Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
Director
Wim Wenders
Main cast
Compay Segundo; Eliades Ochoa; Ry Cooder; Joachim Cooder; Ibrahim Ferrer
Genres
Documentary, Music
Description
In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.
Wim Wenders
Main cast
Compay Segundo; Eliades Ochoa; Ry Cooder; Joachim Cooder; Ibrahim Ferrer
Genres
Documentary, Music
Description
In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.
Similar movies
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
This flick interviews up and coming glam bands who made their home in the L.A. scene. Also interviewed are some of the genre's idols including Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Poison, Megadeth, Lemmy from Motorhead and of course, Ozzy. Also, spotlighted performances from bands such as Faster Pussycat, Odin, London (Nikki Sixx's old band), Seduce and Megadeth. The movie's range of topics include groupies, alcoholism, drugs, the glam image and why it attracted so many people from many walks of life. The movie's funniest (and saddest) segment includes filmmaker Penelope Spheeris's attempt to interview a W.A.S.P. guitarist in his pool, drunk as a skunk and with his MOM sitting right there!
It is about a music school in Philadelphia, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, run by Paul Green that teaches kids ages 9 to 17 how to play rock music and be rock stars. Paul Green teaches his students how to play music such as Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa better than anyone expects them to by using a unique style of teaching that includes getting very angry and acting childish.
Some Kind of Monster is a music documentary about Metallica's making of their album St. Anger and the difficulties they had to go through in the process. The directors shot over 1200 hours and followed the band around night and day for over a year to create this documentary.
Documentary maker Jan Holman follows the ultrafamous singer/songwriter JaromÃr Novahica during his tour with the band Cechomor. The combination is very succesful, but it draws a heavy toll on the band members and Jan Holman.
Shot from 1987 through 1998 on super 8, 16mm and video, Instrument is composed mainly of footage of concerts, interviews with the band members, practices, tours and time spent in the studio recording their 1995 album, Red Medicine. The film also includes portraits of fans as well as interviews with them at various Fugazi shows around the United States throughout the years.
John Lennon, David Bowie, Julian Lennon, and Yoko Ono Lennon are featured in this portrait of the life of musician John Lennon. A documentary about former Beatle John Lennon, narrated by Lennon himself, with extensive material from Yoko Ono's personal collection. This feature-film biography of the legendary rock musician includes previously unseen footage from Lennon's private archives, as well as interviews with his first wife Cynthia, second wife Yoko Ono and sons Julian and Sean. Narrated in Lennon's own voice, IMAGINE was taken from the 240 hours of personal film and video from the star's private collection. Directed by Andrew Solt (who is also responsible for the rockumentary THIS IS ELVIS,) this unique film gives fan a look at the enigmatic, innovative, and often changing pop revolutionary that is unavailable anywhere else.
The Snake The Cross The Crown is one of America's best unknown touring bands.They've reached the point and ask the question every musician is eventually faced with, is this worth it? On A Carousel Of Sound, We Go Round explores this universal story with a unique cinematic approach combining performance, past and present footage, and animation, into a moving diary feature film experience about a great band, on the road, with a future unclear. A story any dedicated music fan or musician will instantly relate to and appreciate.
Get Thrashed traces the rise, fall and impact of thrash metal; from its early years, through its influence on grunge, nu metal and today's heavy metal scene. It is the story of the heaviest, hardest music of the 80s and early 90s as told by the bands who lived it, the fans and bands that grew up on it and by the artists that carry the "thrash metal" flag today.
With an intimate look into the band's life, this concert documentary is about the farewell concert of cult Hungarian band 'Kispál és a borz'.
A two disc amalgam of the final performances of 2001's Madison Square Gardens performances by one of the greatest bands in the world of some of the greatest music in the world. The atmosphere positively floods out of the screen to envelop you and the hairs on your neck will be standing on end before the first note has been struck. After watching this you'll believe that The Boss is incapable of putting a foot wrong. By the end, he's only just short of defying gravity.
A feature-length documentary about The Smashing Pumpkins, which chronicles the band's residencies at The Orange Peel in Asheville and The Fillmore in San Francisco in summer 2007. The documentary covers Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's attempts to write and debut new music at the residencies, as well as the revival of the band with new members.
Blind blues musician Paul Pena is perhaps best known for his song "Jet Airliner". In 1993, Pena heard Tuvan throat singing over his shortwave radio and subsequently taught himself how to reproduce these extraordinary sounds. This documentary follows him to Tuva, where he takes part in a throat singing competition.
A documentary on Dizzy Gillespie's landmark visit to Cuba and his performance at the Fifth International Jazz Festival in Havana, Cuba.
