Most people don’t get to see documentaries until they arrive on a home video platform of some kind, whether it’s DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, iTunes, TV, Netflix streaming, etc. Join us every Tuesday for a look at what documentaries and reality programming is recommended by myself and other contributors to the site. As always, if you know of something we missed or should be aware of, drop us an email or a note down below.
Here are our ordered picks for February 10, 2015:
1. Joanna
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Aneta Kopacz’s sad short doc is now the third of the Oscar nominees in its category to become available at Vimeo (we previously highlighted White Earth and The Reaper here). Also a Cinema Eye Honors nominee and championed by cinema legend Andrzej Wajda (it was actually produced through his studio), the film chronicles the final days of Joanna Salyga, a Polish woman who began a popular blog after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mostly we see her with her five-year-old son and sometimes with her husband. One scene of her telling her husband that she fears for them being okay after she’s gone and how he needs to get a new cancer-free wife is devastating. Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who won an Academy Award for scoring another sad movie, Finding Neverland, did the music. (★★★★)
Also currently in select theaters along with its fellow Oscar-nominated documentary shorts.
2. The End of Time
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Part of this entry appeared in a previous Home Picks post. The latest film from Peter Mettler is a documentary exploring the concept of time, by way of visits to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, the flowing lava of Hawaii and the urban decay and renewal of Detroit. Daniel Walber had this to say in a feature on Mettler while comparing it to Herzog’s recent work: “The End of Time brings together time, space, nature and humankind in a way that other recent documentaries have perhaps only begun to consider…. [Mettler’s] predominant mode is that of questioning wonderment, ever more open-minded and impressionable no matter how much scientific information is added to the mix. This is the strength of his work, the notion that the human experience is full of discovery and transcendence no matter where or when we find ourselves. And with The End of Time, this idea is as exciting as it ever was.” (★★★★)
Also available on DVD, Netflix Watch Instantly, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
3. Casting By
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Part of this entry appeared in a previous Home Picks post. This doc, about casting directors, especially Marion Dougherty, is mainly a necessity for movie fans, but who isn’t one of those? Here’s an excerpt from my review at Film School Rejects: “Documentaries on Hollywood and filmmaking are both common and easily sellable these days to a broad audience of movie fans. We’ve seen docs on directors, screenwriters, cinematographers and editors, and eventually we’ll probably have one on best boys. We cinephiles will eat up every last one simply for more unheard tales from the industry on our favorite artists and films. It’s not often that they’re as filled with context and deeper, unifying histories as Casting By is, however, and though the advantage here is likely that it’s so concentrated on a single figure, that alone wouldn’t [have to] get results as entertaining and crucially discerning as this. If you’re at all interested in film history or Hollywood anecdotes, it’s more than a must-see. It’s a brisk, breezy, enjoyable and often endearing educational experience.” (★★★★)
Interviewees include Martin Scorsese, Arthur Hiller, Norman Jewison, Richard Donner, Peter Bogdanovich, Woody Allen, Jeff Bridges, Bette Midler, Al Pacino, Diane Lane, John Travolta, Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Robert Duvall, Cybill Shepherd, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and an emotional Burt Young. Also, Taylor Hackford, who kind of comes off as the film’s villain.
Also available on DVD, HBO GO and iTunes.
4. Maidentrip
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Here is my excerpt about this doc from our list of the best of 2014, on which it placed at #14: “Boyhood is quite a cinematic achievement, but for the honor of the best coming-of-age story of the year, it has some strong competition from this documentary by Jillian Schlesinger. The film chronicles the 2010–2012 solo round-the-world sailing trip of Laura Dekker, who broke the record for youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone. She began her voyage at the age of 14 and grew up a lot over the next year and a half at sea, making this as much a personal journey to discover herself as a physical adventure across the oceans. And we get to witness both firsthand, most of the footage in the doc having been shot by her along the way. Maidentrip is as metaphorical a tale as any about seafaring characters (‘she heads out into the uncertain waters of her own existence,’ I wrote in my review), but even greater here is the shining presence of the character herself. Dekker is the sort of documentary star you wish had signed a multi-picture deal.” (★★★★)
Also available on DVD, Netflix Watch Instantly, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
5. Fidel
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Saul Landau’s then-controversial 1971 feature on Fidel Castro follows the Cuban leader’s weeklong 1968 tour of part of the country by jeep and could be recommended solely for the scene where the communist dictator plays baseball with some villagers, terribly. The intimate and sympathetic portrait was met with violent protest in the US when released. Both a movie theater and a TV station showing the doc were bombed and another theater was burned down. Forty-five years later, it’s fascinating but hardly anything to get upset about, especially now that we’ve just developed a new relationship with Cuba. (★★★★)
Also available on DVD.
