The pop-culture inspired docos you must see at this year’s Doc Edge
New Zealand’s annual celebration of global documentary-making has returned, again in a form that offers the best of both worlds. As well as in-cinema seasons in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Doc Edge Festival’s 2022 lineup will be available to stream from virtually anywhere in Aotearoa. In all, the Oscar-qualifying festival’s programme includes more than 110 features and shorts.
Doc Edge champion Judy Bailey has described the range and quality of films this year as ‘‘extraordinary’’.
Here at Stuff to Watch, we’re impressed with the strong selection of pop-culture themed titles, documentaries that lift the lid on some memorable entertainers. After looking through the lineup and previewing a selection, we’ve come up with 10 terrific titles we believe are well worth seeking out.
Still touring more than 35 years after they took the world by storm, the rise and fall of one of Norway’s finest exports falls under the microscope in Thomas Robsahm and Aslaug Holm’s film.
A nostalgia-inducing mix of archival material, fly-on-the-wall footage from their recent tours and separate present-day interviews, we see how the three disparate personalities of Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Paul Waaktaar combined to create such memorable earworms as The Sun Always Shines on TV, Cry Wolf and, of course, Take On Me.
Betty White: First Lady of Television
Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Carl Reiner, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Bertinelli, Pamela Adlon, Valerie Harper and Gavin MacLeod are just some of the legendary comedian’s co-stars who contribute to this hour-long portrait of the beloved actor who died last December.
Tales from the set of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland are interesting, but the eye-opening stuff surrounds her groundbreaking 1950s daytime talk show The Betty White Show (where she did her own live commercials) and glimpses into her off-screen routine during the past few years.
Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
Love it or hate it, there’s no doubting the ongoing cultural impact of the musical adaptation of Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem’s tales of a Russian Jewish dairyman and his five daughters.
Debuting on Broadway in 1964, Fiddler on the Roof was a boxoffice sensation and critically adored, so naturally Hollywood came calling.
This Jeff Goldblum-narrated, soup-to-nuts look at the trials and tribulations of turning it into what legendary film critic Pauline Kael described as ‘‘the most powerful movie musical ever made’’ features plenty of behindthe-scenes footage, insights from others who were there (especially director Norman Jewison) and titbits like the famous, truly inappropriate faces who were keen to play the central role of Tevye.
A Forbidden Orange
Alex DeLarge himself, actor Malcolm McDowell, narrates this fascinating look at the making of, controversy surrounding and fallout from the release of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ dystopian crime novel A Clockwork Orange.
But rather than just covering old ground, McDowell reflects on the production, and details the impact it had in Spain where it was initially banned, inspired a bizarre exploitation rip-off
A Drop of Blood to Die Loving and eventually became a late1970s phenomenon on a par with Star Wars.
I Get Knocked Down
Yes, this is a look at the seemingly one-hit wonders Chumbawamba, whose 1997 song Tubthumping took the world by storm and became a drinking anthem for a generation.
Director Sophie Robinson’s film follows former frontman Dunstan Bruce, as he goes on a trip down memory lane, catching up with old bandmates, visiting old haunts and trying to put the past to bed, while contemplating whether he still has a future in music. Featuring some truly jawdropping footage, this will make you reassess your opinion of the group.
Listening to Kenny G
To some, he’s a musical god – the best-selling instrumentalist of alltime and arguably the most famous living jazz musician – to others, he’s a muzak nightmare, the bane of elevators, airline travel and being placed on hold.
Director Penny Lane says she made this film to try to understand why he makes certain people really angry – and the result is engrossing and entertaining. What shines through is Kenneth Bruce Gorelick’s warmth, wicked sense of humour and, now, willingness to adapt to changing tastes.
Nothing Compares
Even if you think you know the controversy around the rise and fall of Sinead O’Connor in the late1980s and early-90s, nothing can quite prepare you for the footage of her jaw-dropping appearance on Saturday Night Live, or the subsequent abuse and astonishingly awful interviews she was subjected to.
Belfast-born Kathryn Ferguson’s debut documentary’s tight focus is its strength, although it would have been nice to have heard a bit more about how O’Connor ended up singing her most famous hit, which this takes its title from.
The Other Fellow
While many around the globe look forward with eager anticipation to every new 007 movie, some dread it. Those are the people born James Bond, who have to put up with repeated jokes, abuse and intrusions into the timelines and lives. Matthew Bauer’s entertaining tale roots out a range of such men – everyone from New York theatre directors to British army men, retired oilmen, a preacher, a Guyanan politician and two very disparate blokes from South Bend, Indiana – and looks at how they deal with sharing a moniker with such an icon of cinema and a certain version of masculinity.
Sonic Fantasy
At once a portrait and tribute to one of the music industry’s unsung heroes – recording engineer Bruce Swedien – this is also a compelling account of the making of Michael Jackson’s seminal 1982 album Thriller.
Still the best-selling album of all-time, Marcos Cobota’s film details just how close it came to never being released, its importance in revitalising rapidly tanking music sales and that Steven Spielberg nearly derailed everything.
Still Working 9 to 5
More than 40 years after Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton’s workplace comedy debuted, its tale of three women standing up to sexual harassment feels more relevant than ever.
That’s the theme at the heart of Camille Hardman and Gary Lane’s documentary, which looks at its production and the political and social climate in which it was made as well as its legacy.
Quite apart from the mixed progress that has been made by businesses, the most rage-inducing takeaway is that successive American administrations (Federal and State) have still failed to ratify the now 50-year-old Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution, a move that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.
Doc Edge 2022 will screen at Christchurch’s Silky Otter (Until June 26), and Wellington’s Embassy (June 30 to July 3) and Roxy (July 2 to 10). After their intheatre debuts, films will be available at vc.docedge.nz until July 12. See docedge.nz.