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Grimmest documentaries you've seen

Started by Hank Venture, July 08, 2012, 03:17:55 AM

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Dark Sky

Quote from: Kishi the Bad Lampshade on August 01, 2012, 06:49:41 PM
I JUST SAID BASICALLY THE EXACT SAME THINGS, COPYCAT. GET YOUR OWN OPINIONS.

SHAN'T.

Quotequite apart from its questionable attitudes it was pretty poorly made I thought. It seemed like a TV documentary - very little insight, overwrought at times with the narration, at other times quite plain and boring with the long scrolls of text, and generally not very 'filmic'.

I don't want to damn TV documentaries, but I agree it was a very poorly made film.  The situation it depicted was interesting, but would have been better told by just reading one of the myriad of news articles about the case.

surreal

Quote from: Default to the negative on July 31, 2012, 10:39:26 AM
Animal Passions remains the most hilariously depressing documentary I've seen. It was about zoophiles and all of them were just what you'd expect.

On a similar subject to this, Channel 4 (I think) in their "Dark Side of Porn" mini-season showed a documentary tracking down the woman who was in the notorious "Animal Farm" movie.  Very sad story, as she seemed like a nice person who'd had a bad life, leading her to take solace with animals and be exploited for it.

Don_Preston

Also part of that series (I'm sure) was a documentary on fetishes and when they go wrong. Hence lots of manslaughter tales of people accidentally suffocating their spouses, and an odd tale of a businessman choking to death whilst inhaling chloroform through a gas mask whilst his master fell asleep in front of Newsnight.

danyulx

#93
Tea Room is probably the grimmest, most depressing, haunting and soul-destorying - yet oddly beautiful - documentary I've ever seen. In so many ways.

I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

I'm not even sure if it could even be classified as a "documentary", certainly not by The Academy of Motion Pictures anyway. Or if it's the only real documentary I've ever watched.

QuoteTearoom consists of footage shot by the police in the course of a crackdown on public sex in the American Midwest.  In the summer of 1962, the Mansfield, Ohio Police Department photographed men in a restroom under the main square of the city.  The cameramen hid in a closet and watched the clandestine activities through a two-way mirror.  The film they shot was used in court as evidence against the defendants, all of whom were found guilty of sodomy, which at that time carried a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in the state penitentiary.  The original surveillance footage shot by the police came into the possession of director William E. Jones while he was researching this case for a documentary project.  The unedited scenes of ordinary men of various races and classes meeting to have sex were so powerful that the director decided to present the footage with a minimum of intervention.  Tearoom is a radical example of film presented "as found" for the purpose of circulating historical images that have otherwise been suppressed.

Children Underground - concerning the plight, and what a plight, of a bunch of battered and disturbed homeless Romanian children living and begging in the Bucharest Underground/Subway system - is devastating, also. (I'll have to check out that 'Bulgarias Abandoned Children' as well, cheers for the recommendation.) More shout out from me to Earthlings and its older bother The Animals Film as well. Sickening.

Did anyone see that documentary about the young woman who died in her London bedsit, whose corpse wasn't discovered until three years later, surrounded by shopping bags and the TV still on? Nobody cared. Apparently she had a boyfriend, friends, family and all sorts.. but simply nobody bothered "following it up", when they couldn't get hold of her anymore. I read about that a year or two back, and it sounded a bit grim. Anyone know the name? I think I was just reading about it being in production, at the time, I'm not even sure has it been released yet.

Don_Preston

Quote from: danyulx on August 05, 2012, 08:21:14 PM

Did anyone see that documentary about the young woman who died in her London bedsit, whose corpse wasn't discovered until three years later, surrounding by shopping bags and the TV still on? Nobody cared. Apparently she had a boyfriend, friends, family and all sorts.. but simply nobody bothered "following it up", when they couldn't get hold of her anymore. I read about that a year or two back, and it sounded a bit grim. Anyone know the name? I think I was just reading about it being in production, at the time, I'm not even sure has it been released yet.

Grimefighters on ITV.

phes

it's called 'Dreams of a Life'

it was on in Leeds a few months back, but I was feeling particularly detached that evening and it felt like a waste to watch it then

Surprised Dreams of a Life has only just been mentioned. It's very sad.

danyulx

#97
Quote from: phes on August 05, 2012, 08:42:46 PM
it's called 'Dreams of a Life'

Cheers. I've just "found" it now.. it's had a DVD release, it looks like. I'll give it a watch over the next few days and report back. Unless it's a very uplifting affair, in which I won't even bother.

