Celluloid
I recently stepped my nerd game up by getting on XBOX Live, and although I play my fair share of Rock Band 2, I've mostly exploited its streaming instant Netflix feature. If you have a Netflix account and XBOX Live, you can watch their library of streaming movies for free. Some of them even stream in HD. The last month has pretty much been a documentary marathon. Here's a few documentary films I've enjoyed. -- Capt. Obvious
Surfwise (2007) - Equally parts inspiring and shocking, this film delves into the life of 85-year-old Dorian Paskowitz, a renowned surfer/doctor and sex guru who brought up nine children with his wife while traveling from beach to beach in a camper and enforcing a strict surfing/diet regimen. His grown children speak out about their strange upbringing. This offers some interesting insight on a flawed family with a lot of resentment issues as well as genuine love.
Dark Days (2000) - Director Marc Singer follows a group of homeless people who live in an abandoned New York City railroad tunnel. The underground community consists of a variety of characters and we get some insight into their predicament and their resourcefulness. The residents have built small huts built out of plywood, scrap metal, and plastic and even have electricity, furniture, and functional kitchens. Very rewarding film shot in wonderful black and white.
Hubert Selby Jr.: It'll Be Better Tomorrow (2006) - This film chronicles the life of American author Hubert Selby Jr., who wrote such books as Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem For A Dream. The film follows Selby's ups and downs, from his heroin addiction to the critical success and controversy surrounding his first novel. Through interviews with Selby and some of his friends, we gain insight into an author who used brutal and disturbing honesty in his books.
3 comments:
I look forward to Surfwise, a lot. I was at a party over the holidays and we got to talking about it and the dynamic of family love over relationships. Just the story of living on beaches for your entire life - life as you know it...bizarre and compelling.
"Dark Days" has some of DJ Shadow's best work featured prominently. It works very well with the black/white imagery. I saw another tunnel-dweller documentary recently on Sundance that didn't come close to this one.
Thanks for reminding me of Surfwise, and introducing me to Dark Days. I'll definitely be watching both soon. the documentaries on Netflix Watch Instantly are reason enough to pay for the service. Excellent stuff. They just added Dear Zachary. If you haven't seen that one yet, you should.
Post a Comment