Why not fold documentaries into my list of the "Best Films of 2011?" After all, a movie is a movie, right? Yes, and some years I've thrown them all into the same mixture. But all of these year-end Best lists serve one useful purpose: They tell you about good movies you may not have seen or heard about. The more films on my list that aren't on yours, the better job I've done.
That's particularly true were you to depend on the "short list" released by the Academy's Documentary Branch of 15 films they deem eligible for nomination. The branch has been through turmoil in the past and its procedures were "reformed" at one point. But this year it has made a particularly scandalous sin of
omission. It doesn't include "The Interrupters" (currently scoring 99% on the Tomatometer), which has received better reviews and been on more critic's Best lists than any other.
For Steve James of Kartemquin Films, who made "The Interrupters" with author Alex Kotlowitz, this is an old story. The Documentary Branch also failed to shortlist James's "Hoop Dreams" (1994), which is generally considered one of the greatest documentaries of all time. In a scandal at that time, it was revealed that the branch's volunteer screening committee turned off "Hoop Dreams" after watching only 15 minutes.The year's best documentaries:
1. The Interrupters
Steve James (in center above), who made the masterpiece "Hoop Dreams," now makes his most important film, telling the story of ex-convicts who go daily into the streets of Chicago to try to talk gang members out of shooting at each other. All have done prison time. Some have murdered. They were young when were seduced by the lure of street gangs. Today they see young people throwing their lives away and often killing bystanders by accident.
James' film follows members of CeaseFire, tough negotiators who monitor gang activity in their neighborhoods and try to anticipate developing warfare. They make it their business to know the gang leaders and members. They build trust. In some shots in this film they are physically in the possible line of fire--and so are Steve James and his small crew. This film has true impact.
2. Bill Cunningham New YorkA movie about a happy and nice man. Bill Cunningham was lucky to find what he loves to do, to win universal affection from all who know him, and to make a contribution to our lives and times. Doing what he loves is very nearly all he does, except to sleep and eat.
Bill celebrates his 80th birthday in the movie. Every day of his life he still pedals around Manhattan on his bicycle, taking photographs of what people are wearing. You can find his work featured in big spreads in The New York Times. He's not a fashion photographer" of a paparazzi. He's genuinely fascinated by what people wear, and will stop in the middle of the street if he spots an interesting hat.
3. Into the AbyssPerhaps the saddest film Werner Herzog has ever made, centering on two young men in prison. Michael Perry is on Death Row in Huntsville, America's most productive assembly line for executions, and on the day Herzog spoke with him had eight days to live. Jason Burkett, his accomplice in the stupid murders of three people, is serving a 40-year sentence. They killed because they wanted to drive a friend's red Camaro.
Herzog became curious about the case, took a small crew to Huntsville and Conroy, Texas, where the murders took place, and spoke to the killers, and members of their families and those of their victims. He obtains interviews of startling honesty and impact. We also meet Captain Fred Allen, who was for many years in charge of the guard detail on Huntsville's Death Row. He starts talking with Herzog and is swept up by memory and emotion, explaining why one day, after overseeing more than 100 executions, he simply walked away and decided he was opposed to the death penalty.
4. TabloidBy Errol Morris, who says his subject, Joyce McKinney, is his favorite protagonist. In 1977 McKinney was involved in the infamous "Case of the Manacled Mormon," made to order for the British tabloids we've been reading about during the News of the World. A former Miss Wyoming, she was alleged to have kidnapped an American Mormon missionary in the UK, handcuffed him to a bed, and made him a sex slave. All lies, she says.
"Rashomon" will inevitably be evoked in discussions of this film. Many scenarios fit the facts. Morris presents officials with boundless reasons to think McKinney guilty of stalking, abduction and possible rape, He also allows McKinney to offer a perky alternative perspective on the same events. Which version does Morris believe? With him, you never quite know for sure.
5. Resurrect DeadIt's possible you've stepped on a Toynbee Tile (above) yourself. These are hundreds of crudely-lettered tiles stuck with tar to pavements and sidewalks in cites up and down the Eastern seaboard, as far west as Kansas City, and in three South American cities. They may have started appearing in 1983. What do they possibly mean? Who devises and places them?
