Documentary Fest: Broadway (Discovery) Screening Series | Nov 17–24, 2005

Well, isn't it just typical of Madonna? She’s always had this uncanny, almost obsessive knack for sniffing out the weirdest little trends and deciding they absolutely deserve a massive push. In this latest video, she decided to lean hard into that whole "Rice" dance craze—though, if you want the real tea, she actually scrapped the whole thing halfway through production because of some "creative differences," yet somehow those snippets still managed to end up 😁

Robert Cooper41 said:Well—given that Madonna has that classic, impeccable knack for picking things worth "pushing," she brought la Chapelle on for this new video—and that whole dance "Rice" thing (though, truth be told... she let him go halfway through filming due to "creative differences," but bits of it remained 😁 )

Actually, la Chapelle was *interesting* and "pushed" long before Rice 😁

To me, Rice is excellent. I should clarify from the start that la Chapelle isn't really a director—certainly not a documentary one—but rather (in my view) just a brilliant pop culture photographer in the most "lollipop-esque" way possible. It’s pink and artificial, just as it is.

The videos for Britney, Christina, and Lil' Kim—and no doubt Elton John too. Hello?

But his photos are insane. 😍

Getting back to Rice. I was absolutely terrified at first, thinking the entire film would just be about Tommy—just him and his crew jumping around in color, all set against an intensely blue sky and that sort of vibe.

But if we take his directing skills with a grain of salt—he did set up the problem quite well; he created a plot, a climax, and so on... you can certainly take a side and ponder the "how" and "why," all while people are dancing—and doing it in a Jaaaaaaaako interesting way. There are funny parts (the guy with the coffin shop is gold) and some sad ones. Did I mention... they dance in the meantime? 😁

I honestly cannot believe someone would label this a film where *only Black people dance*. Any film could be described that way. Like *the one where they ride horses*, or *the one where they just talk and walk a little*...

Back to the Documentary. Why don't they rotate the schedule? I've already had to miss Crossing The Bridge for two days straight 😢

Crossing The Bridge has been recommended before, but you can never have enough. If a movie actually lands for me, it’s because it has substance. That interplay between Music and Lights was beautiful.
A nice trip out East too... Istanbul really does have something special about it.

Since they're showing documentaries anyway, they might as well have aired Working Man's Death or even Tibet Revisited. The latter is a bit experimental, sure, but still counts as a documentary.

Today at 3:50 PM 🎉 🎉 🎉

Work harder. Work harder. Work harder. Work harder...

brightridge19 said:well, Madonna was *interesting* and *iconic* way before Rice 😁

I wasn't suggesting she "outshone" Madonna herself, but rather that specific dance move.
Then again, being a regular reader of American magazines like "Photo," his name just sort of... stuck in my head, buried somewhere between all those endless celebrity breasts and butts we're constantly bombarded with! 😬

* - and I still have one of his books sitting right there on my shelf(!?), featuring Kate Moss and Devon Aoki.

Grizzly😁

Look, it’s not exactly hilarious—I mean, bears actually ate this guy—but those bits about the "gentle warrior" and all the theories about some guy's sexual dysfunction? Pure comedy gold.🤣
Herzog is totally in his element here—just cutting people off mid-sentence to shove his own perspective down their throats (that scene where he talks that slow-moving woman into burning the tape is brilliant and honestly pretty creepy). It's more of the same stuff you've seen in his older documentaries, but that point about how a Grizzly just stares at you with this completely indifferent, predatory gaze still hits hard.

And the foxes are 😍 ,way better than the 🙂Penguin
.

steelstag4 said:And then there’s that absolutely brilliant, thoughtful way they wrapped up the review— Primitive. subkultura. Come on, be a sweetheart and explain to me exactly why you think they're primitive. That was such a disgusting, racist comment. 🙂

It feels incredibly wrong—and honestly, a little pseudo-politically correct—to slap that kind of label on someone else's comment when there isn't a single racist sentiment in it. Or is it just the fact that the actors in the movie are Black that makes you feel like any criticism at all is automatically racist? In your logic, it seems like the film is somehow immune to critique because of its casting. I suspect you might be jumping to heavy accusations a bit too quickly. Let's not go there.

ruggedmarlin15

P.S. If you're going to try and convince me that there's racism hidden in the comment you're referencing, please don't. I really don't want people thinking I'm just trying to start a fight.

