Intercepted, a Ukraine war documentary by Oksana Karpovych

Showing all posts tagged: documentary

Intercepted, a Ukraine war documentary by Oksana Karpovych

19 February 2025

Ukrainian film director Oksana Karpovych’s documentary, Intercepted, which features phone calls between invading Russian soldiers and their families in Russia, has one of the starkest trailers I’ve seen in a long while.

Phil Hoad, writing for The Guardian, described Intercepted as chilling, and compelling:

Juxtaposing intercepted calls back home from frontline Russian troops with shots of the devastation they have wreaked in Ukraine, this film is a bleak and searing wiretap into Putin’s warping effect on his people and the psychology of power.

Becoming Led Zeppelin: the first ever authorised documentary

17 February 2025

Becoming Led Zeppelin, trailer, a documentary made by Irish-British filmmaker Bernard MacMahon, is screening in Australian cinemas at present, and tells the story of the English band’s first two years, from 1968 to 1970.

I listened to their 1971 rock classic Stairway to Heaven — one of their many compositions — and I have to say, they don’t make them like they used to. I doubt anyone could make them like they used to now, even if they wanted to.

Oh to be a rock and not to roll…

The chances of aliens coming to Earth are a trillion to one, but still they come

30 January 2025

Has Earth, and the solar system, been the subject of visits from extraterrestrials from elsewhere in the cosmos? How else to account for the numerous flying saucer, AKA unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) sightings, of, in particular, the past eighty years? I guess it’s possible visitors from deep space have been our way, at least once in the last several thousand years, drawn here in the knowledge that Earth is capable of hosting intelligent life.

But, any long distance travellers would have to be “very, very lucky”, says Anders Sandberg, of the Future of Humanity Institute, at the University of Oxford, speaking to Peter Brannen, a writer for The Atlantic, in 2018. Very, very lucky to have survived as a species, in an unsafe universe, rather than having somehow circumvented the laws of physics to reach us, that is:

“Maybe the universe is super dangerous and Earth-like planets are destroyed at a very high rate,” Sandberg says. “But if the universe is big enough, then when observers do show up on some very, very rare planets, they’ll look at the record of meteor impacts and disasters and say, ‘The universe looks pretty safe!’ But the problem is, of course, that their existence depends on them being very, very lucky. They’re actually living in an unsafe universe and next Tuesday they might get a very nasty surprise.” If this is true, it might explain why our radio telescopes have reported only a stark silence from our cosmic neighborhood.

The Age of Disclosure, a documentary made by Dan Farah, posits however that extraterrestrials have indeed visited. At least one person whom Farah interviewed claimed to have seen alien beings. There’s the suggestion of a massive cover up. I won’t dwell on that point, but will say this story sounds like the scoop of the century, maybe the whole of recorded history.

Why then not take it the media? Why make us pay to see a film to learn the truth? Can’t someone who’s in the know just call a news conference and spill the beans instead?

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documentary, film

Leonardo da Vinci: a four hour documentary directed by Ken Burns

6 December 2024

This I wouldn’t mind seeing… a four hour documentary about Renaissance age artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci, by American filmmaker Ken Burns.

A 15th century polymath of soaring imagination and profound intellect, Leonardo da Vinci created some of the most revered works of art of all time, but his artistic endeavors often seemed peripheral to his pursuits in science and engineering. Through his paintings and thousands of pages of drawings and writings, Leonardo da Vinci explores one of humankind’s most curious and innovative minds.

I’m hoping this will be available, eventually, to stream in this part of the world, at the moment though even access to the trailer and preview clips seem to be blocked in Australia.

Merchant Ivory, a James Ivory, Ismail Merchant documentary, by Stephen Soucy

19 November 2024

Filmmakers James Ivory, the late Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who collaborated as Merchant Ivory, made over forty features between 1963 and 2009. I think you’d be hard pressed to find any well-known actor of recent decades who did not work with them.