Writer director Jon Foy follows three Tile sleuths: Justin Duerr, Steve Weinik, Colin Smith. Starting with a small handful of meager clues, their detective work leads them to strange places: A paragraph in an old Philadelphia Inquirer, a play by David Mamet, addresses in South Philadelphia, a convention of ham radio operators. They find web sites filled with Tile photos and rumors. The film is confoundingly watchable.
6. Cave of Forgotten DreamsThe second film on my list by Werner Herzog, a master of both features and documentaries. He gains access to Chauvet Cave, above the Ardèche River in Southern France. There humans created the oldest cave paintings known to exist. They spring from the walls with boldness and confidence, as if the artists were already sure what they wanted to paint and how to paint it. Perhaps 25,000 years ago, a child visited the cave and left a footprint, the oldest human footprint that can be accurately dated.
The modern archeologist who discovered the cave had to descend a narrow opening to its floor, far below on the original entrance level. It is their entry route that Werner Herzog follows in his spellbinding new film, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams." Herzog filmed in 3D, to better convey how the paintings follow and exploit the natural contours of the ancient walls. The process also helps him suggest how the humans of the Upper Paleolithic era might have seen the paintings themselves, in the flickering light of their torches. To the degree that it's possible for us to walk behind Herzog into that cave, we do so.
7. PinaWim Wenders' mesmerizing documentary presents the choreography of Pina Bausch, a German dancer and director. Watching the film, I didn't know she died in 2009, on the eve of principal photography. But I wasn't surprised when I learned that. It accounts for the elegiac tone of many of her colleagues and troupe members. They are reserved, introspective, solemn. Joining her troupe seems to have been more a life decision than a career move. They loved her.
Bausch's troupe shares a common understanding of time and space. There is a remarkable piece here called "Cafe Mueller" which I'd earlier seen in Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her," in which some dancers seem to wander blindly in a room where other dancers rearrange chairs and tables. The parallel with life itself is there to be seen. Wenders' use of 3D is effective, helping him enter more fully into the performance space. There is usually no convention of a proscenium arch in the film. One piece uses water, and another sand, which the dancers cover the stage with and then crawl or roll through to leave marks of their movements. The entire film was, for me, meditative.
8. Garbo the SpyHe was called "Garbo" because an Allied spymaster thought he was the best actor in the world. Juan Pujol García, a Spaniard based in Lisbon, fed the Nazis a stream of misleading information from a spy network that existed entirely in his imagination. Using invented facts and a spy network that didn't exist, he convinced the Nazis that the Allied landing at Normandy was a decoy operation to draw their troops away from the "real" landing site, at Calais. One man's imagination changed the course of the way.
Lacking period footage of Garcia (naturally), director Edmon Roch ingeniously cobbles together newsreel footage, scenes from old war movies, and modern talking heads to piece together his story of a startling deception.
9. The Last MountainIs there another state more cruelly defaced than West Virginia? Its mountains have been blown up, its forests ripped out, and the green land which the settlers discovered now includes a wasteland of a million toxic acres. Nationally, one in 100,000 people get brain tumors. In a small West Virginia town surrounded by strip mining, six neighbors have developed brain tumors. What are the odds of that?
This is a blunt and enraged documentary about Coal River Mountain, the site of a last stand against Massey Energy, a company it says disregarded environmental concerns, compromised the political process and poisoned great stretches of the state in the name of corporate profits. Now lakes of sludge loom above towns, rivers are dead and dying, and heavy metals invade the bloodstreams and brains of the inhabitants. Recent court findings against Massey provide a footnote to Bill Haney's film.
10. Louder than a Bomb
Poetry slams began in Chicago in 1984 and have become an international phenomenon. They're poetry readings as a spectator sport. Individuals and teams are scored by judges on the Olympic 10-point scale. "Louder Than a Bomb" is about the 2008 Chicago-area slam of that name, the nation's largest. Teams and soloists from 60 high schools compete, and the finalists face off in a city-wide slam that fills a theater usually used for rock concerts. The suspense that year initially centered on Steinmetz, a troubled inner city school that had never entered before it won the 2007 Bomb in a thrilling upset. Can Steinmetz and its coach, James Sloan, repeat?
The film was directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel (Gene's nephew), who followed several competitors for months and guessed well in choosing those they focused on. Like earlier docs about spelling bees and Scrabble tournaments, but with more showmanship and energy, it focuses on individuals and builds great suspense. Shown at Ebertfest 2011.
