LOUIS THEROUX S/D

always loved louis but he's stepped it up massively with the more recent specials

some of tonight's was really difficult to watch

What was the new one about?

BBC Two @BBCTwo · 29 mrt.
Louis Theroux continues his examination of the grey area between criminal actions & medical symptoms at 9pm tonight.
Saw the announcement, didn't see the episode :-/

Trevor MacDonald's definitely got into Louis' are(n)a thesedays, with his "Mafia" series, that's on tonight episode 2 btw.

Thought last night's one about transgender kids was really good, with the caveat that I know nothing about trans issues so maybe there were glaring problems with it that I missed. He was v good with the kids and parents I thought.

That surgeon's hair though...

Found the "By Reason of Insanity" two-parter to be simultaneously fascinating and maybe his most exploitative thing yet. Long, torturous discussions of shocking crimes as told by the perpetrators for no reason good enough to justify them.

There's a surprising, uncomfortably funny moment in the first part where a delusional schizophrenic describes some hallucination involving Martin Luther King and Obama and his role in their lives and it's so matter of fact and absurd that Louis openly laughs at the guy.

i had some issues with the transgender children one - how everyone seemed to happily accept a lot of aspects of gender normativity, the strong preoccupation with bodies, biology, surgery etc, that surgeon's hair - but i did think it was good, quite moving.

the part where louis coaxed the mother into describing what he son did, despite her seeming unwilling to talk about it, was pretty unpleasant

(in pt2 of the insanity docs)

A new difficult to watch episode today - this time covering alcoholism in South London.

I wish some of his stuff would make it to American streaming.

Think it made it to torrent sites last night.

Available on Usenet too

Well worth hunting out wherever you find it. I thought it could have stood a longer treatment, like the multi-part prison ones, but even so it was very good. Difficult, emotional viewing, but not without some funny moments too.

Difficult to watch, but at the same time compelling and emotionally involving and draining. (I should have said above)

I watched about half of Rain In My Heart the other day, talk about harrowing.

after a whole weekend of drinking on a stag do, we got back to our canalboat, switched on the TV and this was playing.. I'm detoxing for at least a month.

Yes this was difficult. Really good. Joe's story was particularly affecting because he seemed like he might be one of us, like someone on here or be a friend. I drink far too much and I drink almost every night.

Yeah I read a review of this in the Graun and I'm not sure I want to see it, might be a little too close to home.

this was p harrowing.

particularly the relationship between aurelie and her bf.

That relationship was the most enlightening & original thing about the show. The medical effects of alcoholism have been covered many times before but that relationship is the sort of thing I've observed from a distance in park bench drunks dozens of times and wondered about what the dynamic might be like.

it is p weird and raw as far as the human condition goes

I like Louis a lot but I thought it was quite clumsy the way he brought up in the kitchen that the girlfriend was considering leaving her boyfriend.

I recognised one of the parks they were in in Brixton. Wondered if I'd ever passed by Aurelie on the street, most likely have at some point, been there so many times over the years.

Also the way he asked the guy about his father dying seemed tactless. I really don't like to think he tries to provoke these emotional reactions in people. Especially towards someone whose anxiety is ruining their life.

Actually yeah I just remembered what you're talking about. I also felt that was overstepping a bit to tell the guy she was thinking of leaving him but I guess if he didn't mention it then she said it on camera so he'd see it eventually.

Isn't that par for the course with Louis though - using a veneer of kindly naivety to say or ask something that most people wouldn't?

I think this was a bit too much though.

Yes, thinking back to it a bit more, you're right that it felt clumsily done in that instance (about her thinking of leaving him).

WAs this the first of a series of him or a complete one off? I'm not seeing any further programmes listed.

There's another one on Brain Injuries coming up, but I don't think it's been scheduled yet

Tonight at 9. A Different Brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyJOp-tK0k

lol and also wow

Wow the ending of the clip is awesome. Does it have a release date?

No, but it just got US and UK Distribution

fantastic. i wonder why the trailer has dutch subtitles?

http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/It-looks-like-Louis-Therouxs-My-Scientology-Movie-wont-get-an-Irish-release-due-to-blasphemy-laws/385722.htm

Man, that Louis Theroux scientology documentation is some epic sensationalistic trash.

Yeah, I guess it was inevitable when a guy whose documentaries are always about himself investigates an organisation who never participate in documentaries. I thought the brief glimpses into the hollywood casting routine were as intriguing as an of the Scientology stuff. 'David Miscavige' was great, hope he gets more work off the back of this. 'Tom Cruise' had potential but was underused.

I thought the Saville follow-up was awful, quite tone-deaf. I used to love his docs back in the day, too.

loved the Scientology doc, personally

Going back to the 90s stuff. An odd feeling, people that wd have been on Weird Weekends in the 90s now in the white house and downing street

The Grounded Podcast has reappeared timed with the current UK lockdown.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0arolGdyR8wkSGaawcKHkD?si=lpw5TyQqQtyA2Nhnxw4CYw
is the first in teh 2nd series , Louis in conversation with Michaela Coel largely about I May Destroy You as well as her career to date.

The first series was all pretty good too. Pretty revealing interview with several people including lenny Henry on his time on teh black and White Minstrel show and rest of his early career. 10 in first series, 1 so far in teh new one. I think they all link to from the link I've given you.
May be available on other streaming services but I've been using Spotify since being on a radi ostation a coupl eof years ago.

Watching the Manosphere doc and I appreciate Louis' quiet restraint. He's not the top tier guy at baiting people into revealing secrets, but he's good!

It's a great contrast to the fast talking, borderline incoherent manosphere guys

I felt the same about his films on meth users and drunks, he just kind of let the participants speak about their lives. The doc on Scientology was kinda weird in that he had a hard time gaining access, that church is wildly defensive

Yeah, the defensiveness kind of spoke for itself as well, in its own way

His West Bank settler doc from last year was particularly memorable. Though I dare say it's probably not all *that* hard to elicit eye-opening rants from that particular cohort.

(he used to sit in the little coffee bar at work from time to time, before meetings, checking his phone. i never saw anyone speak to him but there was always a slight frisson when he was around)