Documentaries

[LennyH]

Werner Herzog's Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is available on Netflix.

It looks at a year in the life of the people in a village in a frigid part of Northern Russia. It especially follows the hunters/trappers, who's lives and work I found fascinating. What craftsmanship and dedication. A life of very hard work and solitude.

[steve(thelil)]

Werner Herzog's Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is available on Netflix.

It looks at a year in the life of the people in a village in a frigid part of Northern Russia. It especially follows the hunters/trappers, who's lives and work I found fascinating. What craftsmanship and dedication. A life of very hard work and solitude.

I absolutely loved it. Good to see it's available on Netflix. Many people think Netflix is of limited value because it doesn't deliver all the the Hollywood blockbusters they want (or not in a timely enough manner?). But as a fan of documentaries and someone not that interested in Hollywood blockbusters Netflix has been wonderful for me.

A doc I've seen recently in a theater, that I hope will come to Netflix is "Twenty Feet from Stardom" about backup singers (mostly black female backup singers). Fascinating and inspirational.

[LennyH]

A doc I've seen recently in a theater, that I hope will come to Netflix is "Twenty Feet from Stardom" about backup singers (mostly black female backup singers). Fascinating and inspirational.

Yeah, I can't wait for that one too. i said this before on another thread but I heard the Fresh Air where they interviewed the creator of the film, IIRC, and the woman who sang on Gimme Shelter. Good stuff.

[LennyH]

WOOHOO!!!

I've been wanting to see that since I first saw the trailer for it!

Thanks for the heads up, Lenny!

I was on the fence about whether to start a documentaries thread for this or something like....Now available via cable or streaming. I think it was drum solo who pointed out that Ginger Baker documentary that's on cable right now and I've started watching that. Some of this stuff is only available for a limited time, but hopefully we'll catch the good stuff based on this thread, the movies thread, etc.

[LennyH]

I absolutely loved it. Good to see it's available on Netflix. Many people think Netflix is of limited value because it doesn't deliver all the the Hollywood blockbusters they want (or not in a timely enough manner?). But as a fan of documentaries and someone not that interested in Hollywood blockbusters Netflix has been wonderful for me.

As I said to Clint yesterday, we watch the shit out of Netflix. If you look at something like HBO, we love Game of Thrones and I watch a few other things on there but nothing provides the value of netflix for us. On showtime it's just Dexter right now and the movies on both of those channels (HBO and Showtime) mostly suck. The good films I've already seen when they came out on DVD. I've got 3 people watching Netflix all week long and sometimes my wife is on the TV and I'm on the PC, etc, at the same time watching different things. When I go to my Dad's and he's blasting Fox News I watch Netflix on my phone. We just started "Orange is the new black", which is a new series on Netflix, and they just dumped a full season out there in early July. That's hours more entertainment and we'll move onto something else when that's done. I've also burned through multiple shows that have like 80 or 100 episodes each and tons of shows that might have only run a couple of seasons and are still good. And the documentaries, of course. Based on what we pay for that, there's nothing else that comes close as far as value. I supplement that with Amazon prime and DVD's (from Netflix) and a shitload of cable channels that we don't watch much but in some weeks we might watch more Netflix than the rest of the everything else combined.

[Blue Train]

Posted about this in the movie thread. Werner Herzog & Errol Morris became after the fact Executive producers after seeing it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ZT6Qc_fmE

[sozamora]

If you look at something like HBO, we love Game of Thrones and I watch a few other things on there but nothing provides the value of netflix for us.

Netflix is certainly a great bang for the buck, but to be fair - and since this is a documentary thread - HBO has produced or acquired some really great documentaries over the years ranging over a very diverse and interesting array of subjects. In terms of original programming, that's one of its best aspects.

[LennyH]

If you look at something like HBO, we love Game of Thrones and I watch a few other things on there but nothing provides the value of netflix for us.

Netflix is certainly a great bang for the buck, but to be fair - and since this is a documentary thread - HBO has produced or acquired some really great documentaries over the years ranging over a very diverse and interesting array of subjects. In terms of original programming, that's one of its best aspects.

Yeah, I'm happy to have HBO for sure and they really do have some good stuff (aside from movies), I just mean that if you look over the course of a month, esp when Game of Thrones isn't on, my HBO viewing usually doesn't amount to that much right now. Over the years some incredible stuff, though, and more to come I'm sure.

It sucks when I look at the amount we pay to Verizon for Cable and internet (and cell phones) but I feel like it's worth it because I need all of these things to round out my entertainment. I do use it all in varying degrees. And they keep chipping away at my back account. That's what happened with Amazon. I wanted to watch Justified and I do order a shitload of stuff from them so I paid the $80 per year or whatever to get the Amazon prime. As a bonus I don't have to worry about figuring out how to buy more than $25 to get free shipping. I haven't watched much on their beyond justified but they seem to get some shows faster than Netflix does. Another piece of the puzzle.

