There's a brilliant documentary I saw in the London Film Festival called Czech Dream (Cesky sen). It provoked a lot of arguments between me and my friends. You could see it as a childish prank or an incisive commentary on a country's growing capitalist aspirations.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem available on dvd. Here's a description.

"Two students from the Czech Film Academy commission a leading advertising agency to organize a huge campaign for the opening of a new supermarket named Czech Dream. The supermarket however does not exist and is not meant to. The advertising campaign includes radio and television ads, posters, flyers with photos of fake Czech Dream products, a promotional song, an internet site, and ads in newspapers and magazines. Will people believe in it and show up for the grand opening?"

Holy shit. If Crazy Love is still in theaters by you, go check it out ASAP. GREAT doc!

ooh, thanks Mark-- that's one I haven't seen, but I've wanted to-- time to move it to the top of the netflix queue.

recently saw the herzog documentary "lessons of darkness" about the aftermath of the first gulf war, centering on the oil well fires. mostly long, stunningly beautiful helicopter shots of the wreckage accompanied by classical music. some -- typically unbeatable -- herzog narration. some personal stories. an initial claim that we are on an alien planet. very weird, very beautiful. grad stuedents could write many theses about the moral ramifications of aestheticizing this kind of mass destruction in such a fashion, but i found it a pretty stunning work of art, and another fascinating glimpse into the way herzog's mind processes life.

Did you see the news on the DNA evidence in the WM3 case?

http://tinyurl.com/2wzclh

My brother works with college students, and has been hosting a "documentary film night" throughout the summer. The theme of the series is something maddeningly vague like "multi-cultural perspectives." Since Cullen and I are documentary freaks ourselves, we've been loaning him films that fit the bill. So far, I think, they've watched 'Stevie' and 'Sound & Fury' (this one is less cinematic than others, but the *topic* is fantastic). He was frustrated because the majority of the titles I was recommending fell under the "gross miscarriage of justice" category (e.g. 'Brother's Keeper,' 'The Thin Blue Line,' 'Paradise Lost,' 'Murder on a Sunday Morning' ...). The topic just makes for good drama, I suppose.

We watched a documentary just last night. "The U.S. versus John Lennon". Infuriating how we are letting it all happen (a corrupt President escalating a bloody and pointless war while infringing on our civil rights) all over again. We could use a John Lennon right here with us today.

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