Two Docs on Netflix: 'The Speed Cubers' & 'John Was Trying To Contact Aliens'

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

Two excellent documentaries on Netflix, both trending at the moment. Both are the right length, one at sixteen minutes, one at thirty-nine; both are about friendship, obsession and drive, and finding what it is in the world that defines you.

THE SPEED CUBERS (39') is about two rivals, Feliks Zemdegs, a reigning champion in solving Rubik's cubes, and Max Park, who is superfast at solving the cubes and overtakes Feliks, breaking most of his records. What's lovely and heart-warming about the film is that rather than set the two against each other, it cannot help but explore the friendship between them. Park is autistic and Feliks is only encouraging and congratulatory in his reaction to Park breaking his records. There's a genuine warmth directed at Max from Feliks and it is this, this bond, this humanity, that the film celebrates. Without being icky about it.

JOHN WAS TRYING TO CONTACT ALIENS (16') is a beautiful short about a guy in Michigan, who spends a lifetime looking for aliens from his grandparents' house. He moves so much gear into the house (imagine stuffing the set from The Time Tunnel into a living room) you feel the grandparents deserve a medal for putting up with it through all the years. Why do they do it? Because they care for him and support him. The film is about love. It carries some warm, unintentional humour with John broadcasting music into outer space in an attempt to communicate, becoming his own DJ as he spins discs and tapes, telling the aliens, who may be listening eventually, all about the music, whether it is Afro-Beat, Jazz or Electronic, plying the distant souls with Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk.

Both are recommended.