One of the great things
about documentaries today, is that they seem to be more popular than ever
before, and there is never a shortage of good ones to see. The bad news is that
so many different places make documentaries, and because of rights issues
(particularly in Canada here), docs tend to disappear into the ether at times –
never to come back.
This year, I saw 28 documentaries – and wanted to see a
lot more. One in particular evaded me that I was dying to see - I Am Not Your Negro – which never did
come to Canada (yet – apparently February). I also would have loved to see: Author: The JT Leroy Story, Command &
Control, Do Not Resist, The Eagle Huntress, Gleason, Hooligan Sparrow, The
Ivory Game, Peter and the Farm, Rats, Under the Sun. Now, at least some of
those I had a chance to see, and didn’t get to – but others, I didn’t even have
the chance.
Anyway, enough of the docs
I did NOT see in 2016, and onto the ones I did. Of course, not all of the docs
are good, although there were only a few this years that I truly disliked: Holy Hell (Will Allen) should have been a fascinating glimpse into a New
Age cult, as it was made by a former member, but director Allen pulls his
punches too much, and the result is really underwhelming. The Other Side (Roberto Minervini) is a fiction/doc hybrid, and is thoroughly
unpleasant – which would be forgivable if it were insightful in any real way –
which it isn’t.
Better, yet still not great films include: Hamilton’s American (Alex Horowitz) a
fun look inside the musical phenom, and the history that inspired it – although
by trying to cover so much, it guarantees it’s only going to skim the surface
of everything. Michael Moore in
Trumpland (Michael Moore) was Moore delivered an impassioned speech for
Hilary Clinton in Ohio – which was fun, but little else. Team Foxcatcher (Jon Greenhalgh) plays like a very good DVD extra
to Bennett Miller’s better, fiction film Foxcatcher – that oddly doesn’t
acknowledge that film at all, even though this one exists because of it. The Witness (James Soloman) tries to
set the record straight on the infamous Kitty Genovese case, through the eyes
of her brother who has never been able to let it go.
Then there was the following docs – all of which
were quite good, without quite being great. Afternoon (Tsai Ming Liang) is a long talk between the famed auteur
and his frequent leading man – which is far more fascinating than it really
should be, given its length and the static camera. Amanda Knox (Rob Blackhurst & Brian McGinn) is a decent
overview of the case, which succeeds mostly in making the case that someone
really needs to do a deeper dive into it.
Audrie & Daisy (Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk) is a heartbreaking
documentary about two teen girls who were raped – and the aftermath online that
drove them into dark places. The Event (Sergey Loznitsa) played
the festival circuit over the last couple of years, and is an interesting look
at protests in the Ukraine for nearly 30 years ago (I saw it at TIFF 2015 – and
figured I’d throw it in here, considering it may never get a proper release). Gimme Danger (Jim Jarmusch) is
Jarmusch’s love letter to Iggy and the Stooges – which is deliberately narrow,
although it could have benefitted for a little wider view. Into the Inferno (Werner Herzog) is an often beautiful film, in
which Herzog explores volcanoes and himself. Life, Animated (Roger Ross Williams) is a touching but not overly
sentimental film about an autistic boy who learns about the world through
Disney – and the good, and bad, that comes from that. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (Werner Herzog) is
an entertaining film, in which Herzog explores the internet – and himself. Nuts (Penny Lane) is an interesting,
fun animated doc about a conman, who is inserted goat testicles into men as a
cure for impotence – and that’s just the beginning of the story. Tickled (David Farrier & Dylan Reese) feels
more than a little staged, but is still a fascinating, entertaining doc that
takes several rather surprising twists. Zero
Days (Alex Gibney) is a fascinating look at the STUXNET malware that Israel
and America teamed up to try and destroy part of the Iranian nuclear program.
Top
11
(It was a good year – and I couldn’t decide which
of the following the cut)
11.
Camerperson (Kristen Johnson)
Montage docs are not often among my favorites –
this is probably why although I like Cameraperson more than most montage docs,
its much lower on my list than it is on many critics lists – but Cameraperson
is a fascinating doc. Director Kristen Johnson has been a cinematographer on
documentaries for years now, and in Cameraperson, she takes a lot of her
outtakes, and edits them together. It’s an odd documentary in some ways – and
for a while, I had no idea what I was watching or why. After a while though,
some structure takes shape – some personal details start to emerge, and
Cameraperson reveals itself to be more than just a random assortment of clips.
