If you read this before the end of tonight, you can watch 45365—the best movie I saw at SXSW 2009—for free online at Hulu.
A couple of brothers from Sidney, Ohio (really nice guys, too) made a documentary about their small hometown. I grew up not far from Sidney, and I can tell you it’s the most honest and moving portrait of home that I’ve seen.
These are a couple sketches I made during the movie and the Q&A a few months back.
Notes on The Fog of War (see them bigger)
The filmmaker Errol Morris’s blog for the NyTimes has quickly become one of my favorite reads on the internet, so I Netflixed a bunch of his documentaries. I started with The Fog of War (Amazon), since the film’s subject, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, died a couple weeks ago. (There’s a good Fresh Air with interviews of McNamara and Morris.)
This was a lazy set of notes for me: I knew ahead of time that there were “Eleven Lessons” from McNamara’s life, so I just listed them as the movie went along, with a few other scribbles here and there.
The one thing notable about them is that I used the page on the right of the sketchbook for straightforward notes, and the page on the left for doodles. I was thinking of Lynda Barry — how she keeps a legal pad next to whatever she’s working on, so she can keep her brush moving when she gets stuck.
Of course, to me, the doodle page is much more interesting. The right side is straightforward information, the left side is free-associative, with me riffing off the information, processing it. In my better notes, I combine these two sides…
The Business of Being Born is a great watch. This map doesn’t do it justice. From IMDB:
While the United States has perhaps the most advanced health care system in the world, it also has the second-highest infant mortality rate of any industrialized nation, and many have begun to question conventional wisdom regarding the way obstetricians deal with childbirth. While midwives preside over the majority of births in Europe and Japan, fewer than ten percent of American mothers employ them, despite their proven record of care and success. How do American doctors make their choices regarding the way their patients give birth, and who is intended to benefit? Director Abby Epstein and producer Ricki Lake offer a probing look at childbirth in America in the documentary The Business of Being Born, which explores the history of obstetrics, the history and function of Midwives, and how many common medical practices may be doing new mothers more harm than good.
If you have Netflix you can watch it online. There were 2 or 3 water births
in the film, which Meghan and I had to go back and review because they were so amazing-looking.
All that said, Meg and I are going to go celebrate NOT being pregnant, and NOT wanting to be.
“It’s not just a story about numbers, it’s a story about people and about how good people go bad. Our system not only allowed it to happen, but also almost encouraged it.”—Director Alex Gibney
I’m always amazed by how a documentary film can pack so many ideas and so much human drama into 2 hours. This one has it all: compelling story, great characters, and a kick-ass soundtrack (excellent opening and closing songs by Tom Waits).
In a company drowning in such a macho culture (Lou Pai had strippers in his office, Jeff Skilling organized these ridiculous daredevil excursions on motorbikes…) I think it’s no coincidence that the whistleblowers were women (Bethany McLean reporting for Fortune Magazine, and Sherron Watkins as Vice-President of Corporate Development).
Watch the whole thing on Google Video.
My question to you: if the most relevant fable in our times isn’t “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” what is?
This documentary was so good and so long (145 minutes!) that I made two pages of notes. Particularly great were the monologues by Noam Chomsky and Ray Anderson.
Link:
