Day 15 – Favourite Documentary
It’s movie night again!
It’s getting dark by 5 around here now! Five!! In the afternoon!! Winter is the time when we hardly get any daylight if we’re up late to prepare the next day’s Advent Calendar post or get creative in the late hours (you know that we’re night owls).
But that makes snuggling up and staying in all the more appealing. No rolling out of bed early to battle the elements on a gloomy winter day. Your movie recommendations from Day 9 have come in really handy so far, and we will try to make time for a couple more!
We might talk more about the ones we got around to watch later, but today we’re asking you for another recommendation. This time it’s about documentaries specifically.
Movies can be fun and entertaining but we also love learning something while we spend time on the couch. So, nothing beats a good documentary. Have you seen any good ones lately or do you have an all-time classic you think everyone should have seen in their life? We’d love for you to throw in your suggestions.
DAY 3 – DOCUMENTARY
Task of the Day:
Recommend your favourite documentary.
Achievable Points:
5 + 5 extra for additional info
We have talked about our recommendation in the last Q & A video already but want to bring it up here again. We feel like many of you would love the story and most importantly the music in it.
“Searching for Sugarman” left a lasting impression on us.
The best way to watch it is without knowing much about it beforehand so we don’t want to say too much. It’s about a musician, the record industry, revolution and the power of music. You can watch it on Amazon Prime, rent it on YouTube or the Google Play Store.
Let us know when you do end up watching it. We’d love to her your takeaway!
I don’t have a favourite documentary, but I really liked pain, pus and poison, a documentary in 3 episodes that explains how medicines like aspirin, anestesia, the substance that named a Clapton’s song or how the other substance that named a velvet underground song was broadly appreciated by the medical community were discovered
Natural Born Killers
JFK
I don’t see many documentaries, so I thought I would check around and see what was out there. I found so many works that go in-depth into endless accounts of human tragedy. Important topics to expose, if we are to find our way to becoming a more civil and respectful species. 2020 provided a plethora of tragic stories, so I wanted to find something a bit lighter, yet still having impact. I wandered around YouTube and discovered “Me and The Devil Blues”. Two Australian friends taking a trip to the US to see if they could find some deeper understanding of the blues, and the blues of Robert Johnson in particular. There is history, humor, and interesting insight from people who were there, interviewed on a trip from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to New York. It’s not a long film, a little over 24 minutes, just about right to enjoy with a cup of tea, and worth boiling the water.
There are several, but the one that really touched me was “Love & Mercy” on the life of Brian Wilson. It stars John Cusack and not only shows the brilliance of Brian, but the mental health issues and the manipulation of him, and his rescue from that. It is sad to see what actually transpired, and how it still affects him today.
I can’t recommend this documentary, because I haven’t seen it, because it doesn’t exist yet, but Peter Jackson is working on a documentary about the Beatles.
Some fun footage here:
https://youtu.be/UocEGvQ10OE
I’ll just endorse a couple of documentaries that others here have mentioned: The Wrecking Crew and Eight Days a Week (which was almost too entertaining to think of as a documentary). The Wrecking Crew was a gaggle of LA musicians who, in the 60s, displaced traditional music-reading musicians by being able to play anything, spontaneously, just from suggestions. Carole Kay was one of them, the bass player who brought “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” to life for Nancy Sinatra and, indirectly, for the MonaLisa Twins, with that endless, descending bass line. The Crew made countless hit records, ostensibly by countless artists, sound the way they did. Eight Days a Week was about four guys who rose from obscurity in Liverpool to musical immortality worldwide.
I need to catch up with the whole Advent calendar, and I will, but I need to jump in here and mention my favorite two documentaries, both of which I appeared in. The first one is called “Kamp Katrina” which I wound up in because I was in Kamp Katrina when the filmmakers were there. In real-time they got footage of me just dealing with the aftermath of that storm which destroyed New Orleans in 2005.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1553678/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Then, by a miracle, they managed to get in touch with me again, and the producer told me, “Everywhere we show this film, we don’t get even three questions into the Q&A before someone asks, ‘Whatever happened to Charley?'”
After seeing this with my own eyes, I agreed to make a second one with them, and one that was just about me. Now if you know anything about documentaries, the WORST thing a film-maker can do is make it about one person.
But so we set off to make it, and I rode my bicycle over 600 miles to make “Invisible Girlfriend” which is my favorite documentary just because it stars me, and of course, my invisible girlfriend Joan of Arc. Jonie has since all these years later become my invisible wife, but my experience with documentary-making is that it doesn’t matter what the real story is, the film-makers are going to tell the one they decided to tell before the first inch of footage is shot. So I take the good with the bad.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1337149/
American history comes alive at the hands of Ken Burns…. I watch KERA a PBS station…Ken Burns has produced many documentaries about many different topics such as the History of Baseball….our National Parks…History of Country Music…the Lives of our American Presidents…Ken Burns documentary’s are a history of America from the building of the Brooklyn Bridge to so many other great moments in our American History….Ken Burns is America’s Story Teller
I would recommend anything David Attenborough related like ‘Planet Earth’ or ‘The blue Planet’. They really have some amazing content to watch which manage to engage and relax me simultaneously. And with the lack of travel recently, its nice to see other parts of the world on the TV.
