I want to watch more documentaries, particularly about social issues and the relationship between technology and people. Please send me recommendations if you have any! Here are a few recent ones from me:
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Get Me Roger Stone: This was rather awful, the Who’s Who of the most cynical, despicable, opportunistic, soulless people in American politics, with at least one of them sporting a non-ironic Richard Nixon tattoo. Painful to watch, painful to see all the repeating patterns.pic.twitter.com/nsLmL8m40O
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Citizen Jane: Battle for The City: I have heard this story before – I wrote about it, even – but I can never get enough of this modern-day David and Goliath battle for the souls of our cities. Well-made, with tons of great visuals, and beautiful score to boot. <3 JJ.pic.twitter.com/kiEJzAdnte
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The Thin Blue Line: Morris wanted to avoid labeling this a “documentary,” and I can see why; this 1988 film doesn’t feel quite like any other I’ve seen. I can’t say that the murder case gripped me – but the production, narrative, and meta sides of the film are truly fascinating.pic.twitter.com/CGTpL7pRiC
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The American Meme: I expected to roll my eyes a lot – and I guess I did – but there was much more depth and tragedy here than I expected, in this documentary about modern celebrity and the amplification and distortion that modern social media brings to fame.pic.twitter.com/d8FjGxjUOs
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Closer Than We Think: A portrayal of Arthur Radebaugh, an “imagineer” – illustrator of the future – who worked between 1930s and 1970s. Talks about our relationship with progress, and responsibilities of futurism. Surprisingly touching at the end.pic.twitter.com/1CugNWwydv
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Senna: Beautiful and heartbreaking. (Full disclosure: I remember being little and watching Ayrton Senna race on television. I have never really cared about any sports after that.)pic.twitter.com/LLyfqjj3Mk
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Behind the Curve: Entertaining and also frightening, highlighting the amount of delusion and denial that we can choose to get behind only so that we belong somewhere. Went deeper than it ought to – but I wanted it to go even farther.pic.twitter.com/M5YlHLvDtd
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Indie Game: The Movie: I loved this when it came out. Rewatching it today, post-Gamergate, feels a bit different. And yet, there are still some touching and even poignant moments here highlighting the tricky and fascinating relationships between the creators and their creations.pic.twitter.com/ZfVBKUx3KM
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The Man In The Machine: This is a caveated recommendation. The documentary a sprawling movie, a disjointed collection of various “what’s wrong with Apple” threads. And yet, it was important to me to see videos of Jobs unpolished, petty, cruel.pic.twitter.com/rHcnbzvKLo
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Apollo 11: I watched this at a theatre and it was an incredible experience, with footage so crisp and vivid it felt as if we sent someone with a modern camera 50 years back in time. My mouth was agape for a significant portion of this movie.pic.twitter.com/AeFl0zHHaR
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The Last Steps: A short movie (free to watch) documenting the Apollo 17 flight, made by the same crew as “Apollo 11.” It’s nice on its own, but particularly fascinating as a prelude – a “dry run,” in words of the composer – to the main event.https://vimeo.com/192013765
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For The Record: Not as professional as other documentaries in this thread, but I still enjoyed this look at court reporting and captioning stenographers, I learned a new things, and a few moments made me pause.pic.twitter.com/uyUbGSRHTE
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Love Notes To Newton: Starts in a messy way, but then finds its footing. I never knew Newton, and this film made me reflect on two deaths of a computing platform: first when the product is discontinued, and second when its fans move on or pass away.pic.twitter.com/ILcLRfC26i
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How To Survive A Plague: A documentary about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America, and the efforts of activists to help affected people, and to hold the government accountable. Powerful, poignant, moving. I think everyone should watch this. (thx to
@hypatiadotca for recommendation)pic.twitter.com/KB8bWzO8OT
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The Patent Scam: This was bad in a fascinating way – a cross between an awful self-published book and Troll 2 maybe? The subject matter is worthwhile, but the execution… like the best worst movies, it entertained me *and* taught me a lot about the art of documentary filmmaking.pic.twitter.com/R9CpXebjQR
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The Century Of The Self: A sprawling, ambitious, epic even history of the 20th century through the lenses of psychotherapy, consumerism, and advertising. I feel like I need to watch it again to fully get it. More Adam Curtis scheduled already. (thx to many who recommended!)pic.twitter.com/758sSCnzai
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Knock Down The House: Just like the RBG documentary, this reminded me that there’s still room for humanity, hope, and integrity in politics. Unexpectedly touching throughout – and particularly at the end.pic.twitter.com/BHusQ5MBdy
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The Biggest Little Farm: Cleaned up and tends to be sappy, but it is also really beautifully shot and, as a city boy, I actually learned quite a bit.pic.twitter.com/6uvSDItORS
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The Inventor: For me, this worked as sort of a visual companionship to the Carreyrou’s book. Surprised by many shots from company meetings and inside Theranos labs, and likewise many CGI sequences explaining the malfunctioning machines.pic.twitter.com/sdDoe3j0Ml
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Chernobyl: Devastating docudrama portraying people working against unknown forces in an utterly broken system. Also, beyond masterful. (I am impatient, and at the same time dreading the remaining two episodes.)pic.twitter.com/8pcF3S7mst
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(Also, I have learned so much about storytelling and movie-making from the excellent accompanying podcast where
@petersagal talks to the show’s writer about each episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chernobyl-podcast/id1459712981 …)Show this thread -
What We Left Behind: That this is a weird documentary becomes clear within the first five seconds. But that’s a great thing – and this recent retrospective on Deep Space Nine (best Trek!) is also rather lovely, and *very* lively, and I’m glad I watched it.pic.twitter.com/TFezAXo6Qv
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Too Funny To Fail: For some reason, I love the inner workings of comedy, and this was a slice I haven’t been familiar with before (Carell! Colbert!). I hope someone makes a movie about The Chevy Chase Show next. (Yeah, I know, I need to get back to more serious documentaries…)pic.twitter.com/UyLDrG8SvB
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General Magic: This was a really frustrating movie. I learned a lot, and it’s an interesting story filled with fascinating people – but I could do without the glamorization of failure and unhealthy work/life balance, and cherry-picking of influence.pic.twitter.com/zEgiabOVYU
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Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice: I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of Linda Ronstadt before. After watching this movie, I’m quite puzzled – she seems like a really interesting and very talented person, with an amazing musical career filled with so much acclaim.pic.twitter.com/01W8XPRat2
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Neon: I saw this 2014 documentary about Warsaw’s neons at
@TLMuseumSF tonight and it was utterly captivating – a rich history of my home country’s capital seen through the lens of one surprising group of artifacts.pic.twitter.com/iBZ2Vsg5RG
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Hearts and Minds: A brutal, relentless anti-war movie. Powerful storytelling achieved solely by editing and careful (and sometimes manipulative) juxtapositions.pic.twitter.com/xe975HQZJc
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Framing John DeLorean: I had no idea of the wild and complicated twin stories of John DeLorean and his eponymous car – IRA! Margaret Thatcher! FBI! Cocaine! Mostly enjoyable, although making actors participate in storytelling *as actors* felt like a rather weird choice.pic.twitter.com/xftrJZHD2X
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Show Me A Hero: Rewatching this underrated docudrama miniseries about racial tensions, public housing, and urban politics of Yonkers, N.Y. 30 years ago. It’s very, very good, in the vein of The Wire – dense, written by David Simon, and with an excellent cast.pic.twitter.com/aLAJ8232UU
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