Dead End...

Dear readers. You have probably noticed the lack of posts in last few week and wondering why. Since two weeks ago my computer has died and all of the date has stayed with it. I am not able to find and again restore my collection which was grand to say the least, and thus it will take a while to do that. I am writing from my computer at work which is horrible by the way and I stay in hope that I will soon be able to get a new computer. The situation that I am in is not financially good so please be patient.

I thank you for your support and I will do my best to bring you some great docs as soon as possible.

Cheers

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009)

Director:
Julien Nitzberg

IMDB

Review:
Riffing off of the original documentary "Dancing Outlaw," about tap dancer Jesco White and his dancing dad, director Julien Nitzberg headed down to the coal-mining heart of West Virginia to further exploit this drug-addled family for some film footage that's fairly unbelievable. Launching right into some current family drama between Sue Bob's son, Brandon, having landed in prison after shooting his uncle, among others, this documentary then goes back to trace hooligan behavior to the originators of the family, dancer and coal miner D. Ray and his tough-cookie wife Bertie Mae. Daughters and cousins Sue Bob, Mousie, and Kirk dominate the film, snorting pills in trashy bar bathroom stalls and getting tanked in cars while driving around with less-than-savory boyfriends and ex-husbands. Occasionally, interviews with the town's district attorney provide some background information on this infamous regional family.

Commune (2005)

Director:
Jonathan Berman

IMDB

Review:
A very engaging documentary on the Black Bear Ranch Commune, an alternative living community founded in 1968 in the remote North Californian wilderness.In the late 1960s, a few free thinkers cobbled together donations, primarily from Hollywood, to buy 80 acres at the end of a dirt road in Siskiyou County, California: Black Bear Ranch, a commune with the motto "free land for free people.   Archival footage, photographs, documents and news articles, and interviews with people who lived or still live there tell the commune's history: the cold first winter, women and men doing the same work, communal decision making, emerging environmental politics, free love and family formation, child rearing and memories of growing up there, a late '70s crisis with a cult-like group that moved in, and assessment by those grown old of what Black Bear meant.

Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle (2002)

Director:
Ken Russell

IMDB

Review:
If you haven't seen this film, sorry but you probably never will. It was commissioned for the South Bank Show, and I wouldn't be surprised if ITV have "accidentally" erased the tapes soon after the broadcast. I have never seen a presenter looking so embarrassed as Melvyn Bragg doing the introduction. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think Melvyn may have had a part in commissioning the original Russell/Elgar film that is still fondly remembered – the first in an ever descending spiral of self-indulgent awfulness of composer biography films that Russell has stuck to ever since (the 1992 film about Bax is a good example). To celebrate the 40th anniversery of this magnum opus the SBS gave Russell carte blanche to self-indulge. Everyone must have known it was going to be a disaster, and those of us who tuned in were not disappointed. It had a cosy, home-made feel, like a bad family video. A bloke with a stuck on Elgar mustache and no acting ability rode up and down Malvern hills on a bike (quite easy to do a period film if all you do is shots of countryside - even so there are glimpses of the Worcester bypass in the background). The various women in Elgar's life (or rather Ken's, as most seem to be related to him) made fleeting appearances, but fortunately none was given many lines to deliver, as they might have found this difficult apparently never having acted before. Elgar's secret beloved spent rather too much of the film dancing around in gauzy material nearly covering her chest, which kept slipping so that she needed to pull it back up. Worst of all were the random interludes of small girls dancing round the woods as fairies (personally I wasn't aware of Elgar's fairy fetish but maybe Ken knows better?). Anyway the film was another unique contribution by the master.

I, Curmudgeon (2004)

Director:
Alan Zweig

IMDB

Review:
In this often very funny enquiry into crankiness, Toronto filmmaker Alan Zweig interviews notable curmudgeons like Fran Lebowitz, Harvey Pekar and Bruce LaBruce. Zweig wants to know what their frickin' problem is and, more importantly, whether it's the same as his. As in Vinyl, his equally irascible doc on record collectors, the endearingly dour filmmaker spends much of I, Curmudgeon spilling his guts directly to his camera and torturing himself with big questions that he can never answer satisfactorily. Zweig then confronts his subjects with the same questions, thereby making them even grouchier. (How grouchy? Andy Rooney is moved to kick Zweig out of his office.) Though I, Curmudgeon's meandering structure and incessant jump-cuts are irritants, they're also appropriate to the movie's abrasive, anti-social personality. Consider this a testament to the power of negative thinking.