I think I’ve watched “History of the Eagles-Part 1 and 2” three dozen times and it never gets old to me. To watch such a talented group of musicians that operated under such a hostile working environment due to their “alpha” mindsets, according to Joe Walsh and yet have such professional success in the music industry never gets boring to me. Glen Fry and Henley ruled their kingdom while the others did their best to create great music without getting torched or fired. It’s such a fascinating dynamic to watch develop. With all the band member in fighting and line up changes it still managed to work out to be a billion dollar music factory. The Boys of Summer always put on a great show no matter how much dissent there was in the background.
Guess what I just finished doing tonight? 🙂 Finally watched “Searching for Sugar Man! Meant to watch it earlier but got too distracted lately. What an amazing and intriguing movie. Unbelievable. Such a beautiful story it leads to. A musician playing for his fans never looked so wonderful. Good music speaks for itself, indeed! Now I will shut up so I don’t spoil it! 🙂 Thanks for suggesting this Mona and Lisa, loved it, so moving.
My recommendation for documentary would be the 1984 film docu-drama “Amadeus”. While it is a box office Hollywood movie, it is nevertheless based on well known historic events around the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Despite it having won 8 Academy Awards including best picture and about 40 other film awards around the world, and was selected to be included in the US Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant, it also made Mozart even more famous in modern times. Up until this film, the 3 great pillars of western classical music were commonly referred to as the 3Bs. Bach-Beethoven-Brahms. While Mozart was one of the great composers of all time, he was in the periphery of the 3Bs along with Schubert, Chopin, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Vivaldi etc…”Amadeus” brought Mozart and his music into modern 20th century spotlight, and Mozart displaced poor Brahms, and took his place alongside Bach and Beethoven and nowadays the 3Bs have become BMB (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven) as the 3 great pillars. It’s not that anything in Mozart’s perception changed with classical music aficionados, but it brought many new people who were not necessarily into classical music into the fold. It popularized Mozart and classical music. A clear example of the impact this movie had on popular culture is one of the greatest 80’s rock/pop hits Rock Me Amadeus by Falco in 1985 which was inspired by Amadeus and Mozart. More people who never got into classical music started to explore Mozart, and buy up Mozart CDs and attend Mozart events.
While classical music historian purists would criticize the movie as being inaccurate in many areas, such as whether Salieri was really responsible for Mozart’s death, the movie took universally accepted historic accounts of Mozart’s life together, and then filled in the blanks with some Hollywood imagination, and turned it into a legendary block buster hit. This certainly is preferable to a dry narrated fact focused documentary that would put most non classical music enthusiasts to sleep and the movie just becomes one of the many forgotten classical music documentaries. So for the influence and impact this movie had in elevating classical music awareness in the 20th century, I think it is one of the best and most successful music documentaries in history possibly. That is why I highly recommend it.
For me personally, it is the portrayal of music as supreme art above all else that really appeals to me. It tries to reveal what music is at it’s core, something that can be divinely beautiful and can move people deeply. It portrays Mozart as a bratty little rascal, but he has direct insight into a divine well spring of creativity that is supernatural. It makes you believe all art is from the realm of something greater than us and this physical world
I think it is a movie that speaks to all the people in the world who love music, and musicians and artists who have dedicated their lives to music. It evokes the profound and magical aspects of music. When I first saw this movie, I couldn’t comprehend how someone can feel the beauty and joy of music by just looking at the sheet music. If you were thinking about pursuing a career in music, I think this movie could make you take the plunge.
If you’ve seen Amadeus already, another one I would highly recommend in a similar vein is “Copying Beethoven” from 2006.
There has been debate over the years about the accuracy of Amadeus.
In this article, they confirm the movie Amadeus does in fact contain factual historic accounts of Mozart’s life, mixed in with rumours and Hollywood imagination, debunking false claims the movie is a complete fantasy. There are definitely inaccuracies, but it is based around facts, with the spaces filled in with Hollywood imagination. Is it a docu-comedy.
Fact – Mozart was a child prodigy
Fiction – Salieri took a vow of chastity
Fact – Mozart did have a dirty sense of humour
Fiction – Mozart was an alcoholic
Fact – Salieri was a well renowned music instructor (was Beethoven’s instructor for a time)
Fiction – Salieri manipulated the emperor for his position.
Fact – A Mysterious Stranger Did Commission The Requiem Mass
Fiction – Salieri Hated Mozart
Fact – Salieri’s Attempted Suicide
Fiction – Salieri Killed Mozart
There were real accusations floating around at the time that Salieri killed Mozart, but not substantiated. Salieri even told his pupils these accusations were rumours, which would not be be surprising. The fact he spoke about it, gives some credence to the fact these rumours existed.
My favourite scene from Amadeus
https://youtu.be/th_ro9CiASc
A short teazer:
https://youtu.be/NlpxjBgG-7E
I know this is a late entry but wanted to mention it anyway as I just discovered it over the holidays. My runner up documentary recommendation is a very recent documentary posted by the German news network DW on the occasion of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year 2020: “A World Without Beethoven” is just fascinating, and gives insight into the influence of classical music and in particular Beethoven in the core foundations of almost all genres of modern music, especially pop/rock, jazz, and movie scores. It talks about how his 5th Symphony had a profound influence on pop/rock music. It’s an intriguing look into the influence Beethoven has on music to this day. It takes you on a journey from Bonn and Vienna to England, New York, and Laurel Canyon/Hollywood articulating Beethoven’s influence on modern music.
