Last night, Current TV wrapped up “50 Documentaries to See Before You Die,” a month-long countdown series summarizing the best of non-fiction cinema. And our sympathies go out to the folks at Current, because as we well know, any time you put together a “best of” anything list, you’re going to get second-guessed from here to kingdom come. But let’s face it: there are some absolutely puzzling exclusions. No Grey Gardens? Gimme Shelter? Hearts of Darkness? Gates of Heaven? Woodstock? The oldest titles on the list are The Thin Blue Line and The Decline of Western Cilvilization Part II: The Metal Years — golden oldies from 1988. We liked Catfish fine, but is there anyone on this earth who thinks it’s a better doc than Salesman? Who thinks Shut Up & Sing tops Don’t Look Back? Who finds Food, Inc. more vital than Titicut Follies?
And don’t even get us started on the fact that Dear Zachary isn’t on there.
But let’s put those complaints aside, because a list like this ultimately does more good than harm — any time a cable network can shine a light on great documentary films, we’re all for it, and these are (almost) all genuinely great documentaries. Where we really disagree is in the ranking — they picked the right movies (post-’88, anyway), but they’ve got them in the wrong order. Super Size Me at #5? Seriously? (Yes, yes, of course it’s just a coincidence that the show is hosted by Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock.) So we’ve taken the 50 titles Current compiled and reorganized then into own top 10, with the reasons why, after the jump.
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Afsoon, a young Iranian artist who’s getting a lot of play on the developing Middle Eastern art scene, migrated from Iran to San Francisco to London, where — as an adult — things finally clicked. Enjoying her first solo show in New York at the touted Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, Afsoon offers works from her Fairytale Icons series, which features black-and-white appropriated portraits of Iranian rulers, heads of state that brokered the WWII peace treaty in Tehran, and celebrated Muslim actors, artists, poets, princesses, musicians, and sport’s figures, such as the controversial boxer Muhammad Ali, who’s visualized surrounded by butterflies and bees.
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Today at Flavorpill, we wondered if Google paper towels are more absorbent. We were frightened by the story of a Peruvian gang killing people for their fat. We disagreed with Slate’s take on book trailers. We were blown away by Spencer Krug’s energy. We learned to be wary of any apartment with a portable sauna. We were excited for a new play about Muhammad Ali, starring Ben Vereen and Evan Parke. We analyzed the art of dating through Venn diagrams. We hoped that the rumors that Muse will headline Coachella were true. We had a hard time wrapping our heads around the idea of a new theme park in Rome that will have rides inspired by Ben-Hur and the films of Fellini. We found this beard head-cage appalling but awesome. And finally, we discovered 34 ways the New Moon movie is better than the book. Just looking at Taylor Lautner shirtless, we can come up with six.
Soul Power documents the Zaire ’74 all-star concert that set the stage for Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s legendary Rumble in the Jungle.
Originally uncovered during the editing of Oscar-winning documentary When We Were Kings (1996), which captured the Ali/Forman fight, this sizzling footage has been waiting nearly 35 years to see the light. Kings incorporated just a few tantalizing glimpses of the three-day concert.
Soul Power sets the record straight by featuring complete, historic performances from legends such as B.B. King, Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba, and an incendiary James Brown, whose 1971 single lends the film its title.
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On October 30th, 1974, Muhammad Ali touched gloves with George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. After eight epic rounds, Ali put the mighty Foreman, and the demons of his late career achievements, down to the mat. The Oscar-winning doc When We Were Kings told the story of The Rumble in the Jungle and captured Ali’s magical verbal sparring, along with the feeling generated by American pop and confidence merging with tribal rhythms and homecoming warmth. But that was only half the story. Read More »