Trumbo (2007)

Director:
Peter Askin

IMDB

Review:
He was Hollywood's greatest screenwriter. His words still resonate today. He defied a committee, he defied the system. They took his honor. They took his freedom. So Dalton Trumbo went to war. But the ending could only be written by him.

Sherman's March (1986)

Director:
Ross McElwee

IMDB

Review:
Ross McElwee sets out to make a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction through the South during the Civil War, but is continually sidetracked by women who come and go in his life, his recurring dreams of nuclear holocaust, and Burt Reynolds. It was awarded the Grand Jury prize in the at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival, and in 2000, was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry.

The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia (2002)

Director:
Jennifer Baichwal

IMDB

Review:
A film about the fine line between art, ethnography, and exploitation, The True Meaning of Pictures explores the work of photographer Shelby Lee Adams. His work is both technically proficient and artistically resonant, but because it features images of poor residents of Appalachian hollers, some have decried it as manipulative or exploitative.  Director Jennifer Baichwal gives everyone a voice, from the residents in the photographs (including several mentally retarded individuals as well as a venom-drinking Pentecostal snake-handler who is proud of his scars) to Adams himself, and from outraged family members of those in the photos to art critics who respect the abrasive and problematic nature of the work. The title, of course, begs to start an argument. What do these pictures actually mean, and isn't the "true" meaning more in the beholder than in the subject?  A work that appreciates the complexities of the issue of representation and questions the idea of rights to self-representation. After all, when a man in one of these photos chooses to hold out a knife because he is personally proud of his new knife, does the provocative proximity of this knife to his mentally-disabled son imply more than pride of possession? Of course, but to what end? Who gains and who loses? The film leaves this question elegantly open-ended.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Director:
Brit Banksy

IMDB

Review:
Los Angeles based Frenchman Thierry Guetta gets the idea that he would like to film street artists in the process of creating their work. He tells them that he is making a documentary, when in reality he has no intention of editing the footage into one cohesive movie. Unaware of this latter fact, many street artists from around the world agree to participate. Thierry even gets into the act by assisting them in creating the art. One of the artists that participates is the camera-shy Brit Banksy, who refuses to be shown on screen unless he is blacked out. Banksy does convince Thierry to use the footage to make a movie. In Thierry doing so, Banksy comes to the realization that Thierry is a lousy filmmaker, but he is an interesting character in an odd yet appealing way. So Banksy decides to use the footage and add additional material to make his own movie about Thierry's journey in this project.

Holes in Heaven (1998)

Director:
Wendy Robbins

IMDB

Review:
The late Carl Sagan said (which is related to this documentary) “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We’ve also arranged things so that almost no one understands science or technology. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later, this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces”. This documentary film poses the question: Are we making Holes in Heaven? HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a controversial high frequency radio transmitter, or “ionospheric heater,” which is believed to be descended from the works of Nikola Tesla and is operated by the U.S. Navy/Air Force and Phillip Laboratories in remote Gakona, Alaska.  Using HAARP, the military can focus a billion-watt pulsed radio beam into our upper atmosphere, ostensibly for ionospheric research. This procedure will form extremely low frequency waves and send them back to the Earth, enhancing communications with submarines and allowing us to “see” into the Earth, detecting anything from oil reserves to underground missile silos.  However, several researchers claim HAARP poses many dangers, including blowing thirty-mile holes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. They also warn of possible disruption of the subtle magnetic energies of our Earth and ourselves. Holes in Heaven? is a prime example of grassroots filmmaking by producer Paula Randol-Smith and Emmy-winning director Wendy Robbins. Narrated by Martin Sheen, the documentary, investigates HAARP, its history and implications, and examines the dangers and benefits of high and low frequencies and of electromagnetic technology.