In GLOBAL METAL, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West's most maligned musical genre - heavy metal - has impacted the world's cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Sam Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world's emerging extreme music scenes; from Indonesian death metal to Chinese black metal to Iranian thrash metal. GLOBAL METAL reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who aren't just absorbing metal from the West - they're transforming it - creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.
A documentary about the history and reformation of Toronto punk band Death from Above 1979.
Riding in Vans with Boys is a 2003 documentary film directed by Matthew Beauchesne describing the experiences of the band Kut U Up, a relatively unknown group that went on tour in the spring of 2002 as an opening act for major groups like Blink-182, Green Day and Jimmy Eat World in the Pop Disaster Tour.
Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin's evolution into a star from letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators.
In 1996, Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, British producer Nick Gold, and American guitarist Ry Cooder convened in Havana to produce a Cuban-Malian collaboration. When the Malians couldnât get visas, the team turned their attention to reviving a forgotten generation of legendary son cubano musicians and formed an on-the-fly ensemble: the Buena Vista Social Club. Two decades since that fateful first session, we catch up to these master musicians, as they reflect on the magical unfolding of their livesâfrom humble origins to the evolution and surprising revival of their careers, all against the backdrop of Cubaâs dramatic history. Brimming with unseen concert, rehearsal, and archival footage, this film is an emotional, shimmering celebration of musicâs power to transcend age, ideologies, and class, and to connect us to each other through our souls.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel, "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star. In short, the combined events would redefine the popular appeal of pornography, even as more cynical developments would lead it down other paths.
The story of Cuban refugees who risked their lives in homemade rafts to reach the United States, and what life is like for those who succeed.
Superstar in a Housedress (2004) is a feature-length documentary by independent filmmaker Craig Highberger about the life and legend of Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis.
Cuba's political and economic exile has yielded a startling upside: A pristine island preserve boasting one of the most diverse and primordial ecosystems in the region. But how will nature fare if the U.S. trade embargo ends and tourists pour in? This episode of the PBS series observes jumping crocodiles, painted snails and other famed residents while profiling the unsung scientists who are studying and protecting the creatures' idyllic habitats.
Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.
Life in the trenches of that most honorable and frustrating profession...teaching. It's the start of a memorable new year at Harrison High. The self-conscious Mr. Stroope is convinced that his time has come - this year he will be furnished with the golden title of "Teacher of the Year," if only his smarter students would stop using words that he can't understand.
Documentary on the director's meeting with Castro.
In the early 1970s, Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (Andy Garcia) is torn between his own musical dreams and the dreams of his wife, Marianela (MÃa Maestro), a fervent supporter of the ideals of the Castro revolution. Also starring Charles S. Dutton as Dizzy Gillespie and José Zúñiga as Paquito D'Rivera, this gripping jazz biopic is at once a detailed portrait of a musician and a stinging critique
An eccentric Olympic has-been who prefers leisure to work, finds himself stuck with a rigid pre-law Yale student with no time for wasting time. Between skinny-dipping and stealing cars, this odd-couple learn from each other that balance is the key to getting the girl, getting the job and getting a life.
AMERICAN MOVIE is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, AMERICAN MOVIE is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.
Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.
Among the most important films from the post-war American independent scene are Lionel Rogosinâs On the Bowery and Come Back, Africa â two incredible documents of bygone eras that still resonate today. From the beginning, Rogosinâs style as an independent filmmaker was straightforward and compassionate. His films, made âfrom the insideâ showed the subjects he chose in their normal surroundings and allowed them to speak in their own words. By choosing ordinary people caught up in universal problems â homelessness, racial discrimination, war and peace, labor relations, and poverty â Rogosin made his point poignantly. The Oscar®-nominated On the Bowery is a masterpiece of the American blend of documentary/fiction.
CUBAMERICAN is the story of how the Cuban Revolution shattered the Cuban family. Spanning the past 60 years of Cuban history, the film explores tragedy, loss, freedom, assimilation, struggle and success through the stories of Cuban exiles who have achieved success in the U.S.A. in the diverse fields of art, science, medicine, design, music, dance, literature, academia and sports. The film culminates with rumination on the future of Cuba, leaving a mosaic of a bittersweet exile experience. Thematically, Cubamerican is a pro-immigrant story that highlights the absolute need for all of the world's people to be able to freely exercise their fundamental human rights.
A documentary centered on the union formed by Bolivian farmers in response to their government's (which was urged by the U.S.) effort eradicate coca crops, and the man who would come to represent them, Evo Morales.
Cuban Story: The Truth about Fidel Castro Revolution is a 1959 film documentary narrated by Errol Flynn, and the last known performance work of his career.
