Documentary Thread #2

[Frankie Crisp]

After seeing him last night and my Auntie recommending it (with caution), I watched Will Young:  Losing My Twin Rupert earlier today. It’s knocked me.

Heads-up, it’s harrowing. His brother took his own life having lived with alcoholism, depression and anxiety for most of his life. Please don’t watch it if this could be a trigger, but fuck me it’s utterly heart-wrenching. 

If you’re okay with the content - or okay as much as you can be - it’s worth watching to see how an addiction can impact siblings and parents. Having seen both sides of this coin - the addict and the sibling - it’s given me an eye-opener on what my parents could have experienced had I not sorted myself out. I still struggle at times but bloody hell, this has given me a massive kick up the arse to nip those remnants of my old life in the bud. I can’t and won’t do that to the folks. The depression will never go away, but I think I’ll honestly use this documentary as a motivator to never go back to the old ways, or at least try very hard to make sure I don’t.

You can tell throughout that Young is putting a brave face on it - even trying to be flippant at times - but ultimately, it’s completely broken him. It’s a recommended watch but not a pleasant one.

Edited August 13, 2024 by Frankie Crisp

[SuperBacon]

Daughters (Netflix)

This is a documentary about the "Date with Dad" programme, which allows inmates have an opportunity to see their children for a dance in prison, through a 10 week course.

As you can imagine it's an emotional roller coaster as they follow both the inmates and the kids, and no matter how emotionally prepared for the actual dance you think you are, when the kids come in and see their Dads...it's a lot to take in.

Wonderful documentary. 

[SaitoRyo]

Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern (ok.ru)

This is a gem. Narrated and co-directed by a woman whose family are about to lose the farm that they've had for over a century. Filmed over the course of a few years in the early 90s, it's a really good look at the family farm crisis in the US at the time. Beautifully shot, too. 

A gentle, very personal documentary that is a pleasure to spend 85 minutes with, it won the best documentary award at Sundance in '95 and was nominated for an Oscar for best doc, too. 

Here's a trailer: 

 

[davertfnewman]

An oldie but goodie, @IANdrewDiceClay and I both enjoy this one, it's an old episode of Arena called The Ring: A South London Tale. The star, Paul Lynch, is a karate instructor from a family of entertainers who previously was a press-up record holder. He's got a producer called Nigel Finch half in on recording the path to a bare knuckle boxing match and is also recording his own video diary simultaneously. You can tell the man is more into being an entertainer than sportsman and it starts to reveal itself as you go on.

Russell Brand mined the programme for clips of Lenny McLean instructing the guy to HATE from the top of his head to his ankles as well as overzealous editors working to hide the identity of a West Highland Terrier.

[DavidB6937]

Watched 'Scala!!!' on BFI last night. Thought it could've done with a bit more depth into the movies themselves but I guess that's not really the tale they were going for. Instead it was far more about the cinema and the home it provided so many, especially during the years where they were struggling as minorities and finding a place to feel like they could be themselves. Definitely interesting from a historical perspective. A bit of a sad ending but almost felt inevitable. Even if it hadn't shut down then I'm not sure it would've lasted much longer in the way it existed then. Times changed quite a lot.

[Devon Malcolm]

Sugarcane (cinema)

One of the most difficult-to-watch films I've seen for years. About the uncovery of some unmarked graves in the grounds of a residential Catholic school for indigenous kids in Canada and the further discoveries that are made, there are testaments in this that are some of the most upsetting I've ever heard. Devastating but really important. The Catholic church has so much more to answer for than we might ever know.

The Commandant's Shadow

Documentary about the children and grandchildren of Rudolf Höss, and also a difficult one to watch. Obviously a perfect companion piece to The Zone of Interest if you want to have a *really* fun evening. Excellent film, though, if occasionally wandering off the main topic.

[SaitoRyo]

Forgot to post/talk about this at the time, but there's a wonderful 35-minute documentary on YouTube called All That is Sacred. 

It's primarily about Thomas McGuane (my all-time favourite author, so I'm biased), and his friendship with the likes of Jim Harrison, Richard Brautigan, Jimmy Buffet and other writers and entertainers who happened to descend on Key West in the early 70s.

