Or: truth is no stranger to fiction. Hey, could we talk about documentaries? The College has a Film Club, and I’m the acting advisor. One of the things the Club’s president has asked me to do is recommend films for the Club to screen. I noticed that none of the films the Club has screened in the recent past are non-narrative or experimental. So I suggested they put together a documentary film series. I don’t know if they’ll run with this idea, but I am hoping they’ll have an official screening of at least one documentary in the near future. I told them a nice start would be the Maysles’s “Salesman”–which I think is a classic. It’s as painful, funny, and intriguing as “Glengarry Glen Ross” or “Death of a Salesman.” Any other suggestions? Doesn’t matter if it’s obscure or marginal, just as long as it’s available. By the way, does anyone know if Errol Morris’s “Gates of Heaven” is available in any format? And why hasn’t there been more talk about experiemtnal or non-narrative films on this blog? J’accuse!
“And why hasn’t there been more talk about experiemtnal or non-narrative films on this blog? J’accuse!”
advise a film club and suddenly you’re Jonas fuckin’ Mekas?? I keed. Salesman is an excellent choice. I love a Japanese doc called “The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On.” Other favorites are Titicut Follies (pretty grueling),Blood of the Beasts, Harlan County and Seventeen. I’ve seen Gates of Heaven so it must be on 16mm somewhere. I get ads from Kino video (kino.com) who rents obscure films–if you have a budget.
I second Wiseman–Titicut Follies, or High School in particular. Morris… Gates of Heaven’s been on IFC, so I bet it’s around somewhere; if I had to push for one of his, though, it’d be “Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control.” Another second for Harlan County.
Then: political stuff. I think “A Perfect Candidate” is great, so is “Primary” (Robert Drew–one of the first docs to follow around a candidate, in this case JFK). “My Brother’s Keeper” and/or “Paradise Lost” are both great. Spike Lee’s “Four Little Girls” is pretty damn good.
Herzog’s “My Best Fiend.”
The last experimental, non-narrative film I saw was “Paycheck.” I think all non-narrative films should have Ben Affleck in them.
Oh, and Paul Giammati was in this one, too, but he didn’t poop. At least not so’s you could tell.
Well, first, Tarnation is a damn fine piece of histrionics shot through a Warholian portal. Experimental? Documentary? Portrait of an aging twink with an iMac? I would also recommend Stevie and Ross McElwee’s Sherman’s March, which is funny as hell and relatively topical for your students as Fort Sumpter is just around the corner. As far as experimental films go, Ten is relatively experimental–depends on your definition I guess. Goodbye, Dragon Inn lacks dialogue and at one point spends five static minutes focusing on an empty movie auditorium forcing one to contemplate the nature of cinema. I’m all for talking about Stan Brakhage and Guy Maddin (but only taken in small doses).
I would add that “Paycheck” also forces one to contemplate the nature of cinema.
This site needs more posts where Mike weeps like a baby.
That is every post, Jeff. I weep easy.
Watched McElwee’s Bright Leaves and think it to be a first rate doc. McElwee examines southern culture (with grace, humor, respect and fear), his own family’s history growing tobacco in North Carolina, his memories of his deceased father, his relationship with his 13 year old son, the idea that home moves are rather transient documents of the past, Michael Curtiz’s 1950 Hollywood film Bright Leaf (with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal) which may just have been a fictionalized account of McElwee’s great-great grandfather. The film is funny and sly and thoughtful and moving. Of course, my grandfather and my father worked for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company for most of the 20th century so I’m invested, but still this is a fine piece of filmmaking that transcends the confessional nature of McElwee’s work. I am a big fan of Sherman’s March (I know Reynolds is not) and if you liked that film I think you will like this one even more. Some syncing problems in the second reel but it goes away (at least on my DVD it did).