The Pregnant Man (2008)

Director:
Elizabeth Mcdonald

IMDB

Review:
This Documentary reveals the Pregnant life of Thomas Beatie (the worlds first pregnant Man), with never been seen video footage, includes interviews with the couple and Oregon State Residents, along with there own personal home videos from their home life to her Delivery at the hospital.  When asked whether he considers himself gay when he met with Nancy — his wife now, Thomas said they were a normal couple although perceived by others as lesbians. “I lived my life as a woman at that point. Legally, I was female. But inside I still felt male. So the way other people perceived us, they saw us as a lesbian couple,” Thomas said. He said they could have normal kind of intercourse after reassignment surgery and hormone treatment. The pregnant man said they have legal problems with their first baby’s birth certificate. “I filled it out as me father, Nancy mother, and they changed it last minute, and they put her as father and me as mother. And then they changed it again and put us as parents. We’re not a same-sex marriage. We’re legal man and wife,” said Thomas.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

Director:
Steve James

IMDB

Review:
Originally intended to be a 30-minute short produced for the Public Broadcasting Service, it eventually led to five years of filming and 250 hours of footage. The film follows William Gates and Arthur Agee, two African-American teenagers who are recruited by St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominantly white high school with an outstanding basketball program. Taking 90-minute commutes to school, enduring long and difficult workouts and practices, and acclimating to a foreign social environment, Gates and Agee struggle to improve their athletic skills in a job market with heavy competition. Along the way, their families celebrate their successes and support each other during times of hardship. The film raises a number of issues concerning race, class, economic division, education and values in contemporary America. It also offers one of the most intimate views of inner-city life to be captured on film. Yet it is also the human story of two young men, their two families and their community, and the joys and struggles they live through over a period of five years.

The House Is Black (1963)

Director:
Forugh Farrokhzad

IMDB

Review:
The House is Black, written, directed and edited in 1963 by Forugh Farrokhzad is a brilliant piece of work done on an issue that has hardly been portrayed in any kind of film, fiction or non. Filmed in B&W on location somewhere on a Middle Eastern island, the film portrays a rapid series of events during the everyday lives of all of its inhabitants that are suffering from various stages of leprosy.

Werner Herzog Gets Shot (2006)

Review:
This isn't an actual documentary but an interview with Werner Herzog.During this interview Werner was shot by an unknown air rifle sniper while talking to Mark Kermode. When Kermode suggested they postpone the interview Herzog insisted they continue. He later remarked,  “It is not significant. It does not surprise me to be shot at.”

The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006)

Director:

Sam Wainwright Douglas and Paul Lovelace

IMDB

Review:

From their origins in New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene and their involvement in the “Easy Rider” soundtrack, to the lost years of constant drugging, endless touring and a final shot at redemption, The Holy Modal Rounders... Bound To Lose recounts the unique forty-year history of these true American originals. With startling intimacy, the film also documents the band’s arduous, amusing, and sometimes heartbreaking struggle to capitalize on their recent resurgence in popularity, culminating in an unpredictable 40th anniversary concert in Portland, Oregon.

The Mindscape of Alan Moore (2003)

Director:
Dez Vylenz

IMDB

Review:
ALAN MOORE -writer, artist and performer- is the world's most critically acclaimed and widely admired creator of comic books and graphic novels.  In The Mindscape of Alan Moore we see a portrait of the artist as contemporary shaman, someone with the power to transform consciousness by means of manipulating language, symbols and images.  The film leads the audience through Moore's world with the writer himself as guide, beginning with his childhood background, following the evolution of his career as he transformed the comics medium, through to his immersion in a magical worldview where science, spirituality and society are part of the same universe.  The Mindscape of Alan Moore is an audiovisual document of utmost relevance in the wake of current global developments.

Terror's Advocate (2007)

Director:
Barbet Schroeder

IMDB

Review:
An examination of the career of Jacques Vergès (1925- ), attorney for members of Algeria's FLN, Palestine's FPLP, the Khmer Rouge, Carlos and associates, Klaus Barbie, and other revolutionaries and outcasts. Archival footage, news articles, and photographs mix with contemporary interviews of Vergès, friends, associates, and historians. Connections with Nazis are explored, as well as Vergès's marriage to Djamila Bouhared, his courtroom methods, his disappearance from 1970 to 1978, and the roots of his radicalism. Throughout, Vergès remains playful and charming, with a soupçon of arrogance. The film suggests Vergès's anti-colonial nature is at his center.

Nagisa Oshima: The Man Who Left His Soul on Film (1984)

Director:
Paul Joyce

Review:
Virtually a crash course on the most important and talented living Japanese filmmaker after Kurosawa and related aspects of contemporary Japanese politics and culture. This superb feature-length documentary made in 1984 by Paul Joyce for England’s Channel Four offers an indispensable look at a fearlessly innovative and political filmmaker who is all but unknown in this country today, thanks to the reluctance of his U.S. distributor to make such vital works as Boy, Death by Hanging, and The Ceremony available on video. Making intelligent use of Anglo-American commentators (writers Donald Richie, Roger Pulvers, and Paul Mayersberg) as well as Oshima himself, this film somehow manages to cover everything in Oshima’s career from his early youth shockers to In The Realm of the Senses and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence–including his fame as a Japanese TV personality (at the outset we see him acting in a commercial for bug spray). Essential viewing.

