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

## 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