Movie shows how rock riffs were invented by Beethoven (5th Symphony)and articulated how Beethoven’s last (32nd) piano Sonata influenced jazz. And also the discussion around metronome and how the requirement for precise tempo in music was introduced by Beethoven is fascinating. Prior to him, only musical markings for tempo were slow or fast which was very ambiguous. Beethoven also revolutionized Lieder, songs with poetic lyrics (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell), as well as introduced the concept of “concept album” (Pet Sounds/Smile, Sargent Peppers, Tommy, Dark Side of the Moon….).
https://youtu.be/Ls5XWu4PhSs?t=1
I’m going to say “Sound City” – Dave Grohl’s directorial debut about the Sound City Studios and the legendary sound board (the Neve 8028) he bought from them when it closed. A really outstanding documentary of the music and artists associated with the studio from 1969 – 2011.
There are so many. But I’d pick “20 Feet From Stardom” , a music doc from 2013. It’s about the incredible, amazing background singers who turned good records into great ones. Hearing the awesome Lisa Fischer warm up her voice at the start of this film is just breathtaking. How is she not a superstar??Merry Clayton tells about her iconic vocal (in her pajamas and bathrobe) on the Stones greatest record “Gimme Shelter”. Darlene Love, possibly the most in-demand session singer of them all, tells about being so discouraged that she had given up and started cleaning houses for a living. Her comeback story is one for the ages. The film is full of personal stories like this and plenty of goose bump music. The big stars like Springsteen and Jagger also chime in on the contributions of these talented women. For those of us who love the music of the 60’s and the 70’s (hey, this is the MLT Club…we ALL do) this doc is as inspiring as it gets.
Seattle Bob.
I don’t watch a lot of documentaries. When you recommended to watch Searching For Sugarman without looking anything up about it, I did. It is a very kool story and told in a very captivating style. No spoilers, just watch it. That first big applause was the best. Oops
I also want to check out Kevin Hinson’s recommendation, The Imitation Game. It looks pretty interesting.
Umm, have you ever watched Pink Floyd:The Making Of The Dark Side of the Moon? It has some great info on how certain sound effects were made and some good interviews. There are a lot of “unofficial” Pink Floyd documentaries out there with a lot of “unofficial” stories, but this one is good.
It’s interesting that the Beatles and Pink Floyd were recording in neighboring studios a couple of times.
JP
My most favourite documentary I watched this year is Sir David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Palnet”. David Attenorough tells his professional life story from his beginnings of a documentary filmer to where he is now, which changes he has noticed on our planet regarding plant and animal life, how humanity is involved in it and which consequences arise for the whole planet and human beings themselves – and most of all: how we can change the world to keep this planet safe for its inhaibtants or at least make it safe again. We see wonderful images of nature and animals and of humanity’s errors and efforts to change mistakes – especially how our thiinking and acting has to change to improve the living for mankind and animals alike. Several critics have called the “A Life On Our Planet” Attenborugh’s witness testimony and I do agree with them.
My most favourite documentary I watched this year is Sir David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Palnet”. David Attenorough tells his professional life story from his beginnings of a documentary filmer to where he is now, which changes he has noticed on our planet regarding plant and animal life, how humanity is involved in it and which consequences arise for the whole planet and human beings itself – an most of all: how we can change the world to keep this planet safe for its inahibtants or at least make it safe again. We see wonderful images of nature and animals and of humanity’s errors and efforts to change mistakes – especially how our thiinking and acting has to change to improve the living for mankind and animals alike.
Any documentary by Sir David Attenborough, but as already suggested by Jeannette, particularly his “A Life on Our Planet”, This is a quote from the great man himself:
“I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake – and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.’ All we need is the will to do so.”
Ken Burns has already been suggested. My picks of his many excellent documentaries would be – The Civil War (1990) and The Vietnam War (2017) which he produced and The West (1996), for which he was the executive producer. There is a double CD of the beautiful music that accompanies his “The Civil War” series, which includes the popular songs of the time.
If it had to be a music documentary, I’d go with the following:
“The Kids Are Alright” (1979), Jeff Stein’s compilation of archival performances by the Who and “Gimme Shelter” (1970). – The Rolling Stones. Though it’s famous as the movie that exposed the chaos of Altamont — there’s more to Gimme Shelter than just one moment.
Sorry, but I couldn’t leave it at just one documentary.
By the way, I loved the “Searching for Sugarman” documentary, which I saw about eight years ago. It brought back fond memories of the seventies when Rodriguez was was quite big in my country and received considerable air play. He toured here in 1979 and 1981. Curiously he was also very popular in South Africa.
My favorite documentary is “The Crown.” Laurie (my wife) and I have been watching it for several years. We are currently caught up and anxious for the next season. The Crown begins in with the life of Queen Elizabeth II prior to her father dying and her becoming the Queen of England. The thing that amazes me most is that she is still the Queen.
