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Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#311

"Jiro Dreams of Sushi" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi If you're a developer / engineer you'll admire the professionalism. And more importantly value proposition of your work.

What do you mean by value proposition? I don't remember seeing much that would apply to my work.

I would say it’s mostly an attitude around quality that is likely applicable to any sort of craftsmanship.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#313

It’s a pretty dark documentary but I came across a British doc about addiction and it’s the single film that’s stuck with me the most. A ~London based photographer and journalist covered addiction but decided he wasn’t “close enough to the story” to really understand the subjects. He starts doing heroin and the documentary is about his unsuccessful journey to get clean (across like a decade) - it’s powerful and deepl…

What's the name...?

Was surprised to find it but it has the title “Channel 4 - Cold Turkey - Heroin addiction documentary 2001” on youtube

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#314

"The Civil War" by Ken Burns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries) Detailed. Unagitated text. No reenactment. Based on contemporary documents only (almost). Competent experts, some quite characters. Reserved but impressive music.

And surprisingly emotional at times. Even the part about Lincoln's death gave me a lump in a throat feeling. It's been years since I watched it.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#315
post #239

Einstein's Big Idea - E = mc2 - very inspiring and interesting documentary about MC2 formula and root of each element of equation. Even if you don't understand (like) physics this series explains Einstein and its discovery in cinematic way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROC8zSiw1x4 The Men Who Built America - pictured in the same way as documentary mentioned above. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Astor, Ford and…

One could also read Jane Meyer's Dark Money to find out how those men also transformed politics, even decades after they died.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#316

The World at War - BBC documentary series about WWII. Shows humanity simultaneously at it's best and worst. The Vietnam War - Ken Burns documentary series. Very balanced and sobering take on the Vietnam war, events leading to the Vietnam war, and unrest in the US during that period. The Fog of War - Errol Morris doc about Robert McNamara. The Salt of the Earth - Doc about photographer Sebastião Salgado Alone in the W…

I'm really surprised Ken Burns isn't higher in this thread.

Basically anything he made is a gem (though Civil War could use a slight correction these days, mainly because all the work done on the consequences - "Reconstruction" by PBS would probably be a good complement).

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#317
Not from the last 4 years, but so good I watched some of the series twice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_historic_farm_series

In each series, a team of historians/archaeologists/anthropologists live for a year on a farm of a specific era, doing things the way they are understood to have been done in that era.

They are like first-person documentaries and lots of fun to watch. You really get the feeling of how life would have been like back then.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a fantastic documentary and recommend it also. I came away with a different impression, in that I certainly don't admire or want to share Jiro's attitude to work, because the perfection-at-all-costs approach looked like it had a pretty devastating fallout on his wife and his two sons. It's a fascinating documentary in that you'll either come away saying "how inspirational!" or "I'm run…

as someone that lived in Japan for over a decade I found it made up. The documentary people could have picked almost any indie sushi restaurant in Japan. I'm not sure what made Jiro special I agree tho it's a good documentary for seeing someone taking their work so seriously and the fallout from it as well as for seeing how much work might go into certain kinds of food prep and therefore making me appreciate it more.

I think the Michelin three star rating for the restaurant is why it was picked. A line I remember and found hilarious was that Jiro’s place was the only three star restaurant without its own bathroom.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#319

Tim’s Vermeer : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim's_Vermeer Produced and directed by Penn and Teller who I thought were just magicians. It mixes art and technology with a little bit of historical puzzle solving. As someone who knows little about art history, I found it fascinating.

Tim is also a legend in the Amiga and TV/audiovisual community. Just listened to a fascinating interview with him on the Retro Hour podcast. Highly recommend it. I still need to watch Tim's Vermeer.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#320

Gary Hustwits design trilogy: Helvetica - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica_(film) “about typography and graphic design, centered on the eponymous typeface.” Objectified - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectified “examining the role of everyday non-living objects, and the people who design them, in our daily lives.” Urbanized - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanized “discusses how cities are designed, a…

Of you like the Helvetica story then try the excellent episode "Jonathan Hoefler: Typeface Design" on the Netflix documentary series Abstract: The Art of Design
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