[uli]

as a fan of musique andalouse I dug this music doc about piano player Mustapha Skandrani
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbdMXJaWwWE

[Tom Storer]

There is no Netflix in France, or anything that resembles it. Consider yourselves lucky.

[Ron Thorne]

There is no Netflix in France, or anything that resembles it. Consider yourselves lucky.

Tom, are you able to utilize the streaming feature on Amazon if you join their Prime membership?

[Tom Storer]

No idea, but I wouldn't even if I could. The wife and I go on binges of watching recommended American TV series on DVD, but other than that I stay away from the television. I only watch movies at the cinema.

[uli]

I am enjoying this doc about Snoop Dog's transformation from a rapper to rastafari Snoop Lion

[uli]

Nice doc on Peter Kowald in town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4YpFq7OdE

I must be on a doc binge i also dug this the other day. trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlhmZuIsEho

[bluenoter]

The Last Great Ape [Bonobos] — NOVA

(Make frequent, brief sexual contact with everybody, not war.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnFvZwR69iw

[mjb]

Fascinating, well done and highly recommended.

If nothing else, may I suggest you check out her photographs on the Interwebs.

[jwaggs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWyUJcA8Zfo

I have the hots for one of the singers in 20 Feet from Stardom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTNdFCKBlMk

[Chazro]

You didn't mention that '20 Feet From Stardom' IS on Netflix now! I just caught it this past weekend and really enjoyed it. So much 'insider' gossip. I especially enjoyed Merry Clayton's backstory on her recording 'Gimme Shelter'. The movie shows her listening to the playback in the studio (now) where they isolate her voice from the track so you only hear her voice. Man, I used to get goosebumps listening to that tune and I got 'em again during this segment. I saw her back in the day in a small club performing as a solo artist, what a voice!

[Ron Thorne]

I had forgotten Merry Clayton's name until your post, Chazro, but I agree. What a voice!

So many only knew of her talent via the Rolling Stones, but I played the hell out of this record on KJZZ back in the day. It's a self-titled album.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czTIjYwGlc

[ValerieB]

heard some very good news today regarding the documentary on Clark Terry. I think it's called, "Keep on, Keepin' On." The Weinstein Company and Quincy Jones will be getting into the act so we should be able to see it at our neighborhood theatres in the near future.

[bluenoter]

heard some very good news today regarding the documentary on Clark Terry. I think it's called, "Keep on, Keepin' On." The Weinstein Company and Quincy Jones will be getting into the act so we should be able to see it at our neighborhood theatres in the near future.

Valerie---

Keep On Keepin' On has been screening at three film festivals. There's one more screening of it remaining at the Newport Beach Film Festival:

Keep On Keepin' On
3:15 PM Thursday, May 1
Fashion Island Cinema 5
999 Newport Center Dr, Newport Beach, CA 92660

There are also two more screenings of it remaining at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival (see the "screenings" link below). And it just finished its world premiere run at the Tribeca Film Festival (NYC).

http://keeponkeepinon.com/screenings/

Looks as if it will also be part of the Seattle International Film Festival, whose lineup will be announced on May 1.

[uli]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxhm4A8GUz0

[steve(thelil)]

Recently saw "Discovering Vivien Maier," about a "street photographer" who was totally unknown during her lifetime. The producer/narrator discovered tens of thousands of her photos and negatives after her death and started to investigate whatever he could about her life. (He's also trying to turn her into a famous photographer, and stands to profit immensely). Turns out that Vivien Maier's life was a fascinating and weird life.

4 Montes.

http://www.findingvivianmaier.com

[LennyH]

I just finished watching Somm, which Rollie turned me on to, on Netflix.

Interesting stuff. It's about this insane group of people who want to attain the highest certification that can be had in the wine industry. It's so rare and difficult that you can pretty much score a new job on the day you pass, but you have to put yourself and others through hell for maybe even years in order to get there. Then you can get paid to drink shitloads of wine, which is pretty freakin' cool.

[tippy]

Black Power Mixtape and Hearts and Minds. I gotta say that was really my first exposure to the Panthers and I was born right close to Oaktown during that era. I thought Stokely Carmichael was incredibly outspoken in the truest way. When he was talking about how the U.S. should lose Vietnam and only then will there be peace - outrageous to say at the time, but he was so, so right. Talking about how you couldn't beat people fighting on their land - they had everything to lose and so there was no backing down. Ever. Kinda like how Carmichael must have felt himself to speak his truth like that. And the Angela Davis interview in prison. She was something else, in the best of ways, refuting accusations of violence and going back to her Mississippi neighborhood where she grew up and lived with the young girls who were murdered. They didn't ever not live with the threat of violence against them.

Followed up by Hearts and Minds, a 1974 (I think) Vietnam doc. Boy, we haven't learned anything.