The Weekend Alternative: Stoner Docs

While the Mobile Infantry may refer to the Battle of Klendathu as "Big K," around my house it is what we call the Godfrey Reggio/Ron Fricke/Philip Glass masterpiece of altered landscapes.

To describe this film (or even call it a documentary, really) is the neuter it of its meaning, so I'll simply say it is about EVERYTHING, MAN and not even be kidding.  Without question it is one of the ten best films I've ever seen and something I'll never tire of experiencing.

Many things separate Al Reinart's assemblage of NASA's Apollo footage into a work of great "high" art.  There are no talking heads, all of the recorded voyages are compressed into "one trip" and the amazing Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois score.

You've seen space footage a zillion times, but this film's unorthodox approach is the most visceral.

Unlike talking head-free For All Mankind, Errol Morris' Fast, Cheap and Out of Control is ALL talking heads - but WHAT talking heads!

A robot inventor, topiary gardener, lion tamer and naked mole rat sepcialist all spill their guts directly to camera, intercut with relevant (and quasi-relevant) footage which is then thrown into a hazy washing machine of post production that somehow forms synaptic connections that are pure genius, even if they can't be explained on any rational level.

This is either one of the most marvelous and important films about human achievement ever made or a complete mish-mosh of random short ends spliced togther with an industrial symphonic score.  I'll let you be the judge.

Okay, sure, it coulda been one of a thousand music docs to fill this entry.  But we went with this one for its opening animation sequence.  And the particularly sweet "GDTRFB"

Co-produced by Oceans' Jacques Perrin, French filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou took their insane lenses into "your backyard" to show you the daily struggle of dung beetles, ants and other creepy crawlies.

Microcosmos concludes with a slow-motion mating session between two snails that somehow feels like it should be rated NC-17.  Definitely one to catch on a hazy night, but we're not taking responsibility if you start to feel all itchy.