{"id":1886,"date":"2013-04-22T00:04:52","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T04:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2013-07-23T03:33:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T07:33:10","slug":"netflix-longies-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/netflix-longies-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Longies #1 (Girl Model, Kumar\u00e9, Foreign Parts, I Like Killing Flies, Monica & David)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is basically the opposite of my Netflix Quickies<\/a> series. Instead of movies I picked randomly on Netflix Instant that I tried for a few minutes and hated, these are ones I fell in love with and watched all of. So definitely check them out.<\/p>\n

By the way, these are all documentaries, because for some reason the only stuff I\u2019ve given five stars on Netflix lately have been docs. Just been really lucky with them, I guess.<\/p>\n

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\n

\nGirl Model<\/a> (2011)
\n<\/b>Directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin
\n78 min.
\n
\nA haunting doc about the Russian modeling industry\u2014more specifically, the 13-year-old Russian girls who are sent to Japan with the vague promise of modeling contracts. I love a doc that doesn\u2019t try to cover too much, and simply focuses on the micro as a way to address the macro. This one does exactly that, and does it beautifully. The photography is simple, yet deeply affecting. And all the people profiled here\u2014both the good people and the bad\u2014truly bare their soul. It\u2019s everything you could ever want from an intimate, disturbing slice of life, and at 78 minutes, absolutely does not overstay its welcome.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but think of Lost in Translation<\/a> as I watched this. This movie basically hits every beat of loneliness and malaise that Sofia tries to, but without the cursoriness and snark that bogs down not just that work of hers, but all<\/i> her work. Basically, if Sofia were mature and awesome at what she does, she\u2019d be making movies like this. But she\u2019s not, so the filmmakers behind this one are instead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nKumar\u00e9<\/b><\/a> (2011)
\n<\/b>Directed by Vikram Gandhi
\n84 min.<\/p>\n

Fed up with the hypocrisy and narcissism of many self-professed gurus of the world, Vikram Gandhi decides to pretend to be one, as an experiment to see just how easy it is to build a devout following. Along the way, he experiences the reality of what it\u2019s like to be worshipped, and his journey becomes very emotional and difficult. How does one hold onto one\u2019s self in the face of those who eat up your every word?<\/p>\n

Basically it\u2019s part Borat<\/a>, part Penn & Teller: Bullshit!<\/a>\u2014but with way more heart and restraint than both. And I\u2019m not dogging those two at all. I like them a lot. But this one goes way deeper. This should be shown in high schools to spark debate and discussion and whatnot. Lots to talk about in regards to philosophy, psychology, and spirituality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nForeign Parts<\/a> (2010)
\n<\/b>Directed by Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki
\n81 min.<\/p>\n

Earns your trust from the very first shot and never breaks it. An unrelentingly minimalist fly-on-the-wall doc about a unique area of NYC\u2014Willets Point, Queens\u2014that not too many people know about. I have friends who have lived in the city all their lives and never heard of it. Basically, it\u2019s an industrial neighborhood with no sidewalks or sewers, cramped with auto repair shops and scrap yards. Rows and rows of them, many offering the exact same services. The area has only one official \u2018resident\u2019\u2014the rest of the people who live there are undocumented workers or homeless. There have been many attempts to be redevelop it over the last 50+ years, to no avail.<\/p>\n

But this is not a movie about all that. These details are never even mentioned. It\u2019s simply about the lives of some people who live and work there. The camera, quite simply, observes, and occasionally is there for them if they feel like talking. However, this is by no means a simple movie. It takes great finesse and skill to cut a movie like this\u2014one that flows like an organic journey, with no artifice in the way. After this movie, you\u2019ll truly feel as though you went and walked around somewhere surreal, and interacted with some intriguing strangers along the way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nI Like Killing Flies<\/a> (2004)
\n<\/b>Directed by Matt Mahurin
\n80 min.<\/p>\n

And now, something NYC I haven’t\u00a0<\/em>heard of. A diner called Shopsin\u2019s, run by a quirky, cantankerous patriarch and his family, boasting a nearly 1,000 item menu. Seems like something I\u2019d have heard of. I love off-the-wall shit like that. Not necessarily to eat at (I\u2019m vegan) but to appreciate the mere existence of. Somehow it, and this fantastic doc, slipped by me.<\/p>\n

