Lost Angels: Skid Row is my Home

I'm fascinated by lifestyles that are outside the norm. In that respect this film reminds me of "Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa" and "Dark Days".

Beautiful Losers

I recently watched "Cutie and the Boxer" and thought of "Beautiful Losers", which I saw a few years ago. It was pretty inspiring and motivating for my own art practice. Essentially this film follows a group of artists who kept doing their art and found some success. It's not all roses though...

Beautiful Losers film trailer from beautifullosersfilm on Vimeo.

The White Diamond

Herzog is a master, and this film is one of my favorites from him. With Herzog we follow an engineer whose dream is to build an airship to fly over rain forest canopy. It's not very easy.

"Cinemania", full film on Vimeo

"Cinemania", the first film I wrote about on this blog, is on Vimeo in full:

Cinemania from Stephen Kijak on Vimeo.

Kumare

I have a very scientific view of the world and thus am highly skeptical of any claim that doesn't have good evidence to back it up. So it usually bugs me a little when people buy into beliefs that seem like bullshit, but I know they're just humans like me.

In this film, a man creates a persona of a guru from India and gets followers who buy into it, even though he's a fake. That's not really the whole story, though; you should just watch the film yourself.

Philip Glass: a Portrait in 12 Parts

I haven't actually watched this one in some time, but "Philip Glass: a Portrait in 12 Parts" gives us a view into the life and mind of a brilliant composer. Especially memorable is Philip Glass making pizza- he doesn't feel like he quite knows what he's doing, but he trusts that it will turn out okay. You get the sense that his approach to composition is not that different.

Hands on a Hard Body

No, it's not a porn. It's a film about a bizarre contest in which participants keep one hand on a pick-up truck for as long as possible. It's a somewhat older film but has a big reputation (deservedly, in my opinion).