The Cool School (2008)

Documentarian Morgan Neville takes an appropriately lively, left-field approach to The Cool School's eye-opening history of the Beat-era Left Coast art scene — a lesser-known chapter in the story of American modern art. Those who lived it tell the story of the influential Ferus Gallery, a Los Angeles outpost of scrappy artists — among them Ed Kienholz and Ed Ruscha — who worked blithely independent of prevailing East Coast trends. The rare footage of '50s and '60s L.A. alone is a treasure; the City of Angels has rarely looked so hip. Bonus: cool music from the likes of Charles Mingus and the Velvet Underground. A-