Louis Theroux

Saw, Jigsaw

06-22-14

Louis is a British documentary maker who is perhaps most famous for his "Weird Weekend" series where he will go to locations usually for a two or three day period to report on things in the world he doesn't know a lot about but wishes to know more.

One of his most famous episodes was when he visited the Westboro Baptist Church in an episode named "The most hated family in America" and here is a small clip:

Now I don't wish to focus only on this one episode and I do not wish to cause any kind of insult to a religion but I think this sort of reporting and film making is important. He does push a lot of buttons which was shown very much in the episode where he visited the training camp for WCW and dared to suggest it was fake.

Have you seen any programs by him and what do you think of his kind of reporting?

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Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

06-22-14

Loved him since he did a regular spot on Michael Moore's TV Nation.

Over the years he's moved effortlessly between the light hearted and the serious, with his extreme avuncularity getting him footage most documentary makers would kill their agents for. Theroux is basically Nick Broomfield with a bigger contacts list. And a crew.

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christine

Dreams is freedom

06-22-14

He's very clever at acting the slightly dim innocent so gaining the trust of people . People that then reveal more about themselves than perhaps they would normally. Americans might know his father more, Paul Theroux who is a famous travel writer.
I found the recent programme he made in LA about end of life care in the Cedars-Sinai really thought provoking.

honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

06-22-14

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Theroux is basically Nick Broomfield with a bigger contacts list. And a crew.

Never thought of it that way, but yes.

I like his stuff. I'm hit and miss with the subjects he looks at, but it's usually interesting and his involvement with it always brings the viewer into what he's doing. I think the Weird Weekends were my favourites, though. For me, he's never really hit those heights again. Of his most recent work, the Mega Jail and Twilight Of The Pornstars were the ones which felt most like his earlier work.

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Nausica�

Registered User

06-23-14

Yep I like his style of documentary and interviewing and have seen some of his work. I don't tune in to all of them as I've no interest in the subject matter but did tune into:

Louis and the Nazis
The City Addicted to Crystal Meth
The Most Hated Family in America
America's Most Hated Family in Crisis
LA Stories: Among the Sex Offenders
LA Stories: Edge of Life
Extreme Love: Autism
Extreme Love: Dementia
America's Medicated Kids
Louis Theroux: Behind Bars

Really liked all of the above, don't believe I watched any of the Weird Weekends programmes, can't remember them anyway.

earlsmoviepicks

Sorry Harmonica.......I got to stay here.

10-24-16

Reviving this thread, as Louie's documentaries are on Netflix, and he has a new movie coming out! Big LT fan

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Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

10-24-16

His second Jimmy Saville documentary aired a few weeks ago and it was pretty good - Even-handed to the point of Louis visiting a number of Saville's victims and asking them whether he could have exposed the man with just a bit more digging and, perhaps, bigger balls.

I'm loving the mature Theroux but still pine quietly for a new run of Weird Weekends.

honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

10-24-16

I agree that the Saville documentary of a couple of weeks ago was good. That giant Lego model of his head in the shed was even more creepy than I'd have expected.

Daniel M

...

10-24-16

I watched the Savile documentary too, a couple of weeks back, I thought it was quite interesting. And posted this about it:

Originally Posted by Daniel M

Louis Theroux: Savile (Arthur Cary, 2016)

I'm too young to have been somebody who experienced watching Jimmy Savile whilst he was a massive celebrity personality in this country, but from the little footage I had seen involving him, I was absolutely not surprised at all when the revelations came out about him and his past. It is absolutely mind boggling that he was able to get away with it for so long, and even though certain people should not feel guilty and have legitimate reasons for not coming forward or even suspecting him of being a criminal, I do believe that there must be a massive number of people who should feel guilt and need to be held to account for there failures to stop this monster. How some of the people interviewed continue to defend his actions, attempt to justify them, or even flat out deny them is also extraordinary, I would like to see them sit in a room with his victims and explain how he was a great man who either did no wrong, or did enough good to justify his bad actions.

Aside from that, I don't think I have seen anything else from him in full, although he always comes across as someone interesting and entertaining, I ought to watch more.

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Camo

Msg

BANNED

10-24-16

You should check out Weird Weekends if you get the chance, it's usually hilarious. Think it's on Netflix. The Westboro Baptish Church and prison ones are great too.

Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

10-24-16

Originally Posted by Daniel M

I watched the Savile documentary too, a couple of weeks back, I thought it was quite interesting. And posted this about it:

Aside from that, I don't think I have seen anything else from him in full, although he always comes across as someone interesting and entertaining, I ought to watch more.

I don't remember him as a DJ but Jim'll Fix It was a mainstay of my Saturday teatime TV watching when I was a kid.

Wasn't aware of the rumours about him as I got older but remember from the first Theroux documentary that he seemed a very strange man. Very strange indeed, although hindsight means that today you're looking for clues all over the place.

Don't think the original doc is on Netflix but my interest was sufficiently piqued to seek it out on DVD. I ended up buying a Dutch boxset here, which has most of his memorable stuff, including the TV Nation segments.

Daniel M

...

10-24-16

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Yep, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and its ridiculous how many clues/hints there was to him harbouring some sort of dark secret, now watching the footage. The one that I thought was most striking was the "off camera" scene where he talks to the camera and completely lets go off his persona, swearing and ranting. Regardless of whether or not people thought he was a sex offender, it seemed clear from all the footage and his actions that he was a disturbed individual with some sort of problem.

That looks like an interesting and comprehensive boxset, as I said, I'll have to try and get to more of his stuff, and going through some of those documentaries seems like a good idea.

honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

10-25-16

I was well aware of the rumours about him since the early 90's, so watching that documentary was creepy the first time. If anything, it was the reason I was watching it. Not that I thought he'd confess or anything, but he always sailed pretty close to the wind with things he said and I always felt he tipped the wink once the cameras were off.

I was more surprised that the allegations took so long to come out after he died.

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