Reviews & features: Documentary
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The Stone Roses: Made of Stone
17 May 2013
Shane Meadows' rockumentary fails to satisfy either as a concert film or fly-on-the-wall doc
To borrow from an old Stone Roses B-side, the Mancunian band’s much-hyped reunion may well have been ‘what the world is waiting for’, though it’s hard to claim the same for this accompanying Shane Meadows-directed documentary. The director of Dead Man’s…
Neil Young: Journeys
16 May 2013
An intimate homecoming documentary by the country rock legend, shot by Jonathan Demme
‘This is a town in North Ontario,’ are the first interview words uttered by Neil Young in this Jonathan Demme-directed documentary, and it’s probable that he’s consciously referencing the lyric of his own song ‘Helpless’. In the opening few minutes of…
The Village at the End of the World
10 May 2013
Sensitively-made documentary about remote village life in Greenland
Niaqornat is a tiny settlement in north west Greenland. Accessible only by helicopter or boat, home to just over 50 people and surrounded by ice and snow for much of the year, it’s truly deserving of the title of ‘the village at the end of the world’.
Chimpanzee
30 Apr 2013
Disney's latest nature documentary will keep young animal enthusiasts happy
This kid-friendly documentary has all the elements you would expect given its Disneynature origins: excellent production values (many of the crew are veterans of the BBC’s natural history documentaries), slick filmmaking and a generally wholesome…
Fuck for Forest
18 Apr 2013
Documentary about Berlin eco-warriors who make amateur porn films
Let’s be clear: Fuck for Forest is a documentary about the titular Berlin-based environmental activists-cum-amateur porn makers and not a pornographic film in its own right. And despite there being quite a lot of flesh on display, Polish filmmaker…
Reincarnated
25 Mar 2013
This documentary charting Snoop Dogg's Rasta transformation to Snoop Lion is shallow and tenuous
Drug-dealing, guns, jail-time, pimping and bitches – Snoop Dogg’s had enough of the thug life. Freshly re-christened as Snoop Lion, the lanky Californian rapper heads to Jamaica on a physical, musical and spiritual quest to swap hip-hop depravity for…
Mission to Lars
22 Mar 2013
Documentary about a Fragile X Syndrome sufferer's obsession with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich
This isn’t really a film about Metallica. Even though the metal behemoth’s shadow looms large over the entire documentary, don’t expect the warts and all melodrama of Some Kind of Monster. However if you do love the mighty ‘tallica you might find even…
Recent documentaries Sound City and Side by Side examine analogue vs digital debate
19 Mar 2013
Films from Dave Grohl and Keanu Reeves are actually about a lot more than music and film technology
Produced and presented by Keanu Reeves, Side By Side provides insight into the attitudes held towards digital technology by some of the most significant figures working in film today. Similarly, the Dave Grohl-directed Sound City, which takes the form…
One Mile Away
14 Mar 2013
Heartfelt documentary from Penny Woolcock about gang violence in Birmingham
Winner of the Michael Powell award at last summer’s Edinburgh Film Festival, Penny Woolcock’s heartfelt if sometimes naïve documentary charts the efforts by representatives of two notorious inner-Birmingham street gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and the…
The Spirit of '45
13 Mar 2013
Admirable documentary from Ken Loach about the creation of the welfare state in post-war Britain
With the coalition’s axe in full swing, Ken Loach takes us back to 1945 and the creation of the welfare state. His documentary is part history lesson, part rallying cry, and is a timely reminder of the benefits of pulling together and of what we stand…
Michael H - Profession: Director
8 Mar 2013
A limited portrait of the austere Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke
This French documentary about the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke convincingly argues Haneke is one of the most important and idiosyncratic filmmakers working today. Writer-director Yves Montmayeur’s doc also makes the more interesting point that…
Babeldom
6 Mar 2013
A rich documentary meditating on the future of urban life from filmmaker Paul Bush
A science fiction film using buildings of today, or a documentary about tomorrow? Paul Bush’s Babeldom might be the first film to use the laws of thermodynamics as a denouement, as the film wonders quite literally what our world is coming to. With the…
The Gatekeepers
22 Feb 2013
Oscar-nominated documentary about the heads of internal Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet
