Filed under: Documentaries, Columns, Cinematical
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Doc Talk is a bi-weekly column about documentaries and the issues related to non-fiction cinema.
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Typically I like to tackle important issues and themes concerning documentaries, such as the ethical concern with filmmakers getting too close to their subjects and the question of whether or not non-fiction works should be excused from the MPAA. But given that tomorrow is Thanksgiving I figure I’ll give you something a little more easily digestible this week. And nothing goes down easier than a list.
Thanksgiving is, more than anything, a time for family, and more and more documentaries are presenting us with interesting families as subjects. Why not spend your holiday watching one of them as a reminder of how minor your own family’s dysfunctions truly are? Actually not all the families I list are necessarily dysfuntional, but I think all have some sort of heavy drama, otherwise they wouldn’t have a film crew following them around.
I’ve tried to include only titles currently available to rent or see in the theater, even if that theater is in a museum or classroom. But I hope you one day have an opportunity to also visit with the excluded clans of new films ‘Kati with an I,’](Kati with an I - Movie | Moviefone) ‘The Arbor’](The Arbor (2011) - Movie | Moviefone) and ‘Circo,’](Circo (2011) - Movie | Moviefone) and other as yet undistributed works. Also, I’m only qualifying families of more than two people documented, so unfortunately no Beales of ‘Grey Gardens,’](Grey Gardens (1976) - Movie | Moviefone) and qualifying only films that center primarily on one family, so unfortunately no Gateses and Agees of ‘Hoop Dreams.’](Hoop Dreams (1994) - Movie | Moviefone)
In no real particular order (who can rank families?):