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Movies editors Dawn Burkes and Holly Warren offer views, news and nuggets on all things movies.

May 2009

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August 8, 2008

Summer -- the season for documentaries?

7:00 AM Fri, Aug 08, 2008 | Permalink
Stephen Becker

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Somehow, amid all of the blockbusters, several compelling docs have managed to creep onto screens. One of them (Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World) unfortunately leaves screens Thursday, but two more deserve our attention.
The first is American Teen, which opened last week at the Dallas and Plano Angelikas. It's one of those docs for people who don't think they like docs. The film follows five teenagers in Warsaw, Indiana, and it has such a narrative structure to it that if you didn't know going in that what you were witnessing was real, you would think you were just watching a feature film. I don't know if it's the best doc I've seen all year, but it's certainly the one I had the most fun watching. And if nothing else, it has a nice soundtrack.
The other documentary, hitting screens on Friday, is Man on Wire. Full disclosure: I haven't seen this one yet. But from everything I've read, it sounds like white-knuckle filmmaking at its best. The movie follows Philippe Petit, a French daredevil who attempted to walk a tight rope between the newly constructed World Trade Center Towers in Manhattan in 1974. Now, you can argue that hearing from Petit in the film lowers the potential splat factor a bit, but just looking at the movie poster makes my palms sweat.
The bottom line to all of this? If you are tired of your Hellboy IIs and Mummys, etc. there is other, more interesting stuff on screens during these dog days of summer.