The Crown covers her initial battles as a young woman becoming the sovereign. As we all know she overcame those challenges, worked with Winston Churchill and developed a close relationship with him, served as England’s Queen through WWII, dealt with crisis after crisis including her sister’s inappropriate love for a gentleman who does not have support of the Church of England. Sad, because today her desire to marry him would have been approved, and her sister, Margaret’s life might have been much longer and happier.
Queen Elizabeth also has to deal with her husband, Prince Philip’s, feelings of being second fiddle to his wife after having been Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark as part of a royal family there before his family was exiled. After being exiled he joined the British Royal Navy where he became an Admiral. He and Queen Elizabeth were married in 1947. And he is also still living. They are a fascinating couple and story!
Personally, I liked the cast and the first two seasons (20 episodes, I think) better than the most current third season (10 episodes). However, I think the acting is excellent in all of the episodes and, Emma Corrin really captures the essence of Princess Diana. The last episode left us hanging with Diana and Charles both wanting a divorce.
In my opinion, but I love true stories and history, is that The Crown is very entertaining, has excellent actors and actresses, hits the most major events in Queen Elizabeth’s life which is still evolving and is very much worth watching.
Mine would be “From Earth to the moon”. I’ve been a space program and astronomy fan since I was a little kid. Facinating stuff! Talk about adventure!
Well I am going to step outside the box here and throw out a sports documentary. In Pittsburgh Football is huge and there is a documentary on the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl Run. The amazing thing is they were the last seed to get into the playoffs and no one expected them to make it to the Super Bowl and win. But they did and the one player Gerome Bettis was his last year and the Super Bowl was played in Detroit of his home town. And for me the Rolling Stones fan I am, they played the half time show. So that is my two cents…LOL…
I would recommend Shut Up and Sing – a documentary about the American group (Dixie) Chicks. It is a fascinating study around everything from music, the act of composition, family life and freedom of speech. I really think everyone should see it. It can be scary as well as often very funny.
While there are a lot of excellent documentaries with musical themes, I’ll go in a different direction. The BBC has produced an impressive string of nature documentaries spanning several years now. All are worthy of viewing, but I’ll only mention “Planet Earth”. Incredible cinematography that continually makes you wonder “how did they ever get that footage?” Narrator David Attenborough is to nature documentaries what The MonaLisa Twins are to Beatles covers. While far from his, and their, only noteworthy attribute, he is, and they are, second to none in this genre.
Also worth watching, though admittedly not a true documentary, is Ford v. Ferrari. Expertly acted and directed, it tells the (mostly) true story of Ford Motor Company’s effort to beat Ferrari at what they did best. But even more interesting, this movie tells the story of Carroll Shelby’s and Ken Miles’ friendship through good times and bad. You really don’t need to be a car nut to enjoy this one, but if you are, the historic cars featured throughout are a nice bonus! Nicely placed humorous segments, as well.
Hope this helps!
Lots of great suggestions. You can’t go wrong with The Beatles Anthology, The Wrecking Crew, or No Direction Home (Scorsese’s flim about Bob Dylan in the sixties – his emerging fame apparently wasn’t all roses). In keeping with a musical theme, I suggest “Tom Dowd and the Language of Music”, if you can find this relatively rare work. Dowd, a recording engineer (and scientist that worked on the Manhattan Project developing the atomic bomb!) is little known but over decades had a profound influence on how modern music sounds and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. From a review:
“… a glimpse into the mind of the man that was behind some of the best sessions coaxed out of Cream, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers, Derek and the Dominos, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin. Booker T and the MGs, classic acts from the southlands and primo Jazz sessions [Coltrane, Mingus] caught on the fly by state of the art recording equipment built by Mr. Dowd…”
“… because he worked with an array of great artists on some of the world’s greatest recordings, Dowd was highly influential in creating the sound of the second half of the 20th Century.” Wikipedia
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTI3NTY0ODQ1MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDE1MTgyMQ@@._V1_.jpg
Monterey Pop is a music documentary that had a huge effect on the world .i had never seen Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane,Janis Joplin,Eric Burden, Otis Redding and more. I stayed and watched the movie a second time in the theatre. Scott McKenzie whose San Francisco you covered is in the movie.
Some great suggestions in today’s post, I love a good documentary. In the music genre, more specifically about the recording industry in the US from the 60’s onwards there are three I watched a couple of years ago that I loved and are intertwined.
-Muscle Shoals is the story of the little Alabama studio that produced so many hits. I don’t want to say too much, because it’s good to be discovering it as you go along.
-The Wrecking Crew is an amazing story about the LA studio musicians that made so many of the songs we love, including the great Carol Kaye. Including many of the Beach Boys songs.
-Sound City is the story of Nirvana’s recording history told by Dave Grohl.
I think for Mona and Lisa, the story of Heart (Nancy and Ann Wilson) would be very compelling. VH1 did a behind the music episode that was quite good (you can find it on YouTube in 4 episodes with low quality), but Ann just announced that they’ll be doing a biopic, so I’m really looking forward for that to come out. They are very talented musicians who had to fight the industry on stereotypes, going against the grain, and how they made it while sticking to their guns in a male dominated environment.
Tomás
Hello again. Yet another challenging challenge!
