Streaming platforms live in paradoxes. On the one hand, they need a lot of content to engage, and convince, more and more subscribers; on the other hand, however, they have more time to produce and shoot. Maybe that’s why documentaries have been so successful lately. It was the immediate contact with the public, and therefore the possibility to choose, to click and to start seeing without too much difficulty, to relaunch these stories.
Abstract: The art of design (Netflix) collects a series of testimonies and rumors, and does so without ever weighing down the tone of the story. We talk about creativity. The protagonists are illustrators, artists, architects and photographers. They work with paper, with pencils, with computers, and above all they work with the imagination. Abstract is an experiment: it doesn’t just use frames and words, but plays with graphics and animations. Even if the theme is extremely concrete, in Abstract resists a suspended, almost immaterial dimension, which holds all the episodes together.
Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back (Disney +) is another type of documentary. In the beginning it was supposed to be a movie. From a purely productive point of view, it is a rather traditional title, built entirely on editing and archival materials. A very important job has been done to clean up the sights and sounds. Above all, there was Jackson’s precise will to show something more, something new and unprecedented, capturing the Beatles in their element, that is, while they were writing, playing and composing. The final result is incredible: a mammoth and very rich docuseries.
The Last Dance (Netflix) is able to build a passionate and engaging story using interviews and old footage. Music, in this docuseries, is fundamental. There is a constant search for an antagonist, for someone to beat. Basketball is not just a sport: it is a war, an eternal confrontation, a never-ending battle of talents and personalities. Contrary to other docuseries, The Last Dance is frenetic, fast, full of things and details; he is not afraid to reiterate his position; does not seek absolute truth. He makes memories and the reconstruction of events his strength. And it’s beautiful.
Not all docuseries are the same. And they’re not that predictable either. Now, with streaming, there is the possibility to change, to take risks and to take different paths. The authors are truly free, and the interest of distributors and producers is genuine. Documentaries are not just a fashion: they are, in some ways, the new frontier of entertainment.
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