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Articles tagged with: documentaries

14/31: Candyman: The David Klein Story
December 14, 2011 – 7:01 PM | 10 Comments
14/31: <I>Candyman: The David Klein Story</I>

“In life, you only have to be a genius for 15 seconds.”
Despite that promising quotation towards the beginning of Candyman: The David Klein Story, and the intermittent presence of Weird Al Yankovic, the documentary is …

6/31: Bill Cunningham New York
December 6, 2011 – 7:45 AM | One Comment
6/31: <I>Bill Cunningham New York</I>

Richard Press’s documentary about Times Styles photographer, and chance fashion-world icon, Bill Cunningham, keeps it light for the first hour. The tone is the gently knowing one of PBS specials about James-Cameronian construction projects of …

3/31: Project Nim
December 3, 2011 – 3:37 PM | 10 Comments
3/31: <I>Project Nim</I>

Words are a fucking nightmare when it comes to closeness, often. … Words became the enemy. — Stephanie LaFarge
Project Nim tells the frustrating story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee taken from his mother as an …

2/31: If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
December 1, 2011 – 10:25 PM | 7 Comments
2/31: <I>If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front</I>

The story in question is that of Daniel McGowan, a former ELF agitator (and arsonist, by his own admission) who got pinched by federal agents in 2005. He’s not a terribly likely-looking “domestic terrorist,” certainly …

Titicut Follies
November 28, 2011 – 12:02 PM | 10 Comments
Titicut Follies

The pre-Nixon-era mental hospital is a preoccupying terror of U.S. popular culture to this day. This isn’t without basis; madness, and its attendant visions and rants, is a preoccupation of narratives throughout the world and …

Marwencol
May 10, 2011 – 11:13 AM | 5 Comments
<I>Marwencol</I>

Marwencol presents initially as your typical Independent Lens documentary feature, a bittersweet meditation on the strength of the human spirit that, while informative, doesn’t maintain good boundaries with the twee. But this film, about Mark …

GasLand
February 3, 2011 – 10:00 AM | 9 Comments
<I>GasLand</I>

Death Race 37, Sarah 19; 1 of 24 categories completed
GasLand, a doc about the dangers posed to the national water supply by hydro-fracturing (“fracking”), gets off to a precious, over-edited start, and Josh Fox’s grating …

Oscars 2011 Death Race Preview: The Fighter and A Film Unfinished
January 6, 2011 – 10:08 AM | 8 Comments
Oscars 2011 Death Race Preview: <I>The Fighter</I> and <I>A Film Unfinished</I>

Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, …

Encounters At The End Of The World
February 10, 2009 – 8:45 PM | 9 Comments
<I>Encounters At The End Of The World</I>

It’s stayed with me for a few days; Werner Herzog, who narrates as well as writing and directing the documentary, has a way of musing in voice-over about the prospects for human life’s continued tenure …

At The Death House Door
August 31, 2008 – 2:00 PM | 12 Comments
<I>At The Death House Door</I>

UPDATE: At The Death House Door is airing on IFC on Monday September 1 at 9 PM, with other airings to follow.
Speaking of famous boyfriends…I recorded At The Death House Door when it first aired, …