The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector (2008) Vikram Jayanti

Phil Spector is quite a character.  He's a weird and miscomprehended genius of music, nothing more interesting than that.  But this is a clear example that sometimes, a great character is not enough for a documentary to be good.



The documentary is too long and repetitive.  It's funny how Phil Spector mentions that Psycho is only good as it is an edit-movie, when this film isn't good due to lack of editing.  Vikram Jayanti should've edited at least half of it.  It would've been a great short-film.  I'm not sure if he insisted in making it this long in order to have enough time to play most of Spector's songs, from start to end, but he clearly didn't have enough material to keep it going for a 102 minutes.  There's a point where you actually get bored and have simply had enough of this sort of E True Hollywood Story he's presenting.  Unfortunately you can't simply change the channel.

Catfish (2010) Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost

This is a fascinating documentary and definitely a must-see.  It's a deep, controversial analysis on  human, computer-based, relationships and their complexity.  The truth is, I'm not very familiar with this trend of getting to know people through the internet, but I have a couple of friends who have done it and have enjoyed the experience.  Still, I think you take away the magic of the first encounter, of the first exchange of looks and smiles, of being able to decipher his/her corporal language.  Despite what I think, this way of getting to know people is getting more and more popular every day, so I think it's of great interest and importance that young directors now-a-days, explore this topic and its possibilities.



It begins in a very casual/funny mood.  You get to know Yaniv, who happens to be a great character to whom you can immediately identify, and therefore empathize with.  This makes you want to listen to, what appears to be, just another trivial love story, despite how cliche it may first seem.

The first twenty minutes, I thought this documentary was about to sell us what a great idea meeting people through the internet is.  But then, the twist takes place.  "Abby's such a psychopath" Yaniv says when he finds out she's been cynically lying to his face (computer).  And the movie begins to get really interesting.  Generally, most people in that situation would've simply ended the relationship right there.  They would've just said something like "there's too many weir people in the internet..." and would've probably given it a rest for a while.  But they decide to dig deeper and get to the bottom of it.

First they do research on how much of it is a lie. Then, they visit and confront her. "Why?" they ask her, and as she tries to answer, you get to know her... she's no psychopath, truth is, she's no worse than any of us, she's just a lonely-frustrated gal that has all these issues that don't let her reach out to people.  Evidently she has a huge problem coping with reality and telling the truth, and she clearly needs to get some help, but she's not a bad person.  She's didn't play with Yaniv's feelings just for the fun of it... and they're right, the whole situation is sad and nothing more... and i think that's why Yaniv doesn't get mad at her.  How can you get mad at somebody who's incapable of loving?  I don't think you can, and if you do manage to get mad, then I don't think you actually understand what that means, being "incapable of loving"...

There's a lot to ponder on.  Isn't every relationship based on an Abby(ideal)-Angela(reality) structure? Don't we all, at some level, believe the other one wants us to be Abby? and haven't we all felt the frustration of uncovering the Angela beneath?  Do we ever truly relate on a Angela-Angela level?  Is it even possible?  And isn't there a little of Abby in all of us?  Or is it the other way around? A little of ourselves in Abby? ...just like there was a little of Angela in Abby...

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2010) Goran Olsson

This film is filled with beautiful and unique archival images of the "Black Power" movement that took place in the US from 1967 to 1975.  To my generation, it is a must-see.  I say to my generation, because we didn't get to watch television when the movement was taking place, we were born long after the deaths of most of them, so this is a great opportunity to familiarize ourselves with all that imagery.



The thing is, the film has a televised format that puts you in this numb-state of mind, very similar to when you're actually watching t.v.  At least, that's what happened to me, and I find it only natural since they were actually taped for Swiss television.  But if you're able to fight the numbness, then you'll be able to appreciate how interesting, everything the documentary shows, actually is.

I think it is a little too long, specially due to the density of the images and statements that conform the documentary.  But if you're used to watching the news for long periods of time then you'll find it to be an extraordinary work.

Cool It (2010) Ondi Timoner

This documentary has a very noticeable Michael Moore style, nevertheless I find it to be of huge interest to society.  In a way, you can say that it is a counterattack to Alan Gore's documentary, The Inconvenient Truth.  So "truth" is probable in between...well... maybe not THAT in between.

 

What I liked most about this film was all that data-analyzing.  All the fact Bjorn Lomborg throws in, make a lot of sense, they are believable and congruent.  The idea of reorganizing priorities is completely logical.  I agree with him, we should spend all that money, that is going to waste by unsuccessfully trying to fix global warming, in eliminating hunger, diseases, poverty...  Of course, as he states it, there are too many influential people interested in things remaining as they are, so change won't come that easily.  I think the main difference between Al Gore's and Ondi Timoner's documentaries is that the second one offers good, viable solutions, while the first one focuses only on you panicking.