My favourite is A Room with a View, which I’ve written about a few times, though The Remains of the Day, is also up there. Now a documentary, appropriately titled Merchant Ivory, trailer, which chronicles their work and lives, has been made by Stephen Soucy. Required viewing for fans, I think.

Apollo 13: Survival, a Netflix documentary

18 September 2024

Apollo 13: Survival, a Netflix produced documentary, trailer, recounts the story of what was meant to be the third Apollo crewed landing on the Moon, in 1970. An exploding oxygen tank in the body of the command module craft, on-route to the Moon, however spelt the end of the landing attempt.

Instead the flight became a desperate race against time to return the Apollo astronauts to Earth before they ran out of oxygen and fuel.

The Apollo 13 flight transcript is well worth listening to. Note how calmly Jack Swigert, followed a few seconds later by Jim Lovell speak, when informing mission controllers on Earth of the situation. “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Sounds more like someone saying they’ve missed the bus and will be ten minutes late for work.

American filmmaker Ron Howard’s 1995 docudrama, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon, is also an excellent recounting of the story.

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documentary, film, history

The Super Models, Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi, reunited

22 September 2023

Nineties supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, were household names thirty years ago. At least in my household, that is, because when you had an aspiring fashion photographer in your midst, little that the four did would go unmentioned. But thirty years on, Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi, remain household names, on account of their now legendary trailblazing exploits.

The Super Models, trailer, a four part documentary produced by Apple TV+, which began streaming on Wednesday 20 September 2023, sees Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi reunited thirty years later, and traces their epic story, from the 1980’s onwards:

“The Super Models” travels back to the 1980s, when four women from different corners of the world united in New York. Already forces in their own right, the gravitas they achieved by coming together transcended the industry itself. Their prestige was so extraordinary that it enabled the four to supersede the brands they showcased, making the names Naomi, Cindy, Linda and Christy as prominent as the designers who styled them. Today, the four supermodels remain on the frontlines of culture through activism, philanthropy and business prowess. As the fashion industry continues to redefine itself — and women’s roles within it — this is the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.

Matildas: The World at Our Feet, a documentary about the Australian women’s soccer team

18 August 2023

The Matildas, the Australian women’s soccer (football) team, had a stellar run during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand. While they didn’t make it to the final, their passion to succeed won them legions of new fans in Australia, and I dare say, further afield.

The Tillies, as they’re known to some followers, play one last match against Sweden on Saturday 19 August 2023, to determine who wins the 2023 tournament’s bronze medal. Whatever the outcome — whether they are placed third or fourth — 2023 will be Matildas’ best ever result in a World Cup.

If you’d like to learn more about the Matildas, its members, and their 2023 campaign, then the Disney produced documentary, Matildas: The World at Our Feet, trailer, comes highly recommended. I have it on good authority that a New Zealand sports lover became a Matildas fan after seeing this show.

What more can I say?

WHAM! The story of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, by Chris Smith

8 July 2023

There’s an old saying in the place where I reside: if you remember Wham! you were in the eighties.

Wham! as in the out of control mega-successful British pop duo of the late George Michael, and Andrew Ridgeley. A new documentary of the same name, directed by American filmmaker Chris Smith, and produced by Netflix, recounts Michael and Ridgeley’s days in Wham! through archival interviews and footage, and previously unheard audio interviews. See the trailer here.

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Chris Smith, documentary, film, history

The Last Daughter a film by Nathaniel Schmidt, Brenda Matthews

21 June 2023

For decades until the 1970’s, some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families by successive Australian governments. These children became known as the Stolen Generations. Indigenous woman Brenda Matthews was taken from her family aged two, and placed in the care of a white family.

Matthews was later returned to her birth family after her biological mother regained custody of her. The The Last Daughter, trailer, a documentary which Matthews co-directs with Nathaniel Schmidt, recounts her story as she attempts to trace her adoptive, loving, white foster family, while learning more about her Indigenous family.

The Last Daughter is presently screening in selected Australian cinemas.

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