A lovely, lyrical documentary that captures a real moment in time thanks to restored footage from the obscure documentary Tarpon. 

 

Edited October 8, 2024 by SaitoRyo

[DCW]

Stumbled across this Youtube channel with documentaries from the 80s & 90s. Summer on the Estate & Minders are well worth a watch.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@FHjsgy7bm/videos

[davertfnewman]

Summer on the Estate ended up getting used as material by Bob Mills for early episodes of In Bed With Medinner.

Years later, the son of one of the people in it, whose mother gets thrown to the floor in one scene, ended up calling Millsy out for it, but Millsy met him in the middle and apologised about it, which resulted in this interview.

 

[Egg Shen]

On 9/22/2024 at 4:28 PM, davertfnewman said:

An oldie but goodie, @IANdrewDiceClay and I both enjoy this one, it's an old episode of Arena called The Ring: A South London Tale. The star, Paul Lynch, is a karate instructor from a family of entertainers who previously was a press-up record holder. He's got a producer called Nigel Finch half in on recording the path to a bare knuckle boxing match and is also recording his own video diary simultaneously. You can tell the man is more into being an entertainer than sportsman and it starts to reveal itself as you go on.

Russell Brand mined the programme for clips of Lenny McLean instructing the guy to HATE from the top of his head to his ankles as well as overzealous editors working to hide the identity of a West Highland Terrier.

This sounds right up my street! Thanks for the recommendation.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Bought a documentary off youtube called "Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow."

Oh boy, its a good one. Just Manchester nightclub bouncer who thought he could do anything, and seemingly did, but with success coming few and far between. Started off as a writer of theme tunes for big movies and TV. But the 2nd or 3rd songs, not the main one. Like the b-side of the Sweeney theme tune. Then he becomes a bodybuilder. Then an attempt to be Manchester's version of Charles Bronson mixed with James Bond, filming his own action films on an independent label. Then became a novel writer. Just one of life's mad characters, who is seemingly well liked by everyone.

I mean this guy added 5 years to his age, just so people could go "man, he looks great for his age." Mad bastard. Highly recommended.

[SaitoRyo]

17 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Bought a documentary off youtube called "Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow."

Oh boy, its a good one. Just Manchester nightclub bouncer who thought he could do anything, and seemingly did, but with success coming few and far between. Started off as a writer of theme tunes for big movies and TV. But the 2nd or 3rd songs, not the main one. Like the b-side of the Sweeney theme tune. Then he becomes a bodybuilder. Then an attempt to be Manchester's version of Charles Bronson mixed with James Bond, filming his own action films on an independent label. Then became a novel writer. Just one of life's mad characters, who is seemingly well liked by everyone.

I mean this guy added 5 years to his age, just so people could go "man, he looks great for his age." Mad bastard. Highly recommended.

This sounds like it'll be worth a punt! It's made by Severin Films, who did the very good Video Nasties documentaries fifteen or so years ago. 

[wordsfromlee]

12 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

This sounds like it'll be worth a punt! It's made by Severin Films, who did the very good Video Nasties documentaries fifteen or so years ago. 

It's also available for free on Tubi.

[Egg Shen]

Tubi is a cracking little app.

[Thunderplex]

23 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Bought a documentary off youtube called "Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow."

Oh boy, its a good one. Just Manchester nightclub bouncer who thought he could do anything, and seemingly did, but with success coming few and far between. Started off as a writer of theme tunes for big movies and TV. But the 2nd or 3rd songs, not the main one. Like the b-side of the Sweeney theme tune. Then he becomes a bodybuilder. Then an attempt to be Manchester's version of Charles Bronson mixed with James Bond, filming his own action films on an independent label. Then became a novel writer. Just one of life's mad characters, who is seemingly well liked by everyone.

I mean this guy added 5 years to his age, just so people could go "man, he looks great for his age." Mad bastard. Highly recommended.

I knew him!  Lived in Northenden in his last year’s, lovely bloke and a cracking documentary.