18. Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster (Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky, 2004)
What do you do when youre the most commercially successful rock band ever, with over 100 million records sold worldwide, yet the production of your current album threatens to tear the band apart? If youre Metallica, first you hire the assistance of "performance-enhancing coach" Phil Towle (at a cost of $40,000 a month), and then you allow two filmmakers unprecedented access to not only the collaborative process, but the clash of egos that mark the albums creation. Berlinger and Sinofsky never appear before the camera, nor do they provide a commentary, but instead simply record the daily tribulations that throw themselves at these heavy metal juggernauts. Metallicas eighth studio album, St Anger, is borne from the increasingly frustrated relationship between frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, a power struggle that constantly sees the two original members fighting for creative control. Most recording sessions end with either party (sometimes both) storming out of the studio in a tantrum. Towle remedies this with a spot of group therapy, a surreal sight given the fact that Hetfield is one of the last people youd ever imagine to mince his words, and, initially, this works a treat. But when Hetfield decides to confront his alcoholism, his stint in rehab means that production is halted for a year. He stipulates that the band are not to rehearse or even listen to their recorded material until he returns. Ulrich is not a patient man. During this hiatus, and as part of his "therapy", he meets former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine for the first time since deciding to fire him in 1983. Like most of the film, this is compelling but often uncomfortable viewing. If youve yet to pick a side in the Hetfield versus Ulrich clash, then there is one scene in particular that will have you screaming for the former. It follows Ulrich taking his art collection to sell at a Christies auction. In just under two hours, he watches the lot pass the seven-million dollar mark but can barely raise a smile from inside his glass of champagne.
17. Etre et Avoir (Nicholas Philibert, 2002)
Frances largest-grossing documentary should come with a recommendation from its tourist board. It follows a year in the life of teacher Georges Lopez, and his single class of students aged four to eleven in their remote Auvergne school. These students, largely unperturbed by Philiberts presence, learn the syllabus from art to arithmetic, but Lopez is especially concerned with preparing them for "big school". Patient, paternal and deeply philosophical, his dedication to each child instantly draws us to him. He never raises his voice, instead settling a dispute among two quarrelling kids with a calm and tactful discussion. In between these exchanges, the camera cuts to the changing seasons seen through the window, or a couple of pet turtles inching across the classroom carpet. This seems to reflect the initially slow pace of the film; a repetitive spelling exercise could especially benefit from stricter editing, but when the end creeps up on you, the last day of term before the school holiday, youll struggle to hold back the tears, too.
16. Starsuckers (Chris Atkins, 2009)
Society has always been obsessed with celebrity culture, but the rise of reality television has fooled a generation into believing that they will become famous. Its a myth that has become the lifeblood of new media, where there really is no such thing as bad publicity. Everyone agrees that the culprits are those who willingly market the prospect of fame to a very young audience, but are they simply giving the public what it wants? Atkins explains that the psychological and sociological desires for fame (or at least, to associate ourselves with celebrities) are indeed a two-way street. This point is reinforced with a series of amusing and revealing stunts, from encouraging parents to exploit their children for a non-existent reality show, to selling fake stories to the tabloid gossip pages for hundreds of pounds. Everyones a winner, right? Just as Atkins et al have molded you into a grumbling cynic, they pull off the biggest coup of all. In exposing the reality hidden behind its good intentions, we see that the charity concerts of Live 8 served as nothing more than self-congratulatory headline-grabbers. So, a film is telling us to question the media, eh? Best do as were told.
15. The Queen Of Versailles (Lauren Greenfield, 2012)
Few films can encapsulate the American Dream quite like this one. A holiday to France inspired billionaire couple Jackie and David Siegel, owners of the world's most successful time-share company, to model their new Florida home on the impossibly luxurious palace of Versailles. At 90,000 square feet, it became the biggest house in America, but when the global recession of 2008 forced David to halt construction as well as trading, he had no choice but to put the half-finished concrete block on the market, as well as find $400 million to avoid foreclosure of his billion-dollar-a-year business. The conflict of the film sees him and his family try to claw back every dollar, yet the very concept of living on a budget seems anathema. The shot of a limo outside a McDonalds typifies the comic vulgarity with which the Siegels attempt to economise. Naturally, the kids (eight including an adopted niece) are spoilt rotten. Upon hearing that their pet lizard has died due to dehydration, one replies ''I didn't know we even had a lizard!'' Jackie is a former IBM engineer turned beauty queen but, at thirty years David's junior, has succumbed to the lifestyle of a trophy wife. When she displays just how out of touch with reality she has become, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. For example, after hiring a car from Hertz, she casually asks for the name of her driver. She recalls how, as a teenager, she had to wait in line for the bathroom every morning, as though this was a breach of the Geneva Convention. Fortunately, the plans for 23 bathrooms in Versailles seem to have eradicated that problem. Despite the budget, here she is with a tin of caviar on Christmas morning. Scenes such as this present the family (dysfunctional as standard) as reality TV stars, where tackiness and tantrums collide. Greenfield may allow us the guilty pleasure of watching the rich struggle for once, but should we be laughing? Admittedly, the Siegels are hardly facing life on the streets (unlike any of the thousands of telemarketing employees David is forced to make redundant) and for the most part, the biggest casualty seems to be vanity. It seems that their biggest crime is simply being oblivious.