At CineGeek.com we’ve been covering several of the documentaries that are a part of Docurama’s Film Festival 1 Platinum Package. This package features 10 documentary films that all performed well at film festivals. The idea is to give the viewer the experience of seeing the best documentaries from a film festival while sitting in their easy chairs. In concept it’s kind of gimmicky because it doesn’t “feel” any different than any other box set of documentary films. But the films themselves rise above cheesy marketing concepts. Of the 10 films we’ve reviewed Aging Out, The Fire Next Time, and Doing Time, Life Inside the Big House.

Of those we’ve looked at Aging Out is definitely the strongest. That film follows a group of young adults who spent their childhood as part of the foster program and are literally “aging out” of the system. It’s interesting to follow them as they try to find their way in the adult world without the security of a family to fall back on. This film comes highly recommended.

Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House is an incredibly interesting subject that is incredibly poorly executed. There’s a real art to creating a documentary. Many people think that all you have to do is get in their with a camera and start asking questions but that’s not all of it, and even that part must be done with finesse. The Q & A sessions are just plain boring. There’s an HBO documentary from a few years ago (the title escapes me) that does this subject real justice.

The Fire Next Time is a flawed but intriguing film about the social and economical changes a small town goes through. The film lacks some focus, jumping from issues of racism to ecology, to economy without a lot of rhyme or reason. At the same time, how each of these issues changes the town is gripping.

All of the films in the box set are available individually too. We plan to review a few more of them in the coming weeks.

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Just wanted to briefly take the time and note the fact that Tim Irwin’s brilliant doc about The Minutemen was finally released on DVD today from the good folks at Plexifilm. They did it up right, it’s a two disc set crammed to the rafters with over 62 live performances that didn’t end up in the film. If you haven’t seen the film and consider yourself to a be a afficiando of a good music doc then you best be findin’ it or lose your street cred. check out the dvd and if you still aren’t sure that “We Jam Econo,” is your cup of tea than feel free to read our feature article on the film in our archive for a bit more background. Take care of yourselves and remember that when pogo-ing in your home it’s always best to move the furniture first.

The title of this blog references a line from the Leonard Cohen song “Chelsea Hotel No. 2″ which apart from being one of my favorite Cohen tunes is beautifully performed but Rufus Wainright in Lian Lunson’s doc about Cohen “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man.” If you’ve already checked out the homepage you’ll most likely have noticed that Lian was kind enough to answer a few questions about the film and also very tolerant of my fanatical gushing. I can’t thank Lian enough for taking the time and giving me a chance to see a film that if you’ve been keeping up with previous blogs, I’ve been excited about for quite a while. Also it should be noted that between “I’m Your Man,” and the brilliant and bloody western “The Proposition,” he scripted 2006 has been a good year for another hero of mine, Nick Cave. Now if someone will just get a definitive doc on Tom Waits in the can (cough cough Jarmusch) I can die a happy man.

While we cut our films in a contemporary style my wife and I are fairly traditional when it comes to documentary films. We?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve noticed a trend in many current films that we find ourselves discussing lately and I just had to put it down on some electronic paper here in the interverse.

Who are these films about? So many current documentary films feature the filmmaker on camera as much as the subject supposedly being documented. Michael Moore may be the worst offender of this. Is he making a documentary or just putting a film together in order to get on screen and make us laugh?

Now, personal documentaries where the filmmaker is covering a story about his family, friends, or someone otherwise a part of his/her life will often get a pass because the filmmaker plays an integral part in the story. A good example that comes to mind is Stevie. In this film the filmmaker had mentored a young boy as part of the Big Brother program. The filmmaker left the young boy in the lurch and had always felt bad about that since the kid was fairly troubled. So, the filmmaker documents the reunion he has with the now grown man and the story of his life since they last met. If I had to be completely honest I feel like an objective unbiased filmmaker should have covered the story. As it is the film feels very exploitative, but that idea is broached in the film. That may be getting off topic too.

Some filmmakers will say that they are a part of the issue they are covering because it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s important to them. I understand the point but as a filmmaker they are making a film to share a story, or information, that they have already heard or know, so let the story be told to those who haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t heard it! When I see Michael Moore shove himself in front of the camera I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t help but feel his message is less credible than it should be. If the subject is so important, why not let it do the talking? Also, if you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re a good interviewer, and you keep that camera running, you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll find those moments of humor without trying to manufacture them. Now, I liked this format in Moore?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s TV series that followed him and some comedians as they did some pretty outlandish things to make a point. That series was never touted as a documentary series, but his films are sold as documentary films.

The one film that really sets Suzie and I both off is called Telling Nicolas. This film tells the story of a family that is struggling with telling a young child that his mother has died in the World Trade Center disaster. Now, this is that family?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s story, so why do we see the filmmaker in the film? The worst scene in the film happens when the family actually sits down to tell Nicolas about his mother. The family asked that no cameras be in the room at that time, but they could have microphones. The scene was initially quiet brilliantly done featuring the audio of the conversation with cross fading exterior images of the house where the conversation was taking place. Then we suddenly get ripped from the drama by a shot of the filmmaker crying. Why? I know it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s emotional, you can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t help but be affected emotionally, but why do we see a shot of the filmmaker crying?
In our previous feature Fans and Freaks: The Culture of Comics and Conventions and in all of our short films including the one we are currently working on A Cheaper Way to Go, not only will you not see us, but we also ask our questions and edit our films in a manner that will keep you from even hearing us. Good documentary films are about the subject being filmed, not the one doing the filming.

I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll get off my soap box now and get back to editing A Cheaper Way to Go.

-Stephen Lackey
www.captain-pixel.com

So while I know you love me and my blog there is such a thing as too much of a good thing (I know my modesty is legend). Bearing that in mind i’m very happy to announce that filmmakers Stephen and Suzie Lackey (who also run www.cinegeek.com which we whole heartedly recommend you check out). So welcome to the family Stephen and Suzie and thank you for giving us one more thing to look forward to.