The best Woody Allen’s documentary movies
Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, comedian, writer, musician, and playwright. Allen's distinctive films, which run the gamut from dramas to screwball sex comedies, have made him a notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of work. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest. Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a celebrated jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper, and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man Blues.
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
8/10
With commentary from Hollywood stars, outtakes from his movies and footage from his youth, this documentary looks at Stanley Kubrick's life and films. Director Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and sometime collaborator, interviews heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen and Sydney Pollack, who explain the influence of Kubrick classics like "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and how he absorbed visual clues from disposable culture such as television commercials.
Always at The Carlyle
6.5/10
The iconic Carlyle hotel has been an international destination for a particular jet set as well as a favorite haunt of the most discernible New Yorkers.
The Unbelievers
6.9/10
Scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss travel the globe promoting a scientific worldview and the rational questioning of religious belief.
Woody Allen: A Documentary
7.7/10
Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen allowed his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert B. Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography. "Woody Allen: A Documentary" chronicles Allen's career - from teen writer to Sid Caesar's TV scribe, from stand-up comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen's writing habits, casting, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.
David Blaine: Real or Magic
7.6/10
David Blaine's signature brand of street magic mystifies the most recognisable celebrities in the world, such as Jamie Foxx, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry, Woody Allen, and Robert DeNiro, to name a few. He goes to the homes of Kanye West and Harrison Ford, Will Smith and Olivia Wilde. He pays a visit to Stephen Hawking at his office in Cambridge University. Blaine also travels the world, astonishing people from all walks of life with never-before seen, inconceivable magic.
Trespassing Bergman
7.2/10
In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, eighty nautical miles off the east coast of Sweden. He left Stockholm and went to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special cinephiles, came from all over the world, have traveled to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An edited version of the Swedish mini-series “Bergmans video,” 2012.)
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
7.9/10
Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.
Casting By
7.6/10
This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking.
Very Ralph
6.9/10
The first documentary portrait of fashion icon Ralph Lauren, reveals the man behind the icon and the creation of one of the most successful brands in fashion history.
Meetin' WA
6.6/10
Revolutionary French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard conducts a twenty-five minute interview with influential and acclaimed American director Woody Allen on the cultural radiation, the ubiquity and significance of Television, and how Television compares with cinema as a medium and form of expression.
Bert Stern: Original Madman
6.7/10
The untold and intimate life story of one of the greatest American photographers of all time, Bert Stern. After working alongside Stanley Kubrick at Look Magazine, Stern became an original Madison Avenue 'mad man', his images helping to create modern advertising. Ground-breaking photos of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe and Twiggy, coupled with his astonishing success in advertising, minted Stern as a celebrity in his own right.
This Is Bob Hope...
7.9/10
During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films.
Wild Man Blues
6.9/10
Wild Man Blues is a 1998 documentary film directed by Barbara Kopple, about the musical avocation of actor/director/comic Woody Allen. The film takes its name from a jazz composition sometimes attributed to Jelly Roll Morton and sometimes to Louis Armstrong and recorded by both (among others). Allen's love of early 20th century New Orleans music is depicted through his 1996 tour of Europe with his New Orleans Jazz Band. Allen has played clarinet with this band for over 25 years. Although Allen's European tour is the film's primary focus, it was also notable as the first major public showcase for Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi Previn.
François Truffaut, une autobiographie
7.2/10
The Outsider
6.4/10
Nicholas Jarecki follows director James Toback on the 12-day shoot of his thriller, When Will I Be Loved -- a movie made without a script or distribution deal.
Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, the Colours of Life
7.2/10
An account of the life and work of the legendary cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma (1925-2004) and an emotional journey into the greatest moments of cinema, from the Italian neorealism to the masterpieces of Woody Allen, commented by prestigious figures of world cinema.
Barcelona, la rosa de foc
5.7/10
The many faces of Barcelona are portrayed in this documentary, shot in a false sequence shot that goes across the streets, squares, markets and bars of a city that is presented as both conventional and law-breaking, exquisit and shameless, elegant and dispossessed.
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
7.3/10
Academy Award®-nominated director Scott Hicks ("Shine") documents an eventful year in the career and personal life of distinguished Western classical composer Philip Glass as he interacts with a number of friends and collaborators, who include Chuck Close, Ravi Shankar, and Martin Scorsese.
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
7.5/10
When Marvin Hamlisch passed away in August 2012 the worlds of music, theatre and cinema lost a talent the likes of which we may never see again. Seemingly destined for greatness, Hamlisch was accepted into New York’s Juilliard School as a 6-year-old musical prodigy and rapidly developed into a phenomenon. With instantly classic hits ‘The Way We Were’ and ‘Nobody Does It Better’ and scores for Hollywood films such as The Swimmer, The Sting and Sophie’s Choice and the Broadway juggernaut A Chorus Line; Hamlisch became the go-to composer for film and Broadway producers and a prominent presence on the international Concert Hall circuit. His streak was staggering, vast, unprecedented and glorious, by the age of 31 Hamlisch had won 4 Grammys, an Emmy, 3 Oscars, a Tony and a Pulitzer prize: success that burned so bright, it proved impossible to match.
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
7.1/10
How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)
