Episode 210: Nick Broomfield's Subjective Truth

==Show Notes==
: We discuss the career of renegade documentary maker Nick Broomfield and his films Chicken Ranch, Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, and Tales of the Grim Sleeper.
==Films Discussed==
* Directed by Nick Broomfield
** Chicken Ranch (1983)
** Driving Me Crazy (1988)
** Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)
** Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995)
** Kurt & Courtney (1998)
** Biggie & Tupac (2002)
** Sarah Palin: You Betcha! (2011)
** Tales of the Grim Sleeper (2014)
** Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017)
** Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019)
* Roger & Me (1989) Dir. Michael Moore
* Inherent Vice (2014) Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
* Skinner (1993) Dir. Ivan Nagy
* Amy (2015) Dir. Asif Kapadia
== Discussion Notes ==
* Mild-mannered British documentary filmmaker who tackles sordid subject matter
** Covered serial killers, celebrity deaths, and sex work, using his awkward on screen manner to catch his subjects off-guard
*** At his best, his films feel like going down a rabbit hole
** Career can be divided in two two sections
*** Early career was his observational cinéma vérité period
*** Later career was far more exploitative 
*** Also starred in a series of Volkswagen commercials!
** The question at the heart of documentaries - how do you represent reality?
* Chicken Ranch
** Documenting of a legal brothel in Las Vegas
** Surprisingly not very sensational or leering, feels immediate and unstaged
* Driving Me Crazy
** Documenting of a musical called 'Body and Soul' to highlight the history of black music and art - which is directed by white guys
*** Really more of a story about how intrusive Broomfield is and the conflict of the egos involved in the creative process
* Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
** Documenting the story of a multiple murderer, and the people who adopted (and exploited) her
*** Shows how Broomfield often explicitly feels superior to his subject matter
* Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madame
** A fun romp in LA exploring the trial against the head of a sex work empire
*** In actuality is more of an exploration of the pathetic nature of Ivan Nagy
** Our hosts found some of the curation and interrogation by Broomfield of private matters involved indefensible
* Kurt & Courtney
** Ostensibly an exploration of the Portland scene that created Kurt Cobain
*** Turns mostly into a Courtney Love-centric hatchet piece
* Tales of the Grim Sleeper
** Explores the world and aftermath of the Lonnie Franklin case in South-Central LA
** Becomes an overwhelmingly tragic film through the stories of the friends, family, and associates of Lonnie
*** Dark undercurrent from the possible support/appreciation of the killings from the LAPD
==Listener Letters==
* No letters this week
== Post-Outro Discussion ==
* Justin watched the ten-hour Holocaust documentary Shoah - our hosts discuss
** Part of the '1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die' canon
** Uses no archival footage, driven instead by the stories of those interviewed
** Balances the inconceivable horror and number of atrocities committed with the truth that life had to go on for people after
* Our hosts anticipation for the 2024 screening of The Day the Clown Cried
** Will shall brook no ironic viewings of this long-awaited piece of the Jerry Lewis canon
Category:Episodes
Category:Nick Broomfield