It is a memoir of Johnson and her life – her kids, her parents – especially her
mother with Alzheimer’s. It’s also about seeing the world through a camera lens
– and the ethics of what you do with that. The film still feels rather
shapeless at times – buts it’s beautiful and fascinating.
10.
Pervert Park (Frida & Lasse Barkfors)
Frida & Lasse Barkfors’ Pervert Park asks the
nearly impossible from its audience – to empathize with sex offenders. The film
is about a trailer park which is inhabited almost exclusively by people who
have been convicted of sex offenses – who are forced to live so far away from
schools and other places children gather. Watching the film, it is possible to
feel revulsion towards its subjects – other than one young man, who if he is
telling the truth was caught up in an internet sting, and perhaps doesn’t
deserve his fate, many of the other subjects are violent offenders who if they
were locked up forever, I wouldn’t complain. The film allows them all to tell
their stories without judgment – it leaves it up to the audience to determine
if these men (and one woman) deserve a second (or third) chance. It is a
difficult film to watch – but an important one in its own way. The people who
in the film may well be perverts and criminals – but they are still people, and
we really should remember that even if they sicken us.
9.
Newtown (Kim A. Snyder)
Newtown is a story of life in the small town
before, during and especially after that horrible massacre at Sandy Hook
elementary. It focuses on a few of the families of the young victims – who
years later still struggle with the loss, and always will. The film has been
billed as being apolitical – but while the film doesn’t rub your nose in it, it
isn’t really apolitical, and neither should it be. Some of the families have
gone on to become advocates for gun laws – and the movie doesn’t hide that. It
is a film mainly though about grieving – and how it never stops. No matter what
your thoughts on the mass shooting epidemic in America – and what should be
done about it – I think you owe it to yourself to see Newtown – and reckon with
the effects they have on everyone they touch.
8.
Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)
Terrence Malick has made it easy to make fun of him
in recent years, as he has increasingly moved away from any narrative
inclination whatsoever. While I still quite like his film – I understand why
others do not – and his nature documentary, Voyage of Time isn’t going to win
him any new supporters. It is basically like the birth of the universe segment
of The Tree of Life, but 90 minutes, not 20 (I saw this at TIFF – and only the
feature length version, not the IMAX version that came out this year). But
while Cate Blanchatt’s narration can be at times unintentionally comical (and
the cavemen look silly) – Voyage of Time is still just about the most visually
stunning doc you will see this year – showing you sights you have never before,
that can moving and profound – even when (perhaps especially when) you have no
clue what you’re looking at. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that
Malick is working at something no one else is right now – whether or not that
appeals is up to you.
7.
De Palma (Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow)
Brian De Palma has had a long, and frequently
brilliant career as a filmmaker – and although many have dismissed him over the
years as a Hitchcock wannabe, a closer examination finds that simply is not
true. I wouldn’t have pegged filmmaker Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow as De
Palma fans – neither have made films like De Palma at all – but in their doc,
they allow De Palma the space to talk about almost all of the films he has made
over the years – how he did, and his response to the response of those films.
Like Hitchcock, De Palma certainly seems like he likes the films that were
successful more than the ones that weren’t – but watching him explain his
process, and tell stories about some of the best thrillers of the past 50 years
is fascinating. My one real complaint is this – they cut De Palma too early. I
agree that most of what he’s done
since 2000 has been less than stellar – but how they could all but ignore Femme
Fatale (2002) – a top five De Palma for me – is criminal. But that’s a small
complaint about a film that could have been little more than a DVD special
feature – but ended up being much more.
6.
Kate Plays Christine (Robert Greene)
In Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine, actress
Kate Lyn Shiel prepares to play real life newscaster Christine Chubbuck – who
is remembered only because in 1974, she killed herself on live television. In
the film, Shiel talks about her process as an actress, as we see her go around
and try to learn everything about Chubbuck she can – and really get inside her
mind. As the film progresses, she becomes increasingly concerned that they
shouldn’t be making this film at all – that is nothing other than exploitation,
satisfying the audience’s sick, sadistic bloodlust. You don’t have to agree
with everything the film says to find it fascinating (I certainly don’t), nor
to admire its style, and the way Greene basically gives the film over to Shiel
and her concerns. It’s a fascinating film about acting, art, exploitation, and
our increasingly violent, desensitized culture.