After some thought I have to put forward not a single documentary but a series that ran to 253 episodes called Wildlife on One (although the later ones were Wildlife on Two) which ran from 1977 until 2005 here in the UK. All 253 were narrated by that worldwide hero Sir David Attenborough. (The number in the title denotes the BBC channel on which it was first broadcast.)
Each documentary featured anything from the life of a single animal through to the workings of a complete ecosystem. A 1987 episode called ‘Meerkats United’ was voted the best wildlife documentary of all time in a BBC poll so if you want to select an example to watch it is a good starting point. I doubt that it was the best educationally but for entertainment value you’ll have to watch it to find out.
Sir David does his usual thing of making the programmes eminently watchable and entertaining whilst educating the audience at the same time. They are so important to me as they were the first programmes that really did it all; entertain, educate, bring issues to the population’s attention, explain how important each creature is to the world (however annoying they may seem!) and so much else. They grasped the attention of so many young people (and others) who maintained it such that we now have all the save the planet etc bodies which are vital for the future of everything.
Let us face it and get real. Unless we have a planet to live on, one that is habitable and sustainable then in deep reality everything else is pretty meaningless. Harsh and dark words I know but please think about it, many of you will have already done so.
I could have, in fact, chosen any of the huge list of documentary series or single programmes that this paragon of broadcasting has introduced and/or narrated, plus he has written many as well. But this one was the longest running and so would have had the biggest positive influence on those who watched it worldwide, especially the young as I have already stated. Sadly he is in his 90s and the world may soon need someone to step into his shoes.
My favorite documentary is without a doubt would be A&E’s, Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne. He has been one of my favorite singers of all time. It is about his life growing up and how he was bullied in school so he would go to the biggest kid in class tell him a joke and make him laugh so he would be his buddy and watch out for him. Then when he quit school he got board and brook into a shop behind his house and spent 6 weeks in jail, and that’s about all I want to give away about the story. You just have to see it, how he came from nothing to having anything his heart desires.
There are three documentaries I immediately thought about as soon as I’ve read today’s challenge. All three I re-watched several times again, so impressed I was.
The first couple is music-related, I found them comparatively recently. They are pretty short and quite rather of blogger-style researches, then to be full production documentaries.
The first is called: “Why is Modern Music so Awful?”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII
The second: “When Did Rock Stop Being Pop?”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAm1UWQSriI
I think comments are redundant as their titles tell by themselves what is it about.
In contrary, the third one is full-studio produced and as I think is very expensive. But it’s free to watch on YouTube anyway. I found it several years ago, watched several times and constantly recommend to everyone. It is called “HOME”. As this doesn’t explain too much, here is its description from YouTube:
“We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.
The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.
For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.
HOME has been made for you: share it! And act for the planet.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
But it’s quite possible you have already seen it.
Now your talking! The reason I don’t watch very many movies is not that I don’t enjoy them, its because I have always had an unquenchable curiosity about the real world. I love learning. The time spent being entertained is wonderful and a real treat, but no matter how good the entertainment was I somehow feel that I have nothing to show for the investment in time. Now that I am retired and have more time (and live the digital age) I am in heaven with having so much knowledge available at my fingertips. There are so many good documentaries available that are both immensely entertaining and educational. I have seen almost all the documentaries recommended here and love them.
I could literally fill the page with titles of great documentaries that I could recommend, but instead I will mention just a couple sources I feel are top notch. One is Curiosity Stream, a collection of different documentary and educational films available on Amazon Prime. The other is PBS Documentaries, a collection of past and present films presented by the Public Broadcasting System here in the USA. I feel the most outstanding of the PBS Documentaries are the many produced by Ken Burns. For example if you love music, watch his miniseries on “Jazz” which aired in 2001. Yes, it is 10 two hour episodes long -but it took him six years to produce it. The result is even though it will take you a week or two to complete them all, you will be very sorry that it has to end.
Time for only one right now? I would echo Jeanette Wannamaker’s choice; “A Life on Our Planet” by Sir David Attenborough for all the reasons she describes. (Oh, by the way, I loved “Searching for Sugar Man”!)
I hadn’t seen “The Wrecking Company” until lately. To see that one set of very talented and largely unknown studio musicians were much of the magic behind so many iconic songs of the 60’s and 70’s was eye opening. I have such respect for their talents! Carol Kaye and Tommy Tedesco being the two that come to mind right now.
Ok Im going to go out of bounds and veer away from a documentary that is all about music. I recommend this for a very different reason. “The Imitation Game” is actually a biography/drama that is a true story that was kept secret for 50 years that changed the life of everyone on this site. What happens in this actually paved the way for you, Mona and Lisa, to have a platform today for you to be engaged with the people like us that love you and your work. The back ground is this… the story takes place in WWII in Great Britain. A brilliant but socially awkward British mathematician offered his services to help end the war. It is a story of a man that was shunned by everyone but eventually won over his colleagues to help on his project. How does this apply to all of us and MLT? The keyboard and screen you are looking at right now would not be possible without him. It is both triumph and tragic so be prepared for both. You will never see the world the same way again. That’s all Im gonna say other than pay close attention and watch until the very end!! Don’t start throwing rocks because it’s not about music!!! LOL
Wow…..great question. I think because of our MLT platform I would have to definitely have to go with The Beatles anthology documentary. For a lot of us “clubbers” it certainly brought back some fond memories of the 60’s
It’s hard to come up with just one favorite documentary, but here are a couple I really liked:
One of my favorites is the “One Strange Rock” documentary series narrated by Will Smith. The stories are told from the perspective of eight astronauts who of course have a very unique perspective on the earth. One of my favorite points from the series is from an astronaut who talks about coming back with a realization that his home is earth, not his home town or the US. There is some great footage of course. I think it’s well worth a look. We’ve watched it twice and I’m about ready to put it on my short list again.