P.P.S. Judging by how things went at the Asian film festival, you’d probably expect them to screen the Documentary somewhere outside of Washington, D.C., too...

"March of the Penguins" is a pretty blunt American translation of the original title, "The Emperor's March." Back home, they translated it as "Imperial Journey," though "Emperor's Journey" might have been more accurate—just a tiny distinction, I guess. In the French version, the penguins are mostly anthropomorphized; you have actors providing voices for the adult male, the female, and even their chick. In the US version, though, there's just a narrator—specifically, the "Voice of God" Morgan Freeman. Apparently, people in the US are debating whether the film proves a divine plan exists, mainly because the penguins are monogamous and their behavior seems somewhat pro-life.

People on this thread are already mentioning how the morning news ran a headline saying "don't take your kids to see the penguins." The reasoning likely boils down to "brutality" and, to a lesser extent, "sex." There isn't actually any blood in the film, but there are two scenes where predators kill a penguin, one scene involving freezing on the ice, and one scene showing penguin courtship and mating. Honestly, there isn't a time when you could see more animal brutality in any other documentary during the daytime. But, since this is being shown in theaters, all of that suddenly becomes incredibly significant. Or, more realistically, people have just found something new to shout about for a few weeks. I can't help but wonder what kind of lasting scars the simple fact that animals eat other animals—something humans do too—could possibly leave on children.

As for the film itself? It’s beautifully shot; the penguins are lovely and quite engaging. The music can be a bit overly sweet at times, but I suppose it fits the idea of portraying a "penguin love story," much like the emotional performances of the actors—in that regard, Americans missed out on experiencing the original vision of the French filmmakers.

This documentary has earned about a hundred million dollars worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing documentary in theaters, right behind Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It's an interesting trend, and I hope it continues. The main reason it's worth seeing this in a theater is the stunning cinematography—the big screen really does it justice.

Forget about smoking with a Penguin... I'm actually here in Istanbul 😍 😍

😁

brightridge19 said:forget watching penguins... I'd rather head straight to Istanbul😍 😍

😁

I caught both "Sound of Istanbul" and "Rice" at the recent Sundance Film Festival—they were both quite excellent, I think. 👍

After this young musician from Istanbul performed one of his tracks—it was solo, incredibly fast, and pretty impressive—the crowd over at SC started clapping :klap:

ruggedmarlin15 said:It’s honestly a pretty nasty (and pseudo-politically correct) way to mislabel someone else's comment, especially when there wasn't a single racist bone in it. Are we really at the point where just because the cast is Black, the movie becomes untouchable? Like, according to your logic, any critique becomes instantly racist? I suspect you're throwing around heavy accusations a little too fast. Slow down.

I never claimed anything was "automatically" immune to criticism, so I have no idea how you jumped to that conclusion.
What I don't get is how anyone can label them a primitive community when they aren't fundamentally different from the rest of the population, other than being Black and living in poverty.

coastalorca3 said:Honestly, "March of the Penguins" is such a blunt, lackluster American translation of the original title, "The Emperor's March." Back home, we had it translated as "Imperial Journey," though if I’m being picky, "Emperor's Journey" would have been more accurate. It's just one tiny nuance, but it matters! In the French version, they really lean into the anthropomorphism—you've got actors providing the voices for the adult male, the female, and even their little chick. It adds such a lovely layer to the whole thing.

I am just so incredibly thrilled that they finally released the original French version for us! It honestly provides such a completely fresh experience to hear the narration this way in the documentary.

coastalorca3 said:People have already been bringing up that headline from this morning’s paper—you know, the one that basically said, "Don't take your kids to see the Penguins."

