While there were plenty of reasons to be glum about the state of nonfiction in 2008, it wasn't because of the level of filmmaking, which from almost every perspective was exceptional (funny that this seemed to be true in narrative as well - what was it in the water in 2005 and 2006?).
In composing a list of my 10 favorite nonfiction films of the year, I realized that the ten films that I name as honorable mentions could have easily have been a top 10 in another year. And that too would have been a more than decent year.
But the films I chose as the cream of the class of 2007 represent, to me, the creative courage of filmmakers using every tool at their disposal, telling true stories with an auteur's vision.
In alphabetical order, my ten favorite nonfiction films of 2007, were:
BILLY THE KID
Directed by Jennifer Venditti
More than any other film this year, BILLY THE KID proved that a compelling and enthralling nonfiction film need not be about war or politics or social justice. Turning her lens on a self-aware yet clearly challenged Maine teenager, novice filmmaker Jennifer Venditti creates a pure tale of adolescent alienation, love and the painful struggle to find your place in the world. A humanistic triumph, the audience first finds BILLY to be an eccentric, but by the end, he has become the superhero that he hopes to play in his future film appearances. With a gorgeous score by Christian Zucconi and Guy Blakeslee.
CHICAGO 10
Directed by Brett Morgan
Brett Morgan brews together an unlikely concoction built of gorgeous 1968 archival footage (pity us all that two-plus decades of hideous videotape lay just around the corner), video-game styled animation set to decades old court transcripts and ‘90s-era rap-rock in creating a contemporary and compelling look at the politics of the late '60s. In telling the tale of activists thrown into a rigged justice system for “inciting violence” during the Democratic Convention of 1968, Morgan draws sly parallels between past and present without heavy-handed invocations of George Bush or Iraq. Morgan also deftly shows how nonfiction film can be created almost entirely within the post-house, with special recognition deserved by editor Stuart Levy.
HEAR AND NOW
Directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky
Aside from "the competition doc", is there a more eye-rolling, cringe-inducing nonfiction genre than “the movie about my parents”? So deep and multiple are the pitfalls, that when one succeeds, the praise is doubly meant. So it is with Brodsky, who gently and perceptively unfolds a film that is both memoir and psychological thriller. When her deaf parents decide to get cochlear implants so that they might be able to hear again, Brodsky reveals how such a choice is fraught with peril. What if the surgery is less successful for one parent than the other? What if much of the sound we encounter each day is merely noise? HEAR AND NOW shows how having good subjects - Brodsky’s parents’ story has a lot to say about what it has meant to be deaf in the second half of the 20th century – is crucially important in nonfiction, but the filmmaker's skill at showing us how we take sound for granted is what makes the film a real find.
HELVETICA
Directed by Gary Hustwit
Potentially the greatest praise you can heap upon a nonfiction film is that it made you look at the world differently than you ever had before. No film in 2007 accomplished that as completely as Gary Hustwit's HELVETICA. Not just about the (who knew?) controversial font, Hustwit's film is about how design choices affect us and how they reflect our times. One of the most balanced films of the year, this viewer found himself agreeing with commentators on both sides of the Helvetica Good/Helvetica Bad debate and not sure by the end of the film which side prevailed (although you may notice that the redesign of this blog leans heavily on a certain, unnamed font). Beautifully and cleanly shot with excellent composition by Luke Geissbuhler and briskly edited by Shelby Siegel.
MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET)
Directed by Jason Kohn
Nothing less than a re-imagining of what nonfiction film can be, first-time director Jason Kohn creates unforgettable images of frogs, surgeries and cops on motorcycles in a cinematic epic about corruption in Brazil. The best looking nonfiction film of 2007 – kudos to cinematographer Heloisa Passos and editors Doug Abel, Jenny Golden and Andy Grieve - MANDA BALA is also worthy of praise for purposely forgetting what nonfiction is supposed to look and feel like. Shot over the course of several years, MANDA BALA dizzies us with its weaving plot lines and evolving questions of where the true source of corruption lies.
THE MONASTARY: MR. VIG AND THE NUN
Directed by Pernille Rose Gronkjær
Like Jennifer Venditti in BILLY THE KID, Pernille Rose Gronkjaer finds the extraordinary in the commonplace, when she begins filming Mr. Vig, one of the greatest characters in the history of nonfiction. After Vig decides to bequeath his crumbling mansion to the Russian Orthadox Church, he may not quite realize that this means the arrival of "the Nun", who will have very specific ideas about what needs to be done with the place to get it up to snuff. Their evolution of their relationship is amazing, wonderful, hilarious, but it's another relationship, Vig's with the camera (and the woman behind it), that ranks the film with the cinema verite greats.
THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM (AND OTHER STORIES)
Directed by Andrey Paounov
One of the most unusual viewing experiences of the entire year was seeing Andrey Paounov’s THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM (AND OTHER STORIES), a film that starts with an endless series of title cards, segues into long takes of expanding clouds of bug repellant and, much later, begins to reveal its true intentions. Peeling back layer upon layer on what at first seems to be a cockeyed glimpse at Belene, a quirky town in Bulgaria. The titular problem with pests and the bizarre and often comical lengths residents will explore to defeat them gives way to the nagging problem of history and whether the town's diverse residents care to make sense of the abandoned concentration camp that lies just out of sight. It's a roller coaster of a film that takes time to build, but somewhere in the middle of this film lies the best 30 minutes of cinema I saw all year.
PROTAGONIST
Directed by Jessica Yu
Oscar winner Jessica Yu takes the oldest, dullest documentary conceit - "the talkng head" - and creates an virtuoso, operatic film where the stories of four very different men become intertwined into a single journey of challenge, certainty, doubt and realization. A triumph of casting – yes, such a thing exists in nonfiction - Yu interviewed hundreds of potential subjects before she settled on the four in her film. Much has been made of the film’s more fanciful touches – puppets performing Greek myths and attendant title cards – but it’s the casting choices and the editing by Yu that dazzle. Each man must be a compelling storyteller in his own right AND compliment the stories of the other three subjects. It’s a high wire act that Yu handles with incredible skill.
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE
Directed by Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney, aka the hardest working man in nonfiction, crafts a thorough and revealing narrative as he exposes the Bush administration's use of torture in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gitmo. Gibney takes a single incident - the arrest and death in prison of an innocent Afghan taxi driver - and follows the evidence trail. It's a straightforward investigative approach enhanced by excellent technical skills - the graphic design and Maryse Alberti's cinematography are top notch. But it's the direction and editing that are key. Gibney, who narrates, and editor Sloane Klevin take the viewer from the military prisons of Afghanistan all the way to the halls of power in Washington, weaving loads of information - some familiar, some not so - into a damning treatise on the state of America in the early 21st century.
THE UNFORESEEN
Directed by Laura Dunn
Laura Dunn takes a straight-forward (and oft-covered) subject - urban sprawl and threats to the environment - and with impecable craft, turns it into a gorgeous, cinematic vision of what it means to lose one's sense of neighborhood. Barton Springs in Austin, Texas is a community treasure - both old time swimming hole and artesian aquifer - and beloved by old and young, so when plans by developers threaten the Springs, a familiar green vs greed battle is in the offing. But Dunn, working with cinematographers Lee Daniel and Vance Holmes, co-editor Emily Morris and graphic designer Jef Sewell, creates a lyrical and beautiful film that stuns with the ambition of its opening. Notable too is her choice to allow the film's "bad guy", developer Gary Bradley, tell much of the story. The title ends up referring not just to the unanticipated harm to Barton Springs, but also to the twists and turns of Bradley's role in Austin's super sizing.
Honorable Mentions:
AUDIENCE OF ONE directed by Michael Jacobs
BIG RIG directed by Doug Pray
THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO directed by Daniel Karslake
IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA directed by Daniel Junge
THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS directed by Seth Gordon
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES directed by Jennifer Baichwal
SICKO directed by Michael Moore
A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY directed by Esther B. Robinson
WE ARE TOGETHER (THIYA SIMUNYE) directed by Paul Taylor
And even with all these, there are still many other moments and many other films worth mentioning. But I'll stick with ten and ten, a total of 20 great (and near great films), only three of which made the Academy's Shortlist (I know, I know, but really...).
2008 has much to live up to. Let's get started.
Some choices on this list I have yet to see, definitely check out. All the more reason to hope to one day have a reason to tour doc festivals and catch such a great variety of films.
Overall I was pretty blown away by Billy the Kid and loved the unusual direction taken by such films as Zoo. Was also pleasantly surprised by Audience of One. Definitely a great film to see in a festival setting. (Huge reactions from the crowd) Still haven't had a chance to catch About a Son though! I'll be checking it out as soon as it hits DVD.
Posted by: Jay C. | January 03, 2008 at 07:35 AM
I sure wish I had the means to see more docs when they come out. I was able to catch Chicago 10 at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival and really liked it. I completely agree with your sentiments on Helvetica. I'm really looking forward to the chance to see Billy The Kid and Manda Bala. Oh, and Protagonist since I loved Jessica Yu's film about Henry Darger.
Posted by: Chris | January 03, 2008 at 08:09 AM