Ballyard shenanigans, eccentric visionaries and dark doings in the world of oenophiles and ticklers are among the subjects of these wildly entertaining documentaries.
Screwball (2018)
Its a sign of how little respect the director Billy Corben has for the men involved in a Major League Baseball doping scandal that the re-enactments in Screwball are performed entirely by children. Wearing wigs, crudely pasted facial hair, spray tans and bulging fake muscles when necessary, the kids lip-sync testimony from various South Floridians involved in the Biogenesis scandal, which ensnared several MLB stars in 2013, including Alex Rodriguez. The gambit isnt entirely necessary, if only because a story this stupefying doesnt need artificial enhancement. But when one witness talks about Rodriguez pulling silly faces to throw him off at a deposition, Corben finds some justification for his schoolyard conceit.
Stream it on Netflix.
Shirkers (2018)
There was no independent film scene in Singapore when Sandi Tan was a culture-crazy teenager there in the early 90s, so she and her best friend, along with a mysterious mentor twice their ages, decided to created one themselves. Tan set out to make her own answer to Jean-Luc Godards Breathless, a personal and playfully experimental road movie set on an island nation it takes only 40 minutes to drive across. But then that older mentor, a blue-eyed American film director named Georges Cordona, absconded with 70 16-millimeter film canisters, dashing Tans moviemaking dreams. Finally having recovered the footage after Cordonas death, Tan assembled it into Shirkers, an inspired and delirious memoir about her youth and the film that might have sparked a career.
The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
After a ball to the head ended Bing Russells minor league career, he set aside his baseball dreams for a career in Hollywood, where he had a long-running role on Bonanza and took bullets dozens of times in various film and TV westerns. His son Kurt would become a much more famous actor, but the elder Russell returned to the game in 1973 by founding the Class-A Portland Mavericks, the only minor league team not affiliated with a professional franchise. With an outlaw spirit and a keen eye for talent, Russell, as the owner of the team, assembled a rogues gallery of players including Ball Four author Jim Bouton and his success galvanized a city that had previously given up on the game. In celebrating the teams independent spirit, The Battered Bastards of Baseball suggests whats missing from the corporate game.
Stream it on Netflix.
Sour Grapes (2016)
Like Patricia Highsmiths Tom Ripley character come to life, the Indonesian wine collector Rudy Kurniawan took the auction scene by storm with a never-ending cellar of rare and expensive bottles, particularly the coveted Burgundies of eastern France. When Kurniawan was revealed to be a fraudster, his arrest shocked many connoisseurs whod embraced him as a charming raconteur with an unmatched palate for identifying wines. Sour Grapes digs into the mysteries of Kurniawans operation and his profound and lasting impact on elite oenophiles, but it also reserves some appreciation for his artistry. All it takes to be a wine collector is money; to be an impostor on this scale takes a rare talent.
Stream it on Netflix.
Cutie and the Boxer (2013)
The Japanese avant-garde artist Ushio Shinohara arrived in New York in the late 60s with a reputation for Neo-Dadaist paintings and sculptures that reflected an interest in American culture. Though Shinoharas junk art includes a lot of found-object creations, hes perhaps best known for action paintings, in which he covers a pair of boxing gloves in paint and punches away at a large canvas for about two-and-a-half minutes. Cutie and the Boxer puzzles over the visceral, emotional qualities of his work, but its just as invested in the 80-year-olds relationship to his wife Noriko, whose own considerable artistic gifts havent gotten the same attention. Even at a late stage, their marriage shows the complexity of a partnership between people who work in the same field.
Stream it on Netflix.
Framing John DeLorean (2019)
At one point in Framing John DeLorean, the filmmakers pause to note the long list of feature and documentary projects in the works about the auto-industry visionary whose forward-thinking car was immortalized in the 1985 hit Back to the Future. And for good reason. This story has it all: a David-vs.-Goliath battle between car-making giants and a rebel upstart, Ronald Reagan and the War on Drugs, the Troubles in Belfast, and financing bids that included a multimillion dollar cocaine deal and an embezzlement scheme. Actors like Alec Baldwin, Josh Charles and Morena Baccarin appear in re-enactments while offering their own takes on DeLoreans life, but no extra spin on the ball is necessary here.
Cold Case Hammarskjold (2019)
Calling the death of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold and 15 others in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now known as Zambia) on Sept. 18, 1961, a cold case doesnt seem sufficient. Its more like a subarctic case, frozen over by the decades since Hammarskjolds death was officially albeit dubiously chalked up to pilot error. What makes Mads Bruggers documentary so entertaining is that its only half-serious, honoring the nobility of Hammarskjolds anti-colonial mission while ruthlessly deconstructing the entire doc-investigation genre. Nothing new can be learned by strapping on pith helmets and poking through the old crash site, but Brugger is intent to follow every conspiratorial tributary as far as it leads him.
