Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by grinagog (D) on January 23, 2005 at 21:49:13

In Reply to: As a documentary filmmaker myself... (long) posted by EBerlin on January 22, 2005 at 17:43:00:

Straight, No Chaser about the life of Thelonius Monk remains my favorite documentary and it's a USA production
Interspersing archival footage and interviews with the man himself, or those who were close to him, mostly done in an anecdotal manner
Not a hagiography; Monk is quite often not shown in a favorable light
The viewer is left to develop their own conclusions of the subject with the filmmaker doing a "disappearing act"
There is no heavy reliance on still photographs and what few are presented are relevant, similarly voice-over is relegated to a brief introduction
Topics such as racism are touched on (Monk loses his cabaret card for an offence he was not guilty of) but this does not become a hobby horse
This documentary covers a lot of ground; without becoming an overload, really well done

Grins

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