A few sentences of someone's review on the site I found it on: " As the narrative unfolded, I found myself feeling more and more disgusted, mostly towards the interviewees, and increasingly towards the director  [.......] Ultimately, it was a disgusting exploitation of an extemely private woman who, undoubtably, would be horrified and disgusted by this final humilation by charlatans and faux friends.   The tragedy, here, is not Joyces's death, but the rubbish way she is indecently profiteered from and, in the end,  revictimized [.........] This kind of crap and lazy film making encourages a parade of people who want to invade someones intimate moments so that they can talk about themselves and message their own egos with toxic self-importance, could possibly be the last frontier of cheaply exhibited poisonous gossip.  I urge everyone who views this to watch the extras--if you don't want to strangle everyone within, I would be very surprised.  No celebrity needed.  In a other words, this film is loathsome."

A very promising one for this thread, then.

Retinend

Quote from: danyulx on August 05, 2012, 08:21:14 PM
Tea Room is probably the grimmest, most depressing, haunting and soul-destorying - yet oddly beautiful - documentary I've ever seen. In so many ways.

I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

Good God if this isn't the most "daarrling"-sounding "projects" I've ever heard of

Quote
Q: Michel Foucault was writing in his book about friendship that it's not the sex between men which is confusing or dangerous for the society, it's the things which might come out of it: networks, friendships, groups for action... Can you relate TEAROOM in any way to these thoughts?

A: From the tone of the articles I get the sense that what really disturbed people was the mixing of different social classes and races, the notion that men could form bonds outside the models of marriage and conventional home life, the ideological state apparatus, if you will. It's important not to assume too much about the footage, though, because most of the men we see in the film would probably not consider themselves gay. Many of them were married, some of them had children.

Q: That seems to be an unimportant part of it. It doesn't matter if they are gay or not...

A:  I know, but people bring assumptions to the footage. One of the reasons the footage is presented in its entirety and silent is that people can in some small way empty their  minds of their assumptions. You know, the footage had previously been presented in public: in court and in a movie that was used to instruct police forces. In these contexts the audience was told at every moment what to think of the footage. A prosecutor or a narrator told them who these people were and what acts they engaged in. I thought it would be really interesting to see how the footage worked without any commentary. In screenings I provide minimal context and then answer questions afterwards. I do not impose a reading upon the material in advance. That in itself is potentially liberating. Conceptually or philosophically this is an interesting position. How little can I do to the material to make it into something that provokes people, gives occasion for thought or gives pleasure.
http://www.williamejones.com/collections/about/11/



SsSsSssssssssseriously?? You're going to watch anonymous men (and without their approval) fuck each others arseholes on hidden camera and then have a competition to see who can be the biggest po-faced tosser? Can't you just watch it and say "pretty out there, right?" or just wank off in the festival screenings like an honest smut-pedaling creep?

Lee Van Cleef

So I watched Dreams of a life today.  Yeah that's a sad tale, makes you wonder what was going on in the woman's mind, but clearly she needed some help she never got.

El Unicornio, mang

#100
Watched Dreams of a Life. Not sure what the person who was so scathing towards it is on about. She was clearly a woman who was very detached from people, flighty and moved around a lot. The fact that all her friends and family weren't surprised when they couldn't track her down says more about her than it does about them. Not that she was a bad person, just that she wasn't one to keep in contact with anyone for long periods of time. And I can't imagine her being anything but overjoyed that someone had dedicated years to making a film about her life, and not just leave her as a small story in a newspaper.

Found it extra poignant, as I lived in Hammersmith at the tail end of 2002, which would have been the last few months of her life. Makes me wonder if I ever passed her in the street. Anyway, I recommend it, and it's not really that grim but it will stay with you for a while.

garbed_attic

Last night's Tonight programme on the rise in disability hate crime. I was sobbing with anger. I think the murderers of Gemma Hayter might even fall outside my realms of compassion and forgiveness and I'm someone who sometimes feels a bit sorry for some paedophiles and Nazis. FuckkcufuckuckUCK

To be honest, I probably shouldn't have watched it. It's been such a bleak week for news maybe I seemed inexorably drawn towards it, like as part of some obsessive, punishing ritual and also because I care about this stuff and it's the point at which my brain stops being able to understand things. It might even be useful for me, to have other people watch this, just so I can discuss it with others - work it through.