Another one I really enjoyed was “Free Solo”. It is about a man’s obsession with free climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in just one afternoon. There is some beautiful climbing footage. Instead of the usual approach of just focusing on the climbing, this movie takes us into his personal life. Some critics panned the interaction with his girl friend, but I thought it did a great job of showing how hard it is make commitments when you are so deeply obsessed with doing something, and also how hard it would be for her to think about a life long relationship with someone who might not be alive tomorrow.
I thought about cheating and posting something I hadn’t personally watched, but then I remembered “Valley Uprising”, a gem that my son bought me several years ago. I used to be a climber, but not at this level. I just wasn’t crazy enough. Why I think you might enjoy it is because it’s about the 60’s in California, specifically Yosemite Valley. You may, like most rational people, think the guys and girls were crazy, but I’m sure you understand their passion for wanting to do something they love and can’t get enough of. Climbing the next mountain is like learning (or writing) the next song. Here’s the link to the trailer (and the movie if you’re Amazon Prime members – you may have to switch to the UK version)
https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Uprising-Peter-Sarsgaard/dp/B01M3UPOWI/
I found an old picture of me climbing (1973)
I’m guessing “This is Spinal Tap” doesn’t count? 😀
So many great suggestions so far, and no surprise considering the nature of this group that they’re mostly about musicians. So I’ll stick to the trend and recommend “Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story” which originally aired on BBC Four on April 9, 2007, and is now available on YouTube. While Karen was one of the most underrated drummers of all time, and an incredible vocalist, Richard is also an amazing talent. Such a tragic story! So many lessons to be learned.
There are two artists, two of the most popular, talented, and influential acts ever, that for whatever reason appear almost illegal to play on the radio or anywhere else now, at least here in the US. One is John Denver. The other is the Carpenters. I have no idea why, but I miss both of them.
There’s 2 on Netflix that I really enjoyed. The first one is “More than ever” about the rise of the group Chicago. The newest one is “The social dilemma” about how advertising and algorithms adjust what we see and what we believe.
That’s the title of the one about Social Media on Netflix that I mentioned in my comment but couldn’t recall the name, Thankyou for reminding me of title of it !!
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but I recall enjoying-
“Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1993)”It may be a little slow / dry for most, and I’m probably biased because local inventor Bob Moog was in this.
Bob built his first theremin when he was 14, and I suppose it gave him the inspiration to go ahead and invent the first commercial synthesizer.
My brother hung around his shop in Trumansburg, and he also built his first theremin around the age of 14 for a school science fair.
My brother told me as Bob aged, he went back to playing and collecting theremins.
(this movie seems to be available on youtube)
(there is also a documentary about bob “Moog (2004)” that is also good, and on youtube)
I would recommend “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, a 2018 documentary about Fred Rogers.
I don’t know how well-known Mr. Rogers is outside the U.S., but a lot of Americans would cite him as the most beloved public figure ever. For over 30 years he hosted a children’s TV show designed not to entertain, but to nurture. He had serious eye-to-eye conversations with his young viewers about topics that children are greatly interested in or concerned about, and he never failed to remind kids to treasure their uniqueness. He became a true father figure to millions.
If you have something in your eye and need to generate a few quick tears to wash it out, have a look at a poignant 90-second YouTube video titled “Fred Rogers Last TV Appearance”, filmed not long after 9/11 .
I got so carried away, that I forgot to mention, Mona and Lisa, that when you first recommended “Searching For Sugarman”, I found it and watched it and was totally amazed by it. Just Wow! Thank you for recommending it.
My favourite documentary is the beatles Antholagy series
I rarely watch documentaries, as I do not have cablevTV , only a few scarce channels on my old school rabbit earsvand I’m okay with that, the TV Ontario channel and a few other channels I get do offer up interesting documentaries….it ususally has to catch my interest to begin with or be about something or person that I enjoy already for me to tune in… I love and have a few old VHS tapes of Princess of Whales Diana whom I did meet just once ( yes, I’m a UK Royal Family fan and have also met a few other UK Royals when they came to Ottawa) , so I enjoy UK Royals docs, I have the ” Straight Shooter-Mamas and Papas” documentary on DVD as well as an Amy Winehouse one, I did recently enjoy the Michelle Obama one that was on Netflix , another one on Netflix about Social Media that I found fascinating and intriguing… One time on TV Ontario there was an interesting documentary about a woman artist who had her house made into a museum /studio in Paris or Italy, she was well known in the 50s/60s, her name escapes me now but I enjoyed watching that. I also like docu’s about Canadian stuff too. Margaret Mead was another interesting docu to watch .
