June 17, 1994 (ESPN's 30 for 30)

[Yoda]

Saw this a couple of weeks ago (it aired on June 16th, amusingly enough). It's part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series of sports documentaries, though calling it a sports documentary would more than a little misleading. It's about an incredible confluence of events, most notably O.J. Simpson's dubious suicide threat and car chase on live television.

Highly recommended, if only for its bold decision to dispose of the most basic conventions of most documentaries, as described in the excerpt below:

June 17, 1994

http://www.movieforums.com/images/main/june_17_1994_main.jpg (http://www.movieforums.com/reviews/june_17_1994.html)

Clearly, this was no ordinary day. And this is no ordinary documentary. Director Brett Morgen has completely abandoned the jabbering experts and askew floating pictures that almost entirely populate the genre. The entire film consists of footage from that Friday, save for a few clips from the days leading up to it, to set the stage....READ MORE

4.5

[Harry Lime]

Interesting, Yoda. Never heard of it before now (lack of cable tv, I suppose), I'll have to check out a few episodes if I can.

Also, some interesting names on this list of directors:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408430/fullcredits#directors

[Yoda]

Yeah, they've done a really impressive job with this so far. I've only seen a few of the documentaries, but so far I've found them all pretty interesting, and I'm definitely going to see a handful more if at all possible. This one was receiving a particularly large amount of attention and praise, though, and the idea that it's almost nothing but actual footage from that small window of time was irresistible. It's a really impressive piece of work, particularly in how it seems to have a narrative and express ideas through editing alone.

[Harry Lime]

How long is each documentary? I can't seem to find that info.

[Yoda]

A little less than an hour each. The block of time for each is an hour, but there are commercials, but less than the usual 18-19 minutes in a typical hour of television. Levi's is some sort of primary sponsor so there's probably more like 8-10 minutes of commercials in the hour.

[Harry Lime]

I think I found all the episdoes, at least the ones that have aired already. May not be the most legit place, but hey, I don't have cable how else am I going to watch them?

Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams also directs the installment titled: No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. Gotta check that one out for sure.

[Powdered Water]

This sounds interesting, thanks Yoder. I'll have to try and catch a few of these. I, like many here I'm sure watched that whole O.J. thing live on TV. It was bizarre then and its even more bizarre now, seeing how O.J.'s life has turned out after the trial. I wonder if the search for the "real" killer is still ongoing.

[Yoda]

Just a heads up: the 30 for 30 series, which includes the documentary I reviewed here, is now on Netflix Instant. :)