11. Page One: Inside the New York TimesOne newspaper remains, as it has long been, the most essential source of news in this country. "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times" sets out to examine its stature in these hard times for print journalism, but ends up with more of the hand-wringing that dominates all such discussions. People who are serious about the news venerate the past, hope for the future, and don't have a clue about the present.
Much attention is given to the paper's role in digital media, but happens is that a charismatic hero comes along and distracts from the big picture. That man here is David Carr, the paper's raspy-voiced star media reporter. He reminds me of the reporters I held in awe when I first went to work for newspapers. Like Mike Royko, he combines cynicism, idealism and a canny understanding of how things really work. As we watch him meticulously report the story that exposed the lamentable "frat house" management of Sam Zell's Chicago Tribune, we see the reporter as a prosecutor, nailing down an air-tight case.
12. One Lucky ElephantTells the stories of Flora, an African elephant, and David Balding, who runs a St. Louis circus. Flora witnessed her mother killed, and was shipped in a crate to the United States at a tender age, where after training and bonding with Balding, she became the star performer and namesake of Circus Flora. This is a one-ring circus that was created as a commissioned work for the 1986 Spoleto Festival in Charleston and has performed annually in St. Louis since 1987.
Balding and his wife, Laura, decided Flora was reaching the end of her show business career and deserved a pleasant retirement. "One Lucky Elephant" follows their search for a home for Flora, which began in 2000 and became a great challenge. A larger question coils beneath the surface of the film. What happens to an elephant that is "trained?" Knowing humans all of its life, can it find happiness in an elephant sanctuary?
13. BuckOne of the big documentary hits of the year. Buck Brannaman was the original "horse whisperer," the character who Nicholas Evans based his novel on and Robert Redford used as the on-set consultant for his film. He has a way with horses, and Cindy Meehl's documentary is moving as he shows them engaged in dances of understanding.
Buck was abused as a child, and that experience influenced his gentle approach to horse training. It involves empathy for the feelings of the horse. Buck understands how horses read humans, how they interpret gestures, and how they're "so sensitive they can feel a fly land." I was reminded of Temple Grandin, the autistic designer of cattle-handling chutes, whose secret was identifying the feelings of cattle with her own.
14. Conan O'Brien Can't StopThe title has piercing accuracy. After NBC and Jay Leno pulled the rug out from under him, O'Brien went overnight from hosting the Tonight Show to being banned from television for six months. He became like Wile E. Coyote, chasing the Road Runner of his dreams off the edge of a cliff and afraid to look down. Enraged at Leno and NBC, he quickly undertook "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour," which covered 32 cities, from Radio City Music Hall to the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee--where inside a tent in 100-degree heat he was expected to introduce every act, and did.
Here is a man driven to assert himself. He waited five years for the Tonight Show, lost it in months, and needed to say to the universe, "Sir! I exist!" The film, directed by Rodman Flender, watches him before and after shows and en route between cities, seeing a man incapable of giving himself a break. Overworked, exhausted, assaulted by demands, he cannot say no to an autograph, patiently hosts waves of visitors in his dressing room, drums up work on his days off, and at times seems on the edge of madness. The man behind the image.
15. StrongmanA tantalizing example of the kind of documentary I find engrossing: A film about an unusual person that invites us into the mystery of a human life. Stanley Pleskun bills himself as "Stanless Steel, the Strongest Man Alive." Whether this is true is beside the point. Stanless, as I will call him, believes it absolutely. His girlfriend Barbara and his brother Michael agree, I gather, although they never actually say so.
How does the Strongest Man in the World support himself? He works as a freelance in the scrap metal industry, collecting scrap and hauling it to a yard. We see him heaving heavy loads into the bed of his truck. Does this help him train? No, I learn from the film's notes, it tires him out and makes it harder to train. Although Zackary Levy, the filmmaker, followed him over a course of years and shot hundreds of hours of films, we only see him actually training twice: Once squeezing a hand grip, and again staggering for several yards while carrying heavy concrete blocks.
His girlfriend Barbara She introduces his act: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Presenting Staaaaaanless Steeeel! The Strongest Man in the Woooorld!" He makes appearances at events in New Jersey and New York, bending steel bars, lifting trucks, and so on. He is paid $1,000 and expenses to appear on a British TV show. Is he really that strong? I have no idea.
