I love documentaries, particularly older ones.

"Hookers at The Point" (1996) and "High on Crack Street" (1995) are two of my favourites.

For those interested in Canadian documentaries, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has a free Roku app.

"Through a Blue Lens" (2003) is arguably one of the best. It follows the lives of a few drug addicts living in Vancouver's DTES.

What are some of your favourites?

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by Anonymous

reply 49

July 1, 2023 10:10 PM

No I'm not, R1, though I did enjoy "The Fruit Machine" (2018) which shed a lot of light on how lesbians in the Canadian military were treated during the fifties and sixties.

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by Anonymous

reply 2

June 29, 2023 11:30 PM

"Harlan County, USA" is a classic.

by Anonymous

reply 3

June 29, 2023 11:31 PM

Two mules for sister Sara to eat

by Anonymous

reply 4

June 29, 2023 11:48 PM

Looks like a costume Melania would wear.

by Anonymous

reply 5

June 29, 2023 11:49 PM

Memorable. The narrator of Hookers on the Point sounded like a wet mouth pervert who sampled the goods too often.

by Anonymous

reply 7

June 30, 2023 12:09 AM

I'm mostly into historic docs, so here are some of the best I saw. The Atomic Cafe is great if you're feeling nostalgic for the Cold War era. And is basically the blueprint of the documentaries that Michael Moore would try and copy, to mostñy unhappy results.

I love anything Ken Burns but especially his docs about the history of Jazz, The War (about WW2) and Prohibition. Also great is the 8 part doc about the history of NYC directed by his brother Eric.

Another excellent multi part doc is The People's Century. This might be my favorite, it's a PBS/BBC colab that talks about all the shit tha3t went down from 1900 to 1996-ish. It is SO good particularly because of the hard hitting testimonials (the episode about the Holocaust is one of the bleakest treatments I have seen of the subject, they do not pull punches, and I'll leave it at that) and for it's worldwide view of current events, not just American and Europeans. They are all on youtube, though not the best quality.

Slightly more contemporary ones that are excellent are the ones about the fight against Aids, particularly "Larry Kramer: In love and Anger" and "How to survive a plague"

Another very cool one is "The coolest year in hell" done in the early 00's about the summer of 1977 in NYC, including the rise of punk, hip hop, disco, swingers clubs, the son of Sam murders and the infamous blackout.

by Anonymous

reply 9

June 30, 2023 12:50 AM

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

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by Anonymous

reply 10

June 30, 2023 12:55 AM

Paris Is Burning

Brother's Keeper

Exit Through The Gift Shop

The Hollywood Complex

by Anonymous

reply 11

June 30, 2023 1:10 AM

Thank you for reminding me about Atomic Cafe, r9!

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by Anonymous

reply 12

June 30, 2023 1:22 AM

[quote] Crumb

That one left me feeling kind of depressed and icked out.

by Anonymous

reply 13

June 30, 2023 1:33 AM

Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic

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by Anonymous

reply 14

June 30, 2023 1:38 AM

The Panama Deception (1992)

Cover up : Behind the Iran Contra Affair (19880

Both narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery and available on Youtube.

by Anonymous

reply 15

June 30, 2023 1:46 AM

I just watched that one, R6. I enjoyed it.

Two excellent docs that I learned about here are Finding Vivian Maier and Herb and Dorothy. Love both of those and recommend them.

by Anonymous

reply 16

June 30, 2023 1:46 AM

OP if you like Canadian docs or hooker docs, this one from Montreal combines both. It will break your heart.

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by Anonymous

reply 18

June 30, 2023 2:00 AM

Bowling for Columbine was absolutely groundbreaking, despite what anyone says.

by Anonymous

reply 19

June 30, 2023 2:07 AM

“PS. Burn This Letter Please” about New York City's drag community in the late 50s and early 60s. A box of letters was found in an LA storage locker, after the recipient had died—letters from a group of NYC drag queen friends to one of their members who had moved to Hollywood. Full of gossip about the NYC drag scene, doings, and events.

“The letters open a window into a forgotten world where being a female impersonator was punishable by arrest and prosecution.” The directors even tracked down some of the original letter writers and showed them the letters they had written over 50 years ago. Photos, interviews, video footage from the. 60s from Mafia-owned drag bars, etc.

Poignant, and fabulous documentary.

by Anonymous

reply 20

June 30, 2023 2:22 AM

R19 I like that one alot (despite the couple of low blows), as well as Roger and Me, its the ones that Moore did later that missed the mark for me.

by Anonymous

reply 21

June 30, 2023 2:46 AM

R13 Yes but it was fascinating.

by Anonymous

reply 22

June 30, 2023 3:29 AM

I enjoyed the Scotty Bowers documentary. His personal life story interested me more than the ancient Hollywood gossip.

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by Anonymous

reply 23

June 30, 2023 3:42 AM

Hoop Dreams always stayed with me. Low key, no sensationalism, but unforgettable.

