Street Fight

This is one of my favorite documentaries, in part because of all unexpected elements to the story as it unfolds. It’s also a great example of an independent filmmaker observing current events and showing them to us in a way we would never have seen otherwise.

It follows the ambitious campaign of a young, talented, brainiac black man running for office—- long before Obama’s historical presidential run.

Moreover, the fact that Corey Booker is running for Mayor of Newark against another African-American, Sharpe James, gives us a nuanced view of the racial dynamics set against the backdrop of generational differences and the rebuilding of urban communities.

What puts it over the top, for me, is the selective use of the filmmaker’s voice - it’s never intrusive, and it offers a vivid illustration of the obstacles that a camera seeking the truth may encounter.
—Katy Chevigny

Life. Support. Music.

I was incredibly moved by this film at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto this past March and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.  It chronicles Jason Crigler, a musician who, during a performance, experiences a brain hemorrhage and is given a dire prognosis.

His pregnant wife and loving family mount an intensive course of rehabilitation and that is when this story really takes flight. At the Q and A after the film, the director, Eric Daniel Metzgar, said this was a film about optimism and that is really true.

Jason’s family and friends all have a lot to teach about the power of unconditional love and faith against all odds.
—Angela Tucker

Our Brand Is Crisis

You thought the 2008 presidential campaigns were rough?  This film looks into the disturbing psychology dominating traditional US political campaigns.

James Carville, of Clinton campaign fame and his fellow strategists travel to Bolivia, where the population has not yet been subjected to one of the US’ most prized political weapons: negative campaigning.

The catastrophic results on a country that has undergone endlessly tough times are even more disturbing, as the film shows how the aims behind winning a campaign and fairly winning the trust of a country are rarely aligned.
—Leah Sapin

Bigger Stronger Faster*

As a lifelong student of masculinity, it has been fascinating to observe its constant redefinition in the face of imminent crisis (see: metrosexuals, serial killers, Rogaine customers, etc.).

In Bigger Stronger Faster*, filmmaker Christopher Bell posits that there is nothing un-American about anabolic steroid use in sports and bodybuilding.

In fact, he argues that it is precisely the American credo of individualism and overachievement that drives men to supplement the testosterone that their bodies produce naturally with synthetic forms of the hormone.

The extra “juice” allows them to work out for longer periods of time and recover faster from these grueling workouts. He draws on his own experience using steroids, as well as on the lives of his two brothers, a failed wrestler and an amateur bodybuilder.

Bell’s project, though, goes beyond family therapy, and aims to indict a system that pushes men to be bigger, stronger, and faster at any cost and by any means necessary.
—Felix Endara

Surfwise: The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family

If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s a good old-fashioned, roiling-in-the-waves surf film. Naturally, the name alone of Doug Pray’s documentary had me hooked.

With a flashy, impressionistic style, Pray tells the truly stranger-than-fiction story of the Paskowitz family.

The pater of the Paskowitz clan leaves his thriving medical career behind for a life on the open road and raging seas with his wife and nine children.

With a 24-foot camper serving as home base, the family lives off of surfing, oatmeal and “Doc” Paskowitz’s homegrown philosophy.
—Jolene Pinder

Century of Self

Adam Curtis’ Century of Self traces the history of advertising from the beginning of the mass production era to the present day.

Beginning with Edward Bernays—the, ironiclly, ‘little known’ father of the field of public relations—the four hour documentary is a deep socio-economic exploration of advertising and the tools used to persuade us.

If you liked The Corporation, you will love Century Self.
—Ryann Scypion

Helvetica

If only all the words spoken and written around the world could be as easily expressed and understood as the universal font of Helvetica.
— Maia Ermita

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

The economy is tanking, war is still waging in Iraq - need a break? Follow the film’s protagonist, Steve Weibs as he steers Mario over barrels and up all those ladders.

The King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters follows one guy’s painstaking efforts to earn the world’s highest score in the classic arcade game, “Donkey Kong.”

This is documentary storytelling at it’s best and will have you glued to the screen even if video games don’t.
— Beth Davenport

The God Who Wasn’t There

Well I just saw Bill Maher’s Religulous and I must say, I will surely add this DVD to my collection.  This piece is excellent in posing the never ending question: Is there really a God?

And does he have a son named Jesus that has powers like a modern day magician (at least the christian version)?

Religulous reminded me of another excellent doc on this very same topic, The God Who Wasn’t There by Brian Flemming.

While Maher’s take was a little on the light side sprinkled with pure common sense, Flemming’s version is straight hardcore in your face splendidness.  Both of them share a similar premise - “In today’s day and age the thought of a saviour coming in our lifetime to rescue us from ourselves is simply ridiculous.”
—David Wright

Human Remains

A unique filmmaking perspective of some of the 20th century’s more notorious dictators.
—Phil Lane

Heavy Petting

A humorous, yet sensitive, exploration of sexuality in the 1950’s.  Interviewees include David Byrne, Allen Ginsberg, Sandra Bernhard and John Oates. Enough said.
—Phil Lane

Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter

This doc is a filmmaker’s personal account of dealing with her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s. The film tackles some of the more difficult and painful issues with this disease as it pertains to family.
—Phil Lane

The Weather Underground

If you’re in the mood to pal around with terrorists, watching Sam Green and Bill Siegel’s film The Weather Underground (2003) might be just the ticket.

You can fit right in if you watch the film in a basement, make speeches filled with denouncements of imperialism and wear a beret or some moccasins.

Don’t forget that it’s all part of the bigger picture for peace, as Bill Ayers recently reminded us. The film was nominated for an Oscar and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

In two-part harmony, there is a previous film about the Weather Underground called, simply, Underground (1976). I haven’t seen it, but the tagline is a classic, “The Film the FBI didn’t want you to see.”

Then, of course, there’s the great narrative epic by Emir Kusterica, also called Underground (1995), and well worth the watch. Flamboyant and cowboy-ish, and unrelated to the Weathermen, the film paints a picture of Yugoslavia from WWII through communism.

Buy these for your sweetie and the two of you could easily spend at least a day underground debating the great political ideas of our age.
—Enrico Cullen

What Would Jesus Buy?

Supporting the “Shopocalypse” isn’t the only way to celebrate this holiday season. Instead, consider cuddling up with your family to watch Morgan Spurlock’s What Would Jesus Buy?

From “retail interventions” to exorcisms in Wal-Mart, “Reverend Billy” Talen and the Church of Stop Shopping travel across the country preaching that you needn’t buy buy buy to show your love.

As a bonus, read Shira Golding’s interview, “Change-a-lujah!”, with filmmakers Spurlock and Rob VanAlkemade as they talk about what it was like following the antics of Rev. Billy.
—Austra Zubkovs

Planet B-Boy

Growing up in the Hip Hop generation, schooled on films like Beat Street, Breakin’ and Krush Groove, it was fun to see how break dancing, has crossed the globe and taken root in various cultures without loosing its authentic “put up or shut up” Bronx, NYC flavor.

Planet B-Boy makes my short list for 2008 for its amazing dance footage and intimate view of five different international Breakdancing teams as they prepare for the “Battle of the Year” competition in Germany.

The film allows you to view a living culture - one that honors it’s past but still looks forward - by showing how the artform readily addresses the current living situation of various youth around the world.
—Kasmore Rhedrick

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