Stream it on Hulu.
The Amazing Johnathan Documentary (2019)
A fixture on the late-night talk show circuit and in Las Vegas, where he performed year-round from 2001 to 2014, John Edward Szeles, better known by his stage name The Amazing Johnathan, made a fortune on gross-out illusions that were a combination of stand-up, magic and performance art. Then in 2014, he announced that hed been diagnosed with a heart condition and that he only had a year to live. Ben Bermans documentary is ostensibly an intimate profile about Szeles last hurrah, but when Berman becomes aware that competing documentaries are being made about the same guy, his film becomes a weird, hilarious, multi-tiered magic trick of its own.
Stream it on Hulu.
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
In the early 80s, the tabloids and the daytime talk show circuit went wild over the incredible story of identical triplets Robert Shafran, David Kellman and Eddy Galland, who grew up in different adoptive families and didnt know of each other until two of them met by happenstance at age 19. The trio turned their joyful reunion into a syncopated comedy routine, but the cameras werent around when the truth about why they were separated and its devastating psychological impact on them, then and now eventually upended their relationship. With the thoughtful participation of two of the surviving brothers, Three Identical Strangers re-boards this emotional roller coaster, holding out hope that the frayed bond between siblings is not entirely broken.
Stream it on Hulu.
Tickled (2016)
When David Farrier, a television reporter in New Zealand, stumbled across a series of online videos on competitive endurance tickling, he thought it would be great material for his lighter-side-of-the-news beat. But the more he looked into Jane OBrien Media, the production company behind the tickling events and videos, the more hostile, homophobic and eventually litigious its representatives became toward him. Farrier and Dylan Reeve, co-director of this documentary, kept poking around the scene regardless, leading them to a heavily bankrolled mystery man who has a history of intimidating journalists and others who got too curious. Tickled is exactly the weird and hilarious yarn Farrier set out to make until it suddenly gets unpleasant for him, which seems true to sensation of tickling in general.
Hail Satan? (2019)
Penny Lanes vastly entertaining documentary about the Satanic Temple, who are less interested in devil worship than in achieve social justice by using Satan as a metaphor for free thinking, opens with a demonstration at the Florida State Capitol in 2013. Rick Scott, then the states governor, had recently signed a law permitting students to read inspirational messages at public events. Temple members at the capitol were mockingly praising him for it: Scotts intent was to allow Christian sentiment to break down the constitutional wall between church and state, but in so doing, he also opened the door for Satanists to express their own ideas in the same space. Such is the modus operandi of The Satanic Temple and its fiendishly clever leader, Lucien Greaves. Hail Satan? follows adherents as they troll such religious freedom initiatives across the United States, one Ten Commandments monument or abortion restriction at a time.
Stream it on Hulu.
See the rest here:
11 Stranger-Than-Fiction Documentaries on Netflix and Hulu - The New York Times
- SF's new War on Drugs has created dangerous, intolerable conditions in the county jail - 48 hills - 48 Hills - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- Addiction experts warn against a second 'war on drugs' - STAT - STAT - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- Eliza Hardy Jones of The War on Drugs on The Emotion and Maximalism Behind Her New Solo LP Pickpocket ... - Glide Magazine - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- Kat Murti: How To End the Drug War for Good - Reason - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- Cannabis Rescheduling: Winning the Battle, but Not the War - R Street - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- House panel to probe killings in Duterte war on drugs - GMA News Online - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- FACT CHECK: Duterte named in ICC documents on Philippine drug war case - Rappler - May 17th, 2024 [May 17th, 2024]
- The dark legacy of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines - WBUR News - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Step up war on drugs and illicit liquors - Nation - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Forum From the Archives: Brutality of Philippines War on Drugs Laid Bare in Some People Need Killing - KQED - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Commentary: We need to rethink how we address drug use - Maryland Matters - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Liberia: Boakai's War on Drugs Gains Momentum - Liberian Daily Observer - February 22nd, 2024 [February 22nd, 2024]
- Tactics are shifting in the war on drugs - Financial Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- End overreliance on punitive measures to address drugs problem ... - OHCHR - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- HSCSO making a dent in the local war on drugs - Malvern Daily Record - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- The Drug War on the Border Doesn't Work - Progressive.org - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- 'When I walk to school, I can see people shooting up.' How Seattle's ... - KUOW News and Information - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- The best gifts ever? Being named after drugs and declaring war on ... - POLITICO Europe - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Latin America This Week: September 20, 2023 - Council on Foreign Relations - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- The drug trade is taking over Latin America - PRESSENZA International News Agency - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Safe Supply Streaming Co. Ltd. Completes Reverse Take-Over ... - The Dales Report - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Critics claim drug use clemency proposal to reduce overcrowding in ... - asianews.network - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- War on illicit drugs | Police warn of meth production, collusion with ... - Fiji Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- From Grief to Action - The Stranger - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Police in region to discuss war against drugs - Khmer Times - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Five die in suspected drug turf war in Richards Bay - Durban - IOL - September 23rd, 2023 [September 23rd, 2023]
