Your Guide To Becoming A Docuphile: Zoo

Each week, I'll cover the documentaries that had a significant impact on me. Consider it a primer to be becoming a docuphile. I encourage you to leave your favorite documentaries in the comments or tweet at me at @robinhardwick. This week, a beautifully crafted and compelling story about an incredibly taboo subject.

What: Zoo (2007)

Who: Kenneth Pinyan, the victim of what is knows as the "Enumcvlaw Horse Sex Death Case." In simplest terms, Pinyan, who went by the pseudonym "Mr. Hands," died from internal bleeding caused by a puncture of the colon, ultimately caused by having intercourse with a horse. The film never mentions him by his real name out of respect for his family, but the details of the case and his identity has been reported in the media.

What: So, by this point in reading this, you've either

1. clenched in horror
2. wondered if I'm joking
3. laughed out loud
4. wonder if this is a pornographic film
5. wondered why I would ever recommend this film
6. all of the above

Let it be clear: Zoo is not a movie about sex with horses. Zoo is a film trying to understand the life of a man whose life ended in unique circumstances and to try to understand how and why something like this would happen. It's a nonjudgmental exploration into the lives of people with different sexual preferences. The film's producer/director, journalist Charles Mudede became interested in the story after covering it for Seattle's alt weekly The Stranger. Quite frankly, it's one of the most compelling documentaries, if not films, I've seen in a long time. The film was given praise upon its debut at the Sundance film festival, but you can probably understand why the film was hard to distribute and release.

Why it's Intriguing: Let's get one thing out of the way: the film does not show any individual having sexual intercourse with horses. If that is what you are seeking from this film, the actual video of the incident is online, and the magic of the internet will allow you to see it with a simple Google search. (To be completely accurate, a very brief flash of the video is shown in the context of the story, but it is appropriately used.)

Your Guide To Becoming A Docuphile: King Of Kong And The Imposter

Each week, I'll bring you brief reviews of my recommendations to watch. Consider it a primer to be becoming a docuphile. I encourage you to leave your favorite documentaries in the comments or tweet at me at @robinhardwick. This week, people with incredibly unique talents: playing Donkey Kong and impersonating missing children.

What: The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)

Who: The story of two men, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, fighting to be the reigning Donkey King champion of the world

Why it's intriguing: I have no idea, it doesn't sound like it would be. Arcade games? Who cares? However, the story unfolds as a classic underdog story. Billy is the long-holding world record holder, is a pompous ass, with slickly styled eighties hair and a chain of restaurants and hot sauce, and Steve Weibe is the down-on-his-luck unemployed guy who tries to reach the record to give his life a purpose and defeat the goal. A fictional story could not have invented a better villain and an underdog.

There's also Walter Day, an arcade game enthusiast and founder of the company Twin Galaxies, the official organization for officially recording world record holders, who is the nicest nicest human alive. He created the company as a labor of love. He provides the narrative and structure for the story, and provides the viewer with the backstory. The story heats up when we learn that the Guiness Book of World Records will include the next person to get the highest score.

By the end I was at the edge of my seat seat. Billy refuses to play the game in person, preferring to provide a video only of his one million+ score, perhaps out of fear of losing and losing his reputation as a superstar. Will Billy show up at the world championships (held at a small arcade in Hollywood, Florida)? Will Steve beat him? I never thought I would care so much about who would win an arcade game.

Worth noting is the charming moment in which Steve Wiebe is recording his high score, and his young son is in the background yelling "Dad! Dad! I need you! I have to poop!". He couldn't redo it, so that's how his high score is recorded. The full movie is available on YouTube.

Your Guide To Becoming A Docuphile: Girl Model And Living Dolls

Each week, I'll bring you brief reviews of my recommendations to watch. Consider it a primer to be becoming a docuphile. I encourage you to leave your favorite documentaries in the comments or tweet at me at @robinhardwick. This week: children exploited for the film/fashion/pageant industry!

What: Girl Model (2011)

Who: Thirteen-year-old Nadia, discovered in the Ukraine by a modeling agent and sent to Japan on her own to pursue a career and Ashley, the former model now working as a model scout.

What makes it a compelling story: With the promise of fame and fortune, young Nadia leaves her family in rural Siberia after being scouted by Ashley and is sent to Japan with no money, knowledge of Japanese or anything lined up. She doesn't get a lot of gigs and overall suffers, but lasts because she wants to bring money home to her family. It's heartbreaking. But I can't stop watching. She goes from go-see to go-see with no success, and breaks down during the few times she gets to call her family. Why go through it? She's promised tons of success.

The film opens with an open call in Siberia, where hundreds of waif-like preteens strut in bikinis. Scout Ashley looks for the ones that look the youngest, because that is what sells in Japan. We also follow Ashley though her journey, and we find her to be... well, eccentric. She keeps plastic infant dolls in her minimalist Connecticut home to pretend she has children, and she is still kicking herself as a failure as a model. This woman is apparently very self-critical, and it's baffling that she would perpetuate the industry and false promises to other girls.

This doc is far from uplifting and showcases a lot of adults that are making money exploiting the innocent and ignorant. The one thing that gave me hope is that Nadia seemed very mature and sweet, and if not in modeling, she will succeed in what she does (I hope).

Your Guide To Becoming A Docuphile: Life With Murder

I never thought I'd be the person who tells people "I mostly watch documentaries," but with more accessibility to said genre, I'm hooked. Consider it some of the best reality shows ever. The ones that engage me the most are profiles of unique people; the more eccentric the better. Each week, I'll bring you brief reviews of my recommendations to watch. Consider it a primer to be becoming a docuphile. I encourage you to leave your favorite documentaries in the comments or tweet at me at @robinhardwick.

What: Life With Murder (2009)

Who: Mason Jenkins, serving a twenty-year prison sentence for murdering his seventeen-year old sister in their home, and his parents.

Why it makes a good story: If you knew your son murdered your daughter, could you still love him? Would you even visit him in prison? The Jenkins family is either the most loving parents ever, or in the most denial. When their seventeen-year-old daughter was shot in their suburban home, son Mason claimed there were intruders that shot her. He was eventually arrested and sentenced for her murder, yet his parents still believe him. Over the course of his twenty-year sentence, he eventually admits his guilt, yet his parents still visit him in prison and cook him dinner and play checkers with him. I wanted to reach in the screen and shake the parents, but it just seemed easier to live in their world where their kids are good kids.

Bonus: It's on Netflix Streaming.

First Look: Room 237

Have you ever had days where you rode your Big Wheel over soft carpeting and hardwood floors only to dead end into the creepiest pair of little girl twins you'd ever laid eyes on?

Me too.

In that case, you better sit and watch this trailer for Room 237, a documentary dealing with all things Kubrickian and terrifying about everyone's favorite winter time getaway: The Overlook!