rakontur — 25 Years of Nonfiction Storytelling

"I don't miss a movie by Billy Corben, the great Florida filmmaker behind "Screwball," "Men of War," and the hit "Cocaine Cowboys" series. He's a creative, brilliant filmmaker who is clearly attracted to larger-than-life personalities, people whose flaws, and often their mishandling of mistakes, led to their downfall."

"An extraordinary feat of embedded journalism and political exposé… the twists and turns sometimes seem too preposterous and absurd to believe."

"Men of War is the rarest of gems — a perfect documentary — the kind that comes around maybe once a decade. This is a story so profound, hilarious, tragic, and idiotic that it could only be a documentary. It is too unbelievable to be a narrative film."

"Continues Billy Corben's recent hot streak… It's more of what he does best: a seemingly too-wild-for-real-life true story, involving colorful figures and men in way over their heads, touching at least in part on the world headquarters of such things, Miami, Florida."

"It will forever pique my interest when I hear that Billy Corben is directing a new documentary. Teaming up with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and her Surprise Inside production company, the rakontur team continues to do what they do best"

"God Forbid has achieved the title of Hulu's most-watched documentary film to date… the new record set by God Forbid and previously held by 2019's Fyre Fest is based on hours streamed within the first three weeks."

"Sweet baby Jesus, this is one hell of a documentary… The skilled and versatile veteran director Billy Corben has consistently mined his home state for fast-paced, visually "popping" films that often play like non-fiction versions of Scorsese's work."

"Corben's ability to piece together uptempo and entertaining non-fiction about the State of Things in America is undeniable."

"This is also one of the best-edited documentary series I've ever seen. Cocaine Cowboys juggles an ever-growing roster of colorful characters, but we never lose sight of the main storylines. It's as if the filmmakers are anticipating exactly what the viewers want to see next."

"A non-fiction crime film with more than enough elements to make for an epic feature by a Scorsese or a Tarantino. Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami is one of the best true crime documentary series in recent years."

"The strength of Corben-Spellman films is their ability to mine all the ridiculousness that make Florida stories so irresistible for the rest of us, while also making the case that we should be paying attention to them as more than mere diversion. Florida at large, and Miami specifically, is so often the Ghost of America Future, rasping cryptic warnings about cronyism and demagoguery through garish fake tan and tacky dye job in a WWE-style spectacle."

"Billy Corben, along with his producing partner Alfred Spellman, have documented 'Florida f*ckery' throughout 13 documentaries, all of which to varying degrees posit that South Florida is both a metaphor and a cautionary tale for America at large. Along the way they've essentially become the Mark Twains of insane Floridiana."

"Brilliant HBO documentary puts the bizarre 2000 Bush-Gore election in the context of a city split by the Elian Gonzalez case… A non-fiction heist movie and a character study of some fascinating figures."

"Like an Elmore Leonard novel populated exclusively with morons, or like a Coen brothers movie rewritten by the Farrelly brothers with a dash of Harmony Korine"

"I'm not sure the filmmakers set out to make a baseball movie that explains America—but they did…. The Florida-born Corben and producer Alfred Spellman were behind 'Cocaine Cowboys,' the 2006 documentary about the Miami drug trade in the 70s and 80s, and as in that film, 'Screwball' has an undercurrent of love for the Sunshine State's rich tradition of start-over hustlers and 'gray market' economies."

"A mash-up of the Coen Brothers, Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard by way of 'Drunk History'"

"A memorably unflinching document of an underground pastime rarely seen on film."

"The fight footage is plentiful, gory and uniformly horrifying, yet this is actually a film about people, poverty and the push to succeed against all odds."

"Picking up where The U left off in 2009, The U Part 2 possesses an almost epic quality in documenting the fall, rise and fall of the U. of Miami's football program, which has churned out first-round draft picks and salacious scandals in equal measure."

"The U established a model for what's become a whole 30 For 30 sub-genre: the "sympathy for the devil" doc."

"Executives at ESPN Films will tell you that more people ask about The U than any other 30 for 30 documentary they've ever done."

"Full of enough double-crosses and shady dealings to fuel several crime epics."

"A hilarious, tragic tale of Florida ganja infused with the spirit of Elmore Leonard and Jimmy Buffett."

"Corben directs with a breathless pace and flash that's just right for the 'Canes."

"The U drew the most viewers ever for a documentary on ESPN. Director Billy Corben's look back at the heyday of the U. of Miami football program drew a record-setting 2.3 million viewers."

"Like something out of Pulp Fiction"

"Such a buzz to watch — kinetic and absorbing, the documentary equivalent of Goodfellas."

"Billy Corben's often hilarious, exuberant documentary practically celebrates the bloodbath that was Miami's cocaine heyday."

"A bidding war erupted yesterday at the Sundance Film Festival as studios scrambled to buy a documentary containing shocking footage of frat-house sex, including an alleged rape."

"One of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced… one of the most controversial films of the modern day."