One of the funniest films ever made This Is Spinal Tap is almost certainly the greatest mockumentary in existence. The film follows the band Spinal Tap on tour and the absolute ludicrousness that comes with it. Brilliant joke is followed by brilliant joke followed by brilliant joke followed by being second on the bill to a puppet show. While not the first mockumentary it is the film that cemented the idea of what a mockumentary is.

What We Do In The Shadows

A mockumentary that shines a light on the vampire community of New Zealand and discovers that as well as being terrifying monsters they can also be quite difficult housemates. The four vampire housemates live a life in the shadows, using human familiars, or rather, familiar, to handle their everyday needs and to lure people to their deaths.

The Rutles

The Rutles is a mockumentary about a band that in many ways bears a striking resemblance to The Beatles and the film charts their successes and failures. As is appropriate for a film made by Eric Idle it is incredibly silly and has a very Monty Python feel to it, the narrator is very much lifted straight out of Monty Python. The four Rutles are Dirk McQuickly, Ron Nasty, Barry Wom and Stig O’Hara, and those are by no means the best name with Leggy Mountbatten, a Brian Epstein parody, taking that prize.

The Nowhere Inn

Perhaps the oddest entry on this list – The Nowhere Inn, is a truly bizarre mockumentary, pop star St Vincent (or rather Annie Clark) asks a filmmaker friend to make a documentary/concert film. But the friend some realises that while St Vincent is an unconventional rock star weirdo the real Annie is not as compelling. So the friend asks Annie to make it more interesting and she agrees to be effectively become St Vincent 24/7. Which it turns out can have some negative consequences. The film plays with the idea of identity and reality and not just in terms of making films and documentaries.

I Blame Society

After another rejected project filmmaker Gillian has a new idea for a film – a documentary of her following the steps taken by serial killers as they lead up to their first kill. One of the first scenes is Gillian asking her friends to repeat a comment they had made about her – that she would be a good serial killer. She chooses a victim, does recon on their house, does research on murder…at some point it becomes clear that this is no longer someone simply staging this for an interesting documentary but something much darker.

District 9

By no means a mockumentary all the way through parts of the movie are made in this exact style,making a documentary of the arrival of the alien spaceship, how they are treated by people, “interviews” with academics and experts. It also has moments of fly-on-the-wall mockumentary as a film crew goes to follow Wikus as he issues the eviction notices to the aliens.

Documentary Now!

A mockumentary tv show created by Saturday Night Live legends Bill Hader and Fred Armisen that developed out of SNL sketches. Each episode is it’s own mockumentary on a different subject – such as the career of soft rock band The Blue Jean Committee and door to door globe salesmen. The first episode, Sandy Passage, is a parody of cult documentary Grey Gardens; the real documentary detailing the lives of two reclusive, upper-class women lives in poverty in a crumbling mansion, and the mockumentary captures the oddness of the original and makes it even funnier.

For Your Consideration

Another mockumentary from the team behind This Is Spinal Tap this time focused on Hollywood and “Oscar-buzz”. A documentary is being made of the making on a film called Home For Purim, a low budget drama about a Jewish family and in the convuluted way these rumours start one person suggests there’s talk of Oscars and that snowballs. With that information out there the actors, writers etc all obsess about the possibility of them getting an Oscar. The highlight of the film is the portrayals of Hollywood news programmes where Jane Lynch and Fred Willard play obnoxious and idiotic “journalists” with Fred Willard (in the 70s at this point) trying to look like he’s in his 20s.

Ghostwatch

One of the oddest things ever to appear on the BBC Ghostwatch was supposed to be a live broadcast paranormal investigation, utilising a range of real television presenters to play themselves, such as Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene. Parkinson stays in the studio while Greene visits a house that the residents claim to be haunted. It is a curious item of television history as it is not terribly convincing but was quite original at the time (I watched it as a child and was terrified).

Rec

The line between mockumentary and found footage genres can be a little muddled at times, but as Rec is construed as a documentary for Spanish television it counts. Angela is a reporter doing a documentary on local firefighters, going with them on calls, they arrive at an apartment building where it is believed a resident has fallen ill but is locked inside their apartment. When they get inside they are attacked by what can only be described as a zombie. They then quickly realise that the building has been quarantined by the authorities and any attempt to leave will have severe consequences.

