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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?

#121

Post by bloqs »

orasis wrote: post #63

“The Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis. https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s It goes through each decade of the 1900s and explains how Freud’s psychology and the new field of marketing completely reshaped society. For the first time in my life I feel like I understood the “why” of how things work in American society. This film is probably best if you’re age 40+ and actually remember some of the events.

https://youtu.be/x1bX3F7uTrg obligatry response whenever anything by Adam Curtis is offered up. Sorry, I'm largely of the opinion that it is (well made) boomer-aimed catastrophe porn designed to give the viewer a smug sense of having "esoteric knowledge".

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

#122

Post by Cupertino95014 »

I only see Hoop Dreams mentioned once, without comment, so:

It's a 3-hour doc about two urban black teenagers who are basketball phenoms, and are recruited by a white suburban high school to play for them. Three hours is long enough for an extended meditation on what their lives were like, and what they hoped to get out of basketball.

Read the Roger Ebert review of it.

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

#123

Post by mixmastamyk »

No particular order:

- Particle fever

- Sugar Coated

- The United States of Secrets (and anything Frontline)

- Citizen Four and related movie drama, name escapes me now.

- Cosmos (new and old)

- The Social Dillema

- WWII in HD, two docs on Netflix both good.

- Ken Burns *

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

#124

Post by pkrotich »

DizzyDoo wrote: post #107
pkrotich wrote: post #94

"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.

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…

I agree to with you on the cost of perfectionism - I also didn't care for how women were treated at the restaurant (seating arrangements etc), but like you mentioned it's a fantastic documentary.

I think for me, I came out thinking "damn I truly do may be only 25% dedication to my craft".

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

#125

Post by browningstreet »

safeimp wrote: post #103
onion2k wrote: post #84

I'm not sure it really falls under the banner of "documentary" but Red Bull Media House make a film called "Flight" a few years ago that profiles a group of snowboarders flying around and doing snowboarding. You won't learn anything watching it but it's some of the best film making I've ever watched. It's beautiful.

The Art of Flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Flight I saw it when it was first released and agree, it's gorgeous footage. I forgot the name too and only looked it up because you made me curious if it's considered a documentary or some other classification. The wiki lists it as a documentary.

Easily one of the most beautifully assembled skiing/snowboarding videos ever made. On another level.

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

#126

Post by kmike84 »

Exit Through the Gift Shop - an amusing documentary about somebody trying to find Banksy (a street artist), and much more, supposingly directed by Banksy himself.

There is some debate if it is documentary or not (the story is almost too good), but it seems the evidence suggests it is real.

EDIT: sorry, I missed the "last 4 years" part in the question. This film is older than that.

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