![]() She’s married to Greg Boatwright ( Tim Robbins), a philosopher who has also embraced empathy, kindness and living in the present to make a better world. After all, Holly Hunter is Audrey Bayer-Boatwright, a former therapist and specialist in empathy who admits that her role in life has basically been trying to save the world. What might they do with Errol Morris’ Interrotron interview technique? What will they make of the ecstatic truthiness of Werner Herzog? Could they skewer political agitprop left ( Michael Moore), right ( Dinesh D’Souza) and Riefenstahl? All that and more, one hopes.It appears that the first impetus is to take a crack at what it’s like to be disappointed, frustrated liberals in the present-day United States. The mind boggles at where Armisen, Hader and Meyers could go from here ( IFC has already renewed Documentary Now! for two more seasons). Among the many gems in this installment: An identifying subtitle that reads “Former Eskimo Whore” and Kunuk’s on-set tantrum, complete with crackly, Victrola-recorded dialogue. Sebastian ( John Slattery) that’s not as “real” as reported. Armisen plays the Eskimo subject “ Kunuk” (not his actual name), star of a famous nonfiction film by explorer/ethnographer William H. Then there’s “ Kunuk Uncovered,” a dual-pronged pastiche of both late-’80s/ early-’90s movie history docs and Robert Flaherty’s genre-defining silent masterpiece Nanook of the North (1922). (Special guest star Jack Black boasts an especially abhorrent goatee.) This mockery of “fearless” journalism is spot-on in pretty much every particular, from the antic editing tricks to the multiple facial hair atrocities. First up is a parody of VICE video exposés entitled “ Dronez: The Hunt for El Chingon,” in which Armisen and Hader play three separate pairs of hipster journalists (one pair gets killed off before each commercial break) who go in search of a Mexican drug lord. The other two episodes made available for preview aren’t quite up to the level of “Sandy Passage,” but they’re still far from duds. Yet even this out-of-left-field shift, which includes some intestine-ripping gore, makes some kind of twisted sense, and you’re ultimately grateful Armisen and Hader take the joke as far as they do. (“It’s because you stomp” “Big” Vivvy shouts after “Little” Vivvy falls through the rotting floor above into the kitchen below.) Things take a much darker turn here than Gardens ever did, almost as if the makers of The Blair Witch Project took over filming halfway through. It’s a scream watching Hader reenact Gardens’ infamous dance sequence or listening to Armisen raucously scold anyone within earshot. ![]() Read more: Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Seth Meyer’s ‘Documentary Now!’ Gets Preemptive Renewal at IFC ![]() But even better is their uncannily exact replication of the Beales’ eccentric mannerisms, which sync up perfectly with co-directors Rhys Thomas and Alex Buono’s superb imitation of the Maysles’ pioneering, fly-on-the-wall shooting style. Of course it’s funny to see both male comics in drag. Armisen and Hader play “Big” Vivvy and “Little” Vivvy Van Kimpton, a reclusive mother and daughter modeled on the erratic Beales from Gardens. The first episode, entitled “Sandy Passage,” certainly sets a high bar - a pitch-perfect, brilliantly performed send-up of Albert and David Maysles‘ seminal Grey Gardens (1975).
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