Shake Hands with the Devil – 2007 – Roger Spottiswoode

Forget about Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs. This documentary about the Rwandan killing fields, one of the most appalling chapters in modern history, contains some very disturbing images. If one’s ever shed tears over some stupid Bollywood movie, they should be ashamed of themselves. Omid Nikfarjam

The Bridge – 2006 – Eric Steel

Eric Steel’s documentary examines the post card perfect Golden Gate Bridge as a suicide jumper’s paradise. Does the camera go too far following a jumper plunging to his death? Are such sequences a bridge too far? This is a documentary first about filming taboos and mental health secondly. JJ

When We Were Kings – 1996 – Leon Gast

Facts sink if they don’t have context to buoy them. This documentary provides the context to not only the greatest boxing match in history, but around larger issues of civil rights, black pride, African pride and marketing of athletes. Ali vs Foreman. Saviour vs Uncle Tom. The Rumble in the Jungle.

William Hilderbrandt

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash – 2006 – Basil Gelpke/Ray McCormack

The medium may be overburdened but the message is serious; ‘dude where’s the oil gone?’ ‘Awakening’ tackles the question of what next after the most ‘invaluable natural resource’ runs out. Stacked with harbingers entreating the viewer to consider the possibility that future generations will travel no further than the corner shop. Enlightening if overwrought.
JJ

SiCKO – 2007 – Michael Moore

In America it seems everything has a price so why not health? In Sicko the maelstrom that is Michael Moore Inc. tackles the hugely profitable (and deathly) U.S. health care system. As with all Moore films it’s: polemical, farcical, funny, poignant, teary, melodramatic, but shows signs of a mellowing Moore too.
JJ

Does Your Soul Have a Cold? – 2007 – Mike Mills

The allure of Japan, especially Tokyo, has a magnetic appeal to moviemakers. Mike Mills’ documentary – the title is from an ad promoting anti-depressants – about five Japanese individuals suffering from depression is uneven and difficult to engage with. The camera work and subtitling are sloppy and the project lacks direction. JJ

Zoo – 2007 – Robinson Devor

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What are the limits to human desire? In 2005 a Seattle businessman died as result of injuries sustained during sex with a horse – exposing a secret community who share an extreme and exotic appetite for horses. Like Grizzly Man Zoo is provocative, but more concerned with style and aesthetic.
JJ

Destricted – 2006 – Various

Seven directors; seven short films – each illuminating the erotic on screen. At least three of them are film festival fodder, Gasper Noé’s is an overdose and involves a blow up doll, Larry Clark’s is raw and uncomfortable. Balkan Erotic Epic is interesting. In a word; porn – via the art house.
JJ

Buy It Now-2005 – Antonio Campos

American teenager meets film school student at a party and tells him that she sold her virginity on e-Bay. He suggests turning the experience into a documentary. She agrees. She wants to be a star in her own real life warts and all soft porno cry-for-help. Bewildering and disturbing. JJ

Buy It Now-Antonio Campos-2005

The internet really is the final frontier. This is a bewildering ‘reality television/documentary’ about a New York teenager who sells her virginity on e-Bay. Awkward viewing at times; the student filmmaker foolishly dramatises the events to add running time, thus rendering the second part redundant. Pathetic and sad.- JJ