Honestly, I don't think they even need to be supervised. Last night, there was this kid sitting right behind me who kept dropping his bag of chips on the floor—I swear he must have opened at least five different bags during the entire movie. It was hard to tell what was more annoying: the constant snacking or his parent constantly shushing him to sit still. Meanwhile, the row in front of me was occupied by a couple with kids who couldn't have been older than three. They were basically wandering all over the theater and crying the whole time. Like, hello? They were totally taking over the room! And to top it all off, they were watching Sharkboy and Lavagirl. 😁

I really loved this documentary! The cinematography was absolutely stunning, the storytelling was so well-constructed, and the soundtrack fit every single scene perfectly. I actually walked away having learned quite a few new things, too! 🙂

I’m heading out to Rice today, then off to Istanbul tomorrow. I'm really hoping to squeeze in a screening of Touching the Void while I'm at it. Honestly, though, none of the showtimes for Grizzly work for my schedule! 😢

coastalorca3 said:I caught "Sound of Istanbul" and "Rice" at the recent Sundance Film Festival, and they were both great. 👍

Once this young musician from Istanbul tore through one of his tracks solo—just incredibly fast and impressive—the crowd over at the SC started clapping :klap:

Eh, it's a bit of a shallow scene, but you need it to show there's variety. Those rappers have the most ridiculous 😁 lyrics out there...

Sound of Istanbul 🤣 someone had to mess up the translation 😁 and strip the movie title right out of the heading 🙄

coastalorca3 said:Apparently, there are huge debates heating up across the US about how that movie proves there's some kind of divine plan at work, mostly because they claim the penguins are monogamous and their whole lifestyle is basically pro-life.

Oh, sure, that holds up perfectly—right up until the moment scientists step in and point out that Emperor Penguins are actually serial monogamists who end up mating with a completely different partner about 85% of the time every single season.

Richard Hernandez13 said:Exactly. That is, until experts turned around and claimed that Emperor Penguins are actually serial monogamists—with about 85% of them pairing up with a different mate every single season.

I honestly have no idea how they even verify if they are sticking with the same partner or switching things up. Penguins all look identical to me...

Justin Patel said:I honestly don't see how they even track whether they're sticking with the same partners or switching things up. Penguins—they all look pretty much identical to me.

Maybe through tagging? 🤔

One case for serial monogamy versus staying with one partner for life is genetic diversity. Plus, given the high egg failure rate—which can hit 80% in some years—it probably makes sense for penguins to seek out the best possible mate every season. Maybe the previous partner wasn't quite capable enough, or perhaps they didn't make it through the winter.
In any case, the sheer amount of attention, effort, and time those Emperor Penguins have to pour into ensuring their egg—and eventually the chick—survives the brutal polar climate and predator attacks is massive. I guess that’s likely why so many viewers feel such an emotional connection or even identify with them. And, well, they walk on two legs. 😁

I caught March of the Penguins and honestly, it was great. Jaaaaaaaako glad I that they didn't go with a voiceover dub for it. 🙂
You guys pretty much covered it all, though the little surprise for me was the atmosphere—that specific attempt to give the whole story a lyrical feel. The director is essentially trying to pull at your heartstrings whenever there's an opening to do so. For my part, he mostly pulls it off, even if it feels a bit overly sentimental at times. For instance, when he tries to get poetic about natural phenomena, using lines like "when the sun’s gentle rays caress the landscape"—sorry, I'm being a bit cliché now—but there were moments where it just felt like overkill.

But the penguins themselves? Absolutely fascinating. Watching them waddle, crawl, swim, or basically fly out of the ocean... it's incredible. And the sheer grit and patience they show is unreal. Just standing there for weeks, almost motionless, protecting an egg while battling that bone-chilling cold—it’s truly captivating.

And then there are those moments when they start bickering and actually slapping each other around 🤣
Or how they can be so hilariously clumsy from time to time 😂
Not to mention when they start cuddling and showing affection 😍

Has nobody seen Touching the Void? Even if it doesn't strictly qualify as a documentary, it’s pure suspense—basically a regressive whodunnit.
I didn't catch it in theaters, and honestly, I regret missing those snowy landscapes and peaks on the big screen.

Crossing The Bridge didn't really do it for me—neither the depth of the research nor the execution was up to par. Cem Karaca isn't even mentioned (though I did spot him in the credits), and the Derwish influence only appears for a fleeting moment, mostly through some irrelevant interpretation by an uneducated hippie American woman. Honestly, there were far too many hippies in frame, including the director himself, whose prog-folk noodling was truly unnecessary listening. As for the rappers, they were top-tier.

So, nobody actually got executed? 😕

The Derwishis got a pretty solid representation through just one of their own. Brief, but it stuck.

Everything else felt like a repetitive thread running through the whole movie—just crossing the bridge.

Those rappers were absolute trash.