Watch unlimited films online for $6.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
Learn More
 

Is this a documentary?

By: João Oliveir​a 10

Movies that, not being “pure” documentarys, have moments of great closeness to reality or talk about their own process and their own nature. Films that are a reflection on cinema itself, its devices, its infinite and almost magical possibilities and their yet bigger limitations. Or …. is this a documentary?
Kiarostami is one of the artist that went further in blurring the boundaries of the documentary, moved always by great interest in the reality. If the last sequence of “The Taste of Cherry” with a digital camera showing the film crew raised some interesting debates, then what about the two scenes in Oliveira´s “Benilde or the Virgin Mother”, the opening and final – in which the camera moves from the studio back into it, doing the reverse movement at the end, in one of the most amazing scenes i´ve seen in cinema. In “The Day of Despair”, the actors become the characters before our eye, in a astonishing scene. Not wanting to compare or rank the two directors, the fact is that Oliveira did this movies decades before kiarostami.

 

Wall

Displaying 4 of 9 wall posts.
see all
Picture of ExperimentoFilm

ExperimentoFilm

27Apr12

Some more possibilities: Welles (http://mubi.com/films/f-for-fake), Marker (http://mubi.com/films/sans-soleil), Ruiz (http://mubi.com/films/of-great-events-and-ordinary-people).

João Oliveira 10 likes this

  • Picture of João Oliveira 10

    João Oliveira 10

    27Apr12

    Hi, glad you liked! I´ve seen "sans soleil" and it would fit in this list. But to be honest I was a litle tired of it just after 10 minutes... there is nothing wrong with it....I know the problem is mine.

  • Picture of ExperimentoFilm

    ExperimentoFilm

    28Apr12

    The Welles and the Marker are both film-essays. Maybe you would prefer Ruiz - he plays with the conventions of documentary much more. For example, read the first 2 paragraphs here: http://www.rouge.com.au/2/great.html

Picture of João Oliveira 10

João Oliveira 10

27Apr12

I've added some more films to the list. Now it has 30 films and 12 fans! Thank you all for being fans!

Picture of Pamastrike

Pamastrike

12Jan12

o close-up tem claramente demasiada encenação para ser um documentário, não o considero como tal. Mas também a partir do momento em que o filme do Flaherty, o Nanook (que pode ser considerado o primeiro documentário da história do cinema, caso não considerem aqueles filmes dos lumiere documentário) está cheio de encenação, desde o ínicio que a linha entre cinema documental e ficção foi muito estreita. Afinal de contas o que é ficção e o que é real?

  • Picture of João Oliveira 10

    João Oliveira 10

    12Jan12

    Boa questão.... de qualquer modo, a ideia da lista tinha a ver com o limite da fronteira entre o documentário e os outros "géneros" de filme. Mas acho que se formos ver a encenação que há num documentário da National Geographic... A minha ideia nesta lista tinha a ver com o cinema como registo de uma realidade, a realidade daquilo que ele mostra, e a realidade do próprio filme como objecto que nos faz reflectir e entender as características do Cinema e dos seus mecanismos e dispositivos. Já ouvi alguém dizer que todos os filmes que interessam são sempre, entre outras coisas, sobre o cinema...

Picture of João Oliveira 10

João Oliveira 10

29Dec11

Lembrei-me do Jaime, acrescentei à lista e troquei algumas posições....

Fans

Displaying 5 of 14 fans.
see all
Picture of Tiago Lobo

Tiago Lobo

Picture of João MC Palhares

João MC Palhare​s

Picture of Kenji

Kenji

Picture of Brad S.

Brad S.

Picture of Ferah

Ferah