Documentaries
Why 'Indian Point' Still Matters in the Nuclear Debate
Ivy Meeropol's portrait of an aging reactor on the Hudson is less about meltdowns than about who gets to decide what counts as safe.
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Reviews, essays and the directors, movements and ideas that shape non-fiction cinema.
Documentaries
Direct Cinema vs Cinéma Vérité: What's the Difference?
The fly on the wall versus the provocateur with a camera — the two great observational traditions are closer in look than in belief.
Documentaries
The Six Documentary Modes of Bill Nichols, Explained
Poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative — a working map of how documentaries actually behave.
Documentaries
Werner Herzog's Documentaries, Ranked
He'd tell you facts are the truth of accountants. Here's a ranking of the films where Herzog goes hunting for something stranger.
Documentaries
What Makes a Great Observational Documentary
No narration, no interviews, no music telling you how to feel. So why do the best observational docs grip you harder than anything?
Documentaries
How Documentaries Use Archival Footage (and Clear It)
That grainy newsreel doing all the emotional heavy lifting? Someone tracked it down, paid for it, and lost sleep over the rights.
Documentaries
The Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking, Explained
A documentary is a relationship with real people who can't control how they're shown. That asymmetry is where all the hard questions start.