6. Dream Deceivers: Heavy Metal on Trial
[Now Available on Vimeo On Demand] — Even more than Fidel, this old doc from 1991 is particularly a curiosity for its age and historical record, while at their times of release both were very much of their present, in a verite manner. Shot on video and delightfully as dated as can be, David Van Taylor’s doc (originally titled Dream Deceivers: The Story of James Vance vs. Judas Priest) follows a 1990 civil action suit against the heavy metal band Judas Priest after two of their fans shot themselves, supposedly due to a subliminal message in the song “Better By You, Better Than Me.” This is definitely recommended for fans of the Paradise Lost fans as a precursory look at how music was blamed as a deadly influence on youth. (★★★★)
7. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst Chapter 2
[Premieres on HBO on Sunday, February 15th] — The second episode in Andrew Jarecki’s six-part true crime miniseries will really get you hooked if the first one didn’t. Here’s what I wrote last week when recommending the program in general: “I’ve been asking for a serialized documentary series on television for months, and HBO is finally delivering the goods this weekend with the start of a six-part murder mystery that many are likening to the podcast Serial (I could concur, but I’m a rare bird in not liking Serial). I have already watched the first two episodes and am hooked, intrigued and fascinated by the story of Robert Durst, heir to a powerful New York City real estate fortune who has been assumed for more than 30 years to have killed his missing wife, whose body was never found. Director Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans) revisits the story that inspired his 2010 drama All Good Things, having been approached by Durst after he saw the movie, and it’s a complex weaving of the old case and a more recent murder Durst was convicted of in Texas. While the promise of some sort of closure in the disappearance and possible murder of the wife is one reason to watch, I’m mostly in it for the interview with Durst, as his character is the real puzzle. I’m very excited by the series so far, and hopefully the rest is as good as the first third.” (★★★★)
Each episode is available on HBO Go and HBO On Demand following its debut.
New to DVD [and/or Blu-ray]:
AC/DC: Every Which Way — 40 Years of Rock
Chapter & Verse: 20 Years of Slipknot
Christmas Past: Burlington, Iowa
Devo: Hardcore Live!
D.O.P.E.: The Definition of Public Enemy
Earth: A New Wild
Exposed
High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music
Hip Hop Story: Complete
Kink [Nonfics rating: ★★★; Nonfics review]
Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere
Mammoth Unearthed
A Man For All Seasons: Jeff Beck In the 1960s
Men Who Wanted to Climb a Mountain Over 8000 Meters
The Mother Grain
On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter [Also on Blu-ray]
One Generation Army
Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds
Pirates of the Airwaves: The WSOU Story
The Presidents’ Gatekeepers
A Secret History: The Making of America
Spring Break Mania
Through a Lens Darkly [Nonfics rating: ★★★; Nonfics review]
Vandal
Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Part 2
New to Netflix Watch Instantly:
25 to Life
New to iTunes/Amazon Instant/VOD/etc.:
155 Sold — Doc Alliance
7915 KM — Doc Alliance
Call for Help — Amazon
Casting By [Nonfics rating: ★★★★; Film School Rejects review] — Vimeo On Demand
Dogs on the Inside — Amazon
Domino — Doc Alliance
Dream Deceivers: Heavy Metal on Trial [Nonfics rating: ★★★★] — Vimeo On Demand
Driven: From Wheelchair to Race Car
The End of Time [Nonfics rating: ★★★★; Nonfics review] — Vimeo On Demand
Fidel [Nonfics rating: ★★★★] — Vimeo On Demand
The Forgotten Plague — Amazon
Fuhrer Cult and Megalomania — Vimeo On Demand
Going the Distance: A Honeymoon Adventure — Vimeo On Demand
Grand Canyon: The American Masterpiece — Vimeo On Demand
Great Expectations: A Journey Through the History of Visionary Architecture — Vimeo On Demand
Healing the Mind: Ayurveda and Western Psychiatry — Amazon
Hoop Dreams — Amazon
I Know That Voice — Vimeo On Demand
Joanna [Nonfics rating: ★★★★] — Vimeo On Demand
John & Jane — Amazon
Journey of the Universe: Conversations — Vimeo On Demand
Kink [Nonfics rating: ★★★; Nonfics review] — Amazon, Vimeo On Demand
Levitated Mass [Nonfics rating: ★★★; Nonfics review] — Vimeo On Demand
Like Stone Lions at the Gateway into Nights — Doc Alliance
Love & Engineering — Amazon
Love Me — Amazon
Mad as Hell — iTunes
Maidentrip [Nonfics rating: ★★★★; Nonfics review] — Vimeo On Demand
No Evidence of Disease — Vimeo On Demand
Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds
The Overnighters [Nonfics rating: ★★★★; Nonfics revew] — Vimeo On Demand
The Prism — Doc Alliance
Pump — Amazon
Rising From Ashes — Vimeo On Demand
Sing Faster — Fandor
Turn Around Jake — Amazon
A Universal Language — Vimeo On Demand
We Are the Giant — Amazon
We Are Poets — Vimeo On Demand
What Is the Electric Car? — Vimeo On Demand