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=323748

It's presented by Francesca Martinez and I may have to reward myself through getting through it by spending a solid hour looking a photos of her lovely face. Sorry Francesca for the wanton objectification, but I think only you + Brian Eno is going to get me to sleep. arghsob

El Unicornio, mang

Similar stuff to the Panorama that was on a couple of years ago. The people who are committing the hate crimes make no sense because they call these people "benefit cheats" and also "spacker" and "cripple". Horrible cunts.

BlodwynPig


Brundle-Fly

I found this not grim but a glum experience. It just seemed wrong to make it.

The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Age 92

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8A39F22A71855953

VegaLA

#105
OK, finally one of these films hit me hard in the face,

Been going through this list, Darwin and Liberia didn't touch me. Sad to see children being used as cannon fodder but it was just brutes Vs brutes and I didn't stick past the second half. Sorry.

Just, Melvin - Just Evil, was just horrible. The fact he got away with those crimes just sickens me.

The Internet films were entertaining. TallHotBlonde shows just how much a lie behind the safety of the Internet can be so destructive, and CatFish was interesting following the twists as the filmmakers got more involved. Did look staged but at the same time I can see how it could have evolved from a true story.

Dear Zachary made me angry. Typical common sense taking a back seat over 'know it all authorites'. I really felt for the parents of David.

But it was Dreams of a life that fucked me over. Bigtime. As soon as they started interviewing her friends I connected with them. I started to wonder if they were actors i'd seen elsewhere, they just felt so familar to me. Also tracing her life back to 1989 hit a nerve, everything looked so real like I had been part of her life. This sounds OTT but cant help but thinking I must have met her sometime during the late 80s.
I awoke at 3:30AM this morning with it heavy on my mind. I wish I knew exactly what happened during her last 24 hours alive.

Got hold of a lot more from this thread but think i'm going to give this a rest for a while. October is looming and October can be a depressing month.

Thanks for the recommendations though.

El Unicornio, mang

I felt the same way about Dreams of a Life. Something about it really connected with me and seemed familiar, like it could be a documentary I'm watching about a friend or even myself from beyond the grave. Watched it in the afternoon and felt horribly depressed for the rest of the day, ended up having an early night as I didn't feel like doing anything. A very powerful documentary, but then again even just reading the headline of the story was very affecting.

Ja'moke

I asked this in The Imposter thread, but I'll ask here too.

Can anyone recommend any good documentaries to do with con artists or people pretending to be someone else? I have seen Catfish, and will be watching Talhotblond off the back of this thread. But anything to do with con men, tricksters, false identities, manipulation, deception.

BlodwynPig

Simliar to Ja'Moke but more general - looking for videos that are free to watch on youtube, vice etc - grim, intriguing, mystery or otherwise.

Quote from: surreal on August 05, 2012, 07:57:51 PM
On a similar subject to this, Channel 4 (I think) in their "Dark Side of Porn" mini-season showed a documentary tracking down the woman who was in the notorious "Animal Farm" movie.  Very sad story, as she seemed like a nice person who'd had a bad life, leading her to take solace with animals and be exploited for it.

I saw only one of the docs in that series, Me and My Slaves, which was about a male dominatrix with a dark past. Turns it's one of only two in the series that have been fully uploaded to You Tube.

Check out the story he tells from 26:20 to 31:00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E26j3ECJUE4

chocky909

Yikes. I have a sneaky suspicion that he's a liar though. Something about the way he talks about those experiences. I hope so anyway.

Yeah, I haven't completely made my mind up about it myself. There's something a bit melodramatic, a bit "Eastenders" about it all, but that could be because he's a strange, repressed guy who doesn't communicate his emotions very well. If it is a lie, I don't see how it benefits him to tell that lie. Even if the whole doc is fake and he's just an actor, he's showing his face on national television and it could lead to repercussions in his day-to-day life. I can't imagine someone going to those measures for the sake of a hoax. A hoaxer would ask to have their face and voice disguised.

El Unicornio, mang

Dark Days

It's not an easy watch (no narration or narrative, black and white, very coarse language) but it's unique and intriguing and raw and the DJ Shadow soundtrack works really well.

