Docu-rundown and an Idaho-made drama
Tracking down the year’s best documentaries used to be pretty difficult. Now, thanks to services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, you can now spend your entire streaming life in the world of nonfiction film.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences recently announced its shortlist of 15 documentaries eligible for the Best Documentary Oscar. There are some notable omissions (see “The Wolfpack” on Netflix Instant), but the list is a good way to set your priorities as the year comes to a close.
Many of the shortlisted films are already available on home video:
One of the frontrunners in this year’s race has to be “Amy,” the deeply intimate chronicle of singer Amy Winehouse and her tragic final years. It provides a vivid picture of her immense talent, as well as her scandalized troubles with drugs and alcohol. In the process, director Asif Kapadia connects the pressures of monetizing creative output and the devastating influence of scuzzy, tabloid journalism to the singer’s collapse.
“Amy” includes several home videos of Winehouse, and it’s in these personal moments the film captures her infectious talent. You don’t have to be a fan of Winehouse’s music to appreciate “Amy,” but chances are you’ll come out of it with a deeper understanding of what the industry lost when she died. “Amy” is currently available on home video.
Controversy continues to surround “The Hunting Ground,” a shocking documentary about the abundance of college-campus rape and sexual assault in America. Some have called into question a couple of the cases featured in the film, notably an incident at Harvard University.
However that element resolves itself, “The Hunting Ground” is propelled by the stories of numerous victims, many of whom were discouraged and/or ignored by college administrators.The film is backed with hard-to-ignore statistical data from multiple studies, but, again, you’re sure to find a dissenter on this subject in all corners of the Internet.
In my view, the mounting pile of evidence presented is impossible to ignore. The film follows a group of survivors working to counsel victims and inspire change within campus institutions. Their progress is proof enough of the problem at hand.
As a documentary, filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering don’t quite match the structural intensity of their Oscar-nominated standout, “The Invisible War,” which exposed the alarming rate of sexual assault within the U.S. military. Still, “The Hunting Ground” is a necessary polemic on an important social issue. “The Hunting Ground” is available on home video.
On the other end of the spectrum, the gorgeous mountain climbing documentary “Meru” will astonish even those accustomed to the picturesque imagery of the extreme sports sub-genre.
The film follows director/videographer Jimmy Chin and his team of climbers on multiple attempts to ascend the “Shark’s Fin” route on Meru peak in the Himalayas.
While not as tall as Everest or as notorious as K2, the Meru route is considered one of the most difficult climbs anywhere, made all the more obvious by the fact nobody has ever made it to the top taking the Shark’s Fin route.
“Meru” stands apart from other climbing documentaries because it takes the time to get inside the heads of its characters. The film focuses on three climbers, all considered to be some of the best in the world. Yet all have personal experience with the more tragic and dangerous aspects of the lifestyle.
The film is an exciting chronicle of an impossible feat, and noted climbing author Jon Krakauer is on hand to provide just enough color commentary on the near-impossible mission that is Meru peak. “Meru” is available on home video.
Knowing the release patterns of Amazon and Netflix, you can likely expect these three titles on streaming services in the relative future. Currently, Netflix Instant has these other shortlisted Oscar candidates: “What Happened, Miss Simone,” a solid music documentary about Nina Simone, and “Best of Enemies,” about the televised debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal.
Another home video offering, “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” is also on the Oscar shortlist, though most remember it as a televised HBO release earlier this year. It’s incredible and terrifying and one of the best movies of the year. If I talk about it more, I might get an angry letter from the Church of Scientology Fun fact: That actually happened to several film critics across the country when they wrote positive reviews.
Boise-made “Almosting It” arrives in Hayden
Writer/director/star and Boise-native Will von Tagen presents this dramedy about an almost 30-year-old writer struggling to define adulthood. The indie also features Lee Majors as a “retirement home playboy” who tries to help Tagen’s Ralph establish meaningful relationships with the opposite sex.
The movie was made around Boise last year and has appeared at a number of festivals. It screened in Boise this summer, and it opens today at the Hayden Discount Cinema. I haven’t seen it, but it’s received some good marks from various outlets.
More information: www.AlmostingIt.com and for showtimes, visit. www.HDCMovies.com