I Talk Two More Documentaries

The first I reviewed on Letterboxd last week: Budo: The Art of Killing
 

A late 70’s Japanese documentary concerning the country’s martial arts which has a soundtrack that bragged about its usage of Korg synthesizers—sign me up! The film is apparently a cult classic in some circles, although it wasn’t until relatively recent that its existence was discovered by me. It was made in Japan by the Japanese although it took an American living in the Land of the Rising Sun (Arthur Davis) to find distribution. At least in this version, the narration was in English.

The samurai, the sword, and the weapons that the common people devised to guard themselves from the sword are first presented. Then, time is spent with the expected Nippon arts—sumo, judo, karate, aikido, etc. Zen Buddhism is also broached. This is set to a soundtrack which typically is standard “Eastern mysticism” but sometimes is groovy late 70’s music… meaning that it is awesome. The synth version of Toccata and Fugue in D minor was tremendous.

Budo puts over the country of Japan and its fighting arts. All disciplines are shown through strenuous practice and a constant refrain is that mental toughness and unending practice is needed to become proficient. Is this jam-packed with information and details concerning the histories of these disciplines? No it is not. However, Budo is still a nice love letter to the martial arts of Japan, each fighting style presented on camera and their attributes all made clear for the viewer. Plus, seeing karate masters break concrete blocks is always a rad time.

The second was 2010's Hubble, an IMAX presentation: 

Viewing an IMAX documentary at home streamed via Prime isn’t the same as experiencing it on an actual IMAX screen. Heck, this was originally shown in 3D, and naturally the 2D version is one that’s streaming. Be that as it may, talking about one will be different from the norm plus I was happy to see something concerning the Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (launched at the end of 2021) has fascinated me with its stunning images. The Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990) has been of interest to me since I was a kid in the 90’s.

Narrated by Leo DiCaprio, Hubble explained the history of its eponymous telescope, how a screw-up before it launched required a fix in space three years later, and the stunning images it captured. CG uses those images to create a cosmic journey to a particular interesting part of the cosmos. The focus is a mission to service the telescope; the shuttle Columbia blowing up in 2003 understandably delayed those plans for a long while. Once up in space, the mission hits a few snags but is ultimately a success.

This 44-minute long documentary scratched the itch for outer space that I’ve had since my childhood. It was nice to see those images, the praise for the astronauts, Hubble up close, and how perilous it was to do the maintenance without damaging the telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope is an improvement on Hubble in every way yet both are critical for the study of the cosmos.

Even via a stream, the audio and visual components were both impressive. Various IMAX documentaries are both on disc and on streaming platforms—this is something I should experience more often in the future.