Watching this jogged a lot of memories. During my teens, I worked at a disgusting, Hoarders<\/a>-esque hole in the wall that was basically the video store equivalent of Shopsin\u2019s. If we were in food service, we would\u2019ve been shut down for mice and flies and dust bunniculas and worse. It was that bad in there. Which means it was technically worse than Shopsin\u2019s. Which is a scary thought.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t a shock doc or anything. It\u2019s charming as shit. You\u2019ll quickly look past your disgust for the surroundings because it\u2019s just so much damn fun to hear Kenny Shopsin talk. He\u2019s nuts, but he\u2019s entertaining. If I had to be around him 24\/7, I\u2019d probably go nuts myself, but in small doses he\u2019s a delight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"monicapic\"
\n

\nMonica & David<\/a> (2009)
\n<\/b>Directed by Alexandra Codina
\n68 min.<\/p>\n

This one really took me by surprise. A 68-minute doc on a husband and wife with Down\u2019s Syndrome? Sounds like a cookie-cutter TLC special. But nope. This is some of the purest damn filmmaking you\u2019ll see in a while.<\/p>\n

There are shots peppered throughout that are some of the best god damn shitty-video-camera-plus-no-additional-light shots you\u2019ll ever see in your life. Just look at the one I picked for the still. That shit would make Von Trier and Vinterberg eat their hat. Fuck a damn The Celebration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the dialogue is great too. This couple’s sweet nothings sound very effortlessly Mamet-y. More Mamet-y than anything Mamet has done in many years. Fuck a damn Phil Spector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another refreshing thing here is the attention to detail as far as depicting their daily lives. You really get a sense of their own personal day-to-day, which is a very hard thing to nail in editing. A lesser doc would\u2019ve zipped past a lot of the quiet, simple moments that this one lingers on. Alexandra has an impeccable eye for finding the moments that are of the most importance to her subjects.<\/p>\n

Do not miss this one. I mean yeah, watch all the other ones I mentioned too, but man, this one really kicked my ass. Beautiful fucking movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is basically the opposite of my Netflix Quickies<\/a> series. Instead of movies I picked randomly on Netflix Instant that I tried for a few minutes and hated, these are ones I fell in love with and watched all of. So definitely check them out.<\/p>\n

By the way, these are all documentaries, because for some reason the only stuff I\u2019ve given five stars on Netflix lately have been docs. Just been really lucky with them, I guess.<\/p>\n

\"girlpic\"<\/p>\n

Girl Model<\/a> (2011)
\n<\/b>Directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin
\n78 min.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1],"tags":[1297,2284,1292,1291,1290,1302,119,1296,1319,1318,1320,926,1295,630,1312,1311,1309,1314,1300,959,1299,1317,1316,1293,1294,1288,1287,1303,1306,1307,1304,1305,1308,1286,1298,1315,1313,1321,1285,927,1301,1289,1310],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-codysreviews","tag-ashley-sabin","tag-best-documentaries-netflix","tag-best-netflix-docs","tag-best-netflix-documentaries","tag-best-netflix-movies","tag-borat","tag-david-mamet","tag-david-redmon","tag-down-syndrome-doc","tag-downs-syndrome","tag-downs-syndrome-doc","tag-foreign-parts","tag-girl-model","tag-hoarders","tag-i-like-killing-flies","tag-irn-triangle","tag-j-p-sniadeki","tag-kenny-shopsin","tag-kumare","tag-lars-von-trier","tag-lost-in-trnaslation","tag-monica-david","tag-monica-and-david","tag-netflix-docs","tag-netflix-documentaries","tag-netflix-longies","tag-netflix-quickes","tag-penn-teller","tag-penn-tellers-bullshit","tag-penn-teller-bullshit","tag-penn-and-teller","tag-penn-and-tellers-bullshit","tag-penn-and-teller-bullshit","tag-phil-spector","tag-russian-modeling","tag-shopsin","tag-shopsins","tag-the-celebration","tag-thomas-vinterberg","tag-verena-paravel","tag-vikram-gandhi","tag-what-to-wtach-on-netflix","tag-willets-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1886"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2874,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886\/revisions\/2874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}