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ALL PURPOSE DOCUMENTARY THREAD


hammerva

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So I was poking around and stumbled across an article predicting the nominees for the Oscars (which being in April this year drags this out)

Anyway - these were a couple that folks expect to be nominated but I hadn't heard of (I am sure they were posted already but I am old and forgetful)

Time

Dick Johnson is Dead

I really really really wish I knew what Dick Johnson is Dead was before watching the trailer. That hit WAY to close to home at the moment

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Acasa, My Home

Was a winner at Sundance 2020 - getting its US release next week

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In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, an abandoned water reservoir just outside the bustling metropolis, the Enache family lived in perfect harmony with nature for two decades, sleeping in a hut on the lakeshore, catching fish barehanded, and following the rhythm of the seasons. When this area is transformed into a public national park, they are forced to leave behind their unconventional life and move to the city, where fishing rods are replaced by smartphones and idle afternoons are now spent in classrooms. As the family struggles to conform to modern civilization and maintain their connection to each other and themselves, they each begin to question their place in the world and what their future might be. With their roots in the wilderness, the nine children and their parents struggle to find a way to keep their family united in the concrete jungle. With an empathetic and cinematic eye, filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc offers viewers, in his feature debut, a compelling tale of an impoverished family living on the fringes of society in Romania, fighting for acceptance and their own version of freedom.

 

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On 1/4/2021 at 8:54 AM, hammerva said:

Granted there has probably been a ton of documentaries on this subject but it does look pretty good

 

We really don't take into account how destructive the crack epidemic was to generations of people in the 80-90s.  I think we think about how bad it was for the people who were either addicts and dealers at the time, but we do not take into account how that is just scratching the surface.  My great-grandparents settled in Northeastern Ohio, because of how much work was available.  My grandparents were able to build pretty good lives for themselves after World War II, because of how much work was available.  My parents graduated in the late 1970s, all of that work was still thriving until about 1980 and then all of those factories, mills, and other semi-skilled labor started to be shut down.  There were 2 generations of people who pretty much had guaranteed employment as soon as they walked out of high school...the third generation had no such thing.  Around the same time, this little thing called crack was introduced and all of those people who used to be able to walk out of high school and into a job had to make money somehow.  It would be one thing if it just affected that generation, but it didn't just affect them.  That generation ended up on crack, in prison, or basically had to do everything in their power to get the fuck out of dodge.  That means, their children either ended up abandoned, living with other family members, or latch key children.  That also means their parents had to raise another generation of children.  I grew up in a neighborhood with a shit load of kids my age, there was one family that had both parents in the house.  There were more of us who lived with our grandparents than lived with either of our parents.  The neighborhood I lived in was 100% 2 parent households the generation before.  My parents divorced when I was 5 or 6.  My dad went to prison the first time when I was 8.  My mom graduated from college when I was 8.  I had a cousin who lived in Northern Virginia, so my mom slept on her couch until she could find a job and start her career.  Our entire town, which was place that was built entirely by hard working black families, is going to be gone very soon.  None of the kids I grew up with live there any more.  Understand, I lived in a place where there was very little drug traffic, it was a small town full of grandparents who retired with pensions.  Our town was still destroyed by it.  

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Watched the first part of the Tiger Woods HBO documentary and really good.   It is very similar to the Michael Vick 30 for 30 where the first part was mostly about how great he was with a little sprinkle of what you can see is going to happen.  And then the last thing you see is the woman who basically started the mess that was his downfall.  And then the second part will probably be mostly about all about the bad shit.    This really shouldn't be a shock but it definitely doesn't put Earl Woods in the good light.  The story of how Tiger basically was forced to break up with first high school girlfriend BY LETTER because he (the father) was worried about that the relationship would ruin his career.   The ending of the first part is how about Earl turns from dad to "best friend" and how bad it was.  

There was some parts that they didn't talk much about.  Would have loved more about the Fuzzy Zoeller comments the year after he won the Masters.  But this story is more about the person and less about what he did in golf.  At least for the 1st part

 

 

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Crack was really good and really really depressing. Not much new to me except I never knew that the entire "crack baby" narrative was a total hoax. It's an infuriating microcosm of how women were demonized during the crack epidemic, which gets a good look here, unlike most (or probably all) docs on the same topic. Also, seeing the same politicians in Congress now, including Joe Biden, in their pre-mummified forms and knowing that they're still working AFTER the shit that happened in the '80s is pretty gross. There's never been a reckoning for this and there probably never will be. 

