direct cinema

The Maysles, who five years later would direct what is largely considered the greatest of all rock ’n’ roll documentaries, “Gimme Shelter,” were founding members of the fly-on-the-wall “direct cinema” movement, the domestic cousin of ciinéma vérité.

Why “Grey Gardens,” one of the best-known and most-parodied documentaries from the “direct cinema” pioneers Albert and David Maysles?

“I make my little jokes about how I hate the term cinéma vérité or observational cinema or direct cinema. Because I make movies. And I would make the argument that they’re fictional movies — based on real, unstaged events.”

This film by Robert Drew was one of the first American campaign documentaries and a starting point for the “direct cinema” movement, which emphasized observation over explicit commentary.

Perhaps the quintessential introduction to the issues posed by direct cinema is “Salesman,” which is also a great place to think about the vérité style as artistry.