Monterey Pop
The Last Waltz is overrated. There, I wrote it. Don’t get mad. I didn’t write that it was bad, just that it didn’t live up to the hype. Concert films, no matter how good, can never truly capture the concert-going experience. It’s nice to see the sweat dripping from Robbie Robertson’s face, but that’s not the same as sweating along with him. That said, as a record of a historic moment, it holds up. Similarly, D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop, an account of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, captures an era's zeitgeist. It features performances from ascending luminaries like Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, the Who, and Simon and Garfunkel. Forty-years after its initial release, the film remains a zeitgeist-capturing document of the pre-Woodstock musical landscape.

Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides
Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides could be this year’s The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Like Johnston, Willis was an underground musician, artist, and schizophrenic, beloved by a cult of in-the-know followers. Willis grew up poor in Chicago, played in various bands, and head-butted his way into favour with celebrities and plebs alike before dying of leukemia in 2003. …Joy Rides marks the second time that he has gotten the documentary treatment (the first was 2003’s The Daddy of Rock ‘N’ Roll). The film tells Willis’s story through his artwork and music, as well as video clips and interviews with friends and family.

Stranded: I have Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains
“Tastes like chicken” is a phrase that I expected to hear countless times in Alive. It never came up. I doubt anyone will utter it in Stranded: I have Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains. Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary revisits the tale of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 disaster. The crash and subsequent struggle for survival, including cannibalism, avalanches, and extreme cold, has previously been documented in the aforementioned Ethan Hawke vehicle, as well as Piers Paul Read’s book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors . Through recreations and interviews with survivors Stranded… revisits the saga over thirty-five years later.

Planet B-Boy
Imperialism, whether capitalist, Irish (via pubs), or Swedish (via clothing and music) has been a hot topic on these e-pages as of late. However, one form of colonialism has so far been ignored: break dancing. Luckily, Benson Lee’s Planet B-Boy has dealt with it. The film follows breakers from around the world, looking at their back stories as they prepare for the annual Battle of the Year dance competition. Expect stunning moves, big stereos, and ebulliently tarnished cardboard.