Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Documentary Night

Documentary night. Sounds pretty dry, right? Good news, the two I watched were fun, exciting and full of heart.

Double Dare is about 2 stunt women:

  • Jeannie Epper, who was stunt double for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman in the 70s. As the intertitle says, "35 years later...", she is still working.
  • Zoe Bell, the young New Zealander who doubled for Lucy Lawless  in Xena. When that series wrapped up, she is still a teenager, heading to Hollywood and the unknown.
Both of these women have amazing lives, great spirit and bravery, and have a lot of fun. Bell is particularly magnetic - well, she's young and beautiful and the Kiwi accent doesn't hurt. She should really be acting in her own right, not just doubling. Checking IMDb, I find that she has.

Béla Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart documents NewGrass banjo artist Fleck's trip to Africa. Since the banjo was an instrument that came to America with the slaves, he wanted to take it back to Africa to find its roots. He seems tentative at first - how will he adapt his bluegrass/jazz/avant-garde style to the polyrhythmic vocal and instrumental styles of Africa? -SPOILER- He does and it's beautiful.

There's some great music here, not too much scenery, and some lovely people that Fleck meets. I'm getting the album.

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