itmeJP Community


itmeJP Community

Documentary Film Favorites

itmeJP General
#1

Before the Flood, a documentary on climate change just came out yesterday. Just got done watching it, and it was fairly good. Since I am a fan of documentary films, I wanted to share some of my recent favorites, and see what others are out there. I especially hope to learn of foreign documentaries that as an American I haven’t heard about.

  • How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change - An emotional environmental documentary on climate change. If you want to watch this, I would highly recommend watching GasLand and GasLand Part II first. They are sort of prequels to a trilogy by Josh Fox. Big fan!

  • Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey & Global Metal - Although not perfect, these docs are pretty great for metal fans and documenatry lovers. Sam Dunn is a metalhead and anthropologist that travels the world to explore the history and evolution of metal.

  • Man on Wire - A documentary about Philippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center buildings. Sounds weird, I know, but the story and film are actually fantastic.

  • Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief - A cinematically beautiful look into the Church of Scientology. I did not know much of anything about the history of the church, it’s beliefs, etc. Scientology was basically just a meme for me. Really informative, spooky, and interesting.

2 Likes
#2

I always enjoy learning about new Documentaries. the Gaslands and Going Clear were both great but disturbing movies, I will have to check out the other ones soon, especially the Metal ones

#3

Until the Light Takes Us
This documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s, an idealistic and innovative musical movement marred by jealous infighting and an unfortunate campaign of public violence

2 Likes
#4

Jodorowsky’s Dune, will mention this documentary in here as well.
“The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.”

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, as you can tell I’m really into doumentaries about other films that got made or didn’t get made.
“Documentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems–nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.”

Lost in La Mancha, another one… It must be because I’ve worked and run movie sets (even if small, around 9 people) and it’s insane.
“Terry Gilliam’s doomed attempt to get his film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), off the ground.”

2 Likes
#5

Adding to that, Lords of Chaos’ section about Norwegian Black Metal and the whole Varg :fork_and_knife: Euronymous episode is a decent read.

As for documentaries, I think in one of the pre-shows the cast talked about Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Now that I’ve seen it I can confirm, it’s a good documentary :smiley:

1 Like