I became much more interested in more conceptual and challenging work, things that weren't as documentary in nature, and artists who were often working photographically and telling stories in much more indirect and even vague ways.
On the other hand, White Diamond, Herzog's recent documentary, is not as overwrought as his earlier movies.
The result is not as eccentric as his recent documentary Encounters At The End Of The World but it's a marvel nonetheless.
The consensus is that this year has seen a strong lineup of films, especially among the documentaries, though perhaps not as strong as two years ago, when "In the Bedroom," "The Deep End" and "Memento" were shown.
Even if the work, or this collection, is not presented as documentary in nature, simply stating that a lot of the images diverged from reality to fit a romantic ideal raises the question of what exactly that reality was.
And that would have been that had not a TV executive decided to take up Homicide and run with it, not as a documentary, however, but as fiction.
It saves its simmering rage for the West German authorities, who emerge, if not as the documentary's villains, then certainly as its tragically inept fools.
"Backstage" isn't as good as the rap documentaries "Rhyme and Reason" and "The Show," but it still casts a keen, observant eye (even though video fatigue sets in) on this world.
This book isn't as much fun as Michael Moore's documentary, "Sicko," but it is filled with facts and insights that will keep you reading.
Mr. Sloan said one of the pleasures of revisiting "WTC View" almost 10 years after 9/11 was that he saw his play now not so much as documentary theater but more as a study of "characters on the verge of adulthood who are facing choices that have nothing to do with 9/11".