Made in Serbia (2005)

Director:
Mladen Djordjevic

IMDB

Review:
A portray of the Serbian video porn industry presenting four life stories of domestic porn actors. Unlike their Western counterparts, these people work in porn industry in order to survive and obtain basic life supplies.  The film follows the young hot shot porn star who travels to a shoot in Hungary, a bisexual actor who visits hometown, a 40 year old actress that invites her husband into the porn business and a peasant who became a local legend thanks to working in porn industry.

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (2008)

Director:
Matt Wolf

IMDB

Review:
Arthur Russell's music is the very product of its time and space, NY in the 70-80's, and the very product of a country man meeting the most free and creative art scenes. You'd find all of this in his art, sweet melancholy, great tension, sensuality, sound researches (what he brings out of his cello is just amazing), and ultimately an incredible sense of groove in his proto-disco gems. This documentary tells the life of this great artist through the vision of people who lived around him, or worked with him, his parents, his ever loving boy-friend (a very moving character), the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, label owners, musicans, etc...

Young @ Heart (2007)

Director:
Stephen Walker and Sally George

IMDB

Review:
As early as autumn 2006, surreal and hilarious video clips of Stephen Walker's documentary (which originally aired on the BBC) were making the rounds on YouTube and in email inboxes all over the U.S.--tantalizing, out-of-context glimpses of the Young At Heart vocal choir, composed of elderly men and women, having a go at chestnuts by Sonic Youth, the Clash, and the Ramones. It seemed that the feature film, re-released for the screen in 2008, would perhaps be an uncomfortably comic look at a bunch of geezers set up to look ridiculous for the smug delectation of hipster audiences everywhere. The reality is not so far off-base, at least on first glance, but Walker's film, tracking the progress of the chorus as they prepare for a big gig, provides enough good-natured humour, personal narrative, and intimate details to inspire respect and admiration--and some major heart-string-plucking--in filmgoers.  Viewers witness the blossoming of long-buried or completely latent musical talents in the elderly folks; learning the new, unfamiliar material, under the direction of irascible 50-something conductor Bob Cilman, keeps their neurons firing and their emotions kindled, while communing with and trusting each other staves off the isolating effects of old age, even as they cope with heartbreaking losses within their ranks. It is undeniably funny to watch them struggle with the more challenging punk, classic rock, and soul songs as their leader kvetches wearily, but Walker skilfully ensures that, by the end of the film, we are laughing with the intrepid Young At Hearters, and not at them.

Fetishes (1996)

Director:
Nick Broomfield

IMDB

Review:
In Fetishes Broomfield invades the demimonde of dominatrix Mistress Raven, who runs a pricey Manhattan parlor, Pandora's Box, catering to fetishists. The documentary opens with black and white footage from an Irving Klaw film depicting models, including Bettie Page, wearing fetish attire. Nick Broomfield and his film crew then arrive at Pandora's Box on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and are given a tour of the facility by Mistress Raven, including the dungeon and the medical room.

The Most Hated Family in America (2007)

Director:
Geoffrey O'Connor

IMDB

Review:
The Westborough Baptist Church believe that America is condemned by God because of its acceptance of homosexuality and rejection of His true teaching. The members of the church are overwhelmingly from one family – the Phelps family under the tutelage of Pastor Phelps – father or grandfather to many of the group. In an attempt to understand why they are so hated and try to get a grip on their beliefs, Louis Theroux spends several months with them at their home, talking to them as individuals and joining them on their pickets at the funerals of dead soldiers, whom they believe are dead because God is punishing the US.  Louis Theroux has made a name for himself in seeking out the weird and the wonderful characters and scenes in the world and managing to get close to them, using his affable and harmless manner to often reach the heart of the people and let them show more than they intended. And so it is here with the Phelps family – a group that we start out seeing as a group of religious cracks but gradually become more and more upsetting as the film goes on. The film does a great job of exploring its subjects and Louis effortlessly brings a lot out of some of them.

