love

Author Topic: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary  (Read 29561 times)

skjerva

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9448
  • I'm your audience.
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #40 on: February 16, 2009, 08:51:37 PM »
The film also felt very constructed at times and the natural feeling was displaced, particularly later when William and Arthur reunited in their senior year. I guess they could kind of relate to each other, but they never were seen interacting as freshman so the idea that one had any sort of investment beyond passable interest in the other was unbelievable and unnecessary.

They kept their friendship a secret from the filmmakers.

pixote

i kinda wonder about that, more how much a friendship they really hid and how much was James framing it as something more than it was
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

FLYmeatwad

  • An Acronym
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 28785
  • I am trying to impress myself. I have yet to do it
    • Processed Grass
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #41 on: February 16, 2009, 08:54:54 PM »
I have not been crucified yet for my review, this has been successful.

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #42 on: February 16, 2009, 08:55:59 PM »
i kinda wonder about that, more how much a friendship they really hid and how much was James framing it as something more than it was

Check out the commentary on the Criterion disc, if you haven't already.

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

skjerva

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9448
  • I'm your audience.
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #43 on: February 16, 2009, 10:26:36 PM »
i kinda wonder about that, more how much a friendship they really hid and how much was James framing it as something more than it was

Check out the commentary on the Criterion disc, if you haven't already.

pixote

i have, i just wonder about how the story is being represented
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

worm@work

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 7445
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #44 on: February 17, 2009, 03:45:03 PM »
Great write-up, makes me want to find the film with sub-titles :)  where might i do that?   ;D

Just realized I never read the rest of this post :).

Quote from: skjerva
third, for both worm and Thor, have you experienced Inquiring Nuns?  an early ('68) kartemquin doc that was inspired by Chronique - the two nuns are filmed in different spots around Chicago asking the same question - are you happy?  there is something i liked about the film, but something that really bugged me.  anywho, kartemquin's back catalog is in the process of getting transferred to dvd and Nuns is next up for a May release.  it's worth a look, i'll happily check it again on release

Wow, I had not heard about this one at all but am very curious to watch this now. I'll definitely look out for the dvd in May. In case of Chronique, I think the political situation in France at the time played a pretty key role in how people responded to the question - especially in the roundtable discussions. Wasn't 1968 the year the riots took place in Chicago?

Thor

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 6535
    • KTQ
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #45 on: February 17, 2009, 04:07:11 PM »
Love the write-up W@W. If only we could get Bill to watch it now.

Wasn't aware o that KTQ film. Will have to check that out.

Can't believe the criticism of Hoop Dreams of "only scratching the surface". How much more film should they have shot??
Wanting for Thor what Thor wants for Thor.

Bill Thompson

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17561
  • DOOM!!!!
    • Bill's Movie Emporium
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #46 on: February 17, 2009, 05:00:55 PM »
Can't believe the criticism of Hoop Dreams of "only scratching the surface". How much more film should they have shot??

Personally, they did leave a lot of stuff out. Like how the basketball players, including Will and Art, would take random IHM students to the "tunnel" and bang the hell out of them. Or, how a teacher was fired a few years after they left for fixing grades, and he admitted to fixing their grades, or how while they were filming one of the two was allegedly having sex with a female teacher.

FLYmeatwad

  • An Acronym
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 28785
  • I am trying to impress myself. I have yet to do it
    • Processed Grass
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #47 on: February 17, 2009, 05:58:59 PM »
Can't believe the criticism of Hoop Dreams of "only scratching the surface". How much more film should they have shot??

Personally, they did leave a lot of stuff out. Like how the basketball players, including Will and Art, would take random IHM students to the "tunnel" and bang the hell out of them. Or, how a teacher was fired a few years after they left for fixing grades, and he admitted to fixing their grades, or how while they were filming one of the two was allegedly having sex with a female teacher.

I did not know this, but as I said in my review, I would not have minded if they left a few of the things they focused on out to further zone in one two or three of the topics. I never felt like I gained an incredible understanding of any specific parts of their life or the world of high school sports because the film was too concerned with also showing the neighborhoods the boys grew up in, and their family problems, and a few other things. I guess these things were all supposed to culminate and give me a better understanding of William and Arthur, but that did not really happen. I look to that single scene between William and his father. Sure the dad was not there for the whole film, and when he contacts him again it is presumably to capitalize on his son's future success, but that event just felt irrelevant because little to no mention of his father was previously made, and they did not mention him after that point either. Things like that were only touched on the surface, and I'd rather they have been cut than handled with little care.

Emiliana

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2239
  • Life is a Cabaret!
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #48 on: February 24, 2009, 03:53:21 PM »


This was neither edgar's nor my first choice, but my dear old friend availability was of the opinion that we should settle for this. I had been mildly curious about it back when it came out, but not enough to make an effort to see it.
 
SuperSize Me was definitely worth my time. I didn't expect very much from it (ok, this guy is going to eat McD for 30 days, and he'll get sick, and we'll have learnt that McD is bad for you), and while it gave me more than that, I can't say that I'm now overly enthusiastic about it.

Morgan Spurlock is a likeable guy, and you enjoy the time you spend with him. A definite plus for the film is its cast of minor characters - I particularly liked the interactions with the general practitioner and Spurlock's girlfriend - and the fact that it doesn't only focus on the experiment itself: Spurlock tries to educate his viewers about the impact of fast food on the general population of the United States, and about the food served to children in schools in particular. All this is presented in a nicely edited and pacy way, so that I felt that the film was over in no time at all. The only real problem I had were with the film's closing monologue, which felt clunky and amateurish, but otherwise, not much to complain.

I didn't gain profound new insights from the film, but not every documentary has to give you that. But then again, I hardly eat any fast food (maybe once every two months), so I didn't need the film to act as a wake-up call for me. The closing montage indicates that SuperSize Me has effected some changes already, and I can absolutely imagine that some might reconsider their eating habits after watching the film.

What it comes down to for me in the end is that I was very well entertained for an afternoon, which was exactly what I had hoped for from this film. Thanks Edgar!

saltine

  • Administrator
  • Godfather
  • ******
  • Posts: 9800
Re: Feb MDC write-ups: Documentary
« Reply #49 on: February 24, 2009, 08:06:05 PM »


I enjoyed Burden of Dreams, especially since Fitzcarraldo is in my Top 10 films. The documentarian Les Blank finds the parallels between Werner Herzog as filmmaker/adventurer and Fitzcarraldo opera patron/adventurer, examines the ego of Herzog, and questions Herzog's nihilistic view of the jungle.     

Watching this making of- documentary intrigues me about others that I have not seen including Hearts of Darkness and Lost in La Mancha.  Thanks for the assignment, Bill.  (I'll be sure to watch your first choice for me, Crumb, once I return stateside.)
Texan Down Under