Best Documentaries
Louder Than a Bomb - These kids make poetry cool. The filmmakers follow some of the top teams that are preparing to compete in Chicago's youth poetry slam. The student's performances make you forget they are only in high school. Loved this one!
Mad Hot Ballroom - This little gem follows several public elementary schools in innercity New York as they prepare to compete in a ballroom dancing competition. I loved the candid interviews from the kids and watching them go from hardly wanting to touch someone of the opposite gender to little professionals.
Wordplay - How can an entire documentary be made about crossword puzzles? That is the question I asked myself as I sat down to watch this. Trust me, there is plenty to learn here and the quirky characters they follow make this a truly entertaining story.
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Grown men battle over the world record for the arcade version of Donkey Kong. The characters in this doc are better than any fictional characters that could have been created in a Hollywood comedy. We laughed our heads off watching the rivalry.
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Thin - I sat down to watch this film thinking it would play in the background as I worked on something else but from the moment it started playing I was glued to the screen with my mouth open. This is a great example of "show, don't tell" filmmaking. It shows the realities of anorexia and bulimia by following several girls as they go through treatment.
IMDB Page
New York Doll - Arthur "Killer" Kane is a washed up rockstar who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Despite my ignorance as to who the New York Dolls were, I still enjoyed watching this interesting character talk about recovering from his rock star life and reuniting with his band.
Jesus Camp - This story about young kids attending a summer camp for evangelical christians is told from a fairly neutral point of view. What happens and the viewpoints of the people in the movie is a little more disconcerting.
Born Into Brothels - A story of the children of prostitutes in the Red Light district of Calcutta. They latch onto a photographer who teaches them to take pictures. A very colorful, hopeful story amidst a very sad circumstance.
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