You're Gonna Miss Me (2005)

Director:
Keven McAlester

IMDB

Review:
Documentary about rock n roll pioneer Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson, whose band the 13th Floor Elevators coined the term "psychedelic rock" in the 60's. Struggling with drug abuse and schizophrenia, he spent 3 years in Rusk State Hospital after pleading insanity on marijuana charges. His new band, Roky Erickson and the Aliens managed to stay vital during the 70's with a darker and more aggressive rock sound. After losing interest in music, he became a recluse, living in poverty and filth. The movie details the rise and fall of Roky Erickson and his brothers struggle to get Rokys life back on track.

Bigger Stronger Faster* (2008)

Director:
Chris Bell

IMDB

Review:
Finally an honest look into the steroid world. These days in order to compete with your peers/teammates, you almost have to take some sort of performance enhancing drugs. If you don't, you'll fall behind. Standard case of "keeping up with the Jones's". I feel it is very obvious to the world and sports fans that this is going on, but NO ONE is honest about it! And when one guy gets busted, he's looked down upon and singled out. Not fair to single them out and criticize when everyone else on the team is doing it.  This doc doesn't really detail team sports, but it is still the same concept. You finally get a good look into this world and a good look into why people do these types of drugs. Very informative, well done documentary. I am so glad to have seen it, and for anyone curious, it's worth watching.

Desperate Man Blues (2003)

Director:

Edward Gillan

IMDB

Review:

Record collector Joe Bussard parties like it's 1929! A cultural scavenger, musician and broadcaster, he was a pioneer in the preservation of 78rpm records and the roots music produced in pure and undiluted form in the 20s and 30s. Bussard has rescued priceless shellac artefacts from attics and basements across the US for more than 50 years. He has amassed a vast collection of more than 25,000 rare discs. At 65 Bussard has the enthusiasm and energy of a 16-year-old and will happily spin 75-year-old records all day for anyone who will listen. All the while he gives a running commentary on the music and performer, reliving the day it was made and relating some crazy tale of how he came to rescue the record!

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Director:
Marina Zenovich

IMDB

Review:
There are few who are unfamiliar with the notorious Polanski sex scandal of 1977 which led to him absconding from America prior to the start of the trial, never to return. This recent documentary presents the case for both sides and leaves it to the viewer to determine the guilt or innocence of the legendary director.

Surfwise (2007)

Director:
Doug Pray

IMDB

Review:
As usual Doug Pray does an amazing job. The inspiring and tumultuous story of 85-year old surfer, health advocate and sex guru, Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children who were all home-schooled and raised in a small camper on the beach, where they surfed and had to adhere to the strict diet and lifestyle of animals in the wild.

Lynch aka. Lynch (One) (2007)

IMDB

Review:
Compiled from over two years of footage, the film is an intimate portrait of Lynch's creative process as he completes his latest film, INLAND EMPIRE. We follow Lynch as he discovers beauty in ideas, leading us on a journey through the abstract which ultimately unveils his cinematic vision. The director of the documentary immersed himself in David Lynch's world; living and working at Lynch's home. His unobtrusive style has captured a personal side of David Lynch not seen before. The film reveals Lynch not only as one of the most original and compelling directors of contemporary film but also as an artist who continues to explore and experiment in countless mediums. We witness his "hands on" approach to painting, sculpting, music and screenwriting. His enthusiasm is infectious; inspiring us to tap into the well of creativity that Lynch believes we all have.

Kind request

My dear friend has started (about few months ago) to film a documentary about a man that is a graveyard keeper and in his spare time also an inventor. He cleans up graves and sells candles in order to make some money to sponsor his inventions. By the first footage he seems to be a new freakin' Da Vinci but in a modern day...something like Tesla. Now I would post a sample video but my friend is worried that someone will steal his project on which he was working very hard.

I am writing this to you because I need a small favor from you (if you can of course). He is a little bit short on resources (money) and as I see future in his project I have also donated to the cause. Since this country isn't supported by PayPal the only way that this can be done is via SMS. It isn't much but it will help him as he doesn't need a million but much less.

For all of you that like to watch a great documentary this is your chance to contribute and be a part of a one great project in which you will surely enjoy.

Donation process is simple and be sure that your phone number will be hidden and wont be used in advertising and other purposes.

Link for donation is to your left or click here

Cheers

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007)

Director:
Charles de Lauzirika

IMDB

Review:
The definitive three-and-a-half hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic "Blade Runner," culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.

Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! (1987)

IMDB

Review:
A retrospective of the films of Britain's Hammer Studios, renowned for making stylish horror films in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Included are clips from Hammer productions and interviews with actors, actresses, directors and producers who worked on these films.

Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003)

Director:
Richard Schickel

IMDB

Review:
Narrated by Sydney Pollack, film critic Richard Schickel's dazzling two-hour plus documentary to one of the towering figures in film: Charles Chaplin. Hardcore Chaplin fans may not find much new material here, but more unfamiliar admirers will gain some valuable information about one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century. Schickel has constructed the documentary as a chronological survey of Chaplin's work, starting with his most significant shorts and covering all of his features. Schickel supports his narration with testimony from artists familiar with Chaplin's work and family members who offer personal insights into the comedian's life. The documentary plays down but doesn't ignore the controversies that swirled around Chaplin's private life. But the main focus is on the films. They include some of the best-loved movies of all time. Clips from "Kid Auto Races at Venice," the 1914 Keystone short in which Chaplin first used his Tramp costume, reveal a startlingly modern technique and sensibility, as if the filmmakers were predicting and mocking reality TV. Subsequent shorts show Chaplin refining his 'Little Tramp' character while absorbing the essentials of filmmaking. By the time he made "Easy Street," in 1917, Chaplin had perfected a combination of knockabout farce and Victorian sentiment that still proves irresistible. Chaplin's early features, including "The Kid," "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights," were such blockbuster hits that he could essentially ignore the coming of sound for almost a decade. Those making appearances on the program include Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, Jeanine Basinger, Claire Bloom, Geraldine Chaplin. Sydney Chaplin, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Milos Forman, Bill Irwin, Norman Lloyd, Marcel Marceau, David Raksin, David Robinson, Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese and Jeffrey Vance.

Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

Director:
Werner Herzog

IMDB

Review:
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated. Indeed a one of Herzog's most extraordinary documentaries. A must watch!

Chaplin's Goliath (1996)

Director:
Kevin Macdonald

IMDB

Review:
A film about the tall actor who was most famous for playing the quintessential villian for Charles Chaplin's Tramp character.  Eric Campbell looms large in the history of silent comedy on the basis of a mere 11 films. Between 1916 and 1917 he appeared as Charlie Chaplin's hulking nemesis in 11 of his 12 comedy classics for Mutual, a literal Goliath to Chaplin's David. With heavy, frowning eyebrows and a slow-burn stare, this huge yet agile Scottish actor became one of the most recognizable faces on the screen and even inspired copycats (one delightful piece of archival footage shows a young Oliver Hardy in a thick black beard blatantly imitating Campbell). In December 1917, on the verge of a brilliant career, Eric Campbell died in a car accident. Writer-director Kevin Macdonald uses archival footage and photos to illuminate his rich career on the British stage and music hall circuit, and interviews paint a portrait of a gentle family man. Macdonald pads out the film with a Scottish-pride slant on Campbell's success (the film's subtitle is "In Search of Scotland's Forgotten Star") and the reminiscences of Campbell's granddaughter, pleasant but unnecessary diversions. The film is at its best when examining his gifts as a screen comic, seen in clips and notably in rare outtakes from his work with Chaplin. His improvisational talents show that "Big Uncle Eric"--as he was known to kids around the world--was no mere foil for Chaplin. Eric Campbell was a creative artist and a comic partner, a vital part of Chaplin's most productive period.

A Is for Autism (1992)

Director:
Tim Webb

IMDB

Review:
 A is for Autism is a dazzling animated collage of drawings, live-action sequences and voiceovers that offers an insight into different aspects and forms of autism. It gives a rare glimpse of the very private and personal worlds of autistic children and adults, their thoughts and feelings and, especially, their sensory responses to and experiences of the world. In 1991, Channel 4 commissioned Tim Webb to explore the possibility of making a short film for its Disabling World season, to give a general audience a small window into the condition of autism. In the UK, no film had ever been made about autism which included contributions from autistic people themselves.  After researching the project for a year, Webb decided to make an 'animated documentary' based upon contributions and collaborations with autistic people, seeing animation as the most effective means to convey the condition of autism. Every design in the film originates from a drawing by a person with autism and, although the drawings are very different, Webb organises the material in such a way as to create an overall unity. The nature of the condition, which is characterised by often extreme social withdrawal and emotional detachment, presented Webb with a unique challenge. By deciding to depend solely on his autistic participants, he had to accept that he could work only with the most able ten per cent of autism sufferers, who might be willing and able to recount their thoughts and feelings. One of the narrators is Temple Grandin, who coached Dustin Hoffman for his role in Rain Man (US, 1988). Underpinned by a restrained flute and piano score (one composed and performed by autistic musicians), the assembled voices are edited to present both individual narratives and a broader picture of the autistic world. The interaction between the sound and the images adds additional layers to a visually very dense film, and multiple viewings are necessary to comprehend fully all its illustrations and associations.

