Documentary
Noah’s Barks pages relating to documentaries.
-
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
‘Paradise Lost’ documents three teenagers persecuted by conservatives’ last bastion against ’90s counterculture in the noose of the Bible Belt. (read more)
-
Tickled
‘Tickled’ is a documentary exposé on an underground, internet tickling fetish group. A thrilling watch revealing what the powerful do behind closed doors. (read more)
-
Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters
Using the NES version cheapens this a bit to any ‘Tetris’ aficionado, but ‘Ecstasy of Order’ is sincere and features a diverse, likable cast. (read more)
-
Atari: Game Over
Atari: Game Over is a slight watch, recounting an abridged history of Atari intercut with an expedition to dig up the infamous “Atari E.T. landfill.” The former isn’t particularly detailed, and the resolution of the latter is a bit disappointing (they have to stop right before getting to the meat of the landfill). The real… (read more)
-
Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler (2015)
Kind of like a “less bullshit” King of Kong. Man vs Snake is one of the fairest portrayals of gaming I’ve seen in a movie. That definitely counts for something, as many devolve into reductionist “look at the freakshow” shame reels. Depending on where your priorities lie, King of Kong‘s more manufactured narrative may result… (read more)
-
Gimme Danger
A renowned director like Jim Jarmusch combined with one of the greatest bands in history makes Gimme Danger sound like a recipe for success. But The Stooges brought their A-game decades ago, and it’s left to Jarmusch to underperform. This doc is overly historical and literal, almost entirely Iggy Pop (James Osterberg) reciting dates and… (read more)
-
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade
A lot of people depicted in Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade are naturally “underwhelming” in their modern life achievements, but it’s more than a bit repulsive how the filmmakers aim to highlight these people as losers and objects to be mocked. What could otherwise be a cultural document of an ignored piece of history comes… (read more)
-
The Office
Kieślowski captures accurately the experience of dealing with the cold, dreary government bureaucracy. Which means The Office, a five-minute short film, is every bit as painful to watch as it is to go through the machine. Just as I wish to never deal with bureaucracy, I wish to never see this short again. No more,… (read more)
-
Talking Heads
Kieslowski has no need for fictional characters when real people are more interesting. You could say it’s one of his mottos. Talking Heads is a demonstration of that, a series of interviews sorted chronologically by age with 100 different people. The generation transitions in this documentary happen too quickly with very little youth featured, which… (read more)
-
American Movie
It always pains me a bit when the cast of American Movie receive mockery as if they were just a freak show. No one’s wrong to laugh—they’re hilarious both intentionally and unintentionally—but their hearts deserve to be taken seriously. With idiosyncratic perspectives and an existence outside of modern society, these are people who never break… (read more)