16. Project NimCan a chimpanzee learn to speak by using sign language? Yes. But in what sense does it know what it is saying? "Project Nim," a fascinating documentary, follows the life of a chimp named Nim Chimpsky as it's raised like a human baby and then shuttled from one set of "parents" and "homes" to another. The chimp emerges from this experience as a more admirable creature than many of its humans.
This is a new film by James Marsh, who made the Oscar-winning "Man on Wire." Like Errol Morris on occasion, Marsh weaves dramatic recreations into his film, so that sometimes we see actual documentary footage and at other times we see actors or even (although you won't notice it) animatronics. How this substitution fits with a traditional documentary ethics I will set aside. It produces a very absorbing film.
17. Waste LandAcross the world's largest garbage dump, near Rio de Janeiro, the Pickers crawl with their bags and buckets, seeking treasures that can be recycled: Plastics and metals, mostly, but anything of value. From the air they look like ants. You would assume they are the wretched of the earth, but those we meet in "Waste Land" seem surprisingly cheerful. They lead hard lives but understandable ones. They make $20 or $25 a day. They live nearby. They feel pride in their labor, and talk of their service to the environment.
Directed by Lucy Walker, it takes as its entry point into the lives of the Pickers the work of the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. As a youth he had the good fortune to be shot in the leg by a rich kid, who paid him off; he used the money to buy a ticket to America, and now he is famous for art that turns garbage into giant constructions which he exhibit and photographs. Documentaries like these three help us, perhaps, to more fully appreciate our roles as full-time creators of garbage.
18. Phunny BusinessWhat Second City was for Saturday Night Live, a comedy club in Chicago was for virtually every black comedian who emerged in the 1990s. All Jokes Aside was a black-owned enterprise that seemed to have infallible taste in talent, perhaps because it was the only club in the country that didn't relegate blacks to "special nights" or "Chocolate Sundays." Its opening night act was Jamie Foxx, then unknown. It introduced or showcases such as Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Carlos Mencia, A.J. Jamal, Sheryl Underwood, George Wallace, Bill Bellamy, Dave Chapelle, Adele Givens, and on and on, including the personnel of the touring Kings of Comedy and Queens of Comedy.
This is a film not so much about black comedians, although we see and hear a lot of them, but about black entrepreneurs. Raymond C. Lambert, who co-founded the club, began as a stock trader for the firm of the black Chicago millionaire Chris Gardner (who himself inspired the character played by Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness"). After a visit to Bud Friedman's Improv in Los Angeles, he wondered why a club like that wouldn't work with black comics in Chicago. Turned out, it would.
19. Make BelieveA charming doc about the finalists in the Teenage Magician Contest at the annual World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. From Malibu, Chicago, Colorado, Japan and South Africa they come, dreaming of being presented with first place by the great Lance Burton. The documentary visits their homes, gets their stories, talks to their friends and parents, and follows them backstage in Vegas.
Not a single rabbit is pulled from a hat. Most of the trucks are small scale--locking rings, disappearing scarves, card production. A deck of cards in their hands seems to have a life of its own. One kid turns cards into iPhones while they're fanned between his fingers. We see him in his basement, building the props.
One thing we don't find out is how any of the tricks are done. The secrets in some cases are pretty widely known. Most of the people in the audience know in theory exactly how they're done, but are connoisseurs judging how well they are performed. Magicians have a saying: "The trick is told when the trick is sold." These kids are sold on tricks.
20. Being ElmoAll Kevin Clash ever wanted to do was make puppets. That came even before he fixated on Muppets. One day he had an inspiration so urgent that it required cutting up his father's coat. The result was a nice enough puppet, but when Kevin emerged from his creative frenzy he realized his father might have stern words for him. Called in trembling to the old man, all he heard was: "Next time, ask."
"Being Elmo" is a documentary that follows him from his childhood through a series of good breaks that lead him into the universe of Jim Henson and Sesame Street, and we even hear an eyewitness to the day he "discovered" the Elmo character.
After another puppeteer grew frustrated and threw Elmo at Kevin saying "Here, you try it," Kevin fooled around with a series of voices until Elmo, one of the most beloved of all Muppets, emerged. He also defined Elmo's central characteristic: All he wanted was to love and be loved, and hug you. What kid couldn't identify? The original Elmo craze led to buyer panics for the Tickle Me Elmo dolls, and Clash's life has been a happy one.
