What do tennis phenomenon Roger Federer and pop phenomenon BTS have in common? Absolutely nothing, but both are the subjects of new and prestigious documentaries coming to Prime Video.
The documentary about Federer does not yet have a title, but it will be a long look at “the last 12 days of Roger Federer's illustrious career. Originally a home video that was never intended for public viewing, the film captures Federer in his “most vulnerable and candid Me moment, as he says goodbye to a game and the fans who shaped his life over the past two decades.” The show will also include interviews with friends and rivals, including Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Prime Video is also preparing for its launch Hope in the street, a six-part documentary series starring J-Hope of the K-pop supergroup BTS. Now in the twelfth year of his professional career, the pop star finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy filled with corrupt cops, shady businessmen, and scheming politicians. I'm kidding! That is Reacher! J-Hope joins his former dance instructor Boogaloo Kin to explore the streets of Osaka, Seoul, Paris, New York and Gwangju, “meeting inspiring street dancers along the way.”
There's no official release date for Federer's documentary yet, although it's likely to appear in July to coincide with Wimbledon 2024. And you'll have to wait a bit to watch the BTS show, which won't air until March 28. In the meantime, there's plenty more to watch on Prime if in-depth documentaries are your thing. Here are three worth checking out.
marley
With the Bob Marley biopic One Love With mixed reviews, now is a good time to see the real Marley in Kevin Macdonald's electrifying documentary about reggae's biggest star. It currently has a 96% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics generally agree that it explains the legend without overstating it.
According to INDY Week: “As far as documentaries about the late revolutionary reggae singer Bob Marley go (and I've seen a couple in my time), Marley is definitely the most complete, almost to a fault.” And USA Today says: “Sprinkled with riffs, concert footage and home videos, the family-sanctioned documentary does what the artist used to do: When in doubt, get back to the beat.”
But don't expect full disclosure: this is authorized by the Marley family. However, BET.com was impressed enough to say that “'Marley' will go down in film history as one of the greatest music documentaries of all time.”
touching the void
Kevin Macdonald (yes, him again) delivers an exceptionally difficult to watch docu-drama based on one of the most horrible things that can happen on a mountain. It is based on Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' actual 1985 ascent of the 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Andes, where the climbers used an innovative new technique that left no room for mistakes or accidents. And then Simpson fell and broke his legs.
RogerEbert.com gave the film four stars, saying that “it is the most harrowing film about mountaineering I have ever seen or can imagine… [it’s] “more of a horror movie than any real horror movie could be.” Today said that “the fact that”touching the void“It's a true story that gives it a more visceral impact than even the best fiction films.” Empire agreed: “it becomes a chilling depiction of the agonizing disintegration of body and mind as they are exposed to the elements.”
Mr. organ
While BTS fans are among the scariest people you can make enemies of online (I may have to go into hiding after gently mocking their hero at the top of this article), they are nothing to Mister Organ. He is the protagonist of this extremely strange and disturbing documentary that, according to RogerEbert.com, is “scarier than a Blumhouse joint, more devious than a Mountain range continuation”.
Michael Organ is a middle-aged man in New Zealand who is apparently holding people's cars outside an antique store when it is closed for the night; When director and filmmaker David Farrier tries to find out more, things get horrible, weird, and terrifyingly weird. “Farrier has bottled one of the darkest ways a law-abiding human being can be created,” says Ebert.com. The New York Times [paywall] says that “if its title, 'Mister Organ', initially strikes you as funny, you won't be laughing for long.” It's a “horror documentary film” about “a terrifying guy: the sociopathic conman who doesn't work on discreet schemes but leads an entire false existence, with no specific goal other than to deceive and control others.”
