Film Inquiry Recommends: Film-Related Documentaries

Over at our official Facebook page , we are currently posting daily Film Recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! Last week’s theme is Film-Related Documentaries, films which highlight the utter chaos and hard work which goes behind all the movies we love.

1. Eurocrime! (2012, Mike Malloy)

The Eurocrime saga of the 1970’s was another period of film triggered by the lack of television and heated political atmosphere, which triggered filmmakers to reflect these events in their films by ripping off successful American films and putting their own spins on them, much like the age of the Spaghetti Western. The success of Dirty Harry and The French Connection lead to an onslaught of similar films in Italy that were also successful. This lead to even more rip-offs and variations, which spanned a decade till the ‘fad’ wore off and audiences chose to latch onto another genre.

Mike Malloy‘s documentary talks about this era of film, but to the reason we recommend it is that it’s a very entertaining film on its own right. The film smartly analyses the reasons behind the creation of these Eurocrime films, why they were successful and the reasons behind the content chosen for them. The story is very interesting, hearing about how quickly and cheaply these filmmakers were able to pull off these films and the possible Mafia connections that started to get attached to them. This film is an intelligent and entertaining analysis of an odd genre that continues to inspire many pop-culture enthusiast filmmakers (i.e. Quentin Tarantino) today.

(The Film Excerpt Picture is from Fernando Di Leo’s The Italian Connection, one of the better Eurocrime films)

2. Z Channel (2004, Alexandra Cassavetes)

To place some context behind the importance of what ‘Z Channel‘ is, back in 1974, pay cable services had emerged. Whilst popular, they were still quite limited and weren’t as widely available as they are today. In this launch, a small independent pay cable service came out: Z Channel. It was a movie broadcasting channel, that rose to underground fame due to its eclectic programming chief – Jerry Harvey. This documentary charts the rise and fall of both the Z Channel and Harvey, which is one that’s quite interesting but ultimately tragic. Many interviewees (Tarantino of course, who turns up in three of this week’s film recommendations) such as Robert Altman, Jim Jarmusch and others tell us the importance of the Z Channel as a kid, and how Jerry Harvey’s deep film knowledge helped show some unheard and undiscovered films to a wider audience.

Technically, Jerry Harvey is who we have to thank today for the idea of the ‘director’s cut’. Harvey had a knack for seeking obscure films from famous and failed directors and trying to showcase them on his channel. One of them is Michael Cimino’s directors cut of Heaven’s Gate, a cut which expands on the themes and scope that Cimino was aiming for. The popular screenings and critical success of this cut being shown lead to more directors wanting to show their cuts and having the concept being known to mainstream audiences.

3. Best Worst Movie (2009, Michael Stephenson)

In the newly-formed underground world of ironically watching bad films, some films are referred to as ‘the classics’. These include The Room, Birdemic and Troll 2. Troll 2 is so controversial as it’s a film that has nothing to do with the original Troll film.It is completely incoherent and generally trashy, but reaches a level of bad where it’s genuinely funny, rather than a pain to watch. Best Worst Movie examines the modern craze around Troll 2 and bad films in general, by watching the journey of George Hardy, the main actor in Troll 2, who is now a humble dentist, as he slowly realises the huge fandom surrounding a film he had worked on 20 years earlier and forgotten about.

This is quite a heart-warming film and one that genuinely cares about everyone involved. The people obsessed with the film are shown as regular people who actually enjoy the nonsense of Troll 2 and George Hardy comes off as quite a likeable guy and we like seeing him get some late-life praise for the film. The documentary is directed by Michael Stephenson, who also co-starred in the film, which gives reason behind the film’s respectful approach.

4. American Movie (1999, Chris Smith)

One of the best films about independent filmmaking and one of the best documentaries of the 1990’s, American Movie is a film which is still pretty influential today. The film tells the story of Mark Borchardt, a divorced, nearly-broke amateur filmmaker who needs to finish an old short film in order to acquire funding for his dream feature length horror film.

American Movie is so entertaining because the participants, Mark, his best friend Mike Schank and other friends and family members, are funny and entertaining without ever playing to the camera or editing situations to generate laughs, as most modern documentaries on television today do. The film is quite inspiring even today, as Borchardt is highlighted in quite a candid light, showing his flaws and his not-so stellar life at the time, but at the end of the day, he was ultimately dedicated towards his filmmaking goals.

5. Corman’s World (2011, Alex Stapleton)

Just to set up how important Roger Corman is to the film industry, some of his protégé’s include: James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Roeg and Monte Hellman. Roger Corman is largely dismissed today due to his heavy catalogue of B Movies and his current trend of trash SyFy films (like Sharktopus) but Corman is very important in mainstream and independent cinema. Corman’s B Movie values (focusing on the genre elements) were something that were paid attention to by Hollywood which pushed cinema into blockbuster territory, highlighted by the game-changer Jaws, which brought B Movie sensibilities to a mainstream audience.

Corman’s World is a great documentary, interviewing Corman’s many associates, the most entertaining one being Jack Nicholson, who Corman supported for his first 10 years of acting. His segments are the most entertaining and it’s great to see a big actor like him being so genuine about his old friend.

6. Not Quite Hollywood (2008, Mark Hartley)

Directed by Mark Hartley, who has directed a slew of very entertaining film-related documentaries (Electric Boogaloo and Machete Maidens), Not Quite Hollywood showcases the era in Australian cinema which has had the biggest impact on the global cinema landscape to date. As a film, Not Quite Hollywood is very clear with its point, showcasing and understanding these Australian B-Pictures that did so well internationally.

The exploitation genre boom of the 1970’s and 80’s generated some films which are still referred to today, Mad Max being the biggest, but also including Patrick, Alvin Purple and Barry McKenzie. These roots established are still seen today, with the Australian exploitation genre still generating a lot more attention than any other genre Australia is currently producing. Films like Wyrmwood, Wolf Creek and obviously Mad Max: Fury Road owe their foundations to this great period in Australian film history.

(The Film Excerpt Picture is from Richard Franklin’s Patrick, a film which was remade in 2013 by Mark Hartley).

7. Burden of Dreams (1982, Les Blank)

Burden of Dreams can be seen as the crazy cousin of Coppola’s Hearts of Darkness, as they are both documentaries dealing with insane behind–the-scenes drama that somehow lead to great films being made.

Burden of Dream details the chaotic shooting of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, a film plagued with problems which included Herzog’s obsessive vision of the film, various main actors leaving the film, poor weather, Herzog fighting with Klaus Kinski and dealing with the natives in Peru and eventually getting stuck in a war between Peru and Ecuador. A great documentary showing that even if things are going to crap and it’s a disaster, the result can still be great.

Can you think of any more great film-related documentaries that need to be seen?

(top image: American Movie – source: Sony Pictures Classics)