Watching the Documentary Finalists: Part 3 - Confrontations
Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 3:30PM Glenn here looking at each of the 15 Academy’s documentary finalists from which five will be nominated for the Oscar.
We're at the final of three parts looking at the 15 finalists for the Academy's best documentary category. In the first part we examined people, in the second part we looked at world politics, and now confrontations. It's something that can come in a myriad of forms. Confrontations can be between enemies on TV sets around the nation or in the towns and jungles of Indonesia. Whether it’s the confrontation of death, or the confrontation of major religious corporation, these films encompass big themes that have a longstanding tradition in cinema but each go about it some wildly different ways.
Best of Enemies
Director: Morgan Neville (one prior win) and Robert Gordon
Synopsis: The left and right of political cultural commentary, Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr., meet on national TV during the 1968 democrat debates and become must-see television around America.
Festivals: Sundance (premiere), Seattle, Miami, Montclair, Melbourne, Adelaide, New Zealand
Awards: IDA (Creative Recognition + Video Source Award), Camden Film Festival (Audience Award), dead CENTER Film Festival (Special Jury Prize)
Nominations: Independent Spirit, NBR, OFCS, San Francisco Film Critics, Houston Film Critics Society, Austin Film Critics, Detroit Film Critics Society, St. Louis Film Critics, Florida Film Critics Circle, Southeastern Film Critics, Kansas City Film Critics, Washington DC Area Critics, Satellite Awards, IndieWire Critics Poll
Box-Office: $893,000
Review: Much like the central figures it discusses, Best of Enemies is deliciously entertaining. Directors Gordon and Neville get much mileage out of the repartee between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr., and while it doesn’t necessarily show much in terms of filmmaking ingenuity (it’d be pretty hard to ruin the laughs and the shocks of their interactions), they are edited slickly enough and with enough glimmers of showmanship – the boxing dings are a neat touch as is the casting of notoriously opposing political-leaning actors John Lithgow and Kelsey Grammar to narrate written passages of Vidal and Buckley – to not be accused of laziness. Simultaneously documenting the on-and-off air sparring matches for audiences too young to remember them, but also chart their place in the history of modern political discourse make this a nourishing and entertaining documentary.
Oscar: A very strong contender. Entertaining and journalistic, I don’t see much to keep it from a nomination. No doubt helped by being set during a time of peak Oscar demographic (see also Neville’s 20 Feet from Stardom).
Trailer
The Look of Silence
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer (one prior nomination)
Synopsis: A relative of a genocide victim seeks to interview those who committed violent war crimes
Festivals: Venice (premiere), New York, Amsterdam Doc, Melbourne, Zurich, Abu Dhabi, Cleveland, Moscow, Pusan,
Awards: Venice Film Festival (FIPRESCI, Grand Special Jury Prize, + more), OFCS, EFA, Berlinale (Peace Film Award), Gotham Award (Independent Documentary), CPH:DOX, Bodil Awards (Documentary), SXSW (Audience Award), Boston Society of Film Critics (Foreign Language), Denver International Film Festival (Maysles Bros. Award), Docs Barcelona (times three), Goteburg Film Festival (Nordic Documentary), IndieWire Critics Poll (Doc), Milwaukee Film Festival (Doc Jury Award), Nuremberg Human Rights Film Festival (Audience Award), RiverRun International Film Festival (Jury Prize), Sheffield Doc Festival (Audience Award), Toronto Film Critics Association,
Nominations: IDA (Best Feature), BFCA, Independent Spirit, NBR, London Critics Circle, LAFCA, Chicago Film Critics, San Francisco Film Critics, Austin Film Critics, Houston Film Critics, Florida Film Critics, Boston Society of Film Critics (Documentary), St. Louis Film Critics, Detroit Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics, Kansas City Film Critics, Washington DC Area Film Critics, IndieWire Critics Poll (Best Film),
Box-Office: $109,100
Review: Sure, one could roll their eyes at the central device of using an ophthalmologist to open people’s eyes to the Indonesian atrocities of the communist genocide – get it? because he makes people see! – but, honestly, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence is just too good to care about that ultimately minor case of narrative whimsy. A sequel and/or companion piece to his earlier The Act of Killing, Oppenheimer’s second feature film is blessedly shorter than his first but, for me, even more compelling. I was somewhat thankful for be rid of the games of theatrical one-upmanship that made Killing a queasier experience. The power of this terrible moment in history and its lasting legacy is no less powerful without them, and in fact allows for mournful sorrow instead of appalled anger. See also Jason’s NYFF review + Amir’s theatrical review.
Oscar: By far the most awarded documentary of the year, it would be a very big disappointing to see it left off the list. I wouldn’t worry too much about that as it’s achievements speak for themselves. Being so different to The Act of Killing means it won’t be seen as a copy to fickle branch members.
Trailer
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Director: Alex Gibney (one prior win, one prior nomination)
Synopsis: Through first-hand testimony, the Church of Scientology’s history of abuse and fraud is uncovered.