Based in part on my original reviews. Here is the Academy's complete short list of documenataries eligible for Oscar nomination: "Battle for Brooklyn," "Bill Cunningham New York," "Buck" "Hell and Back Again," "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front," "Jane's Journey," The Loving Story," "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," "Pina" "Project Nim," "Semper Fi: Always Faithful," "Sing Your Song," "Undefeated," "Under Fire: Journalists in Combat" and "We Were Here."
My list of the Best Features of 2011.
Fear Roger;
"The more films on my list that aren't on yours, the better job I've done."
Nobody does a better job!
I've only seen 4 of these titles and they were all excellent.
Thanks so much.
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2012.
It's "The Undefeated" as in the Weinstein football documentary that was a hit at SXSW. You should find it in your pile of awards screeners. Do you really think the doc committee would be Sarah Palin fans? Come on, now... That would be too entertaining.
Great list. The one omission I note is Nostalgia for the Light.
Thank you for this, Roger!
Roger, have you seen "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" yet?
Sad to say I haven't been able to see any of these. I simply don't understand how the academy decides which movies get shortlisted. The trailer alone for The Interrupters was one of the most riveting things I have seen all year. Ameena Matthews has such a compelling presence to her, I wish I could watch the film (it hasn't opened, or probably ever will in my area.)
Thanks for writing about the Interrupters. I might not have seen it in the first place, and agree, it's the most important doc of the year. Not sure it's better than Hoop Dreams though.
Lots of great films on this list especially Page One.
BTW Waste Land was last year's documentary Oscar nominee.
So you missed "Armadillo". Still, a good list, though some of those entries are pretty weak. OK, I feel like a churl now. Merry Christmas, Roger!
No offense to Nicholas Sparks, but he didn't write The Horse Whisperer. :)
A great list. I look forward to tracking down many of these. One film I would add is "How To Die In Oregon", which may be disqualfied because it played on HBO, but still screened at Sundance this year. A noble and thoughtful film about a controversial, but important topic. I will never forget it.
I strongly recomment Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune? An important and great doc about the turbulent 60's and early 70's and a singer/songwriter who tried to do his share to bring important issues to the forefront. A sad story about the loss of the dream to make a difference. An American tragedy about a singer/songwriter who is still relevant today though relatively unknown.
I only watched "Bill Cunningham New York", "Tabloid", and "Cave of Forgotten Dream", and "Buck". As far as I heard from others, the other documentaries in your list are good ones as you said in your reviews. Thanks for the list, Roger.
I will watch "Pina" soon around this week. Though I will not able to watch in 3D, but I think it will not be bad to watch it in 2D.
Maybe it doesn't belong on Roger's list, but if you are an old movie nut like me, you gotta see "Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel."
Dyn-O-Mite!
I can't believe Senna isn't on this list or at least gets a mention. Extraordinary use of archive footage that creates tension for even uninitiated viewers, portraying a truly unique and fascinating individual.
However, even the Academy Awards Committee failed to acknowledge this gem for their short list. Shame on them.
Check it out on Netflix Instant, it at least deserves a spot on that list.
Not sure what you mean "Undefeated" was such a hit at SXSW. I was there. There was no one in the audience. This whole film is a Harvey Weinstein grab for a doc Oscar. This film is sappy and terrible. It hasn't been on anyone's list of favorites - for a reason. No one has it one their radar - because it's just a Weinstein concoction. It'll be interesting to see does Harvey manage to ram it through for a nomination.
You forgot the best reviewed doc of the year. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and short listed, WE WERE HERE
Ebert: I didn't see it. I'm not sure if it opened in Chicago.
How do I view the documentaries? Even in Los Angeles, there are few screenings and usually for just a short time.
Ebert: Only a few get wide releases. The others, you have to track down in smaller theaters, or search On Demand.
This site may help:
http://bit.ly/slRGiG
Another fine one that should be on this year's best doc list: "Desert of Forbidden Art" –– the terrifying, thrilling, and cautiously triumphant story about the oppression and rescue of a great segment of twentieth century Russian art.
The film will be available for purchase on DVD sometime around Valentine's day.. Keep checking at the production company's store to find out when you can pre-order.. I'm sure I'm going to do the same! =) Such a moving film... http://kartemquin.com/store
Ok. What has Steve James done to get snubbed twice?
