30 documentaries challenge

[Lark]

I've accepted the thirty documentaries challenge, so, over the space of the next year (at the most) I'm going to watch thirty documentaries and record what I thought of them briefly here, not full reviews or anything like that, I am also going to accept recommendations as to which ones I should watch but so far the ones I plan to are:

Black Fish
The Cove
Adam Curtis' hypernormalisation and bitter lake
Cat Fish
That Sugar Movie
(possibly) Inside Job

But as you can see it is an incomplete list, so recommend away, I will be honest that I am unlikely to watch any homosexual, conspiracy theory (someone recommended Loose Change to me, which is the sort of thing I am talking about but definitely not any David Icke or anti-semitic nonsense), evangelical or scientology materials. Just not going to do it. Although I'm hopeful that I'm going to get to hear about some documentaries on typology maybe and some which could really be fresh information and educational as opposed to opinion pieces.

 

[Qlip]

Soo... your challenge is to watch lots of TV?

Lessee, for my recommendations, anything with David Attenborough. I'm a little obsessed with personal/sociological documentaries about Japan like: Tokyo Idol, an overview and a day (year) in the life of a Japanese Idol pop performer and the middle aged men who follower her around, and The Great Happiness Space about male 'hosts' in Osaka, and their 'patrons'. For music, Beware of Mr Baker, freaking amazing doc. And for a fun political doc relevant to today's landscape try Best of Enemies: Buckley vs Vidal, you'll weep at how well spoken the American Republicans were back then.

 

[Lark]

Watching this at the moment, may stop and watch the rest tomorrow as its late here but so far very good.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Surviving Progress (2011) - IMDb

The Red Pill (2016) - IMDb

 

[Hiraeth]

Highly recommend Forks Over Knives, a documentary on how diet alone can help reverse and prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Searching for Sugar Man is another notable one. It's about the search for an obscure American '70s folk musician named Sixto Rodriquez. He failed to gain any success in the U.S., but ended up becoming an iconic superstar in South Africa without knowing it himself, and was also a huge influence to anti-apartheid musicians there. One of the most incredible stories I've ever seen.

And one of my personal favorites, Grey Gardens. It provides an interesting glimpse into the lives of Jacqueline Kennedy's reclusive and eccentric aunt and cousin. They were once privileged socialites, but in their later years lived in poverty and squalor.

All three are great, imo.

 

[Lark]

Now watching this, I love coffee, there's not enough about its origins in the Islamic world and the ways it is prepared differently in different cultures, such as the whole hot sand thing that the Islamic/Turkish prep involves but its still good. More about Cafe culture maybe.

 

[Lark]

Surviving Progress (2011) - IMDb

The Red Pill (2016) - IMDb

Yeah, I saw them on Amazon, the later one really, I tried watching it but even the short content description made me want to vomit so I think its probably unlikely.

Reminds me of the works of fiction and non-fiction produced in the wake of 9/11 about former liberals regretting their liberal beliefs.

 

[ceecee]

OJ: Made in America
Harlen County USA
The Work
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Restrepo (I stand by the opinion that this is the best war movie of all time)
Weiner
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis

I watch a wide swath of platforms from HBO to Amazon, Netflix, You Tube and Curiosity Stream but I think all of these can be found somewhere online.

 

[Population: 1]

I watched something on North Korea’s internal propaganda machine and something about British citizens joining the Kurds to fight ISIS. Can’t remember either title and I’m sick so yeah. Both very interesting though.

 

[Lark]

Watching a documentary about financial irregularity called Inside Job, its narrated by Jason Bourne.

 

[Lark]

So today I'm watching Jim & Andy, a documentary about Jim Carrey's playing of Andy Kaufman, its weird, I've heard of method acting before but I've never, ever seen it taken this far, I've heard stories about the guy who played Gladiator and violence on set because he was method acting and I kind see how the hell that would happen based on this, like before this I thought method acting was just learning skills like Nick Cage learning to play Mandolin for the movie Captain Corelie's Mandolin.

Its also made me think about the funny guys in film and comedians and the fine line with madness, it made me think about that other guy who was apparently a method actor when he played the Joker in the second Batman movie.

I am watching this largely on the recommendation of the AVGN and he was totally correct about the documentary, Carrey really manages to get in character but it makes you wonder about the human mind, or makes me think anyway, I'm glad they made this movie because there was a ton of material that didnt make it into the movie (which I will have to watch some time) but happened behind the scenes.

 

[Lark]

Next documentary I watched was Louis Thoreau's documentary Louis and the Nazis an episode of his at the extremes TV series, I've seen some documentaries like it before and I've seen Thoreau meet lots of weird and extreme characters before, this was one of the first were I thought he was in very real jeopardy, there was a guy who the minute he thought he was a jew (I think he is a jew) was threatening him with violence, either on the spot or if he saw him in town.

Damn America, you scary.

That was definitely one of those documentaries which made me wish I was independently wealthy and could go live in some remote rural mountain top part of the ROI and be done with people all together. Going to try and hit up something a little different for the next documentary.