great picks so far! plus some i don't recognize which is always exciting.
i don't think there are any trolls on this obscure, paid subscription only forum!
so i'm going to screw the format and just post.
i'm happy to see this kind of topic on the forum though, i was just thinking about making a documentaries thread.
so let's start there;
DOCUMENTARIES!
a) Hands on a Hard Body.
this trailer sums it up exactly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzj-vb7Lj0A
this movie is crazy, hilarious, amazing, low budget. it's a documentary about a contest held in Texas, where winners of a drawing held at a car dealership, compete to win a hard-body pickup truck. they do so by keeping one or more hands in contact with the truck, at all times. must not sleep or lean on the truck, must remain standing.
so basically they sleep deprive a bunch of desperate people and film the results of the contest.
it's amazing, it's decently made, but more so it's just a hilarious and moving and sad portrayal of 90's USA.
it's great to watch with friends, you laugh at the weirdos then you feel really bad when they get eliminated and wander off into the darkness in their rocky and bullwinkle slippers and sleep shirt after being eliminated after 50 hours for accidental hand removal.
b) Samsara (and the others in the series, baraka, and quianquatsi
samsara is fucked up.
if i could choose one movie to show to aliens, about humans, this would be it.
it is (or almost is) wordless, language-less, it's about human beings, their crazy cultures/ceremonies/traditions/landscapes, and the visual aspects of those.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp967YAAdNk
i'd recommend getting high AF and watching it, but also watching it sober will make you feel high AF.
c) Making A Murderer
i don't know where to begin here.
d) The Wolfpack
what would happen if you migrated to the united states, got a job and manhattan apartment, and refused to let your numerous male children leave the apartment, only perceiving the outer world through the lens of movies? then they, for fun, dress up in shitty cosplay and re-film the movies in the apartment acting themselves? well luckily some crazy asshole did this and we can see the results.
i felt bad watching this movie but i couldn't stop. it's not a total downer though, no spoilers tho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqcMfUdlI
e) The Devil's Playground
i never knew this til i saw this movie, but when amish kids turn 16 they are allowed to leave their community on a 6 month period, and life life in what they call "the English world". this is basically just the not-amish USA.
it's called a Rumpspringa .
after you have your R-springa you can decide one of two things ;
1) reject the English world and re-join your Amish community, pledging allegiance forever.
2) reject the Amish world and stay in the English world. if you do this all your family and friends will banish and disown you, and if you come back to the Amish alter they won't let you in again. you missed your chance and made your choice.
some of the kids go back.
some become meth dealers, video game obsessed party animals, total rebellion.