Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

I'll leave the obvious ones for later if they are left out, but a good one I notice many haven't seen (lIMDB, other forums, etc) is "Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron".... He's more interesting than his movies, and I like a handful of his.

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

Lost in La Mancha (2002),

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)

and The Disaster Artist (2017).

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

The Disaster Artist is a great movie, but a documentary it is not.

De Palma is highly recommended if you're a fan of the director. Instead of just getting several people to talk about how great it is, he tells it completely from his own perspective. I thought that was pretty cool.

This Is Not A Film is just as much about the director himself as the censorship struggles he's had to face. It's not the best movie ever, and it's limited in terms of scope, but it's one you're glad he even managed to get made given the awful circumstances.

Looking For Richard is about Al Pacino's love for theatre, and one of the few films he directed himself as well. It's great to hear him talk so passionately about the subject, and as if that wasn't good enough, we finally see him act out Richard III. For those who don't know, in Al Pacino: In Conversation Of Lawrence Grobel, he mentions his fondness for the play and how he'll sometimes act it out for himself. It was actually supposed to be a full movie, but he decided it would never be as great as Laurence Olivier's take. But we do get at least 20 minutes of it showing in the movie, and it's truly magnetic.

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

Stanley Kubrick In Pictures

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

This is on YouTube in full... Antonioni isn't a favorite of mine, I do like some of his movies, but he is an interesting guy
https://youtu.be/_EUZV6fBe44

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

Burden of Dreams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYOYi9WLLVU

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXeuk1tO32k

Samuel Fuller: The Typewriter, the Rifle, and the Movie Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy03L7iSy0U

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=4BPbHFJEpPM

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

My 2nd favorite director - Luchino Visconti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4G7b3tpn3Q

Nice recommendation. Last night I watched this documentary from 1992. I thought McCarthy and Glassman did a great job highlighting some of the iconic cinematographic scenes in movies up to that time, and further, having some of the great photographers explain their philosophies.

They smartly eschewed going into the technical aspects of lenses, cameras and the like, and instead concentrated on the artistic side. There were some fascinating behind the scenes stories as well.

Even though I've witnessed much pre-sound cinematography, it never occurred to me how the camera work was so facile before sound requirements pretty much anchored down the cameras, at least until the technology improved to allow much more camera movement.

They could almost do a sequel to include from 1992 to the present. But frankly I admire the earlier folks more-- before CGI and all the rest.

Good film!

~Doc

Here are links to my reviews of two superb celebrity documentaries I've seen recently


https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...ns-behind.html



https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...7-sidjudy.html

Watched this on Youtube yesterday. It was kind of interesting and did shed some extra light on why he was considered difficult. I would have wished more focus on his art, though, and a bit more structured approach in general.

It's on YouTube anymore, but there was the full 11-hour uncut interview out there for a while. I think someone told me its on the DVD extras of "Alfredo Garcia"

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

I just saw a perfect example of how a documentary should be... And it's a documentary on my very favorite director - Vittorio De Sica. I've searched for one in the past, but somehow I ran into this while browsing Amazon Prime, which I know many have, and should check out. I never heard De Sica speaking English, so there are limitations on knowing everything you can about the man, but his movies speak on his poetic yet realistic humanity.... I liked how it divided into segment... You had "The Director", "The Actor", "The Man", "The Gambler", "The Father", etc.

You don't see any young "flavor of the month" directors or actors, not because they don't know him, but because whoever produced it made sure he got the best of the best..

Featured in this documentary
-Clint Eastwood
-Woody Allen
-Sophia Loren
-Federic Fellini
-Ken Loach
-Mike Leigh
-Shirley MacLaine
-Ettore Scola (great Italian director)
-Mario Monicello
-Paul Mazursky (who told De Sica that he was stealing "Umberto D" to make (my favorite movie), "Harry and Tonto"
-Dino DeLaurentis (great producer)
and many others, including his friends.

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

The Life and Times of Ken Loach (not sure if I've seen this or not)
https://youtu.be/XIzay3IGLgI

Re: Best Documentary about Directors/Actors/Movies
 

It was just recently released, but I highly recommend Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5fYkhuGQ08

Looks good, WFG. Positive and uplifting. Will check it out soon. Cheers.