Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
Bukowski: Born Into This
TITLE DETAILS

Bukowski: Born Into This

2003-01-18 · 115 min · ★ 6.8

Documentary

Director John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski, Bukowski: Born Into This, is as much a touching portrait of the author as it is an exposé of his sordid lifestyle. Interspersed between ample vintage footage of Bukowski’s poetry readings are interviews with the poet’s fans including such legendary figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Fante (wife of John), Bono, and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in grainy black and white by Bukowski’s friend, Taylor Hackford, due to lack of funding, the old films edited into this movie paint Bukowski’s life of boozing and brawling romantically, securing Bukowski’s legendary status.

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
John Dullaghan
Production companies
Unavailable
Countries
United States of America
Status
Released

Top Cast

Charles BukowskiCharles BukowskiSelf
Harry Dean StantonHarry Dean StantonSelf
Sean PennSean PennSelf
BonoBonoSelf
Linda BukowskiLinda BukowskiSelf
Pam MillerSelf
Taylor HackfordTaylor HackfordSelf
Barbet SchroederBarbet SchroederSelf
Tom WaitsTom WaitsSelf
Michael D. MeloanSelf
Marina Bukowskidaughter of Charles and Frances Smith
Neeli CherkovskiSelf
Joyce FanteSelf
FrancEyEa.k.a. Frances Smith

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Streaming

Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads

Rental

Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home

Purchase

Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home

Free

Kanopy, Hoopla

With ads

Philo, YouTube Free, Plex, Plex Channel, Tubi TV

View authorized watch options on TMDb

Recommendations

Come See Me in the Good Light
★ 7.2
Come See Me in the Good Light2025Documentary

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

A Toxic Love Story
★ 6.4
A Toxic Love Story2026Documentary

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

My Mom Jayne
★ 8.0
My Mom Jayne2025Documentary

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Gilbert
★ 6.7
Gilbert2017Documentary

The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.

Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
★ 7.5
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski2018Documentary

Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
★ 8.4
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me2022Documentary

After years in the limelight, Selena Gomez achieves unimaginable stardom. But just as she reaches a new peak, an unexpected turn pulls her into darkness. This uniquely raw and intimate documentary spans her six-year journey into a new light.

The Kid Stays in the Picture
★ 6.6
The Kid Stays in the Picture2002Documentary

Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.

Love, Antosha
★ 7.4
Love, Antosha2019Documentary

From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.

Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.
★ 7.5
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.2018Documentary

Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.

Shawn Mendes: In Wonder
★ 8.1
Shawn Mendes: In Wonder2020Documentary

A portrait of singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes' life, chronicling the past few years of his rise and journey.

Fuck
★ 6.4
Fuck2006Documentary

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

The Beach Boys
★ 6.6
The Beach Boys2024Documentary

A celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.

National Gallery
★ 7.3
National Gallery2014Documentary

A portrait of the day-to-day operations of the National Gallery of London, that reveals the role of the employees and the experiences of the Gallery's visitors. The film portrays the role of the curators and conservators; the education, scientific, and conservation departments; and the audience of all kinds of people who come to experience it.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
★ 7.0
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese2019Documentary

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.

Val
★ 7.2
Val2021Documentary

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

MoviePass, MovieCrash
★ 6.7
MoviePass, MovieCrash2024Documentary

Exploring the company founding and the implosion of the business by outside investors who took over the company, left it bankrupt and under investigation.

Dancer
★ 7.2
Dancer2016Documentary

Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.

Trainwreck: The Real Project X
★ 5.9
Trainwreck: The Real Project X2025Documentary

A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.

Milius
★ 7.1
Milius2013Documentary

The life story of ‘Zen Anarchist’ filmmaker John Milius, one of the most influential storytellers of his generation.

Being Eddie
★ 6.8
Being Eddie2025Documentary

From teen comedian to Hollywood legend, Eddie Murphy revisits his extraordinary showbiz ride with raw honesty and humor.

Similar titles

Night and Fog
★ 8.3
Night and Fog1956Documentary

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

ḤARĀM
Not rated
ḤARĀM2017Documentary

ḤARAM is an essay film portraying the urgent contemporary situation at the Haram Al Sharif/ Noble Sanctuary in the Old City of Jerusalem reflecting on the growing Temple Mount Faithful movement whose goal is to build the Jewish Third Temple on this holy landscape and in turn to assert Jewish sovereignty over this holy Muslim site.

