Better Luck with Documentaries

As the list of newer dramas is getting used up (there are about six more to come), I’m infilling with some documentaries streamed from Netflix. The documentaries have definitely been more worthwhile. Several foreign films in my Flix streaming queue probably deserve a view. The NationalFilm Registry, the subject of one of the documentaries listed below, also deserves to be gleaned for viewing possibilities.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

56 Up

These Amazing Shadows

Park Avenue

A Royal Affair

Small Voices: The Story of Cambodia's Children

Metropolis

56 Up – 2012 (3.0). Another seven years have gone by and director Michael Apted again visits the people he has been filming every seven years since 1964, when they were seven year old school children coming from different backgrounds in Britain. Watching the development of these people and their families over now such a long period of time, getting together with them is like attending a reunion. Granted the interviews are edited and the people do not always agree with the editing process, but the result seems fair to the viewers. This series of documentaries has always presented each child in full in sequence, making it simple to know about whom we are talking; whereas so many other documentaries present their subject people in back and forth segments skipping between the various people, making it much harder to keep track of who is being talked about at any given time.

Searching for Sugar Man – 2012 (2.9). Rodriguez was a folk singer who wrote and performed meaningful songs and got a chance to record in the late sixties and early seventies, but for whatever reasons his albums bombed. But somehow in South Africa his recordings caught on and inspired numerous local musicians and he became perhaps the most beloved folksinger of his generation and the worshipped hero of younger ones. In this documentary, some South Africans realize nobody seems to know who Rodriguez really was and whatever happened to him, and whether any one of the various stories about his death are true, The resulting search for information is fairly well documented and leads to a worthwhile story, though it is not so much  biographical as it is philosophical. I would have preferred more of both.

These Amazing Shadows – 2011 (2.9).  Established by Congress in 1988, the National Film Registry, which is part of the Library of Congress, grows by 25 films a year. This well-paced documentary includes interview segments with film scholars, film makers and people involved in the selection of films for the Registry, interspersed with clips from diverse movies throughout the history of American cinema, all of which are now part of the Registry.

The Newsroon (Season One) – 2012 (2.8). This HBO series started strong in speaking to the important role journalism plays as the fourth branch of the American government, particularly in these times of political gridlock and partisan grandstanding. However it quickly became evident we would also be following the romantic entanglements of several of the characters and witnessing other hijinks of a lower level. The pressure to chase ratings rather than worthwhile news stories is an effective element and the tie in to breaking news stories of the recent past is effective. Learning about the news people on a personal level could be relevant, but too much time was spent on some fairly trivial dating and relationship problems.

Lost in La Mancha – 2002 (2.8). There is nothing special about the style or technique of this documentary, but the subject matter lifts its appeal to a movie buff. You just don’t see many stories about movies not getting made. Terry Gilliam, the writer of Monty Python fame, had a ten year vision of the Don Quixote movie he wanted to make and eventually was able to raise the considerable funding from individual investors in Europe. He cast his perfect European actor to play the lead and secured Johnny Depp also, but once filming began in Spain, it was clear that this production would be a fiasco. The importance of pre-production planning and coordination to the successful completion of a film is amply demonstrated by this failure and the usually obscure role of investors, insurers and guarantors is brought forward. Writing talent does not necessarily constitute movie making talent.

Herman’s House – 2012 (2.7). Shown on Point of View on PBS, this documentary tells of a young woman artist in NYC who hears of a man in prison in Louisiana who has been in solitary confinement for almost 40 years. She decides to write to the man and the result is a developing friendship leading to a project from which the artist recreates the tiny prison cell in wood and displays it in art galleries. She then asks the prisoner to imagine his dream house, which he eventually does, and they decide to try to actually build it. Shown from the point of view of the artist, with recordings of her phone conversations with the prisoner, the movie is a very personal journey with her, and a corollary one with the prisoner, but it fails to provide much actual information or commentary about the legal efforts being made on his behalf.

Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream – 2012 (2.7). Concentrating attention on the mega rich occupants of the richest residential building in NYC, this documentary spends most of its time covering how the super-rich have used their money to build political power to achieve their agenda of significantly reducing the amount of taxes they pay while demonizing those of lower income as lazy leeches. Less time is spent showing the contrasting life of the impoverished people on Park Avenue in the Bronx. The progressive slant of the movie is obvious, but it does not suggest any way to counter what these powerful people have done.

A Royal Affair – 2012 (2.7). Based on true events surrounding the Danish royal court near the end of the 18^th century, this Danish drama spends considerable time following personal interactions between the mentally ill King, his young English Queen, the enlightened German personal physician to the King, and various other players in the power games at court, but we never get the feeling we have made a personal connection with any of them. As the influence of the doctor on the King grows and he gains political power which he uses to get enlightenment type laws passed, he also enters into an affair with the Queen which can only come to a bad end. Some back story on the principals could have made them more deeply understandable, as could spending more of the interacting time on expressions of personal aspirations beyond sex and power. A letter from the Queen to her two children to tell them the story is the framework for the film, yet we never see any meaningful interaction between her and them in the course of the film. This is an interesting story and a fairly watchable film, but it should have been much better.

Small Voices: The Story of Cambodia's Children – 2008 (2.7). This earnest documentary about extremely poor children who pick garbage and beg for a living features several very appealing youngsters who genuinely desire to go to school and are fortunate enough to be accepted into a private school run by a Scottish-Australian film executive turned philanthropist. The movie concentrates on interviews with the children and they are shown at their work and with whatever family they have. What is missing from the film is personal interviews with the school founder and his staff and any helpful explanation of the attitude of the Cambodian government and the apparent absence of UN agencies or other international relief organizations.

Les Miserables – 2012 (2.4). The French classic tale has been filmed numerous times. This version is based on the musical theatrical version from the 1980s. The sets and direction are not stage bound, but the singing is of mixed quality and most disappointing is the overwhelming number of forgettable songs crammed into a very long movie. The Wikipedia article on the musical lists fifty songs performed during the show, only two of which are significant enough to have their own Wikipedia article. For a quicker and more moving musical experience, watch the You Tube video of Susan Boyle’s performance of I Dreamed A Dream at the 2009 Britain’s Got Talent show; it has been viewed over 128 million times. Jean Valjean would have loved it.

Robot & Frank – 2012 (2.4). Supposedly a comedy, this awkwardly paced movie is not funny, has no drama or story of much interest and has no characters worth caring about except possibly the robot, who knows he is not human yet exhibits more humane characteristics than anyone else. The Robot should get a TV series in which he is hired to work in the households of different guest stars every week.

Metropolis (Restored version) – 1927 (2.4). This classic German sci-fi was a wonder in its time, but the acting is as stylized as the futuristic sets and the story of a young rich playboy being attracted to a female evangelist to the oppressed workers and then joining in a revolt against his powerful capitalist father fails to arouse emotion today when wrapped in such antiquated stylization. The restored version includes some footage thought lost forever, but only makes an already lengthy film even longer.

The Words – 2003 (2.3). Purposely convoluted scripts run the risk of confusing the audience to the point where they tune out, which is what happened with this drama about plagiarism. An unsuccessful young novelist finding an old briefcase in which there is an aged manuscript of a wonderfully written story and then getting it published under his own name is an interesting premise. Having the actual writer turn up in his senior years as a failed writer adds an element. But then piling on some other writer who is telling us the story and interweaving flashbacks of the story of the old man with seemingly irrelevant scenes involving the man telling us the story, all paced inconsistently and with characters popping up and disappearing, just doesn’t gel.