Shot in 11 cities and 5 countries, Speaking in Code provides a glimpse into the world of electronic dance music through the eyes of Modeselektor, the Wighnomy Brothers, Philip Sherburne, Monolake and David Day. Director Amy Grill documents their successes and failures over a three-year period.
A celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew", a band that provided back-up instrumentals to such legendary recording artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys and Bing Crosby.
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars.
What happens when a generation's ultimate anti-authoritarians â punk rockers â become society's ultimate authorities â dad's? With a large chorus of Punk Rock's leading men â Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Rise Against's Tim McIlrath â The Other F Word follows Jim Lindberg, 20-year veteran of skate punk band, Pennywise, on his hysterical and moving journey from belting his band's anthem, 'Fuck Authority', to embracing his ultimately pivotal authoritarian role in mid-life, fatherhood.
Starting with the image of a tour bus warming its engine in the stillness of an empty lot, this haunting, personal portrait of music legend Levon Helm evokes the mood of a lifetime spent on the road. Jacob Hatley's extraordinarily intimate documentary finds Helm, a founding member of The Band, at home in Woodstock in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. The ultimate survivor, he's overcome drugs, bankruptcy, the bitter breakup of The Band and a bout of throat cancer -but then, as the rueful title indicates, he wasn't in it for his health
Contemporary film critics regard the epic film I Am Cuba as a modern masterpiece. The 1964 Cuban/Soviet coproduction marked a watershed moment of cultural collaboration between two nations. Yet the film never found a mass audience, languishing for decades until its reintroduction as a "classic" in the 1990s. Vicente Ferraz explores the strange history of this cinematic tour de force, and the deeper meaning for those who participated in its creation.
A real time journey witnessing the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of the fierce feminist pioneers of American grunge punk: L7.
This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.
Ye Xiang Lun is a music student majoring in piano who just transferred to Tamkang, a school famous for its musically talented students, especially those who play piano. On his first day of school, he hears a mysterious melody being played, and following it meets Lu Xiao Yu, another piano major. When he asks her about the song she was playing, she tells him that it is a secret that cannot be told. The two form a friendship that quickly evolves into a romantic relationship. However unbeknownst to Xiang Lun, there is more to Xiao Yu than initially meets the eye.
Antoine Pellissier is an independent filmmaker who makes gory horror films. He is also a doctor. DR. GORE follows him as he tries to put together an ambitious new project against steep odds.
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the cameraâs lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occuring.
In 1971 September met four young men in a garden in Gentofte. They wanted to make a band. And they soon found out that they could joke his way to one hit after another. A handful of years later had their playful approach made them Denmark's largest orchestra. But if success came easily to them, it was also their biggest problem. For besides they were hit by alcoholism and stage directing, they faced one overriding dilemma: Should they stick to the happy drengerøvs tone (young men who appear to be young, immature or inexperienced or who behave childishly), they had so much luck, or trying to become adults?
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
A documentary about the Slovenian rock band Big Foot Mama.
Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.
Sicko is a Michael Moore documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing peoples lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.
Legendary British rock band Spinal Tap is followed by a documentary film-maker during their attempt at an American comeback tour. The resulting film, interspersed with powerful performances showcasing Tap's pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows the group as the difficult industry threatens to fade them into obscurity.
A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.
Beautiful is a 2011 Indian Malayalam musical drama thriller film written by Anoop Menon and directed by V. K. Prakash. The film stars Jayasurya, Anoop Menon and Meghana Raj in the lead roles. The cinematography was by Jomon T. John and the music was composed by Ratheesh Vegha. It tells the story about the intense bonding of two friends, one quadriplegic and other a musician. The film released on 2 December 2011 to predominantly positive reviews
Jimmy Rabbitte, just a tick out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.
Direct out of jail, Jake Blues and his Brother Elwood are off on a âmission from Godâ to raise funds for the orphanage in which they grew up. The only thing they can do is do what they do best: play music. So they get their old band together and they're on their way yet not without getting in a bit of trouble here and there.
A sci-fi anime House-musical movie collaboration between Daft Punk--and their music--and designer Leiji Matsumoto. During the recording of their DISCOVERY album and using the themes of sci-fi celebrity, decadence and space travel, Daft Punk--with help from Cedric Hervet--wrote the story and inspired seasoned Japanese animators to symbiotically create this stunning space musical.
Film adaptation of a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a nun who becomes a governess for an Austrian family.
It's almost graduation day for high school seniors Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Chad, Ryan and Taylor â and the thought of heading off in separate directions after leaving East High has these Wildcats thinking they need to do something they'll remember forever. Together with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical reflecting their hopes and fears about the future and their unforgettable experiences growing up together. But with graduation approaching and college plans in question, what will become of the dreams, romances, and friendships of East High's senior Wildcats?
© Valossa 2015–2024