The Black Miami, A Documentary (2012)
I used to write about documentaries that I found interesting. Then I realized no one cared about that (albeit only a few more people than no one care about what I post now). Miami has a very dynamic history with the Caribbean influences and its virtual isolation due to geographic location.
The construction of I-95 is often cited as one of the major sources in Overtown’s decline around the 1960s, and highways being built through several other poor neighborhoods in that era have had similar effects. I have been plotting to compile a list on this specific result of suburban sprawl/White flight/apathy for the poor for about a year now. It will probably never happen.
Hopefully the narrator wont sound as corny as he does in the trailer.
(Via Mommy Warbucks)
Trailer for The Wonder Year, a doc on producer 9th Wonder
Really excited for this to come out. 9th is one of my top 5 producers of all time, and I think he’s really underrated. I dig nearly everything he drops.
Yo I love 9th as much as the next pretentious rap snob, but wtf is this? I say no to documentaries sponsored by clothing brands about beat makers that are shot at their backwoods homes in the Carolinas.
Henry Louis Gates has teamed up with PBS to create a documentary film on Blacks in Latin America. Above is a short clip of what’s to come. The documentary will nationally air on PBS April 19, 26 and May 3, 10, 2011 at 8 p.m.
My man Henry Louis Gates does it again. The topic is definitely intriguing, but also intricate. That’s mainly why I’m not expecting the film to dig too deep into the psyche of the Latin American community. Race in Latin America is a very dynamic topic with interpretations and social effects varying from country to country.
Topics that I hope are discussed:
- Skin tone and class level in Haiti
- Caribbean slaves called Maroons who escaped into mountains to avoid captivity.
(Source: womansword)
Very few documentaries have a story that develops as sincerely as Beautiful Losers’s. That could be because it is a film about street art, made by people within the street art community. The issues the group faced as teenagers bonded them together to form creative types of art. But the trials never really went away as they became adults, and neither did the drive to be creative.
Although I don’t particularly get street art (really, most forms of visual art other than surrealism doesn’t speak to me), the most intriguing characters tend to be associated with it. Watching Steve Powers get his hair cut into his version of the high top fade was magnificent. The artists were open with their thoughts, messages and methods. The last of which is important of course because every art documentary should show artists in their natural environment.
Beanage:
4/5 Beans
IMDb | Netflix | Trailer & DVD | Amazon
I expected some great scientific insight into nutrition and health since the documentary began with quotes from Linus Pauling and Hippocrates. Unfortunately, the suggestions presented in the film left me skeptical of some of the expert’s credentials and/or sanity.
Food Matters presented alternative viewpoints in treating physical and mental health problems. Its key point was critisizing the health care industry and government organizations for lack of emphasis and delegitimizing nutrition as a main form of treatment and prevention. One thing that triggers my skepticism is a very generalized claim of healing powers. For example, claiming something like the raw food movement can cure/heal/prevent nearly every one of the broad variety of health issues that is common in America is wishful thinking. To be fair, it was only mildly conspiracy theory laced, which kind of made it entertaining enough to watch.
I wanted to get something out of it. People need to consider what they intake and how it affects their health. It was just too hard to get past the pseudo-science that most of the featured commentators founded their opinions. The very singular perspective on a dynamic issue with complex factors including socio-economics and medical science just left me shaking my head throughout this film.
Beanage:
2.5/5 Beans
IMDb | Netflix | foodmatters.tv | Amazon
(Thanks to jjlouis for the recommendation.)
Beautiful Losers (2008) Trailer
I’m not a fan of street art. I feel like most pieces are emotionless and too deep for their own use. Also, it gets oversimplified as the same as hip-hop’s graffiti. But the artists in the trailer seem sincere and open, maybe I can get some good insight from this documentary. So…why not. I’ll watch.
Helvetica
Not everyone has a thing for the subtleties in life. Of all things in the sexy world of graphic design, a documentary about a font probably shouldn’t intrigue most people. For those of us not in the majority, the documentary by Gary Hustwit about Helvetica creates an effective portrait of the ubiquitous typeface.
The pretentious designers’ discussions about the beauty and downfall of Helvetica are almost lyrical. But that’s what one would expect from any art type. The impressive feat of this film was that it incorporated a touch of drama while discussing the development of a typeface.
Beanage:
4/5 Beans
When Tosha told me there is a scene of a couple getting married in the flower section of a supermarket, this docu rose to my queue of films to watch. And unlike the shotgun wedding through aisle 2, this film about an infamous Appalachian family in West Virginia didn’t disappoint.
Even though you’re shaking your head at the White’s antics, you also feel for them when they are on hard times. They are not the usual villainous wild things, because a lot of us wished we could live as care free as the Whites.
I’m not sure if the film makers wanted to maintain the hillbilly stereotype. Depicted as modern day rebels, their lives were basically simplified as running amuck of Boone County West Virginia. I’m left wondering how they functioned when intertwined with modern society. While the subject matter is original, the subject matter gave the producers a ton of entertaining content that probably could have been intertwined better. The Whites lived up to the hype surrounding their name.
Beanage:
3.5/5 Beans