VIVA ÁGUA
Not rated
VIVA ÁGUA2016Documentary

VIVA ÁGUA is a meditation on the philosophical work entitled ÁGUA VIVA written by Clarice Lispector in 1973. The film reflects on Lispector’s interior experimental monologue on the “instant-now” of time, the discomforts of language which are “beyond thought” and the harmonious dissonant reminders and remainders of that “sometime what is seen is ineffable.”

Anna Pina Teresa
Not rated
Anna Pina Teresa2015Documentary

Anna, Pina, Teresa reinterprets the pivotal scene in Rossellini’s “Roma Città Aperta” where Anna Magnani, who plays the character Pina, (based on the story of Teresa Gullace,) is murdered on the streets of Rome by the Fascist police. This scene is characterized by three movements performed by Magnani — resistance, running and falling. Filmed in the Sala Scherma at Foro Italico in Rome (Mussolini’s fencing studio designed by Moretti) Anna, Pina, Teresa examines the contemporary and historical dynamics between an urban Fascist space and movements of resistance.

E42
Not rated
E422015Documentary

E42 is a cinematic exploration of the area in Rome knows as the EUR, a modernist landscape that was originally designated by Mussolini as the the site of the World Fair of 1942 and as a celebration of the 20 year anniversary of Fascism. Originally designed as a monumental space for public performance and collective acts of solidarity to the Fascist regime, this landscape was in fact never inaugurated. After the war, the 420 acre area was recuperated and today projects a timeless aura of an unfinished and temporary, empty and silent, monumental and imposing as well as an ephemeral landscape.

The Wild Blue Yonder
★ 6.0
The Wild Blue Yonder2005Documentary

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

No End in Sight
★ 7.7
No End in Sight2007Documentary

Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.

Nobody Wants Your Film
★ 4.0
Nobody Wants Your Film2005Documentary

Director Peter Judson's semifictitious tale opens a revealing window into the indie filmmaking process, capturing the trivialities, aggravations and enthusiasm that go into completing a picture. Using footage from an indie movie set, e-mails constructing a plotline about distributor difficulties and interviews with indie mainstays such as Steve Buscemi and Sam Rockwell, the film provides a riveting look at one producer's rejections and rewards.

Locos de la bandera
★ 7.0
Locos de la bandera2005Documentary

The story of the relatives of the 649 Argentine fallen in the Malvinas War, who as soon as the military conflict ended, found themselves alone with their pain and prevented from approaching the grave of their loved ones, either because their bodies were left in the Cemetery of Darwin, in the Malvinas, or because they disappeared without being identified.

Up the Yangtze
★ 7.3
Up the Yangtze2008Documentary

At the edge of the Yangtze River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China.

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam
★ 7.5
Cirque du Soleil: Quidam1999Documentary

A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.

Daughter from Danang
★ 6.9
Daughter from Danang2002Documentary

In 1975, as the Vietnam War was ending, thousands of orphans and Amerasian children were brought to the United States as part of "Operation Babylift." Daughter from Danang tells the dramatic story of one of these children, Heidi Bub (a.k.a. Mai Thi Hiep), and her Vietnamese mother, Mai Thi Kim, separated at the war's end and reunited 22 years later. Heidi, now living in Tennessee - a married woman with kids - had always dreamt of a joyful reunion. When she ventures to Vietnam to meet her mother, she unknowingly embarks on an emotional pilgrimage that spans decades and distance. Unlike most reunion stories that climax with a cliché happy ending, Daughter from Danang is a real-life drama. Journeying from the Vietnam War to Pulaski, Tennessee and back to Vietnam, Daughter from Danang tensely unfolds as cultural differences and the years of separation take their toll in a riveting film about longing and the personal legacy of war.

Man on Wire
★ 7.4
Man on Wire2008Documentary

On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.

Your Mommy Kills Animals
★ 6.7
Your Mommy Kills Animals2007Documentary

Who Killed the Electric Car?
★ 7.2
Who Killed the Electric Car?2006Documentary

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.

Fuel
★ 7.2
Fuel2008Documentary

Record high oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy: these issues define our generation. The film exposes shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry, and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity, and non-food-based biofuels.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston
★ 7.7
The Devil and Daniel Johnston2006Documentary

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon
★ 6.6
The U.S. vs. John Lennon2006Documentary

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

The Order of Myths
★ 6.0
The Order of Myths2008Documentary

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.

Dogtown and Z-Boys
★ 7.0
Dogtown and Z-Boys2002Documentary

This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.