Film as Nonfiction

The current trend in film is undoubtedly one of Documentary. Fueled by the drastically lowered price of digital film-making which gives equiptment access to any would-be filmmaker, coupled with a more available market for niche and microcosmic studies, Docs have arrived. The NYT calls them the "flavor of the moment," and laments that, in this surprising new desire for documentary films, some qualitative aspects have been left behind:

But this boom, inspired by hits like "Spellbound" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," has its downside. Every week seems to bring another mediocre documentary, coasting on the strength of its content and its similarity to a better, more artistic film. Even as the genre leaps out of its niche, it is suffering from a tyranny of substance over style.

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Nancy Buirski, founder and executive director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C., pointed to those works as likely incentives for filmmakers and distributors who are grabbing for the next nonfiction blockbuster, sometimes recklessly.

"People are buying up everything," Ms. Nevins said, even commissioning documentaries on the basis of three- or four-minute samples. As one gauge of a market gone wild, she pointed to "Mad Hot Ballroom," which Paramount Classics and Nickelodeon bought for a reported $2 million. "That's the kind of film that might have sold for about $250,000 five years ago," she said.

The two elements the NYT discusses are social content and filmmaking style, both of which are completely justifiable arguments. James points to the fantastic and beautiful "My Architect" as a personal opus film which shifts focus into a study of family, place, and art; and "Spellbound" as an example of a film which pushes from simply entertainment to a complicated study of class and education.

It also points to the upcoming Werner Herzog Film "Grizzly Man," which will, of course, be brilliant, as an expression of the creative capacity of films about the truth.

The question of good Docs is a huge one: they all must tell a social story, something worth thinking about. Not because the political content of the time dictates it or some reason along those lines, but because film is inherently a social medium. It is built to be experienced socially and discussed socially. Unlike a written testimony that can be used for an argument, film is meant to fuel the emotion and experience, but not solely the evidence of the argument.

So the doc will live and die by it's content: if it is compelling, fresh, and interesting, we'll watch it. But those few films that are all of the above coupled with meaningful social themes, those are the docs which have the fuel to affect culture.

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[Jump in line, kids! What are some of your most-admired documentary films? Keep in mind, television has documentaries, occassionally, as well! Mark your answers below. Please print, no cursive!]