New Acquisition: The Beatles: Get Back

New Acquisition: The Booksellers (2019)

 

New Acquisition: Freakscene - The Story of Dinosaur Jr.

 

New Acquisition: 23rd Century Giants (2021)

 

New Aquisition: O.S.T. - Summer of Soul

 

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)

 

The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.

Fascinating documentary about a gigantic and obviously impossible film project, the sheer amount of talents involved is baffling; furthermore, Alejandro Jodorowsky is obviously a very entertaining and humorous personality.

Maltin***: "Amusing, jaw-dropping documentary...Great fun for film buffs." 

 

 

New acquisition: Deux de la Vague (2010)

 

More Than Honey (2012)

 

An in-depth look at honeybee colonies in California, Switzerland, China and Australia.

Beautifully photographed documentary presents its insights in a strangely impassive and unexcited tone, besides the global challenges facing bee cultures.

Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

 

Film-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.

Typical for Werner Herzog, this exploration of a forbiddingly uninhabitable and strange continent is idiosyncratic and intense and offers insights no other director would achieve.

On re-watching: Always a fascinating watch, among Herzog's best documentaries.

Maltin***1/2: "This right-brain travelogue feeds the mind, the eye, and the mind's eye. Wryly, sometimes impatiently, narrated by the director, who dedicates the film to Roger Ebert."

 

Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (2021)

 

This series documents the 9/11 terrorist attacks, from Al Qaeda's roots in the 1980s to America's forceful response, both at home and abroad.

Comprehensive and informative documentary takes its time to bring in detail the  9/11 attacks and the history that lead to them and goes further to analyze their impact on the history thereafter.

 

9/11 (2002)

 

A real life documentary following the events of September 11 from an insider's view, through the lens of James Hanlon and two French filmmakers who were in Manhattan that one day.

Remarkable documentary follows a full first-hand account of the events as they happened, including new insights and some unsettling personal drama.

Audrey (2020)

 

Filmmaker Helena Coan examines the remarkable life and career of actress, fashion icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn.

Documentary does attempt to give a comprehensive biography portrait of Audrey Hepburn, but actually doesn't reveal any new insight; the staged ballet sequences, however, are unnecessarily interruptious, superficial and quite off-putting.

Das geheime Leben der Bäume (2020)

 

When Peter Wohlleben published his book "The Hidden Life of Trees" in 2015, he quickly entered bestseller lists. The forester wrote vividly about his experience that trees are able to communicate with each other, a thesis explored here.

Fairly interesting documentary is more a portrait of the author than a serious and barely scientifically based presentation of its actual topic: the trees.

 

Nuit et brouillard (1956)

 

The history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.

(Meanwhile) classic, important early documentary is a solemn, thoughtful and stirring depiction of the Nazis, presenting shocking footage that (at the time) was largely not yet realized by its audience.

Halliwell*: "An official film of great dignity."

 

 

Du côté de la côte (1953)

Filmmaker Agnès Varda examines the buildings, beaches and tourists of the French Riviera and delves into nostalgic yearning and the grotesque beneath the bluest of skies.

Although this is a short advertisement made for the French office for tourism Agnes Varda gives it nonetheless a very persona, often whimsy and entertaining touch.