Share Your Favorite Documentaries Thread!

[ManjuShri]

Paul Sykes: At Large (1990)

 

Paul Sykes was a heavyweight boxer and weightlifter from Wakefield in England, he had ten professional fights but his entire adult life was marred by alcohol abuse and both petty and violent crimes. All ten of his fights came during a period of rehabilitation and relative sobriety between 1978 to 1980, in his sixth fight he knocked American David Wilson out cold and continued to punch him. The American was put on a life support machine and spent a month in hospital.

 

Sykes spent 21 out of 26 years incarcerated in 18 different prisons – mostly for violent crimes – in a period spanning the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, and was considered one of the countries most difficult prisoners. Upon his release from Hull prison in 1990 producer Roger Greenwood followed him in order to make this documentary, Paul Sykes: At Large. The film reveals Sykes to be a very intelligent but clearly unhinged individual.

 

In the years which followed this documentary Sykes failed to control his drinking and his physical and mental health further declined, he was given an ASBO by Wakefield council at the turn of the century after a string of incidents of disorder whilst drunk. He died in 2007 from alcohol related liver disease. He was survived by two sons, both of whom are now serving life sentences for two separate murders.

 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wwsst

[ghOsty]

I watched Won't You Be My Neighbor, the Mr. Rodgers documentary the other day, that was a great documentary, Fred Rogers was an amazing man.

[ManjuShri]

[ManjuShri]

Two Types: The Faces of Britain

 

We are surrounded by types, the words on signs, buses, shops and documents which guide us through our lives. Two types in particular are regarded as the faces of Britain - Johnston and Gill Sans. Their story is told by typeface expert Mark Ovenden.

 

Alt link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6etuoh

Edited October 12, 2018 by ManjuShri

[ManjuShri]

Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires

 

Struck down by the Spanish Flu in 1918, aged just 28, in his short life Egon Schiele created over 3,000 drawings and paintings, self-portraits and nudes. An agent provocateur of the modernist era, he was a taboo-busting rebel whose art looks like it was made yesterday - self-obsessed, exhibitionist and unafraid to confront questions of sexuality and identity.

 

To mark the anniversary of Schiele's death a century ago, this film tells Schiele's dramatic story in his own words, using original letters and writings - many of them translated for the first time. The film celebrates his remarkable artistic achievements but also debates the controversies around his work.

 

His sexually frank images shocked early 20th-century Vienna and still challenge us today. But are these the images of empowered women in control - or figures of of voyeurism? And how do we view his images of young girls from our modern perspective? Schiele didn't just make groundbreaking art, he was also a new kind of artist, carefully crafting his own myth, pioneering the notion of the artist as personality and performer in a way that would influence generations of other cultural trailblazers.

 

With contributions from Iggy Pop, Lily Cole and Jake Chapman, and visually striking dramatic reconstructions choreographed by acclaimed physical theatre company Gecko, the film conjures up the passionate, provocative world of Egon Schiele

Trailer

 

 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6x2hc8

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6x2q54

[Rubin Farr]

Has anyone seen this yet? I used to watch Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo as a child, so curious. Michael Keaton started out on Rogers' studio crew and said they were mostly ex-hippies and a fair amount of drug use went on. The black and white broadcasts were before my time, but they went thru the turbulent late 60s during Vietnam, MLK & Malcom X's assassinations, while Fred Rogers never shied away from discussing those topics with children.

 

[italiceyeball]

this one just came out...im probably going to order it. difficult to explain, just watch the trailer>>

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWFhplFSEQ&feature=related

Giving this a bump.

Really not sure about the upcoming steve carell dramatised version (based on the trailer).

[Rubin Farr]

I found the Ricky Jay documentary fascinating; being a child prodigy at magic, probly genius IQ, incredible memory and sleight of hand feats, the guy did it all. Plus he was connected to this whole hierarchy of old magicians from all the way back to Houdini. Ricky was a true loss to the world of magic, and a great actor and author to boot.

[nickthefish]

Bob Lazar: Area 51 And Flying Saucers (2018)

 

 

Former Government physicist Bob Lazar made headlines world-wide in 1989 when he came forward with his account of reverse-engineering an alien spacecraft for the US Military. The reason the public even knows the name Area 51 is because Lazar came forward about the work he did at the formerly secret military base. His testimony remains the most controversial and important UFO story of all time. This film intimately chronicles the challenges and travails of a cosmic whistleblower. Burdened with a revolutionary secret, he had to choose between his oath to his country or his conscience. Corbell's film will explore Lazar's groundbreaking claims and the devastating impact it has had on his life over the course of the last thirty years, including rare and never before revealed footage guaranteed to alter the landscape of the debate. He blew the whistle, shocked the world, then went silent - until now. 