Also Read: Director Deep Dive: Neill Blomkamp

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Spoiler Warning – contains mild spoilers for A Cock And Bull Story, Hail Caesar!, Adaptation, For Your Consideration and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

This is one of my favourite films and one that should be far more famous. Directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring the wonderful Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden, the film is part adaptation of the supposedly unfilmable book The Life and Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and a fictional glimpse into the making the film. Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden play versions of themselves (as well as characters from the book) and the comic chemistry between the two is amazing. Whether it’s Steve demanding his shoes be built up so he will tower over Rob or the argument between Steve and Rob about what they should call Rob’s part (both agree it’s not a cameo) the battling of egos is endless. We see the annoyed experts brought in for their expert opinion only to be ignored, Gillian Anderson whose part in the film expands or contracts depending on Coogan’s insecurity and Winterbottom himself makes an appearance discussing with others what the “point” of the film is, or perhaps what is the point of any film.

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

The Coen Brothers loving tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood is perhaps not their best film but is certainly lots of fun. Studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) constantly runs around sorting out problems ranging from poorly timed pregnant starlets to kidnapped leading men. It is an exhausting job.

Despite having a strong ensemble two actors particularly shine. First, there is Channing Tatum as Burt Gurney, an all-singing and dancing musical superstar (I couldn’t help but think Tatum’s talents are wasted in 21st Century Hollywood). Then we have Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle – an actor who is brilliant as a cowboy but has to turn his hand to more subtle acting, leading to one of the funniest scenes in Coen Brothers history as Hobie struggles to get his words right.

While there are numerous stories going on in the film Mannix has several meetings with a potential employer – Lockheed, offering him more money and more opportunities but would involve him working for a company that spends a lot of time building stuff to end the world. There is an interesting struggle in Mannix about not only what is the right job but what is the right thing for him to do.

Adaptation (2002)

It’s easy to forget that there was a time when Nicolas Cage was considered a great actor and this, in my opinion, might be his best performance. Cage plays both Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald Kaufman and is essentially about Charlie struggling to write a movie. It’s important to know that Adaptation is written by the real Charlie Kaufman (there is no real Donald) about his struggle to adapt the book The Orchid Thief. Charlie is a successful writer but Donald is more laid back and enjoys life more, fitting in easily whereas Charlie struggles in social situations.

Charlie’s problems with writing the screenplay goes so far as to stalking the writer of the book, played by Meryl Streep, and taking the famous Robert McKee story seminar- only to be lambasted by McKee. These attempts at improving the screenplay have mixed results at best.

For Your Consideration (2006)

After going after rock music, folk music and…dog grooming Christopher Guest turned his eye to Hollywood. For Your Consideration is the bizarre story of the film Home For Purim and how “Oscar buzz” turns attention on the film and its actors. Guest assembled many of his regulars with great performances from Parker Posey, Fred Willard and especially Catherine O’Hara.

This slim possibility of success throws the production into chaos as egos begin to grow and changes start to be made to the film to make it more accessible.

Not only does the film focus on the myriad problems of making a movie but also the ghastly world of Hollywood entertainment journalism and reminds you that the people who will celebrate you one day will laugh at you the next.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)

Bill Murray plays aquatic explorer and documentary filmmaker Steve Zissou who lives in a typically eccentric Wes Anderson-directed world. The film focuses Zissou following on from the death of his close friend and colleague at the hands of a “jaguar shark”. Zissou’s next film will be about him hunting down and killing the shark and by his own admission is purely for revenge.

Zissou is down on his luck and the glory days of his films are far behind him with many people seeing his own new as nothing more than cashing in on the death of his friend. Thrown into the mix is the son he never met, Ned (Owen Wilson) who suddenly enters his life, and journalist Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett) as well as annoying money men, pirates and an extremely irritating rival explorer the far more successful Allistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum).

So, why make a film?

Most of these films show filmmaking as an exhausting, frustrating and difficult enterprise with the possibility of making something good or that bears any resemblance to your original idea as remote. So, why bother? Because you just might make something great.

Also Read: Androids And The Actors That Play Them

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