Festivals: Sundance (premiere), Sydney
Awards: WGA, ACE, Primetime Emmy (Documentary, Directing, Writing), Las Vegas Film Critics, OFTA (Directing)
Nominations: Primetime Emmy (Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Picture Editing), BFCA, OFCS, London Critics Circle, Detroit Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics, Vancouver Film Critics, Washington DC Area Film Critics, IndieWire Film Critics Poll, Satellite Awards
Box-Office: Qualifying run; HBO (although, fwiw, it did well in Australia where it did receive a theatrical release)
Review: By this stage, Alex Gibney documentaries fall into one of two camps: Basic (Sinatra: All or Nothing at All, The Armstrong Lie, Mr Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown) and Deluxe (Mea Maxima Culpa, Taxi to the Dark Side). This one fits into the latter. While his celebrity profiles may be fairly expected these days – and he works too continuously for that to change – when he latches onto an institution like the Catholic Church or the U.S. government or, in this case, the Church of Scientology, his edgier filmmaker prowess comes out. Going Clear is shocking and at times frighteningly funny, but true to its name it never once loses sight of its objectives to unveil the inner workings of this remarkable organization. Most viewers will likely have personal bug-bears about wishing more time was spent on specific moments, but this is a broad and effective piece of work that will make your eyes pop and your stomach churn.
Oscar: Being one of the higher profile contenders with a continued place in the pop culture debate helps, but the question all year has been whether documentary branch members will risk alienating Academy members by citing it. Or if their own relationships will cease them from doing so. The Emmys certainly had no problem, but will the Academy now look at it as TV’s leftovers?
Trailer
Heart of a Dog
Director: Laurie Anderson
Synopsis: The director confronts death, philosophy, 9/11 and existence after the death of her dog, Lolabelle.
Festivals: Venice (premiere), TIFF, NYFF, Chicago, Vancouver
Awards: Venice Film Festival (Lina Mangiacapre Award)
Nominations: Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, Florida Film Critics, IndieWire Critics Poll,
Box-Office: $300,900
Review: Well damn. Isn't this film just a kick in the gut? And I don't mean because it's sad (which it is) or tender and emotional (obviously), but because it was such a surprise. This is why I don't like doing a yearly top ten before seeing everything I wanted to see - because Laurie Anderson's philosophical rumination on what it means to confront life and death through the eyes of a pet dog is a gatecrashing beauty. Expressive and experimental, it truly is a work of art in ways that no other film this year (certainly none that I saw, and I saw a lot). I appreciated the use of music that touched emotions, but did so without being saccharine and full of elegant melodies that blend perfectly with Anderson's own soothing narration - even if we don't quite understand what she's talking about. Beguilingly compiles, its editing a shameful omission from the ACE Eddie list considering it's just about the most graceful, fluid work of documentary editing that I can recall, certainly from 2015 and likely longer. Insightful, poignant, occasionally deliciously funny and even with art-world cameos from Julian Schnabel and Anderson's late husband Lou Reed (who is also on the soundtrack for extra emotional devastation). This is an extraordinary work of film. This is what it feels like to see somebody open their heart and to find new meaning in their memories and their emotions.
Oscar: If it does then it will surely be the Dogtooth of the documentary category for years to come. That it made the finalist list is surprising enough, but I doubt something quite this outre will make it to the final five.
Trailer
Meru
Director: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Synopsis: Three mountain climbers take it upon themselves to climb the imposing Mount Meru of the Himalayas, confronting potential death as they do it.
Festivals: Sundance (premiere), Full Frame, True/False, San Francisco, Wisconsin, Nashville, New Zealand, Newport, Nantucket, Sheffield Doc Festival, Telluride Mountainfilm,
Awards: Sundance Film Festival (Audience Award)
Nominations: Independent Spirit Awards, San Francisco, San Diego Film Critics, Indiana Film Journalists
Box-Office: $2,350,000 (third highest of shortlist)
Review: Disappointing, really, considering it made the shortlist and Jennifer Peedom’s superb Sherpa did not. But, hey, I guess it helps being one of the highest grossing documentaries of the year! Congratulations to that, certainly, as it’s hard work getting a documentary to over a million let alone over two. Only Amy and He Named Me Malala made more from the shortlist (and Monkey Kingdom, the year’s champ doc, wasn’t included). If you think I am avoiding discussing Meru then that’s because I found it a rather anaemic as a film both dramatically and visually. While many of the climbing sequences have a sense of thrill to them, the film as a whole just lacks a narrative oomph to make it anything more than a good film that I feel like I have seen several times before in other mountain-climbing productions.
Oscar: I’d be surprised, but maybe I underestimate the number of thrillseekers in the branch. It’s done well for itself in the at the box-office and with critics, but there isn’t much of a history of this sort being recognized (even Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel didn’t make it, and she was a former nominee).
Trailer
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- So where does that leave us? I would be predicting Best of Enemies, Cartel Land, The Look of Silence, We Come as Friends and one of Amy/What Happened, Miss Simone/Winter on Fire. My personal preference would be for a line-up made up of Heart of a Dog, Listen to Me Marlon, We Come as Friends, What Happened Miss Simone and Winter on Fire. How many have you seen? And what would you like to see nominated? Any hunches? Let us know!
Reader Comments (6)
Great work, Glenn! "Heart of a Dog" is one of my wishful thinking choices
"Best of Enemies" is a wonderful dip into a world of literate, intelligent, witty discussion. That probably sounds dull, but trust me it's a balm to the soul in this current political climate.
Best of Enemies and Going Clear are two of my favorite films of the year. I am hoping at least one of them makes the Oscar line-up.
I'm glad someone else was bored by Meru. I've heard a lot of praise for this film, but I could barely keep my mind on it...
What's ironic about The Look of Silence and The Act of Killing is that both films actually put Indonesia on the international film world. No one thinks about Indonesian movies or even about the country at all before those two movies shake our overall hold on such a horrendous tragedy and history.
I have only seen Amy and Going Clear. I would be happy if both of them got noms.
I enjoyed Meru, but it doesn't deserve to be nominated. As adventure docs go, it's exciting and beautifully shot, but that is not enough reason for it to beat out more challenging and enjoyable documentaries.