 

 

Evelyn

 

Following his Oscar winning The White Helmets, Orlando von Einsiedel turns his camera on his own family as they attempt to cope with a devastating loss. When his brother, newly diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffering from intense depression, took his own life at 22, Orlando and his other two siblings buried the trauma, rarely talking about it. Over a decade later, the remaining family set out on a hiking tour, visiting landscapes Evelyn liked to walk, to reflect on his life and death. The result is an intensely personal and moving take on the emotional impact of suicide within a family and a powerful account of the benefits of creating safe spaces for emotional communication. Shot in a subjective style and against the stunning backdrop of the British countryside, Evelyn is an emotionally raw film that documents the difficult, yet rewarding, attempt to navigate the rocky highlands of collective trauma.

Three Identical Strangers

 

New York, 1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they are identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but it also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives - and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.

[whosebrian]

[Rubin Farr]

this looks cool

 

[ManjuShri]

Master restorer and forger Tom Keating explains the techniques of various artists.

 

Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHTDBQCHmUHnIYJGv0YXES_MQjOPyXKau

 

[Zephyr_Nova]

Posting so this thread will show up in my content.  Surprised I didn't do that years ago.  I'm always looking for good docs.  The Act of Killing, King of Kong, Word Wars and Vernon Florida are a few of my faves.

[cwmbrancity]

The Trial of Ratko Mladic.

 

Chilling doesn't do it justice, perverted might be more appropriate. You forget so much in life, then a documentary hurls you into a web of memories when, all you really had to worry about at the time, was the quality of the drugs you planned to consume that coming weekend.

 

Perverted seems appropriate not because of hindsight, but for the footage of Mladic in "conversation" with a local Bosnian Muslim patriarch, offering his very beneficial terms if they all surrender, or disappearing altogether if they don't. The footage of a father calling out into the forests to his sons hiding from the slaughter while under orders from Serbian paramilitaries, that they'll be granted generous conditions if they surrender & move down from the hills, while patronising laughter engulfs him.

 

The wife who goes to The Hague to offer witness testimony about her husband & sons, the same emaciated bloke calling out to his sons on a sweltering summer day. The forensic archaeological nightmare of identifying mass graves, that section alone was tough.

 

Outstanding, the eyes burn with the inscrutable arrogance of an ideologue throughout.

 

[YEK]

 

Found this doc when searching for lou reed video.

It's more of a documentary on andy warhol and the people behind the movies he made.

 

Interesting enough, something i didn't know much about.

[ManjuShri]

Ecstasy and Agony (BBC Horizon, 2001) 

 

A look into the treatment of Parkinson's with the use of MDMA.

 

 

 

UWA-101 is an MDMA analogue that is being tested as a non-psychoactive treatment option based on such findings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWA-101

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22345403

 

[Nebraska]

Has anyone seen this yet?

 

haven't yet, but noticed it was on hbo on demand. also have 'three identical strangers' bookmarked on prime. 

[MadameChaos]

 

Ex Libris  is a film that I missed screening at the cinema I volunteer at because I'd put my name down to help but some people can't use the internet *cough* Caroline.

 

Anyway! I thought it sounded interesting and found it online (Amazon I think) and though it was hella long, I did find it really interesting. It made me wanna, you know. "read".  

 

It really made me think about the democratizing power of libraries, and how enriching access to this kind of free information can be to people's lives..

[dingformung]

Not really a docu, but a series of mini reportages:

https://www.nowness.com/series/portrait-of-a-place

Edited April 11, 2019 by darreichungsform

[MadameChaos]

The Mcqueen documentary is really good and gave me a huge appreciation for him as an artist. There was a noteable absence of many/most/all the people he was actually close to though (aside from some family) and a lot of people who claimed to be responsible in some way for his success. Still, it showed what a genius he was and how he blurred the lines between fashion and performance art. 9/10

[cwmbrancity]

[hello spiral]

Not sure if I posted this one already cuz it's been a fave of mine for years. Recently watched it with my lady which reminded me to post it here. It's fluff but entertaining fluff

 

[Roo]

My most outstanding documentary films (many probably mentioned already):

 

1. Close-Up (1990, Kiarostami

2. Man With a Movie Camera (1929, Vertov)

3. Baraka (1992, Fricke)

4. Koyaanisqatsi (1982, Reggio)

5. Waltz with Bashir (2008, Folman)

6. Stories We Tell (2012, Polley)

7. The Vietnam War (2017, Burns)

8. Blackfish (2013, Cowperthwaite)

9. 102 Minutes That Changed America (2008, Skundrick & Rittenmeyer)

10. OJ: Made in America (2016, Edelman)

 

HM: The Act of Killing (2012, Oppenheimer), Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010, Banksy), Forbidden Lie$ (2007, Broinowski)

[tec]

Not sure if I posted this one already cuz it's been a fave of mine for years. Recently watched it with my lady which reminded me to post it here. It's fluff but entertaining fluff

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKIB7ZX83dc

Cool, will check this out.

[Brisbot]

Once or twice a week I'll eat meals in the wrong order. Supper for breakfast, lunch for lunch, breakfast for dinner. And maybe once every month or two I'll have desert for breakfast.