We loved this documentary about an amateur bicycle racer, taking steroids with medical supervision to see if he can beat the drug tests, who happens to meet and collaborate with one of the principals of the Russian doping scandal. The subject is fascinating, the editing and storytelling terrific, and the two main characters, director/co-writer Bryan Fogel and Grigory Rodchenkov, are fun to watch. Fogel is intensely competitive and driven, while Rodchenkov is cuddly, laid back, talkative in perfect English (albeit with a thick accent--I use closed captions whenever possible), and likes to Skype with his shirt off. It must be a Russian thing.
In the documentary Super Size Me (2004), director Morgan Spurlock subsisted on a 100% McDonald's diet for a month with medical supervision, and his body suffered. This is worse, maybe because there are needles. On a side note, the 2017 sequel Super Size Me 2, about the chicken farming industry, was scrapped after Spurlock admitted to sexual misconduct. And another one bites the dust.
Anyway, Icarus is Oscar-nominated and won a special jury award at Sundance, among other honors, so we streamed it on Netflix a few days ago.
The music is great, too, but I can't find it online. Composer Adam Peters (formerly of Echo & the Bunnymen) is co-credited for Snowden and that soundtrack is readily available.
Here's an interesting article going deeper into the subject. No need to read it. Just watch the movie. Don't sit too close to your screen, though, if you get MPMS, or Motion Picture Motion Sickness. Here's my running list.
Jack and I are in complete agreement with Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 92 and 95%, respectively.
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