Immediate Family is a documentary about a group of studio musicians who played on many of the most popular albums from the 70s and especially from the West Coast. It was made by the same person who did the documentary The Wrecking Crew. It opens on Friday, Dec 15 in theaters and on other streaming platforms (it looks like A. Prime and others). The next one is a repeated documentary currently being played on HBO called The Garden. The Garden is about a small, back-to-the-earth commune many believed to have been a cult. Now, here is the thing - while this is a fascinating look at people (and of people with some obvious mental illnesses), there are some serious issues with it. For example, to me, it is easy to pick up when those covered put on a show for the filming camera crew and play to the camera. One thing I found very interesting is how no matter how hard they tried to be a "perfect" community, those involved still acted and schemed like those in everyday life. (There is one scene where the two, more or less leaders of the group are caught on audio conspiring to boot out this highly popular newcomer only to later deny doing such a thing - it was wonderful watching the face of the lying leader Julia when confronted about it).
A couple of programming notes: Immediate Family and The Garden
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Immediate Family is a documentary about a group of studio musicians who played on many of the most popular albums from the 70s and especially from the West Coast. It was made by the same person who did the documentary The Wrecking Crew. It opens on Friday, Dec 15 in theaters and on other streaming platforms (it looks like A. Prime and others). The next one is a repeated documentary currently being played on HBO called The Garden. The Garden is about a small, back-to-the-earth commune many believed to have been a cult. Now, here is the thing - while this is a fascinating look at people (and of people with some obvious mental illnesses), there are some serious issues with it. For example, to me, it is easy to pick up when those covered put on a show for the filming camera crew and play to the camera. One thing I found very interesting is how no matter how hard they tried to be a "perfect" community, those involved still acted and schemed like those in everyday life. (There is one scene where the two, more or less leaders of the group are caught on audio conspiring to boot out this highly popular newcomer only to later deny doing such a thing - it was wonderful watching the face of the lying leader Julia when confronted about it).
