My poll 36 is inspired by MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon), which is one of my most favorite documentaries of all time. It deals with farmers' lives in France. I think I have seen only a few documentaries which deal with some specific jobs or industries like this one. So I decided to make a list of this kind of documentaries which I saw.
THESE (SEMI-) DOCUMENTARIES DEAL WITH SOME SPECIFIC JOBS OR INDUSTRIES. WHICH ONES DO YOU LIKE?
1.ANTIQUES ARE FOUND IN BANGKOKNOI AREA, THONBURI (2008, Thip Tang, Thailand)
2.CORN IN PARLIAMENT: LE GENIE HELVETIQUE (2003, Jean-Stephane Bron, Switzerland)
This film deals with Swiss politicians and what they do with a draft of GMO law.
3.FRIENDLY PERSUASION (2000, Jamsheed Akrami, Iran)
This film deals with the problems of Iranian filmmakers.
4.HANG THE DJ (1998, Marco & Mauro Lavilla, Canada)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168846/
5.HER 25802ND DAY (2000, Kristina Leko, Croatia)
This experimental film is about women who sell flowers in a market.
6.THE HOUSEWIFE’S FLOWER (1998, Dominik Wessely, Germany)
This is about door-to-door salesmen.
7.HOW MUCH WOOOD WOULD A WOODCHUCK CHUCK (1976, Werner Herzog, West Germany)
8.IS IT EASY TO KILL/PRAY? (2005, Sherman Ong, Vietnam)
This documentary is about people who kill dogs to make dog meat.
9.A LIFE WITH SLATE (2006, Dipesh Kharel, Nepal)
10.LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE! (2000, Julia Query + Vicky Funari, USA)
11.M.O.B. (มือที่สาม) (2006, Sanpetch Sikaret, Thailand)
This is about people who sell food to political mobs.
12.NINE REASONS TO BE A STREET PERFORMER (1998, Navarutt Roongaroon, Thailand/USA)
13.OUR DAILY BREAD (2005, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Austria)
This is mainly about the food industry.
14.PITCH PEOPLE (1999, Stanley Jacobs, USA)
15.MODERN LIFE (2008, Raymond Depardon, France)
16.MONDOVINO (2004, Jonathan Nossiter, France)
This is about the wine industry.
17.NEON GODDESSES (1996, Yu Lik Wai, Hong Kong)
This film is about three women who have different jobs, but all of them have to use their beauty under the neon light (if I remember it correctly).
18.RATCHADA-LADPRAOW (2006, Amorntip Pakdee, Thailand)
This is about children who sell things on the street intersections of Bangkok.
19.WASTELAND (2007, Megan Cossey, Thailand)
You can watch this film here:
http://www.who.int/features/2007/photo_contest/video/en/index2.html
20.WORKINGMAN’S DEATH (2005, Michael Glawogger, Austria)
This film is a semi-documentary.
You can cast multiple votes.
--I think MODERN LIFE, A LIFE WITH SLATE, and OUR DAILY BREAD are worth comparing here. MODERN LIFE deals specifically with the lives of the farmers, not their working process. A LIFE WITH SLATE deal with both the slate miners' lives and their working processs. OUR DAILY BREAD deals only with the working process in the food industry, not the lives of the workers. I think I'm impressed the most with MODERN LIFE, but I love all three of them very much.
--I think films, either documentaries or fictions, which show us the working process in some jobs such as OUR DAILY BREAD, are rare, because most working processes tend to be boring and lack drama. However, there are some fiction films which show us the working process in some jobs very attractively, such as THE SON (2002, Jean-Pierre + Luc Dardenne). Can you think of other films?
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3 comments:
My own vote is for CORN IN PARLIAMENT: LE GENIE HELVETIQUE, THE HOUSEWIFE'S FLOWER, IS IT EASY TO KILL/PRAY?, A LIFE WITH SLATE, NINE REASONS TO BE A STREET PERFORMER, and MODERN LIFE.
my vote is IT'S EASY TO KILL/PRAY?, MODERN LIFE and OUR DAILY BREAD
i tinhk all films from THE DARDENNE BROS. was focusing on process of work because they want to show the character of people through thier works like thr way they mixing flaour or lock the door in ROSETTA snd the way they measure things in THE SON.
it;s reminding me that's ROBERT BRESSON was focusing in thier character's process of work , not because he wants to show the characteristic but because he wants to make the process become automatic like in PICKPOCKET and A MAN ESCAPE when the characters stuck in repeating things more than thinking about freedom or danger
--I saw A MAN ESCAPED many years ago, and can’t remember its details. From what I remember, I think it is very interesting that though Bresson shows us the elaborate details of the escape preparation, the film is not boring at all. It is very exciting all through the film. Maybe it is partly because we are watching “a real man” trying to escape in this film, not “an action hero” trying to escape.
--I just noticed that my list of films this time is not in alphabetical order as it should be. It is because I was in a hurry when I made this list.
--I just realized that I forgot to include 101 RENT BOYS (2000, Fenton Bailey + Randy Barbato) in this poll.
--I think the working process of a chef or a cook are shown in many films. Maybe it is the one that gets shown the most in films, because watching food preparation is not as boring as watching other kinds of work.
--I think WAITING...(2005, Rob McKittrick, A-) does a good work in showing the working life of waiters and waitresses.
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