/25/2023 at 11:04 AM, Curt McGirt said:

So did they have an entire film crew following them around and staying at the hotel that whole time? Did they own a drone, for that matter?

It is mostly their own footage since - being the generation they are - the dude was filming basically everything (especially after they got stranded)

Despite TABE's skepticism - they are/were an actual couple and it actually happened

This is from People from when it happened

https://people.com/human-interest/couple-met-hinge-third-date-costa-rica-stuck-coronavirus/

The article from below is from 2021 (Since they are from NY - the Post was obsessed with them)

https://nypost.com/2021/02/10/couple-stranded-in-costa-rica-for-months-have-1st-anniversary/

I feel like @Dolfan in NYC would have thoughts based solely on the usage of Hinge

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Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

Hits Hulu on April 3 (it premiered at Sundance)

Warning - there are parts of the trailer (so you have to imagine the doc too) that an insanely creepy (including the first 10 seconds)

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I have seen the uncut version of Pretty Baby.  I didn't find it to be pornographic, but it is deeply disturbing and very exploitative of ingenue Brooke Shields.   Brilliant though it may be, creepy does not even begin to describe the darker side of movie.

Shields carried herself with such maturity and professionalism beyond her age, that I think that the crew forgot that she was twelve years old at the time and should have been better protected.  Pretty Baby is one of those films that I feel richer for the experience of watching it, but I have no desire to ever see it again ever in my entire life.

I'm pretty sure this documentary, like most others, will make me very angry.

Edited by J.T.
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