THE JOURNAL
Mr Michael Collins suits up, 16 July 1969, scene from Apollo 11, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Universal and Dogwoof
They say you should never meet your heroes, but this summer, cinema gives you the option to decide for yourself. The documentary form, a genre in rude health, is particularly strong when it comes to telling the stories of extraordinary, rather-singular human beings.
The best docs of late have profiled incredible, real-life women – from Ms Aretha Franklin in Amazing Grace to badass US Supreme Court judge Ms Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG. Now, some other interesting characters are set to get the nonfiction, big-screen treatment. Here are six to make your own mind up about.
Mr Diego Maradona cheers after a win in Naples, 10 May 1987, scene from Diego Maradona, 2019. Photograph by Mr Meazza Sambucetti, courtesy of Altitude Films
Mr Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona
Assembled almost entirely from existing footage, Mr Asif Kapadia’s blistering account of the life of Mr Diego Maradona does not lack plot points. Everybody gets a run out here, from girls to gangsters to God in the latest from the Oscar-winning director of the Ms Amy Winehouse doc, Amy. Diego Maradona is a documentary of two halves; one, a celebration of the shantytown boy made good, the Napoli idol, the deity-assisted goal scorer. On the other, all the downsides, not least that incident in the World Cup quarter-final. Hands down (sorry) the biggest drama in off season.
UK Premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest 6 June, out nationwide 14 June
Ms Rebecca Lucy Taylor at a Radio X session, October 2016, still from Our Most Brilliant Friends, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Riff Raff Films
Slow Club
Our Most Brilliant Friends
Breaking up is hard to do, as Mr Charles Watson and Ms Rebecca Lucy Taylor find in the rockumentary, Our Most Brilliant Friends. The duo were Sheffield-based rock band Slow Club, who, over 10 years, made five critically acclaimed records and garnered a loyal fanbase. Now, due to a fractious relationship and creative ennui, they call it quits, but not before director Mr Piers Dennis – who shot several Slow Club videos – follows them on tour in 2016. In Our Most Brilliant Friends, the band plays on through sadness, interpersonal strife and, perhaps most heroically of all, life lived in the back of a tour van.
Out from 7 June through Our Screen
Mr Alec Baldwin leaning on a DMC prototype in Framing John DeLorean, 2019. Photograph by Ms Nicole Rivelli, courtesy of Sundance Selects
Mr John DeLorean
Framing John DeLorean
The hero car creator from the 1980s turns out to be quite the maverick in other, rather more criminal respects in this hybrid documentary (some elements are dramatised) which stars Mr Alec Baldwin as Mr John DeLorean. Nothing would seem as far-fetched in Framing John DeLorean as the futuristic car the automotive executive dreams up; nothing, that is, except the drug trafficking sideline he allegedly develops to maintain his jet-set lifestyle. Cue the FBI…
Out 29 July
Mr Roy Halston Frowick with Ms Liza Minelli in Halston, 2019. Photograph by Ms Berry Berenson Perkins, courtesy of Dogwoof
Mr Roy Halston Frowick
Halston
Fashion documentary maker Mr Frédéric Tcheng is no stranger to big egos; after all, he edited Valentino: The Last Emperor, which depicts, with some humour, the closing act of Mr Valentino Garavani’s career. His latest film follows the fortunes of another style titan, Mr Roy Halston Frowick, the 1970s American designer who broke the mould and then broke the bank. The fashion star, one of the few to first to turn his house into a brand, makes ego-driven errors, but the real villain of Halston may well be corporate America, which hastens his professional decline.
Out 7 June
Mr Liam Gallagher in As It Was, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Altitude Films
Mr Liam Gallagher
As It Was
Billed as no-holds-barred account of Mr Liam Gallagher’s unlikely comeback from the musical wilderness, As It Was is a deep dive on the low points (the former Oasis frontman’s spiral into cultural irrelevance and booze-filled despair), before going supernova on the villain of the piece, Mr Noel Gallagher. The elder brother, now famously estranged, isn’t in this documentary. But that doesn’t stop the younger Gallagher giving him the two-fingered salute on camera, much to his long-suffering mam’s disapproval. As you were, our kid.
Special screening with live performance 6 June, out nationwide 7 June
The Apollo 11 crew boards the van for the launchpad, 16 July 1969, scene from Apollo 11, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Universal and Dogwoof
The Apollo 11 Crew
Apollo 11
Boyhood heroes don’t come bigger than the first men on the Moon, the subjects of this meticulous retelling of the Apollo 11 space mission in 1969. Fifty years on, Mr Neil Armstrong’s one small step has been so often told – most recently with Mr Ryan Gosling as the First Man – there would seem there is little left to uncover. But Apollo 11 is no mere re-tread. Created from a sift of 11,000 hours of audio and original film, director Mr Todd Douglas Miller and his team (the real heroes here) bring history-making space action to arresting and vibrant life.
Out 28 June