Actually, for me, James Whittaker's "Rebirth" was my favorite documentary of the year. It was, to my surprise, the only feature film that I saw in 2011 that dealt with the tragedy of September 11th. The film contained no footage of that day but instead dealt with some people who were hurt by it.
The director meets with five people who lost friends or loved ones, and then sits down and talks to them every year from 2002 up through 2011. The film sees their progress. We see them in 2002 still visibly shaken, but by 2011, we can see that some of them have moved on. It is a great film.
I'm glad you put this up, Roger! "The Interrupters" was one of my very favorite movies of the year but I haven't seen it get any coverage in the year-end hype-stravaganza. I have a feeling I will be reminding people that it is out there ("It's by the same guy who did Hoop Dreams!") for years to come.
Great list, Roger! Thanks for highlighting so many documentaries, as they deserve ever more support than features (and their big budget marketing campaigns). I encourage your readers to support documentaries when they come to their local theatres and to also check them out at local film festivals--some of which, like Hot Docs in Toronto, are devoted exclusively to documentaries.
Two films I'd like to add to your list: Mama Africa (http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/mama_africa-film36525.html), a film about the great Miriam Makeba, and Somewhere Between (http://www.somewherebetweenmovie.com/), a film that follows Chinese-American teens, all of whom had been adopted from China as infants.
Roger,
You and Gene introduced "Hoop Dreams" to a wide audience, one of the many worthy services you two rendered to us masses. So, on behalf of my fellow massistas, thank you. Now I look forward with great anticipation to "The Interrupters," which, by the way, sounds like a parallel story to what has been happening in parts of Los Angeles as described in Celeste Fremon's book "G-Dog and the Homeboys."
Speaking of the shame of omission, I assume that the only reason that David Weissman's "We Were Here" didn't make the list is because you haven't seen it? It was one of the most moving docs I've seen in a long while. In any case, I'm sure you get tired of people asking you why certain films are on your list and why others aren't; this is your goddamn list, so who cares? So consider this a recommendation rather than a scold: If you haven't seen "We Were Here," you should!
But speaking of the Academy's negligence re: "The Interrupters" and "Hoop Dreams," I understand that none of the three documentaries by Werner Herzog to come out this year even made it to the short list of considerations for best doc nods. "Into the Abyss," "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," and "Happy People" were among the best films I saw in 2011, in the documentary genre or otherwise. It reminds me of how dumbstruck I was back in 2006 when the Oscars somehow managed to forget about "Grizzly Man," which was surely one of the best films of the decade. They made up for it a few years later when they gave him a nod for "Encounters at the End of the World," a remarkable documentary that nevertheless did not win. What is going on in the relationship between Herzog and the Academy that they keep forgetting about him?
"The Interrupters" is also scheduled to air on PBS on Valentine's Day, for those interested.
Thanks for the list! Since documentaries are not widely advertised, I miss a lot of good ones. In fact, I'd be willing to say that you are the best source of what documentaries have been released. So many great ones come and go, and I'm grateful that you have given credit where it is due. I'm sure the filmmakers appreciate it as well.
One of my favorites this year: Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football. Premiered at the SlamDance Film Festival in Park City and made the rounds in the smaller fests. It was a great story of the Arab-American community in Dearborn, MI and their struggle to hold on to the American Dream in the face of post 9/11 bigotry. The trailer is on youtube.
I'm really rather stunned by the absence of ""We Were Here," certainly the most moving, affecting and vivid documentary of the year outside of "Senna," in my opinion. Not that I've always agreed with you. It did play in Chicago in October, and The New York Times listed it as one of the best films of the year, plus it has been on pay-per-view for a couple of weeks, which was fairly well reported on many film websites. Sorry -- I realize I come across as accusatory, and I'm not ... I'm just sorry to learn that you have not seen one of the very few films of recent years that was so affecting, I have quite literally had dreams about it.
I am curious, by the way, if you didn't see "Senna," or simply didn't hold it an as high regard as I did? I genuinely believe one of the reasons it was overlooked is because it plays and feels like a feature film, with a wonderfully charismatic lead, and it's rather easy to forget while watching it that it contains not a single talking-head interview or reminiscence -- it is made up only of vintage footage, weaving it together with such adeptness that I was riveted the entire time, despite never having heard before of Ayrton Senna and knowing absolutely nothing about car racing.
Oh my god, Cheetah (80) drops dead after watching "Project Nim." The bastards.
