Somehow watching a great documentary always makes me feel a little like I just did something healthy for myself - like eating organic vegetables, reading a book or going for a run. I suppose this is because documentaries are extracted from real life, and as such are educational and historical. “Deep Water” is one of those films. It tells an incredible story that most Americans are not likely to have any recollection of.

In 1969, there was a boat race to see who could become the first person to make a solo trip around the world without stopping. Nine contestants entered the race and less than half of them completed it. But the real story revolved around Donald Crowhurst a novice sailor with a nagging zeal to win the race as his one shot to leave a mark on history. He built a odd custom boat and mortgaged his house to compete against some of the finest sailors in the world. Leaving his wife and three children behind for what was expected to be a 9 month excursion, what follows is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of sport. There is nothing particularly unusual about the filmmaking here, mostly just old footage taken before the race, interviews with friends and relatives shot recently, and some haunting footage shot while out on the sea. To say more would be to ruin an incredible mystery, but this film will stick with you long after it is over. 

Filmmage

Despite the greedy, bickering, and seemingly unsolvable problems that have managed to suck much of the air out of the this year’s awards season, 2007 is beginning to feel like one of the strongest movie years of the decade: A happy split between genuinely mass audience popcorn epics, and smallish indie movies that focus on perfectly drawn characters moving through everyday life. As usual, ten films seem like an arbitrary number, so this list will include quite a few more … why not? In any event, most of these movies are already rentable, and the ones still in the theatres should be seen on a big screen without interruption or a pause button, if at all possible.

1.             Once - Dir. John Carney (Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)

“Once” is an instant classic, transforming the simple story of a scruffy Irish street singer and beautiful Czech immigrant into a kind of kindred musical and spiritual collaboration whose narrative is told largely through lyrics and whose tone is set by the natural chemistry between Hansard’s guitar and Irglova’s piano. It is that rare jewel of a film that not only dares to reinvent the genre but does so using novice actors (although Hansard did play one of the Commitments in the 80’s film and has been leading his own band, The Frames, for over a decade)  and music that has disappointingly eluded the mainstream for years. Watching this film made me somewhat envious of the kind of language and relationship that only music can bring out between a man and woman who learn to love through an unspoken musical language- a kind of romantic groove. If there is any justice in this world, Hansard and Irglova, will win the Academy award for best song, vaulting The Frames into a much deserved wider audience, much like Elliott Smith did with “Good Will Hunting,” and “Once” will become 2007’s little indie that could, accumulating awards and a more visible place in the history of independent film. This film will choke you up repeatedly.

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In the event that you ever spent time sitting in your suburban bedroom all jacked up on adolescent angst, trying to convince yourself that you actually liked the nihlistic raving of the American hardcore bands of the early 80’s, this film is for you. The film is a gritty kind homage to regional flavors and characters that littered this short lived but prolific period of musical history.

Filled primarily with what must have been incredibly rare clips of early Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and contemporary interviews with all these personalilites 20 years later, “American Hardcore” is the video accompaniment of the classic punk non-fiction classic “This band Could be Your Life.” I’m not sure I still have the stomach for much of this stuff anymore, but it sure is cool to revisit the dirty, brutal zeitgeist from the comfort of my cozy living room couch.

Like a companion piece to the brilliant “City of God,” the epic documentary “Bus 174″ explores the tragic and gritty world of the hoards of homeless kids in Brazil, in the context of a now infamous 2000 Rio hostage situation. Most great documentaries take wonderfully complicated stories, and juxtapose them with a cinematic creativity and parallel narrative idea to create something new (”A Thin Blue Line,”"Capturing The Friedman’s,” “Paradise Lost”). “Bus 174″ uses the many hours of actual footage of a 21 year-old glue sniffing mugger; during his 12 hour gun-wielding rant on a Rio bus that resulting in two deaths.

From a variety of perspectives, the surreal overhead opening shots of the densely ominous Rio slums to the harrowing footage of the overcrowded jails in Brazil, the incident on Bus 174 seems so tragically predictable. For a country and city as seemingly sophisticated as Brazil might appear to be, the reality of the pervasive violence and homelessness that runs rampant is mind-blowing. As for the actual saga that was “Bus 174” it is rare to see a story like this unfold so desperately and in real-time driving towards such an unpredictable conclusion. This film ranks up there among the best docs I have ever seen, as suspenseful and chilling any non-fiction is likely to be.

To make music for over twenty years, twelve proper records in all, with almost every record better than the last, with the exception of the 1999 opus “The Soft Bulletin” being the best, is an accomplishment reserved for less than a handful of bands in the history of rock. To have chronicled this ascent on film for the duration is an even luckier feat. But for The Flaming Lips, as we get to know them over the course of their career, it couldn’t happen to a nicer and more deserved bunch of guys. And of course, as we know, it is always better to be lucky and good.

Born out of the theoretically cultural dead zone of Oklahoma, the band, which has always been the creative living art project of singer Wayne Coyne, has grown from a noisy psychedelic cacophony to an orchestrally sophisticated pop super group. With an evolving cast of characters including early iterations with Wayne’s brothers and high school chums, to its current line-up featuring the musically gifted multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd who helped lift the band into the musical elite, that story of this band is the story of persistence, creativity and friendship. It is also a tale of remaining modest and appreciative in the face of stardom. Still making their home in Oklahoma, the band seems to have discovered the importance of living in the moment, making personal happiness a priority and sharing this ethos through song.

The story of the band is as uplifting as the music that they create. At its core it is about finding joy and having fun. This struggle wasn’t always easy, as we learn in the film, but eventually passion pays off and for this we, the fans, owe a profound gratitude. In the words of Wayne Coyne himself, “We have had a truly had wonderful and accidental career.”

9.5 out of 10

Shy of the melodramatically annoying narration of director Herzog, Grizzly Man is one of those perfect documentaries. The story is just one of those with a distinct beginning, middle and end. Grizzly Man was so thoroughly documented by its protagonist, over almost decade, that at times it almost seems like it might have been a fiendish collaboration between filmmaker and subject. Obviously this wasn’t the case, but what Herzog is able to piece together is the gradual unraveling of a man losing his perspective: a perversely compelling watch.