Chicago 10 (2007)

Director:
Brett Morgen

IMDB

Review:
Archival footage, animation, and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention

Heima (2007)

Director:
Dean DeBlois

IMDB

Review:
In the summer of 2006, Sigur Rós returned home to play a series of free, unannounced concerts for the people of Iceland. This film documents their already legendary tour with intimate reflections from the band and a handful of new acoustic performances.

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (2008)

Director:
Jon Ronson

IMDB

Review:
Eccentricity comes in many forms. In the case of perfectionist film-maker Stanley Kubrick, who died in 1999, they clearly informed his genius. This trawl by journalist Jon Ronson through the archives of Kubrick's St Albans estate reveals a shy, meticulous stationery-obsessive who was a "Catherine wheel of ideas and projects". In hundreds of catalogued cardboard boxes, Ronson finds screen tests, fan letters, mind-bogglingly detailed location research, and memos about cat collars and barometric pressure. The documentary is a cinéaste's dream, but the remoteness - even coldness - of its subject's technical masterpieces such as 2001: a Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon remains, like the man himself, a compelling enigma.

Indie Sex: Censored (2007)

Director:
Lesli Klainberg

IMDB

Review:
Since the earliest film images were created, sex and nudity have been part of cinema audiences have been both titillated and horrified by what theyve seen. But who is to decide what is appropriate to show on screen? Indie Sex: Censored examines how filmmakers, the film industry, and special interest groups have attempted to both regulate and set free the images that filmmakers create and who gets to see them.

Wide Awake (2006)

Director:
Alan Berliner

IMDB

Review:
One man's lifelong quest for a restful night of sleep is explored as filmmaker Alan Berliner turns the camera on himself to explore the effects that insomnia has on a man who just can't seem to slow his mind down. Berliner is a man who has fallen victim to his own restless conscience. From as far back as he can remember sleep has been an elusive goal that seems ever farther from reality, but despite his best efforts Berliner just can't seem to find a cure for his condition. Whether the result of simple neurosis or the many demands of his life and family, Berliner's insomnia remains his cursed companion through thick and thin. But Berliner's condition affects more people than just himself, and as the sleep-deprived documentarian interviews family and friends, viewers are treated to an intimate glimpse at how one man's condition can have an unsettling ripple effect on nearly everyone around him.

SuicideGirls: The First Tour (2005)

Director:
Mike Marshall

IMDB

Review:
This film sets to envisage what society doesn't, Reality, that girls with tattoos, piercing's and odd dye jobs are just as beautiful as models and play boy center fold girl. This Documentary is not about perversion or pornography, simply an artistic view of the beautiful and sexual beings the suicide girls. That and have an extremely good time partying and showing other people what you've got, confidence.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie (2008)

Director:
Jay Delaney

IMDB

Review:
Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton, best friends from a dying former steel town in Ohio, are out to convince the world that Bigfoot exists. They have amassed a vast library of video footage and still photographs of proof (their website is highly trafficked) after years of venturing into the forest, day and night, to the capture shots of the legendary creature in its native habitat.
Dallas is the gregarious of the dyad is a Reiki master who uses Sasquatch calls into the wild and claims to have a sheep's bone in his skull; some claim Dallas to be one of the world’s leading big foot researchers. Wayne is the repressed, emotional of the gang- a former high-school bully who currently works at a car wash and is living paycheck to paycheck.
Seeking fame, fortune, and notoriety, Wayne and Dallas's friendship is tested when a nationally recognized high-profile California BF researcher makes a stop in their town. Director Jay Delaney's honest and often funny look at their lives, proves that Bigfoot certainly is alive and well in Wayne and Dallas' world.

Confessions of a Superhero (2007)

Director:
Matthew Ogens

IMDB

Review:
One for the road before I go.
A documentary that chronicles the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal look into their daily routines reveals their hardships and triumphs as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame. The Hulk sold his Super Nintendo for a bus ticket to LA; Wonder Woman was a mid-western homecoming queen; Batman struggles with his anger, while Superman's psyche is consumed by the Man of Steel. Although the Walk of Fame is right beneath their feet, their own paths to stardom prove to be long, hard climbs.

