10. “The Punk Singer” (2013)
Never heard of Bikini Kill? Only aware of the punk-gone-mainstream likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth et al? A little daunted by the more underground aspects of the early ’90s music scene and its nexus with feminist politics? Never fear: in just 80 lean minutes blasting by in a hardcore rush, “The Punk Singer” acquaints you with frontwoman and original Riot Grrl Kathleen Hanna, telling you almost everything you need to know about that scene and far more. In fact, the film really comes into its own detailing Hanna’s development after the Bikini Kill years, as her musical horizons broaden and her life experience accrues, yet she never loses her confrontationality, creating a portrait of artistic, political and personal drive and curiosity that is compelling, truthful, blisteringly entertaining, and all too rare for being personified in a woman. And one with a howling banshee rebel yell of a voice.
9. “20,000 Days On Earth” (2014)
In his music, Nick Cave often manages the trick of sounding dark, self-serious and discordant, only for the sweetest melodies and the most universal themes about love lost and found to emerge. And this docu/fiction hybrid from Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth does something similar —it begins as a reflexive, self-absorbed meta-doodle that strays close to pretension in how singlemindedly it focuses on Cave’s preoccupations with aging and fame and memory, but gradually reveals currents of warmth, self-deprecating humor and enormous generosity of spirit. More than the self-aggrandizement exercise it seems at first blush, ‘20,000 Days’ shows Cave wandering the Gothic mansion that is his life, and then throws open its doors, culminating in a chimingly satisfying ending that proves that his purpose in so minutely examining his own creative process was to inspire that same joy in creation in others.
8. “The Devil And Daniel Johnston” (2006)
This exploration into the rise and fall of singer-songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston is a harrowing, fascinating look into the psyche of an individual whose debilitating mental illness is also inextricably tied to his prolific output of music and art. His stripped-down, heartbreaking pop genius garnered him a cult following and famous fans (Kurt Cobain often sported Johnston’s tee, for instance), but his erratic behavior and mental illness prevented him from ever gaining mainstream status, and the musician now lives at home with his parents, still producing fantastical drawings and beautiful songs. Director Jeff Feurezeig weaves together home movies and audio recordings from Johnston’s life with interviews and artifacts from his family and musicians and artists close to him, creating a vivid, humanizing portrait of one man’s struggle to balance his own sanity and life with the creative and destructive demons that do battle in his mind.
7. “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” (2005)
An unlikely alliance of “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” filmmaker Michel Gondry and eccentric comedy mastermind Dave Chappelle joining forces for arguably hip-hop’s most joyous concert movie, ‘Block Party’ revolves around the comic (just before he disappeared from the limelight) throwing a free street gig behind a Brooklyn community center with appearances from Mos Def, Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, a pre-megafame Kanye West, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, the reunited Fugees and a college-marching band from Ohio. Chappelle’s as engaging a host as you could ever ask for, and though Gondry isn’t the most obvious choice for something like this, the doc fits beautifully with his interest in films about communities (see “Be Kind Rewind,” “The We And The I”) and spends as much time with the audience as with the superstar performers (though the songs are invariably electrifying). Loose and enormously enjoyable, the film completely captures the block party spirit.
6. “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man” (2008)
A portrait of an artist following an unusual muse throughout a five decade career, “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man” gives us the typical career-spanning details: young American singer joins pop group, moves to London, grows out his hair, enjoys hit after hit, plays to hysterical mobs of hormonal teenage girls. Singer has mental breakdown, leaves group, only to emerge as an artist with a string of increasingly brilliant and strange solo albums before falling into cultish obscurity. David Bowie, Brian Eno, Radiohead and Jarvis Cocker were all evidently taking notes. The film tells the story with clarity and real insight, but the real kicker is getting a look inside the reclusive artist’s process. Director Stephen Kijak follows Walker into the studio as he records 2006’s “The Drift,” a horrific operatic masterpiece highlighted by pig carcass percussion and above all an incomparable baritone voice.