There are also some things that I didn't like about the filme because they were too manipulative, like all the scenes were Bjorn Lomborg is hanging out with his sick mom.  I mean could it be more obvious that the director is appealing to our compassionate, human side, so that we start liking Bjorn and that way we find it easier to believe in what he's saying.  The same goes to the scenes where's he's feeding African kids.. they should have been left out, because ultimately what sustains the documentary is all those Nobel Prized scientists that support Bjorn Lomborgs ideas, not if we think he's a good son or even a good human being.

Steam of Life (2010) Joonas Berghäll

I think the title alone lets you know this is a very spiritual documentary.  It opens with a couple of middle-aged people, completely naked, just enjoying the steam of the sauna and enjoying their own bodies.  I found it to be a beautiful opening sequence, specially since they feel so comfortable lying there, despite the camera filming them... and it got me thinking, we've grown so afraid of being naked, both physically and emotionally, that we've been missing out on simply enjoying our own bodies, our own feelings.

 

In general, I really liked this work.  Some of the men who tell their stories move you in so many different levels it's hard to get out the theater the same... these are people who are are completely broken, who feel defeated by life, who were too afraid and are now too alone..  "I wish she came, I've always cried alone, maybe this time we could cry together..." says one of them referring to his child. And yet, they're "us" in a very specific point of life, maybe even in the present time.

There were some scenes that I didn't like, because they felt forced, and strangely enough, overacted... I would've edited them, also the ending, which I think is cheesy and corny and completely unnecessary.  But other than that, I think it's a great documentary, a beautiful portrait of life as it is lived.

No Distance Left to Run (2010) Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern

A documentary on Blur...  let's be honest, doing a documentary on a band like Blur, getting back together is a great idea, and there's almost no way of it not working, because your subject is great on itself.  If you actually manage to do something that doesn't work, you can still count on the documentary being a hit within the band's fans, so there's almost no way of getting it wrong.



The truth is, I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to approach this kind of movies.  The only thing I can surely say is that I really enjoyed this work.  I loved the way the band members opened to the directors and were not afraid to show their deeper selves in front of the camera.

I liked the structure given to it, how it begins with images of the band reuniting at the studio and the voice in off of Graham confessing how much he had missed Damon, and how little he had been able to acknowledge it on the past few years.  Of course, on that moment I wasn't able to recognize who was talking and about who, since names are left unspoken, but I was able to connect with that feeling of nostalgia for a lost friend, for a past life.   I think that voice in off sets the mood in which the rest of the documentary will unfold itself, because more than simply talking about a huge British band, it talks about friendship and life and how sometimes things don't work, about the complexity of relationships and the way people decide to go through different paths.

Looking at them reminiscence in front the camera, cutting to scenes from when they were young and on top of the world, and then watching them perform in present time.  Evidently that type of structure is going to give a nostalgic/idyllic atmosphere to the whole documentary, and it is going to connect to our past on that same way, so the effect can only strengthen itself, since we are no longer missing Blur, but in fact we are missing the times when we used to sing Blur's songs, with all that that represents: a specific moment in time, in our lives, in our youth... when we, as well, felt on top of the world.


It's a great music documentary because it connects with you and it moves you and you get out of the theater wishing you had been more involved with their music,  wishing you could feel part of the portrayed experience.  It makes you want to grasp to that piece of time and just linger... just forget about right now and live in the memory of the past.

The Furious Force of Rhymes (2010) Joshua Atesh Litle

I've never been a huge fan of hip-hop, but I don't think this movie was made exclusively for hip-hop fans.  I think that hip-hop fans will definitely enjoy the documentary in a more profound level, but I also think that not knowing anything about this musical genre has its upside.



The film has a geographical narrative.  It begins in New York City, then moves to France, Germany, Middle East, and ends in Africa.  I really liked that structure because you get to compare different types of hip-hop, all influenced by their own musical traditions.  I found that comparison to be very rich, not only at a musical level, but also at a cultural level.  It's impressive the way hip-hop can be, depending on the lyrics, nothing but a sack of negative expressions or the bright light at the end of the tunnel.  The same situations and problems, as corny as it may sound, are looked at in a half-empty glass, or in a half-full glass way, which is only human, since facts are not good or bad, but only facts (which every creature but humans understand) and the way we are able to cope, or not, with them, is what makes us think of them as good or bad.

I also liked that you get to see musicians in their daily life, talking about their lives and their worries, thinking they are common people.  Then, you get to watch them perform, singing at the studio or in a videoclip.  So you connect to them, not only on a musical level, but also on a more human level.  You start caring and believing their messages should be heard, no matter what the content is.

The way it ends, with all the musicians linked by the same hip-hop bit, all contributing to the same song... I found it slightly corny, but also very moving.  It's like they say during the documentary, in the end, it doesn't matter in what language you're singing, hip-hop music has the strength to unite, because in the end it's all about the music.