Linda Ronstadt was my favorite singer and still is, because no one has that “extra gear” they can kick their voice into. She was phenomenal in her day. I am using the past tense because she developed Parkinson’s Disease and cannot sing anymore. So sad. The documentary I am recommending is about Linda Ronstadt. It is titled: Linda Ronstadt The Sound Of My Voice. I thought it was very well done and Linda herself narrates parts of it.
Did you know the Eagles started as her back up band? Did you know she was the first woman to have hits on the rock, country, and r and b charts at the same time? She started out as mainly country-rock. Then she teamed with Nelson Riddle and did old time standards. Of course the record label said she couldn’t do it. She would ruin her career. She did it anyway and it was a big hit. Her Mother loved Gilbert and Sullivan music. She wanted to do a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Pirates of Penzance. The record company to her she couldn’t do it. She would ruin her career. She did it anyway and received many accolades. Although her name is German, her Father and Grandfather were Mexican, that is her heritage, and she decided she was going to do traditional Mexican music. The record label said she couldn’t do it. She would ruin her career. She did it anyway and now has the biggest selling Spanish album of all-time!
There is more. She partnered with Dolly Parton and Emylou Harris and they were called Trio and did 2 albums together. Linda accomplished so much in so many different genres in the time she had before Parkinson’s took it all away. And she is so humble. She never thought she was a good singer. She was also managed by Peter Asher who ran the Beatles Apple Records. I highly recommend this documentary.
I think I had watched this recently it was sad but informative and interesting all at the same time .
I love the majority of David Attenborough documentaries but particularly Blue Planet II that was originally broadcast in 2017. Having recently watched it again, but this time in HD quality, it has brought a whole new lease of life to it. Spectacular shots and camerawork in all sorts of situations from on land to deep oceans and great sound. You are living with the animals! It is available on BBC iPlayer and On Demand.
I’ve watched this a dozen times and I seem to find something new every time I do. This documentary has given me “new ears” when I listen to the songs I’ve heard hundreds of times. I strongly recommend this to any the Beatles fans as well as to anyone in doubt of the genius of the Beatles. The documentary’s title is “The Beatles: A musical appreciation and analysis by composer, Howard Goodall CBE”. It’s available on YouTube. Enjoy, my friends!
I agree, that’s a great documentary Robert. I would highly recommend that one too.
I’d like to repeat my suggestion from day 9 and recommend the documentary “Tomorrow” by Dion and Laurent. I’ll just add a new comment for day 9 about something fictional…
If you’re a speaker of German or French, I can also recommend a documentary on the history of writing I just saw on ARTE. It is a three-part documentary called “Die Saga der Schrift/L’Odyssée de l’écriture” and it tells you the story of writing from the very beginnings until today. I found it very interesting to see how aspects of language, the writing system, writing materials, education and politics are interdependent. The documentary is available for streaming on arte.tv until mid-January, but unfortunately not in English.
Being a bit of a ‘spooky documentary lover’, my recommendation would be the kind of mini-docs in the Ancient Aliens series on Netflix.
There are so many unanswered questions to do with our ancient past from all over the world like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, the Mayan Temples and even Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia that have often had stories told about how they connect with beings not of this world. Incidentally one of my favourite films ever was ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’; the same location that Mona & Lisa visited some years ago and sang/played Eight Days A Week at.
One documentary that any star gazer and wonderer would find interesting is “Phenomenon” (on Prime). It is an open minded look at the possibility that we are being visited by life from other worlds/dimensions with very up to date information. Here’s the trailer: https://youtu.be/XjJomA4NDQI
Sorry to disappoint you regarding ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ Nigel, but ‘Hanging Rock’ is near Mount Macedon, which is in Victoria. Uluru where the Wagner family visited, is in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia.
The movie, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ is based on the Australian historical fiction novel by Joan Lindsay, and is set in 1900.
Yep, your right Howard. Ooops..I always thought it was one and the same place for some reason? In fact, I have been thinking that for the last ten years at least! LOL….the ‘advantages’ of getting older! Thanks for the heads up and I’ve edited the post now.
My mistake…the twins never (as far as I know?) visited the actual site where the film was made – Hanging Rock’ is near Mount Macedon, which is in Victoria – and is not Uluru. Thanks to Howard for his correct knowledge.
My pleasure Nigel. I appreciated your post and realised it would be easy to make that mistake, especially if you are not a local. The “Hanging Rock” tourist people have issues with the film as most of their visitors come because they think the story in the movie was fact. They say it detracts from the indigenous historical value of the area.
What an interesting conversation topic. This can Go in .many directions .
One of the most interesting Documentaries i have ever seen, (i seldom watch them) is The Terry Kath Experience. It is directed by Terry’s daughter Michelle Sinclair and also stars Michelle. It is about the void created by her dad who died when she was 2. The 6 remaining members that were Chicago when Terry died are interviewed. Including Peter Cetera.
Michelle is searching for answers to help fill the gaps that were created by her dads death.
Michelle also goes to the famed Caribou Ranch Studios. That is now out of business.
Michelle during the documentary is searching for Terrys famed guitar, that has been missing since his death. Does she find it? If so where was it?
Michelle also explores the 3 Cord Changes in 25 or 6 to 4. All 3 Cord changes are different. All majorly different.
