I considered making the series an annual event. I'm afraid that in a year, however, that I will have acquired so many new titles to review that the task would become daunting. As an unpaid hobbyist, 'daunting' is simply not in my repertoire.
I'm making it official, the Quirky Documentary series will be a year-round feature at DustyOnMovies. I'll try to move the index to a standalone page so they can be easily browsed. Many of the films in the series are free to watch on various streaming websites. See the "Legally Free Movies" page for some examples. BubbaWheat from Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights was the first to step up as a guest writer for the series. I'm hoping that many others will follow in his steps.
One of the things that fascinates me about these documentaries is that they're all part of the same official canon; reality. Every single documentary film is a sequel, prequel, or spin-off. The exception would be the first ever documentary, but I probably won't ever know that film's identity, much less see it. I suppose the last ever documentary would be an exception as well. Unless the earth ends sometime soon I won't see it either.
It's pretty amazing that the wildly varying characters you find in quirky documentaries exist in the same world. We're all born with the same genome and at the same level of evolution. An alien race may have a tough time believing that Blowfly, a vulgar old rapper from Florida, and Bill Cunningham, a celibate fashion photographer from New York, are the same species. One of the documentaries in the series is about people who are obsessed with owning exotic animals. Another one is about people obsessed with impersonating comic-book superheroes.
Artists of all types talk about capturing the human condition. I've learned from these documentaries that the human condition is a spectrum that gets wider with each film I see. As my knowledge of these people broadens, I gradually learn more about where my own condition lies on this spectrum. It may seem silly to be so reflective about films with such odd subjects. Is it a stretch to equate existentialism with a film about arm-wrestling? I don't think so. I think this series has caused me to reflect on the nature of humanity and consequently made me a more tolerant individual. I may not have found life's meaning, but at least I'm searching.
Docs are interesting to read about too. I know 5 Word Movie Reviews watches a documentary every Saturday and has watched some pretty interesting ones.
ReplyDeleteI've been there a few times but hadn't looked for the docs. I'll check it out, thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really like that you are continuing this. I now have a bunch of docs sitting in my queue ready to be watched. Now I just have to find the time in between everything else. Like you said "unpaid hobbyist."
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing is that most of the films in the series are short. Almost always less than 90 minutes. Some under an hour. Heavy Metal Parking Lot is only 15 minutes long but it makes a hell of an impact. The length may be another reason I like them. I don't always have 2.5 hours to watch a film.
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