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by Anonymous

reply 24

June 30, 2023 3:42 AM

Another one I love, much more light hearted and fun is the one about Jack Wrangler (the gay/straight for pay porn legend) "Anatomy of an Icon". Nothing life changing but a refreshingly fun take on a gay porn star in the 70s/80s without the usual dark cloud of Aids hovering over.

by Anonymous

reply 26

June 30, 2023 3:54 AM

The Keepers was riveting.

by Anonymous

reply 27

June 30, 2023 3:56 AM

Not a fan of drag in general, I was more taken in by the footage from that era. The Queen (1968) is a documentary about a drag pageant in NYC. I enjoyed the time capsule aspect of it.

by Anonymous

reply 28

June 30, 2023 4:02 AM

The Queen is an amazing documentary, R28, I loved seeing the organizers working to put the event together and the drama of competition is captured so well. The stage manager was a particular gem.

I recently rewatched Streetwise (1984) with commentary from filmmaker Martin Bell. (Available on the Criterion app, at least if you are in the US.) Bell filmed the movie with his partner, the photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and it is one of the most beautifully shot documentaries I have ever seen. The story is harrowing (it focuses on street kids living rough in early 80s Seattle), and Bell frequently remarked, “what a disaster” when reflecting on the fates of some of the young subjects. The movie is worth watching on its own, but it was also fascinating to hear how it was photographed, recorded, and put together. Nancy Baker, who edited Harlan County, USA, was also the editor for Streetwise.

by Anonymous

reply 30

June 30, 2023 4:20 AM

Thanks r30 for the recommendation, I'm watching it now. Sadly I'm sure many of the street children profiled succumbed to AIDS or overdosed. I often wonder what became of some of these people.

by Anonymous

reply 31

June 30, 2023 6:19 AM

Fantastic thread! Thanks OP!

Anything by Werner Herzog.

Grizzly Man scarred me for life.

by Anonymous

reply 32

June 30, 2023 6:31 AM

Many of the kids in Streetwise died tragically.

Roberta - murdered by Gary Ridgeway in the late 80s after being released from jail on prostitution charges

Dewayne - hung himself in '84, right before he could be released from juvie

Lulu (the butch lesbian) - stabbed to death by a man in '85

Patti - died from AIDS in '93

Pitts - murdered in 2017 after a life of homelessness and addiction

Tiny, surprisingly, survived her time on the streets. She ended up having 10 kids by 6 different men and now she lives on welfare.

by Anonymous

reply 33

June 30, 2023 7:16 AM

Well, while you're mentioning it, OP...

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by Anonymous

reply 34

June 30, 2023 8:06 AM

This past week I saw "Desperate Souls, Dark City, and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy" in NY (at the Film Forum) and thought it was wonderful.

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by Anonymous

reply 37

June 30, 2023 11:54 PM

OP, and others. RE: Hunt's Point. About 10 years ago, I was in a bodega in the Bronx and I saw the blonde, hatched -faced, woman who was the most unfortunate of the women in the doc. I was happy to see her healthy- looking, sober, accompanied by a decent looking man and a good looking son. So it looks like she got her life together. One can hope.

by Anonymous

reply 39

July 1, 2023 12:06 AM

Anything by Amy Berg 'An Open Secret', 'West of Memphis', 'Deliver Us from Evil'. All great.

by Anonymous

reply 40

July 1, 2023 12:10 AM

R38 - he's heard in a few interview snippets, but he's not seen (other than in clips of the movie and in The Graduate).

Brian DePalma talks more about the film than he does.

by Anonymous

reply 41

July 1, 2023 1:27 AM

Is that significant in any way, r41? He was half the film.

by Anonymous

reply 42

July 1, 2023 5:26 AM

R42 - I just looked that up.

According to an article in Deadline:

[quote]Discussing the process of interviewing members of the original Midnight Cowboy cast, Buirski said: Basically we tried to include any cast members who are available. Of course, some of them have passed like Sylvia Miles. But Brenda Vaccaro, Jon Voight, Jennifer Salt, and Bob Balaban, they were not only available but were very forthcoming. They were all wonderful to speak with. We also reached out to Dustin Hoffman, who was not available. We’d hoped to get him but we just couldn't make it work.

So that's the answer.

For what it's worth, while Hoffman's absence does stand out, it really doesn't distract that much from the documentary because it's ultimately more than just about the movie; it's about what the times were like, both nationally and locally.

All in all, I found it quite moving and it made me want to revisit Midnight Cowboy.

by Anonymous

reply 43

July 1, 2023 9:30 AM

[quote] favourites

Maybe I’ll ‘ave a go at it layta, guv

by Anonymous

reply 46

July 1, 2023 5:30 PM

I’m watching The Keepers based on the recommendation on this thread. It’s rely good though the story is just horrific.

by Anonymous

reply 47

July 1, 2023 8:54 PM

The Phenomenon

about Aliens. really good!

by Anonymous

reply 48

July 1, 2023 8:56 PM

R39 thank you for the update. How did you know it was her?

I really think HBO put out some of the best documentaries of the 90s.

The Criterion channel has a bunch of obscure documentaries which are pretty good, I downloaded it on my Roku in order to watch "Streetwise". They have an entire section dedicated to gay and lesbian film.

Currently I'm watching "The Aggressives" (2005) a documentary that follows the lives of some butch lesbians in New York. It's interesting, though they attempt to pass as men, they still identify as female.

The cinematography leaves something to be desired but the women featured are pretty interesting as subjects.

by Anonymous

reply 49

July 1, 2023 10:10 PM