I was browsing through Youtube’s documentary movie list and started watching “We Are Wizards” which I had never heard about before. It’s a cute and honest film about the fan culture surrounding the Harry Potter universe. “Wizard rock” is one part of that culture, rock music with Potter-themed lyrics. Perhaps not the most innovative music, but obviously a style which has its place and audience.

Overall it’s a feel-good documentary with some loveable characters. It did seem incomplete in some areas – sometimes the (unrelated) archive footage worked, sometimes not. And why was there no interview with anyone from Warner Brothers?

Still, an enjoyable film about an unusual sub-culture… and about fitting in.

Trailer:

Watch the full movie:

IMDB: 6.2 (82 votes) / Rotten Tomatoes: 48% (21 reviews) / Official site
Directed by: Josh Koury

Roger Ebert has posted his list of the 10 best dox of of 2009.

• Anvil! The Story of Anvil
• Beaches of Agnes
• Collapse
• Food Inc.
• Must Read After My Death
• Of Time and the City
• The September Issue
• Tyson
• We Live in Public
• What’s the Matter with Kansas

I’m curious that Burma VJ is not on the list. Several people in the comments are complaining about the absence of “The Cove” – although it’s a good doc, I don’t personally think it’s the best candidate for the Oscar it seems to be heading for.

Otherwise a super interesting list – I’m dying to see Collapse, Must Read After My Death and Food Inc.

1. The Invention of Dr. Nakamats
2. Into Eternity
3. Kim
4. Karima
5. Objectified
6. Shock Doctrine
7. Fra Haifa til Nørrebro
8. Art&Copy
9. Videocracy
10. The Cove
11. The Great Contemporary Art Bubble
12. The Film I’m No Longer Talking About
13. Garapa

The biggest experience this year was, by far, “Into Eternity“. It’s a film that is still haunting me and I can’t wait to see it again. I think it has a huge underground potential, but realistically it won’t be met. This is truly sad, because the film has the power to make us dream and that’s no small feat. I wish the director and ATMO all the best in promoting the film.

I had really been looking forward to Dr. Nakamats and Art&Copy. Nakamats had a sky-high production value (at least in the realm of documentaries), but it didn’t quite grip me as much as I’d thought. Art&Copy was very interesting, but the story arch didn’t really satisfy. But I’m still glad I saw both films.

“Objectified” was in line with “Helvetica” – if you like one, you will like the other. “Garapa” was anything but entertaining and I’ve certainly taken my wife on better Friday night dates – but it’s an important movie that strikes close to home (I lived in Brazil for 4 years). “The Great Contemporary Art Bubble” was probably the most enlightening film and it was fun to watch. “The Cove” was fun and entertaining and achieves its objective. “Shock Doctrine” is the sort of political doc that I thought directors stopped making after Bush left the White House – but it’s also a doc with a powerful style. “The Film I’m No Longer Talking About” is the sort of film any film-maker will appreciate. Its also a film with a lot of heart. “Karima” was the only doc I walked out on – there are limits to how much anal abuse I can watch.

“Kim” and “Fra Haifa til Nørrebro” are two powerful, small and personal dox – yet two more examples of how high the production value of Danish documentaries are. Especially the sound work was fantastic – both the music and the soundscapes.

I didn’t see the winning film, “Trash Humpers”, but judging from the trailers and reviews, it’s a totally bizarre choice. Is it even a documentary? Not even the director seems to think it is. I know little of the criteria to win, but if CPH:DOX is interested in getting people to the big and small screens to see documentaries, I think it was a shitty choice. More commentary about the Trash Humpers choice over at The Documentary Blog.

But regardless of my personal taste, I want to wish all the directors congratulations with their films. Making dox will push a man to his limit and just completing one is extraordinary.

Eventually 1-minute reviews of all films will be online. Hope to see you next year at CPH:DOX 2010!

Art&Copy

Off Ways

The Invention of Dr. Nakamats

Objectified

Videocracy

Food Inc.

Turn it Loose

Erasing David

Paul Virilio – Thinking Speed

The Windmill Movie

The Cove

American Radical: The Trials of Norman Fikelstein

Garapa (by the director of Tropa de Elite)

And… Shadow Play: The Making of Anyon Corbijn, Drømme i København, Kim.

I’ll be attending quite a few films. Send me tweet if you want to join.

Welcome to LoveDox – I’m J.R. and I love documentaries. Once a week I post a documentary review, be it a mainstream, unknown, quirky or surprising dox. As I post reviews I will update the LoveDoxList which is my personal ranking of all the dox I see.

There are so many wonderful dox out there that you never heard about, that I never heard about, and I’ve made it my mission to uncover and share them. Although my doc taste is eclectic, I do tend to go for non-nature, non-learn-how-to-surf-in-7-days, non-sports and non-trash. But I’ve been known to make exceptions