If you can make it through these first 10 minutes you should be ready for the full thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh4s78Db5OQ

BlodwynPig


DJ Solid Snail

One Day in September, about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, from last night on BBC2. Not knowing the actual outcome of the event made it particularly suspenseful, though the "dead Jews and Deep Purple" montage at the end was hugely tasteless.  That aside, it was fascinating and disturbing, and not only because it was such a horrific act of terrorism - but also the unfathomable string of cock-ups by the German police and some of the bizarre reactions to it. One of the most chilling moments was when a TV news camera panned over from the building in which the hostages were being held to the swimming pool where all the other athletes were indifferently sunbathing and playing ping pong. Just surreal...

Dead kate moss

Quote from: Ja'moke on September 11, 2012, 07:52:59 PM
I asked this in The Imposter thread, but I'll ask here too.

Can anyone recommend any good documentaries to do with con artists or people pretending to be someone else? I have seen Catfish, and will be watching Talhotblond off the back of this thread. But anything to do with con men, tricksters, false identities, manipulation, deception.

I didn't see it but Mrs DKM did. Not obvious from the title, The Girl Who Became Three Boys is about some teenage girl who pretended to be a few boys (she didn't take her hat off and looked a bit boyish is all), and then fucked her friends with a dildo while pretending to be the boy.


Morrison Lard

Quote from: Dead kate moss on September 13, 2012, 09:38:48 PM
The Girl Who Became Three Boys
I saw this quite recently, was it Channel 4 or one of its offshoots?
Was weird as fuck. Worth a watch but not particularly grim, just strange.

The "boy" would go and hang out with one of the girls for hours and never speak to them
and would text them while he was stood just a couple of feet away.
The girl didn't see anything odd about this.
Is this what kids do nowadays. Fucking idiots.

Ja'moke

Quote from: Dead kate moss on September 13, 2012, 09:38:48 PM
I didn't see it but Mrs DKM did. Not obvious from the title, The Girl Who Became Three Boys is about some teenage girl who pretended to be a few boys (she didn't take her hat off and looked a bit boyish is all), and then fucked her friends with a dildo while pretending to be the boy.

Yes, I saw this on Channel 4. As Morrison Lard says, interesting but weird. I know the girls were only teenagers at the time, but really, it brings a whole new level to being naive!

castro diaz

Quote from: thugler on July 31, 2012, 08:34:13 PM
http://www.vice.com/rule-britannia/rule-britannia-swansea-full-length

This one is pretty grim, about heroin addicts in swansea.

Christ, that was grim.  Haven't been there for a year or two but unless things have drastically changed then the town is fucked.  No prospects, no investment and no career.  There may be a few jobs if you want to be on the phones all day placating angry customers, but even they're being shut down.

As usual with these things, it was sporadically hilarious.  Heavy drug users are prone to complete honesty, a unique way of looking at the outside world and at times no self awareness.  Very like the Merthyr Tydfil episode of Human Remains in parts.

One particular moment that stood out was when one of the subjects said was looking at his key rings from the clinic to work out how many times he had given up and for how long.  'Says yer, 1 day clean and serene, by yer 1 week, this one says one month, this one now says 6 months.  6 months clean and serene, says.'  The documentary maker asks when that was, which was met with silence as the guy struggled to remember. 'Um, that was, um... no, they gave that one to me by mistake.'

Heartbreaking.

I also liked the montage of the worst parts of the city, that guy and his girlfriend drinking in a tunnel, the closed steel works and stuff and there was a guy stumbling outside a pub with graffiti behind him that said, in nice calligraphy, 'oh, what a lovely town!'.

DukeDeMondo

The one that upset me most, and for longest, was Silverlake Life: The View From Here. Ripped me in bits. A man gets AIDS so his boyfriend starts filming the progression of the illness, then he gets it, so someone else steps in to film the both of them dying. Utterly, utterly wrenching, but absolutely brilliant. The scene that sticks in my mind, aside from the one that has one lover trying to pry the dead eyes of his partner open with his fingers, is that in which they're sitting poolside, shirtless, displaying their lesions. "What?" says one to the other. "I'm being political." Brilliant and truly heart-stomping piece of work.

On a similar note, the recent We Were Here had me crying like I didn't know was possible.

Grimmer still, if infinitely more problematic, is Kiyotaka Tsurisaki's documentary feature Orozco the Embalmer. Worth seeing, for sure, but grim grim grim as creation's dark.

I could go on about this for days. I'll stop here.