Documentary Thread #2

[SaitoRyo]

Just putting this in here in case it's of interest to anyone. 

There's a team putting together what looks like a tremendous documentary on the life and music of Luke Bell, a promising traditional country music standout who looked set for big things but battled mental illness and, ultimately, ended up passing away in August of 2022, aged just 32. 

There's a Kickstarter page for it here, with various rewards. It's only got about two days to go until it's over but, thankfully, they've managed to reach their target!

Anyway, the initial footage looks promising and from what I know about Bell's story it should be a captivating story on screen. I can't wait to see it, personally, and chipped in enough to get a VOD copy of the documentary when it's completely (hopefully later this year).

Here's one of his signature songs, for the uninitiated: 

 

[BomberPat]

I watched The Greatest Night In Pop last night, the Netflix documentary about the making of "We Are The World".

It's an easy watch, and good fun. It has the same appeal of watching the video for that song, just amazement at them getting all these huge names in one room, and hearing about the logistics of putting it together, and of how they arranged it to showcase everyone's voices, was fascinating. Lots of Bob Dylan shuffling about awkwardly and mumbling, as you'd expect. 

There's a bit early on of Lionel Ritchie talking about being in a limo with Michael Jackson, and just phoning Stevie Wonder, that reminded me of an old Travelling Wilburys documentary, where George Harrison explains how they came to be a band, and it's just, "well, I was having lunch with Jeff and Roy and we decided we should record something together, and we knew Bob had a nice little studio, so we phoned him, but then I realised I'd left my guitar at Tom Petty's house". Simultaneously the height of rock star glamour and utterly mundane.

[Chili]

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I watched The Greatest Night In Pop last night, the Netflix documentary about the making of "We Are The World".

It's an easy watch, and good fun. It has the same appeal of watching the video for that song, just amazement at them getting all these huge names in one room, and hearing about the logistics of putting it together, and of how they arranged it to showcase everyone's voices, was fascinating. Lots of Bob Dylan shuffling about awkwardly and mumbling, as you'd expect. 

There's a bit early on of Lionel Ritchie talking about being in a limo with Michael Jackson, and just phoning Stevie Wonder, that reminded me of an old Travelling Wilburys documentary, where George Harrison explains how they came to be a band, and it's just, "well, I was having lunch with Jeff and Roy and we decided we should record something together, and we knew Bob had a nice little studio, so we phoned him, but then I realised I'd left my guitar at Tom Petty's house". Simultaneously the height of rock star glamour and utterly mundane.

Do they have all that lovely recording session footage. Was the bit in where Belafonte gets them all singing Day-O for fucking ages. For some reason it made me cringe so bloody much. Also I love spotting Dan Aykroyd being there like when an imposter sneaks onto a football pitch or awards show.

[BomberPat]

30 minutes ago, Chili said:

 Was the bit in where Belafonte gets them all singing Day-O for fucking ages. 

It's in there, but framed as them kind of spontaneously doing it as a tribute to Belafonte after the recording, rather than him making them do it. There's a ton of great recording footage, and some really fun interactions between this mad combination of people. I think I laughed every single time Dan Aykroyd appeared on camera.

[DavidB6937]

Just seen there's a second season of The Jinx coming up which seems mad to me but I absolutely fucking adored the first one so I'm in.

[Panhead]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

Just seen there's a second season of The Jinx coming up which seems mad to me but I absolutely fucking adored the first one so I'm in.

Still one of the absolute maddest things I've ever seen. 

[SuperBacon]

Defiance: Fighting the Far Right on Channel 4 is superb.

It's about the National Front, and how the Asian community in the 70s and 80s came together to fight them and their hatred.

A tough watch obviously, and for my liking too much Southall footage and not enough Hounslow footage, but a minor quibble.

Also on iplayer, Darren McGarvey The State We're In was an excellent watch.

If you don't know who he is, he is a Scottish rapper called Loki, has written books (Poverty Safari is well worth a read) and these 3 episodes concentrate on education, justice and care, and show places or initiatives that are wildly different to what's happening in the UK, while exploring the current state of those 3 sectors.

The schooling in Scandanavia seems radical, but in fact it's not when you think about it, but it is fascinating.

Really enjoyed it, and he's a great presenter and writer.

[Keith Houchen]

This could’ve gone in a number of threads to be honest. 

Looks incredible. 

[Thunderplex]

Mancunian Man.  Documentary about Cliff Twemlow, a bloke from Manchester who sought to be a movie mogul.  Made a few low budget films in and around Manchester and also abroad, including Grenada that was invaded while filming.  
More interesting to me probrably as I knew him in his last few years.  Lived in Northenden and was often seen jogging round and working out on the banks of the Mersey.  First chat with him was in Superstar Video where I was looking at some films and a bloke pointed to one and said “that’s good, I’m in it!”  Really nice chap, immediately became a local.  His funeral was massive, closed most of the Village off.

Anyhoo, great documentary with some cracking stories in it.

[BomberPat]

Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist on iPlayer - pretty by the numbers documentary-wise, but an interesting enough story to make it worth watching. I've read a couple of biographies of her, so none of it was new on me, but the occasional iteration of "of course, she was still in her early 20s" when she'd already been through about two lifetimes worth of events was pretty staggering.

Basically - Carrington was born to a well-to-do family in Lancashire, rejected the whole debutante scene and went to art college, fell in with the surrealists, had an affair with Max Ernst (who was about 25 years older than her) and was cut off from the family. Went to Paris, WW2 broke out and she fled, was forcibly placed in a sanatorium, managed to "escape", and fled to Mexico, where she remained for the rest of her life, becoming a major player on the Mexican arts scene but largely unknown in Europe, before being "rediscovered" decades later.

[Thunderplex]

Another doc on Tubi, Horror Movie, a Low Budget Nightmare.  Follows the misadventures of the producer/director a Red Christmas, a quite good horror movie that was out a couple of years ago.  The bloke is frustrating but likeable and features some very funny scenes with one of the actors who has Downs, and a truly heartbreaking one.  Anyone who wonders about the intelligence of people with Downs, just listen to this lad, just inspiring.

[wordsfromlee]

Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee

As a documentary it's a bit all over the place with no real flow. There isn't really any coherent storytelling, more of a compilation of home videos. But one thing it does do right is show that snorting shit loads of bath salts and other synthetic drugs imported from China makes you go mad.

[DavidB6937]

Brats (Disney Plus)

Andrew McCarthy looks back at the eighties and the Brat Pack and how the term impacted his life and theirs.

As I was born in 83, the full impact of that time really never hit me so I've always looked at it historically so it's interesting to see what they all went through.

But as with many documentaries it's very much a singular perception from Andrew and how he dealt with it. There's some good catch ups with other people but it's not of any great depth. I think it would've hit harder if I'd been of that time, but still worth a watch if you're interested in film history.

[Just Some Guy]

The Final: Battle at Wembley on Netflix.

If they had really challenged the two bell ends who were climbing on buses and breaking through the turnstiles I might not have come away feeling so depressed about the state of the nation.

To be fair the end concentrates on the reaction to the racism directed at the players who missed penalties. 

Ultimately, not a feel good watch.

[Browser Brady]

A bit of a different format but i had been loving this :

Transmissions, the definitive story of Joy Division / New Order.

 

 

Its an audio documentary series obviously featuring interviews with the band and a few talking heads.

 

The audio format actually works very well. I flew through it and enjoyed it immensely.