What Matters? — Amazon
Must-See Nonfiction TV:
(All Times Eastern)
Wednesday — 02/11
1:35am: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime Showcase]
2:30am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
4:35am: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime Showcase West]
4:50am: Tyson [Encore Black]
10:00am: Crips and Bloods: Made in America [Fusion]
10:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2]
Thursday — 02/12
1:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2 West]
4:20am: Every Little Step [IndiePlex]
10:55am: Every Little Step [IndiePlex]
4:30pm: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Showcase]
5:30pm: A Place at the Table [Pivot]
5:50pm: Every Little Step [IndiePlex]
7:30pm: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Showcase West]
9:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO]
10:00pm: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime 2]
Friday — 02/13
12:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO West]
12:30am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime]
1:00am: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime 2]
2:55am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO and HBO Latino]
3:30am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime West]
4:00am: Grizzly Man [Outdoor Channel]
5:15am: Mad Hot Ballroom [Showtime Family Zone]
5:55am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
12:00pm: Mad Hot Ballroom [Showtime Family Zone]
5:30pm: The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz [Pivot]
8:00pm: Bully [Pivot]
8:00pm: Crips and Bloods: Made in America [Fusion]
11:00pm: Bully [Pivot]
11:00pm: Crips and Bloods: Made in America [Fusion]
Saturday — 02/14
12:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO and HBO Latino]
12:00am: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime 2]
2:55am: Bears [Encore Family]
3:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
3:00am: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime 2 West]
3:30am: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime]
6:30am: Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic [Showtime West]
6:35am: Mad Hot Ballroom [Showtime Next]
7:00am: Crips and Bloods: Made in America [Fusion]
7:00am: Lenny Cooke [ESPN Classic]
9:30am: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Family Zone]
12:30pm: Bears [Encore Family]
1:45pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2]
4:30pm: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Family Zone]
4:45pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2 West]
8:30pm: Bears [Encore Family]
11:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO]
Sunday — 02/15
2:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO West]
7:00am: Lenny Cooke [ESPN Classic]
7:45am: Mondays at Racine [HBO 2]
10:45am: Mondays at Racine [HBO 2 West]
2:30pm: Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown [HBO and HBO Latino]
3:30pm: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime]
5:30pm: Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
5:45pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2]
6:30pm: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime West]
8:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO and HBO Latino]
8:45pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 1 [HBO 2 West]
11:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
11:05pm: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime Showcase]
11:30pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO and HBO Latino]
Monday — 02/16
2:05am: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime Showcase West]
2:30am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime 2]
2:30am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO West and HBO Latino West]
5:30am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime 2 West]
6:15am: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Showcase]
9:15am: Finding Vivian Maier [Showtime Showcase West]
1:40pm: Mad Hot Ballroom [Showtime Family Zone]
2:15pm: Bears [Encore Family]
9:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO]
9:00pm: Food, Inc. [Pivot]
10:00pm: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime 2]
11:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO Latino]
Tuesday — 02/17
12:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO West]
1:00am: Nas: Time Is Illmatic [Showtime 2 West]
2:00am: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO Latino West]
3:00am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime Extreme]
3:20am: Tyson [Encore Black]
6:00am: 12 O’Clock Boys [Showtime Extreme West]
1:25pm: Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest [Starz in Black]
3:35pm: Tyson [Encore Black]
7:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO Signature]
10:00pm: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — Part 2 [HBO Signature West]
*Disclosure: Christopher Campbell is a paid part-time consultant for Vimeo, but that has nothing to do with his selection of Home Picks.
