With Errol Morris’ most recent full-length documentary two years in the past and with no new film of his creeping above the horizon, Mark Lewis’ The Natural History of the Chicken performs suitably as a proxy. It’s hard not to draw comparisons between Morris’ films and Chicken, frankly: Chicken combines Vernon, Florida‘s meandering tone, reenactments a la The Thin Blue Line, and bright, vivid visuals that recall much of Mr. Death and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. (The last of these three similarities is a gift from God given the state of current non-fiction cinema aesthetics.) And as obvious from the title, Chicken is about one of Morris’ pet topics, animals; Gates of Heaven and numerous episodes of Morris’ television series “First Person” have been about the creatures with which we share this planet. In fact, The Natural History of the Chicken is nearly a parody of Morris’ work but, well, without the parodistic parts.

Click here for the full review by Matthew Prims.

Mysterious Object at Noon, the debut feature from Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is without a doubt one of the most exciting pieces of film I’ve encountered in a long while. Purists may hesitate to label it a documentary as the film melds documentary footage and interviews with fictional footage interspersed throughout. The documentary participants, however, solely supply the fiction with each interviewee contributing to the ongoing story, thereby dictating the content and direction of the film. What emerges is a snapshot not only of life in urban and rural Thailand but also a fascinating view into the collective unconscious of its culture – and, ultimately, by ceding complete control of the film to its subjects, the resulting work stands among the purest of documentaries while simultaneously birthing a marvelous new breed of cinema.

Click here for the full review by Mark Nichols.