Watch: How TV Ruined Your Life

According to BBC 2:

Ever wondered why life doesn’t measure up to those youthful lofty expectations?

From love and money to fear and progress, Charlie Brooker explores a different universal theme each week as this six-part series attempts to explain where it all went wrong and just how wildly the TV and movie ideal differs from life’s grim reality.

Marking the point where the mad daydreams of TV and the sorry reality of real life collide, the series employs a mixture of archive footage, sketches and interviews that will have you wiping away tears of laughter while nodding in recognition, which means you’ll probably have your eye out if you’re not careful.

The first episode’s theme is “Fear”, an emotion we Americans know all too well. Watch it below. Links to the other episodes are at the bottom of this post.

Episode #2: “The Lifecycle”, watch part 1 and part 2

Episode #3: “Aspiration”, watch part 1 and part 2

Episode #4: “Love”, watch part 1 and part 2

Episode #5: “Progress” comes out March 1, 2011.

Watch: “Crossing Lines” – Irish Artist Conor Harrington Visits the Middle East

According to the artist Conor Harrington:

In May 2010 I set out on a trip to Israel and Palestine with film-maker Andy Telling. We spent a week painting in both Tel Aviv and Bethlehem. My work deals with conflict and tension so I thought this would be an interesting place to go to.

Camera, edit and score by Andrew Telling

See more of Harrington’s work here

Watch: “80 Blocks From Tiffany’s” – A Documentary About South Bronx Street Gangs

In 1979, Gary Weis, known for his short films on Saturday Night Live, directed a documentary about South Bronx street gangs called 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s featuring the Savage Nomads and the Savage Skulls. NBC never aired the 67 minute documentary so 80 Blocks remained shelved until 1985 when it received a very limited release as an educational VHS. In the time since, 80 Blocks has become an underground sensation, especially with hip hop fans looking for the beginnings of the culture and documentary film buffs who respect Weis’ bold choices as a filmmaker.

Thanks to the internet you can watch 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s in its entirety below.

But before you do, read the following excerpt from Billy Jam’s article “A South Bronx Tale” to gain some context:

It was Koch-era New York when the South Bronx, one of the poorest areas in the nation, was such a rundown destitute place that both Presidents Carter and Reagan traveled there for photo ops to exemplify the most striking symbol they could find of urban decay in America. It was also the time and place when the subways were covered in graffiti and when a new music and culture called hip-hop was taking root in the “Boogie Down” Bronx.

80 Blocks, which Weis based on a 1977 Esquire article by Jon Bradshaw, offers a rare, intimate inside-look at the Savage Nomads and the Savage Skulls, two gangs that resided in the notorious 41st Precinct and ruled their ’hoods decked out in cutoff denim jackets with gang names proudly embroidered on their backs. “They think they’re outlaws. I think they’re bums,” Detective Bob Werner of NYPD’s Youth Gang Task Force says in the film’s opening. Along with the many colorful Skulls and Nomads members, community activists and other locals, Werner is a recurring figure in this character-driven time capsule that’s been recently recovered and fully restored for DVD release Nov 23, 2010.

Read more about the film here

Purchase the DVD with plenty of extras here

DVD Digest: “Dark Days”

Dark Days, 2000

Documentarian Marc Singer trains his camera on a group of homeless people who live deep underground in an abandoned New York City railroad tunnel and scavenge for food on the mean streets of Manhattan. At night, they retreat to the tunnel, where they’ve built huts out of scrap metal, plastic and plywood. Amazingly, they have electricity, furniture, working kitchens — and a sense of community that many surface dwellers would envy. (Netflix)

Tricia’s Take: Sometimes when you watch a documentary, it’s easy to forget there’s actually a filmmaker behind the camera, experiencing firsthand what you can only see through the screen. But with Dark Days, Singer takes you so deeply inside a world almost all of us would never otherwise have a chance to witness that it’s impossible to not imagine the experience of the filmmaker himself. Dark Days is beautifully shot, well-edited and deeply moving in its portrayal of a forgotten people.

DVD Digest: “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child”

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, 2010

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man. (IMDB)

Tricia’s Take: I came into this film with nothing, and left feeling inspired from every direction. As a newcomer to Basquiat, The Radiant Child not only informed on the life of the artist but also presented an artistic vision in its own right. The care Davis takes in her subject matter is readily apparent and this translates into a solid piece of documentary filmmaking. We see Basquiat, his beginnings, his struggles, highs and lows. We learn about the gritty NYC life of the late 70’s and 80’s. We traverse the inner workings of the art world and live the dangers of fame and fortune. But perhaps most importantly, as the bebop soundtrack swells, image after image of Basquiat’s work take over the screen, telling the story through the art itself.

Carter’s Take: Basquiat was many different things to many different people. Some say his child-like and haphazard style was the worst thing to happen to contemporary art since Pollock’s paint drips, a style that inspires patrons to say things like “That took no skill, I could do that” or “Why is that art?” Others see Basquiat as a social climber who became an art world mascot chosen by the likes of Andy Warhol more for his mixed race heritage, charismatic good looks and street cred than for his actual work. While many view him as a revolutionary artist with an original style, one of the first to start on the streets with graffiti and move to the gallery, a keen critic of modern racism and pop culture, a sensitive street poet, a prophet of future art movements, and before Banksy existed, one of the last artists to shake the art world to its core.

To some extent, each of these perspectives on Basquiat is true and The Radiant Child touches upon them all while adding fresh insights – insights that come from the film’s greatest strength and biggest weakness, director Tamara Davis’ friendship with Basquiat. This personal relationship is helpful while Davis delves into Basquiat’s background, his work, his place in and feelings about the art world, and the contribution of the never-before-seen footage from their 20-minute interview. But the romantic view of Basquiat Davis presents in dealing with his family and drug addiction shows a bias otherwise not present in the film. Ultimately The Radiant Child captures not only the essence of Basquiat as a person but also a portrait of an artist who achieved the fame and money he sought only to realize, as artist-filmmaker Julian Schnabel says in the film, “He didn’t have the tools to navigate the sea of shit. He just wanted to have fun.”