So, to save me from the abyss of that one I watched Have A Nice Trip, which is basically an all-LSD/mushrooms/peyote version of Vice's Party Legends. All kinds of comedians and other names talking about tripping and their experiences while tripping. Really funny and you get to see Tony Bourdain, Carrie Fisher, and Fred Willard from beyond the grave. So I have no clue how long this one has been in production. 

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Some of the cultural anti-crack stuff shown in the Crack documentary was pretty funny.   The one drug dealer talking about the McDonalds ad with Calvin trying to make him seem really feel good in the community story even he was only making $3 an hour was funny.   My jaw dropped when there was an actual song (with music video) to a rap called "Your momma sells crack rocks" .   And looking back as an older person, it is clear that most of these "say no to drugs" videos were entirely made for white people.  Like come on why would black people in the streets of New York relate to Pee Wee Herman and Sesame Street characters.

 

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When I first saw this after watching the 2nd part of the Tiger documentary I thought it was maybe about the Pinto.   It sounds like this is less about the car she tried to sell people and more about how she tried to sell herself in the bat shit crazy way as possible.    Looks interesting 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

After watching the first 2 parts of this I thought this was going to be incredible documentary.  Then you get to the last 2 parts and you are like "that is it?".   Extremely flat ending.  It went from a fascinating story about this incredible hotel of horrors to a feature about how these web sleuths are kind of crazy

The biggest story I thought was the fucking Night Stalker would murder people and then just walk to his room in this hotel covered in blood like no big deal because that is how fucked up the area was

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Watched the first part of Allen vs Farrow and fuck this is going to be a rough one.   Granted it is the story completed told by the Farrow family but something tells me it isn't that slanted

Just hope it isn't going to be like the recent HBO documentaries that just drag on forever and goes into detail after detail.  

 

 

Edited by hammerva
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Kid 90

A documentary about child stars from the early 90s.

The footage is a combination of footage Soleil Moon Frye shot of all of them when they were growing up and the folks now looking at it

Folks in the doc (besides Frye): Mark-Paul Gosselaar, David Arquette, Stephen Dorff, Balthazar Getty, Brian Austin Green (there are others too)

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4 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Kid 90

A documentary about child stars from the early 90s.

The footage is a combination of footage Soleil Moon Frye shot of all of them when they were growing up and the folks now looking at it

Folks in the doc (besides Frye): Mark-Paul Gosselaar, David Arquette, Stephen Dorff, Balthazar Getty, Brian Austin Green (there are others too)

Why is David Arquette included?  He wasn't a teen in the 90s and wasn't a star then either.  

That said, that looks like it could be really good.

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Yeah I am not sure he would qualify for teenager when he started doing work in the 90's.   His first "big" movie was around 1992 and he either was legal drinking age or can at least get away with it.  Maybe his role in the documentary is the drug and alcohol supplier 

Kind of creepy that Frye voice still sounds like a teenager in the 90s

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CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD (BBC)

New Adam Curtis from earlier this month. I've still not finished part 6. He's uploaded all parts on his youtube but I think only parts 1-3 are available outside of the UK for now. There are... other ways. While I don't agree with all of his takes, this is a fascinating examination of modern power, the individualism/collectivism dynamic, and continuity/change is masterful. As is the use of somewhat peripheral historical figures (and Tupac) vaguely tying together to represent bigger shifts is so great. Love the use of archival footage. I studied history and I'm leaning more and more in my college Marxist tendencies, so this macrohistory on power and corruption is hitting at just the right time. Can't recommend it enough. 

And then something fascinating happened...

Here's part 1:

He focuses on the UK, US, Russia, and China but with more global overtones. Jiang Qing was something else.

@Caseythis may be of some interest to you.

Edited by Jiji
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On 1/27/2021 at 2:37 AM, RIPPA said:

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel

This was fascinating and depressing af! It also lead me to watching Don't F*** With Cats, which ruined a few days for me, big time!

Oh, and the two words that I cannot stress enough after the Cecil Hotel documentary are BOTTLED and WATER.

Edited by Shartnado
A piece of sound advice...
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