Out of the thousands of videos on Netflix, off the beaten path, i found these and would recommend them to you. They more or less revolve around my passions: tennis, space, art/business, real-life (ie. the other side of the tracks). Honorary mention should go to Glass (about philip glass), Derrida (about jacques derrida), Word Wars (too geeky, about scrabble players), the ‘examined life’ (interviews with modern philosophers) and ‘the September Issue’ (behind the scenes of Vogue magazine churning it’s September issue).. all of whom were good, but either too boring, too dry, too narrow in it’s coverage or – as in the case of the September issue – just too damn ridiculous, but still well done nonetheless, like miles davis’ late albums ; -)
Unstrung – Follows a group of top rated tennis prodigies to the final of the USTA Juniors. Chosen from disparate backgrounds, single parent homes, loving but impoverished double parent homes, one parent living out of a van with his son, millionaire parents, typical tennis-parents and inbetween. I would recommend also the article http://www.esquire.com/features/sports/the-string-theory-0796 , expresses the same point, which is a look at the exponentially difficult and merciless but meritocratic world of pro and near pro tennis. How good really are the pros that you see on t.v. Especially for people who take tennis seriously the huge gulf that exists between top – say – college level players and the real professional level players…. (ie. the vast majority of top college players will never make money in their sport). As Greg Hirschman’s Father in the film said “Many are called, but few are chosen”. It’s a great look at that and the sacrifice needed.
Art & Copy – Interviews and traces some of the top advertising agencies and their key founders. The stories and thinking behind some of the most influential media campaigns, such as ‘Just do it’, ‘got milk’, ‘i love ny’ etc.. If you’re in advertising it is a must see.
Hubble’s Rescue – Similarly the care and precision required to do the hubble rescue was amazing. It follows the life of the astronauts as they train.. and then you get to see how even after 2 years of planning, things can still go awry.. (just less)
Sin Nombre – A beautiful film by Cary Fukunaga; the tale of a group of illegal immigrants moving from the south of mexico beginning in mara (gang) areas to the u.s. It’s a film, it’s dramatic, it’s beautiful shot and acted.
Hope you enjoy,