Gone away for 11 days...

I have to leave for 11 days. I will try to post something but I doubt I will be able to do that. I have uploaded bunch of documentaries and I promise that as soon as I am back I will upload regularly. Use the labels (on the left) and the blog archive (on the right) in the meanwhile. I am sure there is something that you haven't watched.

Cheers,

HEAVY

SuicideGirls: The First Tour (2005)

Director:
Mike Marshall

IMDB

Review:
What Playboy magazine was to the 1950's, SuicideGirls is to the new millennium: a revolutionary lifestyle brand that combines the DIY attitude of underground culture with a vibrant, sex-positive community. Now comes Suicide Girls: The First Tour, a movie featuring the unique mix of punk and burlesque that made the SuicideGirls first national tour such a hit with audiences. Beyond the stage performances, this movie follows the women along for an intimate behind-the-scenes look at life in the van, along with exclusive photo shoots, and behind-the-scenes antics like trying to set up a topless photo shoot on the streets of San Francisco at midnight. In 2004, the SuicideGirls traveled 9,000 miles around the country to perform 60 sold-out burlesque shows in 45 cities, and this movie documents it all. Giving a goth attitude to the tradition peek-a-boo, the SuicideGirls are sexy, seductive and charming as well as chaotic and candid, with scenes from the live performances interspersed with intimate looks at the individual models.

Air Guitar Nation (2006)

Director:
Alexandra Lipsitz

IMDB

Review:
With equal measures of showmanship, patriotism and irony, hundreds vie at NYC's Pussycat Lounge for the East Coast Division of the first-ever nationwide air guitar championship for the right to eventually represent the U.S. at the world championship. Meanwhile, back in Finland, the current world champ frets that the influx of Americans could corrupt the form's purity. Faces contorted, bodies vibrating, fingers gripped convulsively around non-existent strings, contestants get one minute apiece to practice their art. Actor David "C-Diddy" Jung uses a kung fu style to advance to the finals at the Roxy in Los Angeles. There, he manages to defeat the West Coast faves as well as the New York runner-up, Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane. In Finland, C-Diddy faces some fierce competitors, not least Bjorn Turoque, who never lets a little thing like losing hold him back.

Mondo Cane 2 (1963)

Director:
Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi

IMDB

Review:
The original shockumentary sequel made up of episodes in the life of man and beast, filmed all over the world - New Guinea, Germany, Singapore, Portugal, Australia, America and beyond. This time around, the voyage includes vivisection, recreations of old west lynchings, a visit to a mortician's school, transvestites, wild sex clubs and alligator hunting.

Mondo cane (1962)

Director:
Paolo Cavara and Gualtiero Jacopetti

IMDB

Review:
Mondo Cane examines the ridiculous and cruel aspects of mankind, recording an abundance of evidence across the global spectrum from the most developed to the most primitive cultures. This film kicked off the "shockumentary" genre, but generally its many sequels and imitators were simply exploitational and lacked the pointed purposefulness of the original. While Mondo Cane's "shock value" has faded over the years, the movie's striking cinematography and poetically sardonic viewpoint make it uniquely effective.

College Inc. (2010)

LINK

Review:

Even in lean times, the $400 billion business of higher education is booming. Nowhere is this more true than in one of the fastest-growing -- and most controversial -- sectors of the industry: for-profit colleges and universities that cater to non-traditional students, often confer degrees over the Internet, and, along the way, successfully capture billions of federal financial aid dollars.

In College, Inc., correspondent Martin Smith investigates the promise and explosive growth of the for-profit higher education industry. Through interviews with school executives, government officials, admissions counselors, former students and industry observers, this film explores the tension between the industry --which says it's helping an underserved student population obtain a quality education and marketable job skills -- and critics who charge the for-profits with churning out worthless degrees that leave students with a mountain of debt.

At the center of it all stands a vulnerable population of potential students, often working adults eager for a university degree to move up the career ladder. FRONTLINE talks to a former staffer at a California-based for-profit university who says she was under pressure to sign up growing numbers of new students. "I didn't realize just how many students we were expected to recruit," says the former enrollment counselor. "They used to tell us, you know, 'Dig deep. Get to their pain. Get to what's bothering them. So, that way, you can convince them that a college degree is going to solve all their problems.'"