Shin Bet is the name of Israel's internal anti-terrorist intelligence agency, the identities of its personnel are all top-secret, with the exception of the man in charge. In this remarkable, vital documentary Israeli director Dror Moreh interviews the…
How to Survive a Plague
22 Feb 2013
Moving, Oscar-nominated documentary about the early days of AIDS campaign group ACT UP
Founded by playwright Larry Kramer and a group of fellow activists in March 1987, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) is a grassroots group dedicated to influencing US AIDS policy and research. David France’s documentary charts the group’s…
Side by Side
18 Feb 2013
A-list directors on film vs digital debate in doc produced and presented by Keanu Reeves
The title of this reasonably interesting and fairly comprehensive documentary about traditional photochemical film and pioneering digital technology is slightly misleading. Although filmmakers have been using both forms for roughly the last decade and a…
Cartoon College
14 Feb 2013
Documentary following students at the Center for Cartoon Studies
The Center for Cartoon Studies is a small arts college for aspiring comic artists and writers offering a Master of Fine Art degree to those who pass with their final thesis (which takes the form of a completed comic book). And while there are interviews…
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
13 Feb 2013
Documentary on the world’s biggest comic convention
Comic-Con in San Diego is the world’s biggest sci-fi, comic and cult convention and Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary is the perfect guide to geek heaven. A place where fanboys and fangirls can feel normal and revel in their passions; there’s a…
Men at Lunch
13 Feb 2013
Lightweight documentary about the iconic New York photograph, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
The photograph of 11 construction workers grabbing a bite to eat on a girder 800 feet above street level is one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, capturing the spirit of the American Dream and fuelling the mythic ideal of New York as the…
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
12 Feb 2013
Damning doc implicating Pope Benedict XVI in the Catholic church's cover-up of child sex abuse
Roland Barthes devised the term 'inoculation theory' to explain how the dominant order in society permits a few ‘bad-apple’ individuals within corrupt organisations to be blamed for wrong-doing, as a way of deflecting attention away from any fundamental…
Indie Game: The Movie
12 Feb 2013
Documentary highlighting the hard work and passion behind games like Braid, Super Meat Boy and FEZ
Indie Game aims to shed light on the often mysterious process of games development by focussing on the small teams behind Braid, Super Meat Boy and FEZ. This is a world away from big blockbusters such as Call of Duty or GTA which have thousands of…
Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
12 Feb 2013
Thought provoking documentary examining female action heroes in popular culture
This documentary posits the question why are there so few female action heroes? It’s a fair point and one that has been raised before and is told here mainly through the history of the most famous female superhero of all time Wonder Woman. Though…
A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
4 Feb 2013
A chaotic tribute to the former Python that sheds very little light on the facts
Graham Chapman remains the most enigmatic member of the Monty Python team. Even before his premature death in 1989, when he succumbed to throat cancer aged just 49, he had failed to capitalise on the success of the landmark BBC show in the way the other…
First Position
29 Jan 2013
Compelling documentary following 6 young ballet dancers competing for the Youth America Grand Prix
The Youth America Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious young people’s ballet contests in the world, and this compelling documentary follows six of the dedicated hopefuls taking part, each from very different backgrounds but all sharing the same…
The Punk Syndrome
25 Jan 2013
Music documentary following Finnish punk outsiders Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät
A sleeper hit on the film festival circuit, The Punk Syndrome follows the trials and tribulations of Finland’s Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, a punk band whose members have learning disabilities and their rise in popularity within the local crust-punk scene…
Ballroom Dancer
22 Jan 2013
Downbeat documentary about former World Latin American Dance Champion Slavik Kryklyvyy
This sombre and self-important documentary, about former World Latin American Dance Champion Slavik Kryklyvyy’s attempt to regain his position after a decade out of the spotlight, aims to show the tough, serious and painful flipside to what happens on…
