10. Citizen Koch (dir. Carl Deal and Tia Lessin) - Democracy is for sale in the United States, as corporations buy elections and manipulate the politicians they procure offices for, always shielding their own interests while ignoring the outcry of the public. Our system is broken, corrupt, and horrifying, and it's revealed with fiery focus in Deal and Lessin's Oscar-shortlisted documentary. It's as engaging as it is enraging, as we watch the Koch brothers and others buy offices and plan how best to manage their political puppets to their own selfish ends. Tellingly, the film was originally supposed to be broadcast on PBS, but as a note at the end explains, the Koch brothers contribute to the station, so the film was pulled from the schedule. How's that for freedom of speech?
9. Finding Vivian Maier (dir. John Maloof and Charlie Siskel) - One of my favorite uses of the documentary form is to engage with a mystery, which is exactly what Finding Vivian Maier does. The eponymous woman was a mysterious nanny who took tens of thousands of photos during her life, capturing indelible images of the world around her, including shadier neighborhoods she would venture into, the children she watched in tow. The images alone make the film worthwhile, but the character study that emerges piece by piece, as Maloof and Siskel track down those who knew Maier throughout her tumultuous life, is even more fascinating, inspiring and tragic, by turns. Thankfully, Maier's work, since being discovered and assembled, has started to receive the recognition it so rightfully deserves, even if it's never what she intended.
8. Keep On Keepin' On (dir. Alan Hicks) - Few films this year made me smile or cry as much as Hicks' uplifting story of an unlikely friendship between jazz musicians. Justin Kauflin is a blind piano prodigy who wants to be one of the greats, but whose mind gets in the way when he's playing under pressure. Clark Terry is a legendary trumpeter who had a hand in shaping the careers of numerous greats including Quincy Jones, who serves as a producer on the film. Terry serves as Kauflin's mentor and teacher, singing tunes from his bed (where he battles a slew of medical issues) which Kauflin echoes back beautiful on the keys. The back-and-forth musicality symbolizes all that the film celebrates: the community of musicians, the power of friendship, and the rarity of true talent. Here, all are on giddy display.
7. Mistaken For Strangers (dir. Tom Berninger) - Every year brings a slew of music documentaries, most of which offer surveys of bands' or musicians' careers. But Mistaken For Strangers is a very different breed. Tom Berninger, brother of The National lead singer Matt Berninger, has crafted a film that - sure - works as a very funny behind-the-scenes look at the band as it goes on tour. But the more compelling elements come from deeper, more emotional places. Family dynamics, sibling rivalry, artistic ambition - all come into play as Tom watches his brother play to massive audiences night after night, while he struggles to put together his film. It's funny, touching, and rousing, even if you've never listened to The National before (as I hadn't).
6. Happy Valley (dir. Amir Bar-Lev) - As a Buckeye, I know well how consuming the culture of college football can be. I was still in undergrad when the Penn State scandal broke, and I heard horrible things muttered as our impending game against them came closer. Bar-Lev doesn't seek new information or try to answer lingering questions with his film; instead, he crafts Happy Valley to be as full and nuanced a portrait of a community in mourning, struggling with its collective identity as history is being rewritten and erased around them. Scenes from the community and campus reveal the deep conflict we experience when our heroes are revealed to be fallible humans, capable of doing evil or concealing it. When such iconic figures as Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky get caught up in very public misdeeds, entire towns and populations are rocked in the aftermath. Happy Valley shows us what that looks like.
5. Citizenfour (dir. Laura Poitras) - Few thrillers manage to be as riveting as Poitras's essential documentary, in which she films Edward Snowden in his hotel room in the days leading up to his denouncement of the NSA. The claustrophobia is real, and the humanity of Poitras's subject makes for a compelling counterpoint to the figure who was presented, alternately, as a hero for the ages and an enemy of America. The film starts like a spy movie, with a secret rendezvous in the lobby of a hotel, then becomes an essay on journalistic integrity, civic responsibility, and political corruption. Even when the credits roll, the lingering final image prevents you from catching your breath. Citizenfour is the most important documentary of the year.
4. National Gallery (dir. Frederick Wiseman) - I fell madly in love with Wiseman's previous effort, the sprawling At Berkeley, so it's no surprise that I found this followup similarly magical. Wiseman employs a similar fly-on-the-wall approach here, wandering the rooms of London's titular museum, focusing in on paintings, joining tour groups, and exploring the meticulous work of frame carving and painting restoration. The film is painstakingly detailed, instilling an interest in and appreciation for classic art that I struggle to muster in real life. Wiseman's film moves with a rhythm all its own, moving from meeting to gallery to back room to elsewhere, giving viewers a most exclusive tour of the renowned institution. Only when that interplay is interrupted late in the film does it start to slow, but by then, so much intellectual and aesthetic pleasure has been graciously presented that it hardly matters.
3. The Case Against 8 (dir. Ben Cotner and Ryan White) - In a year when racism has reared its ugly head in more pronounced fashion than any other time in recent memory, and violence went unchecked against minority populations, Cotner and White's film about the battle for gay marriage proved a refreshing reminder than change can happen in the face of horrific opposition. Tolerance is on the rise in America, but it's still often a myth, or a mask donned to appease those of us who are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. The Case Against 8 shows how grueling it can be to fight for what is right, but also how rewarding. It's a celebration of love between two people, any two people, and the progress that we're slowly making as a country, even as we regress elsewhere. Liberty and justice for all should be a promise the government and our law enforcement officers are required to keep; instead, it's a phrase we have to fight for to see realized.
2. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (dir. Chiemi Karasawa) - 2014 was an especially gutting year for celebrity deaths, as we bid adieu to numerous beloved stars like Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, and Elaine Stritch. Rivers featured in a similar documentary a few years ago - Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - and Karasawa's look at Stritch's legendary career proves just as enlightening and entertaining. Stritch was one of the funniest women to ever live, a master of comedy and music, dominating the screen and stage even as she railed against the physical realities of getting older. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me is a perfect eulogy to an all-time great, and will have viewers rolling in laughter between bouts of tears.
1. The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (dir. Mami Sunada) - With the releases of Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises in 2013 and Isao Takahata's The Tale of Princess Kaguya last year, we've had to say goodbye to Studio Ghibli, perhaps the most accomplished animation studio in the history of cinema. People unfairly like to call Miyazaki the Disney of the West, but he doesn't need to be compared to anyone else: his stature and legacy are all his own. To be treated to an inside look at the workings of the famed studio, and its two most notable names (though Takahata is rarely seen in the film) is an absolute treasure for fans. Miyazaki is a warm, fascinating, vulnerable subject as he shows his meticulous work ritual and discusses memories of his past that helped to inform The Wind Rises. Sunada's film is one of the richest film-centric documentaries ever made, allowing us to see the imagination, passion, and - indeed, madness that fueled Miyazaki, and Studio Ghibli as a whole, while they drew dreams for the past few decades.
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