Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Documentaries « Thread Started on May 1, 2011, 7:58pm »
Amazingly, AnyPort doesn't seem to have a dedicated thread for documentaries, although plenty of them have been discussed in other threads.
I found this wonderful site of all on-line documentaries. I'm sure there must be duds and probably some wacko stuff in the bunch, but click on the list -- it's impossible to not see something that will interest you.
Joined: Jan 2013 Gender: Female Posts: 373 Location: NOLA,USA
Re: Documentaries « Reply #4 on Aug 11, 2011, 12:08am »
All of the Ken Burns documentaries that I have seen are top notch. I have seen the following : Jazz Baseball The Civil War The Brooklyn Bridge The Statue of Liberty Frank Lloyd Wright
ones on my list to see of his are Huey P. Long, The War (WWII), Prohibition, National Parks.
Just now looking up his accomplishments,I see that he is only 58 years old!! My god!!!
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: Documentaries « Reply #7 on Aug 18, 2011, 9:33pm »
I have no chance to see any documentaries on the big screen where I live. And if I could only see one movie in 3D, Pina would probably be the one I'd pick. I like the "You should see it because" reason in this link: http://www.cineworld.co.uk/films/4295
Did you see Catfish after you saw Pina?
Catfish, first mentioned at #620 here, provoked some good discussion, going on for 15 or so posts afterward.
I'll be keeping my eyes open for the Lost Gardens, Cheery, as the BBC tells me it's not available in my area.
Re: Documentaries « Reply #10 on Aug 22, 2011, 2:01pm »
The last documentary I saw was The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about a community of diehard video game fans. I thought it would just be hilarious to watch a bunch of obsessed nerds, but I got drawn into the surprisingly heartfelt story, as an unassuming junior high school teacher challenges the swaggering champion for the Donky Kong record.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: Documentaries « Reply #11 on Oct 10, 2011, 10:01pm »
Came across this online today and would be curious to see if it interests others here.
I say that because many people won't read books written in dialects/accents, and Confederacy of Dunces certainly uses accents. I can't get any distance from that because for me his written accents, including the rhythm of speech are so brilliantly done that I can hear the characters as I read the book. Well, the whole book is so evocative that I think I've actually seen the photo of Santa Bataglia's mother which of course only exists on the printed page.
Since the book is so closely associated with a particular place at a particular time, I was quite surprised to see in the documentary that it has been translated into thirty-seven languages.
John Kennedy Toole was one of those lights that burn quickly and are gone, in his case because of suicide. But his book has resonated for so many people that he continues to fascinate.
I find the post-mortem analysis and blaming of his mother excessive & verging on gossipy, as probably most people viewing the documentary know the amazing story of its publication. However, the film maker admits he needed more data to flesh out the character of his subject, and the alarming Thelma certainly compels attention. Other than that, the film is beautifully put together.
There's a mistake on the site -- it directs you to click on the right rather than the left. I could not find any way to view it full screen, but the definition & streaming are excellent.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: Documentaries « Reply #13 on Oct 27, 2011, 3:48am »
I always wanted to see the full 1978 BBC program on this interesting experiment, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. However, this hour-long look at it with a follow-up thirty years later is quite enjoyable.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: Documentaries « Reply #15 on Oct 27, 2011, 9:27pm »
This is great stuff, Mark -- thanks!
I did have a quibble with the kitchen maid's hair in the breakfast episode, as it looks too modern. Any idea who the woman narrating is supposed to be? It sounds as though she's a former house maid remembering the bad old days, but the episode takes place in 1880, & the series was made in 1987. Of course, there must have been girls who "went into service" at the age of 14 or so during the last years of Edward VII or the first years of George V, when times must have been still tough for such girls. They'd still be alive in the 1980s.
Re: Documentaries « Reply #16 on Oct 28, 2011, 6:24am »
I understand what you mean about the hair.
The woman narrating is, as far as I remember, the actual cook, Ruth Mott, the matronly woman you see doing it. I can't find a biography of her other than knowing from watching the series many years ago that she left school young, went into service, worked her way up to the head cook and stayed in that profession all through her life until retiring. She was also an advisor on the film Gosford Park.
There was also a series called the Victorian Kitchen Garden that showed the development from a bare patch of ground to a fully planted and productive garden in the Victorian times.
Both series were at the time a delight to watch as neither were frenetic, dealing with hard biting issues, showing harrowing scenes etc. They were gentle and relaxing but informative.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,224 Location: Greenest UK
Re: Documentaries « Reply #18 on Oct 28, 2011, 4:32pm »
K2, "Who do you think you are?" is a series of documentaries helping "celebrities" find out about their families' past. Some of them are really excellent.
I could mention "grow your own drugs" which was very popular only a few years ago (again a BBC effort) however, would want you to note that some of the claims made in that show have infuriated medical herbalists.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,548 Location: Paris, France
Re: Documentaries « Reply #19 on Oct 28, 2011, 6:15pm »
The last documentary I saw on the big screen was Putty Hill, about a kid who died of a drug overdose and his friends and family. It is not exactly a comedy.
Joined: Jan 2013 Gender: Female Posts: 373 Location: NOLA,USA
Re: Documentaries « Reply #20 on Nov 5, 2011, 11:20am »
I just read a little blurb in the newest New Yorker magazine about a documentary that opens(ed) on November 4 about Charlotte Rampling,one of those seemingly elusive actors I have been intrigued with for many,many years. It is called,The Look. (great title I thought). NY Times review here:
Re: Documentaries « Reply #21 on Nov 5, 2011, 3:40pm »
Recent documentaries I've enjoyed that might turn up on that "top documentaries" site have been Stephen Fry's series on language (I see the site has his film on manic depression, which was much less depressing than it sounds), and the series just started on the BBC about the symphony.
Here's an interesting one about Monsanto (French/German)
My favourite documentary site is www.hollanddoc.nl - in Dutch, but a number of the documentaries are in English, with subtitles. Just click on 'kijk & luister' and you will get to the list of films.
Joined: May 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 5,379 Location: Winnipeg
Re: Documentaries « Reply #24 on Nov 19, 2011, 3:49pm »
Here's a trailer for one I thoroughly enjoyed on an aircraft recently. It follows a turbulent series of events in the career of a British chef (Paul Liebrandt) trying to make it in New York. Besides providing an interesting view of the man's talent, it also offers an eye-opening look at the how the power of a single journalist can make or break a career and a business.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,224 Location: Greenest UK
Re: Documentaries « Reply #26 on Dec 23, 2011, 10:46pm »
when I was in London for my exams recently, my roomie and me took the time to watch the "Victorian Christmas" episode to "Victorian Farm". I quite like that type of documentary show. They recreate the conditions of the era and explain how things were made. in that episode we see about medicine and firing bricks amongst many other interesting things.
the style is warm, welcoming, light. you can see the characters (all are historians or specialists one way or another) are enjoying themselves.
« Last Edit: Dec 23, 2011, 10:48pm by auntieannie »
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 5,368 Location: Montana & Florida, USA
Re: Documentaries « Reply #29 on Dec 27, 2011, 6:46pm »
Though it was made as a 5 1/2 hour 3 part television series, it is now packaged as a 4 disk DVD, with the 4th disk consisting of documentary films. Because I was in college and not paying much attention to world events in 1975, I enjoyed catching up on this bit of history I missed out on the first time around.
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