When it comes to documentaries, I tend to lean away from the traditionally popular issue-based documentaries.  So Waiting For Superman was not (and is not) high on my list of films to see.  Instead I’m interested in seeing documentaries that find their motivation in storytelling and character development.  I figure that we rarely say, “Let’s make a scripted narrative about war,” (or if we do, they rarely work) so why should we do that with documentaries?  Some of the best documentaries in my list are in fact about war but they are about characters and narrative first.  One more caveat.  There are still three films that I really want to see - The Tillman Story, Big River Man and Waste Land.  Given how documentaries are released with extended film festival runs, it’s often tough to see a doc in the year it was released.  So I look forward to a couple other 2010 docs in 2011.

 

Exit Through the Gift Shop – A great look at the street art scene, an intriguing central character and in the end, a film that is a indictment of the modern art scene.

 

Restrepo and The Oath – These two films deserve a double billing.  Restrepo follows a company of American soldiers in Afghanistan.  We feel the monotony of modern warfare (it’s not like Call of Duty) and experience the anonymity of the enemy.  Which takes us to The Oath, a fascinating look at “the enemy.”  Not all Arab terrorists are the same.

 

Best Worst Movie and Winnebago Man – It’s hard to find an actual story in documentaries that celebrate a culture or curious character.  In fact they usually just migrate from anecdote to anecdote and after 30 minutes leave you saying, “I get the picture.”  Both of these films are exceptional for this sub genre in their ability to tell an interesting story.  Best Worst Movie looks at the surprising cult following of Troll 2 while Winnebago Man is about a filmmaker’s quest to find the Youtube sensation known as the “Angriest Man in America.”

 

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work – Being a celebrity isn’t as easy as it seems.  Even more so, the creative life is full of insecurity.  Every once in a while this film seems to migrate into reality style story telling but then we get a revealing scene that would never make it to television.

 

The Parking Lot Movie – Maybe I liked this one a little more because it was filmed in Charlottesville, a town I called home for a year, but it’s a pretty compelling film that examines the men who work at a small parking lot downtown in a university city.  Parking lot attendants can be philosophers.

 

Three documentaries I saw this year that I loved but were not released this year.

Deep Water – I’ll take this over Man on Wire as far as historical docs are concerned.  A fascinating examination of celebrity and obsession.

Audience of One – It’s like watching a car crash.  I’ve also described it like looking at yourself in one of those fun house mirrors – you see enough that you recognize yourself but it sure doesn’t look like what you know yourself to be.

Art of the Steal – You’ve got to have a film that will make you mad.  This obviously one-sided film will do just that.