Documentaries are so hot these days. What is our obsession? A hunger for truth, a need for a constructed narrative of the real. Mostly it seems like legitimized reality TV for the pseudo-intelligentsia. I am not trying to be cynical here (I am one of the gang...), but when looking at any media; photos, video, and film there is a nagging reminder that what I am seeing is miles from the real. Sadly, the product is a stretch of illusion. Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the phrase "a mirror with a memory" in the late 19th century to describe photography's elusive reality and famed critic Susan Sontag said, "In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it."
It this nagging, that reminds me that I am always knee deep in slant. It is not that there isn't truth involved, but it is usually only a slice of it. What I am watching is still entertainment at base. Maybe the best use of documentaries is their ability to get us thinking, to inspire us, and to institute a hunger for honesty. That ranted (this is a blog of course), here are some of those tasty 'documents' that have been flickering in my house.
Sketches of Frank Gehry - dir. Sidney Pollack
This was pretty light to me. Frank Gehry has become my colloquial version of one who performs feats of impossibilty. Sorta like referencing Gandhi or Einstein. "We are not all Frank Gehrys" The question after watching the film isn't where do his ideas come from, but still how did he get people to buy into his architectural absurdity. I did appreciate where he referred to parts of his designs endearingly as, stupid and awkward.
Danielson: A Family Movie
What can I say. It was a fun memory lane documentary for me + I saw my head in a crowd. Ha.
An empathetic review.
An unforgiving review.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Maybe it was because there was a photo shoot of Daniel Smith and Daniel Johnston in the Danielson Famile film or maybe it was because I watched these in close vicinity to one another...but it was hard not to make some curious connections between these two eccentric individuals after watching this film. A nice construction that lets the fascination build.
Borat
Documentary? Well maybe not, but somehow this 'unreal' film captures some jaw dropping views into our American culture.
(photo credit of Danielson Famile: Tom Eaton)
Recently, we enjoyed the film "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?"-The tale of trucker named Teri Horton taking on the art world.
Z! Have you ever seen Microcosmos? Matt E. raved about it once upon a time, and I just recently saw it. So now I'm raving. It's good times... I think you and G! might like it lots.
Oh man I could not agree more. I am a real documentary junky, but have come to realize that the truth of them is seriously buried in myth building. Art documentaries especially.
p.s. I particularly wondered to myself what you thought of the Frank Gehry Documentary after I watched it.
my people! I have some watching to do...then full reports!
This weekend Miles Davis Story.
microcosmos, yeah, baby! love it...
tucker's statement of 'myth' is very true about "S. of F. Gehry"... and I have to say that I thought it did address some of the 'why' that people buy his stuff... but the documentary was more about his 'myth' and building him up... did you find his personal lack of confidence and his own insecurities, character faults, therapists... an interesting line?
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