- Mayor Bruce Harrell Shares His New Pitch for the War on Drugs - The Stranger - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Illinois Governor Signs Supervised Release Bill To Help Drug War ... - Marijuana Moment - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Activist: Automatically expunging cannabis convictions is step ... - MPR News - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- What the crack epidemic reveals about America - The Boston Globe - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- 'The war on drugs has failed: Sir Richard Branson tells LBC there ... - LBC - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- An Enemy in Mexico - The New York Times - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Betrayal on the Bayou, a New Season of Hit Podcast Smoke Screen ... - Sony Music - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Worldwide Wednesday's International Roundup: Bangladesh, China ... - Death Penalty Information Center - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- 46 Bacolod local government workers test positive for drug use - Rappler - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Jon Bernthal's 12 Best Movies, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes - MovieWeb - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- We Are Continuing the War on Drugs - The Stranger - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Clemency Is One Answer to the War On Drugs | American Civil ... - ACLU - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- As Evidence Mounts That 'War On Drugs' Has Failed, Harm ... - Health Policy Watch - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Families of victims await justice as the ICC reopens Philippines drug ... - NPR - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Why Trump and other Republicans want to go to war in Mexico - Vox.com - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- New Queensland drug laws will keep thousands of people out of justice system, advocates say - ABC News - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Ben Cohen's Cannabis Company Tries to Undo the Harm of the War ... - Seven Days - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Pt. 2: The war on cannabis - Cabrini College Loquitur - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Globe editorial: The tide is turning, but the war on drug overdoses is ... - The Globe and Mail - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Eric Clapton Bringing Crossroads Guitar Festival to L.A., With 41 Guests Ranging From Buddy Guy to the War on Drugs - Variety - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Evaluation of all PNP senior officers has significant impact on war on ... - Manila Bulletin - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- War on Drugs Poster Campaign launched at Pangei bazaar - Pothashang - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Mary Jane, MJ, Weed, Oh my! - The Post - The Post - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Opinion: In defence of drug dealers' humanity - The Globe and Mail - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA: Incarceration for marijuana needs to ... - The Daily Orange - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Today in History: April 23, Hank Aaron's first home run - Sent-trib - Sentinel-Tribune - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- GUEST COLUMN: Legislation would have helped war on opioids - Colorado Springs Gazette - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Positioned to succeed: Organization offers educational program for ... - Youngstown Vindicator - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Miniature organs driving precision medicine and new drug discovery - University of Arizona - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- 18 concerts to see this week, including Father John Misty, Nickel ... - The Key @ XPN - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- 'They are not helping PRRD' | Philstar.com - Philstar.com - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Brandon Ali: By 18 he had a shotgun. At 19 he was smuggling drugs. Age 20 he had murdered a man - Teesside Live - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- Kindiki team shores up gains in drugs, illicit brews fight - The Star Kenya - April 23rd, 2023 [April 23rd, 2023]
- The US Has Spent $1 Trillion Fighting The War On Drugs A Failure, Say The Authors Of New Cannabis Book - Forbes - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- Gov. Kathy Hochuls cannabis crime bill will destroy lives and restart the War on Drugs (guest column) - newyorkupstate.com - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Official says war on drugs is 'here, local' following discovery of 10K fentanyl-laced ecstasy pills in Silsbee - 12newsnow.com KBMT-KJAC - March 26th, 2023 [March 26th, 2023]
- The War on Drugs: History, Policy, and Therapeutics - Dominican University - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- The War on Drugs - Crime Museum - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- What Is the War on Drugs? - WorldAtlas - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- 9 Important Pros and Cons of the War on Drugs ConnectUS - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration - A Brief History of Civil ... - March 11th, 2023 [March 11th, 2023]
- The Former Mexican Official Who Oversaw His Nation's War on Drugs Went on Trial in the ... - Latest Tweet - LatestLY - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Women and the Drug War | Drug Policy Alliance - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- The War on Drugs as Structural Racism - Penn LDI - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- The Phony War on Drugs - The New York Times - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Biden pot pardon to help with War on Drugs' harms to Black people : NPR - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- War on Ivermectin: The Medicine that Saved Millions and Could Have ... - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- IN NUMBERS: The Philippines' 'war on drugs' - RAPPLER - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Disastrous War on Drugs - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- The Irrational War on Drugs - consortiumnews.com - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Race and the Drug War | Drug Policy Alliance - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Sound Summit 2022: a guide to the Bay Areas highest music festival - SF Chronicle Datebook - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Here's how health and wellness will show up on Denver's November ballot - Denverite - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- 10 Monday AM Reads - The Big Picture - Barry Ritholtz - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]