But I would recommend anything by Frederick Wiseman- his movies are slow, and usually long! But he essentially picks a theme/place/institution and films the shit out of it and if one hits you at the right time, it feels so crazy that we have access to these peeks at reality. Very remarkably human!
Hale County This Morning, This Evening β Definitely an acquired taste, but imo one of the best documentaries out there. Beautiful, slow, immersive. RaMell Ross took years worth of footage and curated a 76 minute work of art. Lots of discourse out there on it. HUGE rec. Paris is Burning β basic rec but worth it if youβve never seen. House/ballroom scene of the mid/late β80s NYC. I sob consistently every time. Roger & Me β Love or hate Michael Moore, this doc is amazing. Covers US deindustrialization & the consequences for the midwest, specifically focusing on Flint, Michigan. All That Breathes β Another breathtakingly beautiful doc. Follows two brothers in Delhi who run a bird hospital for injured black kites. Hindu nationalism, interspecies connection, ecological collapse. Nominated for an oscar. So good.
Is my favourite documentary in the world. Stylishly directed in black and white by Bennett Miller (best known for Capote and Moneyball), it circles around the magnificently exuberant existence of the playwright turned apple city tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch as he muses on the city of NY on and off his double decker bus. I have a tendency to let my frustrations of the world to clench my muscles up and this is the film equivalent of a lump of mdma to melt my heart back open again with every rewatch. A poet can have an intense love affair with a bridge and a great poet can word it in a way that convinces you that they're not mad; or that even if they are, they are mad in the exact way life is supposed to be experienced in the first place. A must-see for anyone who holds a warm spot in their heart for the insomniac city, or at least what it once could be through the eyes of an intensely intuned romantic eccentric.
Clockwise: wallet Iβve had since 7th grade, phone and vape chargers and bricks, credentials, portable battery, pants, marker/pen assortment, book, sketchbook, toothbrush+paste,. earbuds and a couple more pens slid out of frame but Iβm not setting that up again