It’s October!!!! Which means Scarecrow is running its annual Psychotronic Challenge, daring you to watch one fucked-up, low-budget, gritty movie every day. But if you’re in need of some sweet relief, this month we’re focusing on unstreamable documentaries, should you wish to see something a little less spooky.
Got a recommendation? Give us the scoop at unstreamablemovies@gmail.com.
United States, 2008, 68 minutes, Dir. Phil Griffin
At our Zeitgeist talk last month, we dove headfirst into Britney Spears’ first feature film, Crossroads, and why it was unavailable on streaming services. In that spirit, I’m also curious why the MTV documentary Britney: For the Record is difficult to find, given Britney and her fans’ public struggle to liberate the pop star from her debilitating conservatorship.
The doc debuted during the same year her conservatorship came into place, following two months' worth of Britney’s “comeback” after a perilous two years of gossip rags hounding her. We get a behind-the-scenes look at her shooting music videos for Circus, appearing at the 2008 VMAs, sneaking into In the Heights on Broadway, trying to shop and evade the paparazzi at the same time.
But, most importantly, For the Record presents a chance for Britney to talk about her life in her own words. She candidly discusses her breakup with Justin Timberlake, her marriage to Kevin Federline, the excruciating toll of fame, as well as her opinions about the conservatorship she’s placed under. Despite the unimaginable pressure of being a pop star, Britney seems achingly normal and just wants to spend time with her children. It’s the last time we got to hear the singer speak so freely before her conservatorship was lifted in 2021. Now, she’s got a book! JAS KEIMIG
Find it in the Music section under Vocalists. Available for rent in-store only.
United States, 2006, 117 minutes, Dir. Drew Thomas
If 20-year-old Death Cab for Cutie lyrics are floating around in your head lately, you're not alone. Last weekend's virtually sold-out Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service shows at Climate Pledge Arena are another example of people feeling the mid-aughts again. One of my favorite artifacts from that time is a documentary of, lol, of all things, Coachella. Filmed during the early 2000s, Death Cab isn't in this doc, but many of their contemporaries are, like Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Arcade Fire, Wayne Coyne, Björk, and others. While I initially rented this for the music (and it's full of it, which probably is why it's unstreamable), I wanted to watch it to see and laugh at what people wore to Coachella in the mid-2000s.
I figured the crowds at 2000s-era Coachella fests would wear a blossoming version of what we see at the fest today—"boho chic" body glitter, metallic Westernwear, holographic mesh shirts, headdresses on white people—but no! I'd forgot the twee earnestness that bubbled out of the end of the Bush era. Today's irony is nowhere to be found here. Instead, skinny rockers preach about the power of parties and how music festivals can heal society, while wearing minimalistic and mod shirts that signal the coming rise of deep v-necks and American Apparel. We feel so far away from that dumb optimism now. CHASE BURNS
Find it in the Music section under Rock n Roll. Rent it by mail here.
Looking for more? Browse our big list of 350+ hard-to-find movies over on The Stranger.
*The fine print: Unstreamable means we couldn’t find it on Netflix, Hulu, Shudder, Disney+, or any of the other hundreds of streaming services available in the United States. We also couldn’t find it available for rent or purchase through platforms like Prime Video or iTunes. Yes, we know you can find many things online illegally, but we don’t consider user-generated videos, like unauthorized YouTube uploads, to be streamable.