5.
Fire at Sea (Giancarlo Rosi)
Fire at Sea is about life on Lampedusa, an island that
is party of Italy, but really about half way between Africa and Europe – making
it a place where lots of refugees have stopped at trying to get to Europe – and
many have died. Giancarlo Rosi’s doc is about life on that island – as the
people go about their regular, mundane lives – and some of those refugees, who
are literally dying trying to make it there. Both docs are interesting – the
life on Lampedusa part focuses on a charismatic pre-teen boy, who is
entertaining to spend time with – which makes the scenes near the end – which
pull no punches in showing what the refugees go through to make it to Europe,
and what happens when they fail – hit even harder. Perhaps this make Fire at
Sea sound either depressing – because of the plight of the refugees – or
condescending, as it takes aim at people living in their lives in the shadow of
the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent decades, and seemingly unaffected by
it – but it’s neither. This is a humanitarian documentary to be sure – and a
message one – but it’s a beautiful, honest, moving film – and one of the must
see docs of the year.
4.
Tower (Keith Maitland)
Keith Maitland’s Tower is one of the most
innovative documentaries of the year – a film that uses a mixture of
interviews, archival footage and animation to recreate the 90 minutes on the
University of Texas campus on August 1, 1966 when a gunman went up the Bell
Tower and opened fire on those below. The killer is barely mentioned in the
film – his name is mentioned once, and there’s only one picture of him. The
rest of the documentary is about those people on the ground – those who were
wounded or killed, and those who either helped, or didn’t. Movies about
incidents can feel stuff – or worse, like something you watch in school. But
the animation style used in the film helps to make the film feel immediate. The
topic itself couldn’t be more relevant – this is one of the prototypes for the
angry white man with a gun rampages that happen with alarming regularity in
America. This film shows the both what it was like to be there – and the long
lasting impact of that day.
3.
13th (Ava DuVernay)
In light of Donald Trump’s win in the election this
year, Ava DuVernay’s 13th seems like an even more important film
than when I saw it back in October. The film charts the legacy of institutionalized
racism in America – from the passage of the 13th Amendment,
outlawing slavery, through Jim Crow and now to the society of Mass incarceration
that America now lives in. Yet, the film is hardly a dry recitation of facts
and figures, with boring talking heads – it is a vital and alive documentary,
filled with fascinating statistics and people, passionately stating their case.
DuVernay has already proven that she is a great filmmaker – with 13th,
she proves she is a great documentary filmmaker as well – this is a vital and
important film.
2.
Weiner (Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg)
Weiner was a great documentary when I saw it back
in the summer – as it charts the failed NYC mayora
l campaign of disgraced
former congressman Anthony Weiner who looked like he may be given a second
chance by voters, but who crashed and burned again when it appeared that his
sexting scandal wasn’t quite over yet. It’s fascinating to watch Weiner fight –
almost kind of inspiring to see him keep going, and even though you know he’s
going to lose, you root for him anyway – and you really root for his wife, Huma
Abedin, who shies away from the spotlight, yet remains the film’s most
interesting person. I think that perhaps Weiner became an even better
documentary this fall – when even more sexting scandals came out – this time
that may have crossed over into criminal territory, and then the FBI got
involved right before the Presidential election. Weiner is a great political
doc – one of the finest you will ever see – and watching the film, and its real
time sequel, this year was surreal.
1.
O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
Ezra Edelman’s OJ: Made in America is one of the
best documentaries ever made. To me, there is Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah (one of
the few docs longer that Edelman’s 8 hour masterpiece) and then everything else
– but OJ: Made in America is right in that upper echelon. It’s about so much
more the O.J. Simpson, the crime and the trail that took him from famous to
infamous. It is essentially about 50 years of race relations in America –
police brutality, fear mongering, etc. Simpson himself did everything he could
to distance himself from other black people – and yet, when the crime and trail
happened it was that community that embraced him, and the white community OJ so
wanted to be a part of that rejected him. Edelman’s film looks at Simpson’s
life before the crime, the circus the trail became, and his sad life of excess
after – leading up to him going to jail. It was a film that, to me, defines
2016 – everything from Black Lives Matter to Donald Trump is in here somehow,
and made all the more relevant by the way Edelman doesn’t force it. The film is
a masterpiece – I’ve seen it a number of times now, and I still want to go and
watch it again – right now.
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