I'm sad to see "The Arbor" doesn't make an appearance. Did you see it? I couldn't find a review by you. It's on Netflix Instant.
This is not a criticism of exclusion, on your part, but only an observation. In the past few years I've seen some very good foreign language documentaries (The Last Train Home, Up The Yangtze), but I've definitely seen many more English language documentaries. And reading your list (and correct me if I'm wrong, as I've only seen three of these films), I noticed that there are no foreign language documentaries on it. Is this a failure on my part, for not recognizing these foreign titles when they are released? Or are there that many more English language documentaries produced? If so, is there a greater interest for these movies in the U.S. and other western countries? Maybe a more accommodating market? With the increased dissemination of foreign language movies, through streaming and on-demand, will we see many more documentaries from other countries become available? Are they out there?
Even if you have no answers, I thank you, your list has piqued my interest; here are some stories I might have otherwise missed.
Ebert: The list is a function of those films I reviewed in 2011. "The Last Train Home" I included on an earlier year's list; I never saw "Up The Yangtze." I'm limited by the films I see and review, but at the end of the day I believe I see and review more films than many critics.
Good list. I suspect there is a special place in your heart for documentaries. Maybe it is because they give us a different view of the human condition from standard fiction (movies). I am a student at UW, and I would like to see a documentary about the one pressing problem this country faces pointed out by an article in Foreign Affairs by Greg Packer titled "The Broken Contract": the rise of "organized money" is leading to greater social inequality and a decline in the "American dream". Witness: the difficulty for poorer Americans to get a job and buy a home, the skyrocketing costs of higher education, the lower wages of the unskilled and people who do not hold a college degree, etc.
I do not see one, so I think I shall have to make one--very soon!
Of course you being part of the 1% would ignore it and/or degrade it, but that would only be a seal of approval in eyes mine own.
"The Interrupters" addresses a symptom of the problem by the way.
Do you think that the exclusion of "The Interrupters" in the documentary shortlist may have something to do with the Academy plain disliking James or having something against him, like they seemed to have against Scorsese all those years ago?
It wouldn't be unheard of. Sadly.
Ebert: It wouldn't be the Academy but the Documentary Committee.
Hi Roger,
Apologies in advance. I'm going to use this space to shamelessly endorse a film that may be on your Best Documentaries of 2012 list.
In your "The chimes at midnight" thread I mentioned the great success a friend of mine had with crowd sourcing to help raise money for her project Indie Game : The Movie. Well after a lot of hard work it appears to be complete and ready to go, already earning a spot at Sundance!
I'm not in the movie business, just a long time reader and commenter on your blog. I have no influence to push a worthy project. However I know that small films need all the help they can get! So here's me putting a bug in your ear and encouraging you to have a look at this trailer...
http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/
I actually think this would be a good addition to EbertFest, given it's topic and your stance on that topic. Intriguing, no?
Please please have a look!
Thank you Roger,
Regards,
Karl
Roger,
This is no good place to post this, but I can't think of any better.
Reading your latest Great Movies essay, I am reminded of three films I've seen in the past year that I think are among the greatest I've ever seen:
THE FURIES from 1950, featuring the unbeatable Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston in his final role; a western directed by Anthony Mann, I rank it alongside SHANE and THE SEARCHERS.
IN THIS OUR LIFE (1942), John Huston's second film (after something about a bird), with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland as sisters. I have read in a Bette Davis biography that she despised the movie, but it is to me one hundred minutes of the finest pure storytelling in the Bette Davis catalog.
HE WALKED BY NIGHT from 1948, surely one of the first police procedural films, and a great one, starring Richard Basehart in a fearsome performance and directed by perhaps Anthony Mann. I see in a great number of later movies reflections of this one.
Thanks for considering.
Excellent choices, "The Interrupters" however did not receive any spotlight in Los Angeles so I have not seen it as of yet. I myself had two documentaries high up on my year's best list, "Tabloid" and "Project Nim." See http://www.flickminute.com/blog/best-and-worst-films-2011
Comment Update!
The Cheetah controversy grows. DNA evidence proves Florida Cheetah is an imposter. Real Cheeta just died at 81 in Palm Springs. He was the oldest chimp ever (GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS) and had been honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. *
The elderly simian star became outraged during a recent screening of "Project Nim." He died of apoplexy in the arms of his long time companion, Irish McCalla. The happy couple are pictured here in this bygone LIFE photo, embracing on the set of Miss McCalla's famed TV show, "Sheena of the Jungle."
