"I Like Killing Flies" is a perfect example of how fascinating slice of life documentaries can be. It's also a lesson in not judging a film by its title and by the description used to give you a better idea of the film's plot.

It also has what I believe to be a pretty great opening scene that will, if you're not familiar with anything about the documentary, lead you to believe you're about to watch a torture porn flick.

The movie opens with Kenny Shopsin walking down a street, adorned in a black T-shirt, thick red suspenders and jeans (what you'll later come to learn is his usual attire). He has a white motorcycle helmet on, too. Shopsin stops at a corner store that's protected by metal folding doors that you see in big cities. He pushes one of the metal doors up, unlocks the regular wood door behind it, and the film cuts to black with the title, "I Like Killing Flies" in stark white letters.

It's really the perfect opening scene for this movie, as it not only establishes the setting and the chief character (and I use the word character in all its colorful ways) but it also perfectly showcases the dark humor that runs throughout the film.

Kenny Shopsin, you see, runs a sort of mom and pop restaurant in Greenwich Village with his wife, Eve Shopsin, and his children (I think there were four, but there could have been five). It's the sort of place that's filled with regulars who've come to know and love the Shopsins like family.

On the surface, a documentary about a restaurant that's been around for 30 years in New York City doesn't sound enticing. At least it didn't to me. Thankfully, this film came highly recommended (it also got a 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes).

By all means, Shopsin appears to be a wonderfully talented cook. His restaurant offers 900 items on the menu, all made from scratch, and sometimes more, as Kenny's known to whip up something new for regulars upon their request (ever wanted to know what a mac and cheese pancake tasted like?).

But the real treat of "I Like Killing Flies" is Kenny's foul mouth, strange philosophies on life and the relationship between Kenny and everyone he knows. Countless regulars are interviewed during the film and each describes some sort of run-in with Kenny where they were thrown out of the restaurant.

There's a list of rules (no parties of five, every customer must eat -- no coffee only -- anyone who irritates Kenny will be shown the door), you see, that pretty much only the regulars know. So if you're not a regular, there's a sort of hazing process you must go through to become one.

It sounds like a poor business choice, but when Kenny describes his philosophy behind these rules it makes perfect sense (it's a little too long-winded and bizarre to recount here).

This philosophy though serves him well when Kenny's faced with closing his restaurant or moving into a new space. The move is one he's not sure he can afford and logistically pull off on his own. It's here, about half-way through the film, that "I Like Killing Flies" begins to resonate emotionally. We see Kenny stress about moving locations, we see everyone else around him release it's a move he needs to make and then we see his regulars help make it happen.

There's the one regular who describes his job as helping wealthy people become richer who finds Kenny a suitable new location at an affordable price. There are the group of regulars who show up on moving day to help him move. And there are the countless others who help in some small way along the way.

This isn't world-beating stuff. It's not rogue documentarian taking on corporate America. It's not soldiers coping with violence and death. It's simple filmmaking that succeeds by putting the focus on its subject. And because of that, it's a film you shouldn't miss.

Watched:

Day 1: "The Union: The Business Behind Getting You High"

Day 2: "Pearl Jam 20"

Day 3: "My Winnipeg"

Day 4: "180 Degrees South"

Day 5: "Restrepo"

Day 6: "The Business of Being Born"

Day 7: "Beer Wars"

Day 8: "I Like Killing Flies"

Still to come:

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad"

"Hoop Dreams"

"Man on Wire"

"Sweetgrass"

"Touching the Void"

"The Cove"

"Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"

"Exit Through the Gift Shop"

"Encounters at the End of the World"

"The Garden"

"Wild China"

"Blindsight"

"Up the Yangtze"

"Microcosms"

"Marwencol"

"No Impact Man"

"The Pixar Story"

"Capitalism: A Love Story"

"Waiting for Superman"

"Waste Land"

"Who Killed The Electric Car"

"The Future of Food"

"Gonzo"

"Biggie and Tupac"

"We Live in Public"

"Examined Life"

"God Grew Tired of Us"

"The Thin Blue Line"

"Troubled Water"

"Dark Days"

"Paris is Burning"

"Page One"

"Which Way Home"