i’m sure there’s a doc i’ve seen before this one where i “learned more” or whatever but at least in recent memory this one feels like an all-timer; the subject matter is interesting, the interviews are engaging, the found footage is immaculate, and the graphics feel so on-theme that you kinda forget that someone drew that, and that it wasn’t something akin to found footage. also just manages the tone really, really well — the edit tells the story in a way that feels really intuitive and leaves you at the end with a sense of melancholy that you finished it because you just want it to keep going
Related Recs
đź“˝
scala (2023) is a brilliant documentary about the scala cinema in london, and how it influenced a whole generation of creatives. absolutely brilliant film and made me reconsider how i look at movies generally.
while we watched (2022) is the story of a ravish kumar, an indian news reporter trying to fight against the misinformation put out by the indian media and the pressure put on him by the government.
squaring the circle (2022) is a really fun documentary if you’re into your classic rock. all about the group that designed half of the famous album covers from that period, and the story behind the group and the art.
and lastly i’ll say the sparks brothers (2021). just a brilliant display of how filmmaking can be used in a documentary. again, loads of fun, really beautiful shots, amazing lineup of interviewees. i hadn’t even heard of sparks before watching this but i was a big fan by the end.
May 14, 2024
on it’s face this is not a particularly interesting documentary, the editing is serviceable and the interviews aren’t exactly dynamic, but what it lacks in creativity it more than makes up for in content. blank city tells the story of the no wave movement in 70s/80s downtown nyc from the ones who lived it. truly one of the most inspiring documentaries that i found at a pivotal point in my life that changed the trajectory of how i view filmmaking, art, and just coolness in general. blank city is the story of one of the most transgressive artist communities of all time and they’re not very well known, just a few names made it to the mainstream with many others becoming underground legends. in fact a few of the films featured in this documentary are only viewable by screening at the museum of modern art, totally unreleased everywhere else (and trust me i’ve tried to find them) this doc got me into the new york art scene, velvet underground, jim jarmusch, glenn o’brien’s tv party, patti smith, andy warhol, lydia lunch, john lurie, jean-michel basquiat and on and on and on. this film opened a gateway into filmmaking that i had never even considered at that point in my life and i’m grateful i found it. the best part is: kino lorber was kind enough to upload the entire thing on youtube to watch right now!
Jan 17, 2025
amazing documentary with a really interesting story. the narrator is deeply annoying with the constant movie references but you have plenty there that helps you look past that
Sep 20, 2024
Top Recs from @alaiyo
Mar 23, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason it’s still standing is bc it’s unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isn’t just charting the attention economy but also attempting to “solve” it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024