She explores why her parents never were married by a minister .
Was Terry in a different band, was he leaving Chicago? If so why.?
Fascinating and very informative.
The documentary was filmed in 2016 and released in 2017.
In Search of Santa Claus, the Legend of.
This documentary explores how the Legend of Santa came about. It eve. Touches on Krampus and why his legend is not good. It goes into depth of how Ssanta came about. Does he really exist? There are some adults that think so, based on certain evidence, you might tend to agree.
Hi Rick. I also came across the Terry Kath documentary. I was a fan of his guitar playing but did know much about him, so I watched it. Very good.
I’m not much of a documentary movie fan, but ironically I watched the film “Me and Bobby Fischer” on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. The film was made by an Icelandic company in about 2005 and reveals substantial detail about the former World Chess Champion’s latter life, beginning with his detainment in Japan due to an invalid passport and ending with his death in Iceland in 2008. As brilliant a chess player as Fischer was, his personality and possible mental illness, coupled with his anti-Semitic and anti-American rants in later life, alienated him from much of the world. Fischer’s friend bodyguard during the 1972 chess match in Reykjavik, Saemi Palsson, played a prominent role in helping Fischer be freed and accepted as an Icelandic citizen, and is a substantial part of the documentary.
This past year I watched a documentary entitled “Look Through Any Window” about The Hollies. It’s a little over two hours long and what I like about it is that it went chronologically from their first song on up to the end of their career, playing each song in its entirety. So you get lots of good music and the history of the band and it’s members. I really enjoyed this one.
Apollo 11. All about the mission before during and after the Apollo 11 mission to the moon back in July 1969
My favorite documentary is the Beatles Anthology. Every time I watch one of the dvds I learn something new. But the most compelling documentary I’ve seen is a World War 2 in Colour on Netflix. Most old footage from that period is black and white so it almost doesn’t seem real, but when I see the horrors of war, man’s inhumanity to man, and the actual price of freedom in color,I realize the unsatisfiable debt we who live in freedom owe the greatest generation.
Also a close second would be George Harrison Living In The Material World.
Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese’s documentary on the late Beatle George Harrison, GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD, named after the singer’s 1973 album of the same name
Living in the Material World and the Anthology series, are great, I own them both on disk and have watched them several times. They’re great to revisit every now and then.
Yes Tomas you are so right, I always enjoy watching them again and again. I learn something I missed. Matter of fact I will be watching Material World today. Have a good one Tomas
The Beatles anthology hands down the best.
The Beatles Anthology is a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book focusing on the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr participated in the making of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the Anthology project, while John Lennon appears in archival interviews.
If you have not seen this. You need too. The Dvd are great and cd have rare out take of classic songs.
A recently released documentary that I found vividly moving is A Life on Our Planet by Sir David Attenborough. This film is compelling in its warning to us about the fate of our planet if we don’t take immediate action because its warning comes from someone who, at the age of 94, has spent more than 6 decades exploring every corner of the earth. I found it fascinating to see footage from each stage of Sir David’s long career. It was like seeing through his eyes the life of the world flashing before my eyes in fast forward. How many naturalists have seen as many changes as he has? How wonderful for us to see an eye-witness account of those changes! Despite the grim warning the film contains, it also contains hope by highlighting things that are being done around the world to restore the health of our planet. The photography in this film was stunning, often juxtaposing images of beauty and health with images of bleak destruction. This captivating film is available on Netflix.
A second fascinating Christmas-related film is The Star of Bethlehem (2007) by Frederick A. Larson, in which a lawyer sets out to trace the biblical account of the Christmas star through astronomy. I don’t know enough about astronomy to assess his findings but it was fascinating to follow him in his quest and to see what the process involved.
I love the “Eight Days A Week” and “Searching For Sugarman” too but because they are already mentioned I choose the other music documentary. My choice is “The Grateful Dead Movie” from the year 1976. It´s filmed during the Dead´s five nights residence in the Winterland Arena in San Francisco 1974. It captures very well the unique atmosphere of Grateful Dead concert. Between the music numbers we see scenes about the audience and some fans are also interviewed. Grateful Dead might be the world´s biggest cult band and after seeing this it´s easy to understand why.
It Might Get Loud
“..Rock icons — Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White — from three different generations come together to discuss the electric guitar and their musical influences. The men swap stories and crank up their instruments on an empty soundstage for a jam session. Along the way, they visit the majestic hall where “Stairway to Heaven” was composed, Jack White composes a song on-camera at a Tennessee farmhouse, and the Edge lays down tracks for a U2 single..”
Apart from Ron Howard’s Eight Days A Week for new-to-the-Beatles people, and the older Anthology series for more serious watchers, the one I’ve enjoyed most recently is Jakob Dylan’s Echo in the Canyon about parts of the LA music scene between 1964 and 1968.
Other contenders for sports fans would be the Last Dance about Michael Johnson’s Chicago Bulls and some of the soccer documentaries in England following the Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur teams, or in Scotland the one about Heart of Midlothian called This Is Our Story. But if you’ve only time for one, then it’s Echo in the Canyon, California Dreams.
Echo in The Canyon, was special for me because it was shot in all the places I new very well, including the music stores I loved so much.