(life.com/gallery/22388/image/72430439/pet-kisses-kinda-cute-kinda-gross#index/6)
* Cheeta - Wikipedia
Mr. Ebert,
I don't know if you saw Monoploy: The Movie, but it was a joy to see for me and my family. I have seen about half the movies on your list and they were wonderful! However, for me, when a movie excites and informs kids it is special.
Happy New Year.
Tara Monteleone ( a long time admirer)
Hi Roger,
how is it that TABLOID is (again) on your list of best documentaries for 2011 when it already was on your list of best documentaries for 2010?
Ebert: An excellent question. I see it opened in Chicago in July 2011. I saw it at Toronto in September 2010. I made a list of all my reviews of docs in 2011 and didn't remember I had jumped the gun.
Here's the video interview I did with Errol at Toronto:
http://bit.ly/91DP58
Just this morning I was thinking "a horse can feel a fly on its butt in a rainstorm," which is what Buck said. He's right. I'm so proud of our critters I fantasize Buck dropping by some time just to agree. My fave of this list.
"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" left me with nagging questions, posed on Roger's blog about it before I'd seen it. I'll need to go tapping around those walls myself.
Gonna watch all of these. Except maybe any methodical psychotic rants on the evils of muslims, which we have far far too much of in this blog three years and counting dismally.
I remember you had a "best adult films" or something like that last year. Do you think you would do that again ? ( sorry if my grammer is not good enough)
Thanks Roger.... I look forward to this list each and every year.
Come on, Rog, Steinmetz "a troubled inner city school?" I grew up half a mile away, and while it's not what it was back in the '60s and '70s, Belmont & Narragansett is not "inner city."
I've been learning from Buck for about 20 yrs. This soft spoken and humble man is truly an inspiration, glad to see him get even more recognition.
In the local paper here, the editors looked for the one outright negative review of "Page One: Inside the New York Times" to discourage people from seeing it, and more importantly, to give people the false impression that the newspaper industry is in good shape. They also slapped the review on the back page, where previously I had never seen a film piece appear before.
Great list, but surprised to not see "Color Me Obsessed, a film about the Replacements," which turned the music documentary genre on its ear by featuring no music, and no interviews with the band, and yet somehow worked magically, as the reviews both on imdb and in the press, have proved. It was a brilliant film about passion and how a band can become such an important part of your life, perhaps even save your life. The stories are so vivid, you never miss the music for a second. I will never look at a music doc in the same way again after seeing this film. It changed everything.
I'm glad to see Garbo the Spy in your top ten. Possibly the best film I saw at SIFF in 2010.
I think the documentary committee could have dropped Jane's Journey and substituted The Interrupters in its place, if it's as good as you say it is. Heck, if it's even half as good as Hoop Dreams is, it should be nominated.
As for the ones nominated, I hope to hell Bill Cunningham New York wins.
Hi Roger
I haven't seen The Interrupters but I have seen Hope Dreams and boy was that one great helleva picture. Hoop Dreams should have the honor of going into the National Film Registry. I have a feeling The Interrupters is going to get overlooked and well to me it looks like history is going to repeat itself again thanks sadly to the Oscars.
They ignored Hoop Dreams even though it was nominated for editing but this time I think the Academy is definetly going to forget about The Interrupters. The Academy is so conservative when it comes to nominating films they are, as you've stated to Gene Siskel well never get over the "Talking heads and stock footage syndrome" it's stinks it just really stinks.
Shame that the three good Sports Documentaries of the year doesn't get a mention here - Bobby Fischer: Against the World, Senna and McEnroe/Borg - Fire and Ice
Update:
"Exit Through the Gift Shop" (2010 best documentary selection)
"Best of street art 2011" - tout-bon.com/best-of-street-art-2011/
Woohoo!
Indie Game : The Movie - Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award at Sundance.
I'm so happy for Lisanne :) It's inspiring when you see people you consider 'regular folks' being recognized like this. But I guess everyone is just regular folks when you get down to the nitty gritty.
resurect dead
Roger, did you see Better This World? What did you think? It's about 2 young men who were incarcerated after the FBI arrested them on charges of domestic terrorism. The doc poses a lot of thought provoking questions about privacy rights, the sensationalism of media, and the governments's use of informants. I found this film fascinating.