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I love them. They often show a side of a person you never knew.

They shed light (albeit with the point of view of the filmmaker, no matter how objective they are), to people and subjects that either need, deserve it or are just plain fun to watch.

Last night I watched a documentary on one of my favorite photographers, “Helmut Newton: My Life.” It turns out we have a lot in common. For one thing, we both had to flee the country we were born in due to a hostile political situation. For another, we both were glasses and have unusual names that start with H. There are many more but I don’t want to bore you.

Here’s a clip from the film.

And here’s a nice little sampling of some of his work:

On a completely different subject, I was flipping thru the channels and came upon a movie about grown ups who dress up and play in a real life action role playing medieval based game called Darkon.

It’s fascinating to watch. Most of the people in the film lead very domesticated, normal lives filled the same anxieties, frustrations, challenges and general ho-hummnes that life in suburbia entails.

But away from their normal lives, they take on roles of kings, knights, warriors, spies, elves, generals, etc. They make treaties and go to war. They hold councils and beat the crap out of each other all while wearing authentic looking costumes with foam covered weapons.

The cinematography is awesome and the plot line that emerges is great. Basically, one “kingdom” has been systematically conquering other “kingdoms” and getting bigger and bigger. They are the imperialistic power.

The leader of a smaller “kingdom” stands up to them and unites the rest of the “realm” in an ultimate showdown with the big boys.

The action stuff is great but watching the guys at home, seeing how much planning and effort goes into this world of theirs is even better.

Here’s the original trailer:

Another highly influential photographer, to me and many others, is the late great Guy Bourdin.

His influences he bared: Shoes, red, sex, cinema, space, hair, red heads, voyuerism, feet, color.

Here’s a look at some of his work: