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Author Topic: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups  (Read 10305 times)

StudentOFilm

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #30 on: March 26, 2011, 01:04:19 PM »
I had the same problem with Burden. Emotionally, it didn't really have any affect on me. I'm just in awe of all the stuff that went down on that shoot. I still recommend it because it does seem to get slightly different reactions from everyone who sees it. Nice write-up Totoro.

As for that Shoah movie... thank god it's so short that I can knock it out in a day.*

*I'm kidding, it's long as hell. But, damn good.  ;D
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IdeaThy12

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #31 on: March 31, 2011, 06:51:20 PM »
Young @ Heart
 
It was sad that is a reason I didn't like it. Reason 2 is i just don't like very many docs. I'm sorry for saying this but i rate it a 2/5.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #32 on: March 31, 2011, 07:18:52 PM »
Sad films are the best.  :'(

oldkid

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #33 on: March 31, 2011, 07:26:46 PM »
I liked Young @ Heart.  It was a very honest and entertaining portrayal of some pretty average elderly folks doing a pretty unique thing.  The music videos were all top notch. 

But most of all, I thought that Y@H was perfect in portraying a whole year with the troupe.  Their approach in inherently joyful and tragic, just in the nature of giving people a new experience of music, but it is the elderly so someone will be sick and someone will die, just as you are really beginning to appreciate them.  I'm not trying to say that the filmmakers were Machiavellian in their approach, but frankly, you just can't help but have a dramatic, emotional doc given the subject matter.

Even with that, it was well done.  I wouldn't call this a great film, but we had just enough time to really appreciate some of the folks and to really appreciate their approach to music.  I'd love to see them live.  I bet they're a blast. Rock on! 

3.5/5
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StudentOFilm

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #34 on: April 02, 2011, 10:34:07 AM »
Shoah (1985, Claude Lanzmann)



"l'll wait for morning, and for the Germans.''

Not to say that movies that aren't nine hours don't have a lot to say, but it's certainly easier for a viewer to come up with a wealth of opinions when that's the running time. Also not to say that Shoah doesn't have a lot to say, it's just that when you have nine hours of a film... no, let me rephrase that... when you have nine hours of an experience, the experience really has such a wealth of time to speak for itself. The genius of Shoah is that yes it is about the holocaust, which it is pretty hard to argue against it being the greatest human tragedy and act of crime (that petty word doesn't even do it justice) against humanity, and yet it still somehow feels objective. I guess I mean it remains objective in that it allows you to reach your own personal understandings and feelings about such heavy emotional material. Now, like I said, it's very tough for me to come up with a statement other then "wow, that was amazing", but i'll give it a go.

What do you need to know going in? Shoah is a nine hour film (I sadly didn't have any time to watch it in one sitting, it took five for me) and it's about the holocaust. What I liked about Shoah is that it wasn't completely about death, it was in fact also about life. A lot of scenes were silent, and yet they spoke volumes with their imagery. The film asks simple questions (not necessarily jumping right to the main point) and through that we see a bigger picture. The people he interviews are storytellers... yes Lanzmann pushes some of them and also hides a camera at one point while talking to a Nazi official... I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that. At the end of the day, Lanzmann is telling a story. Documentaries are like narratives in that respect, they have stories and characters.

The fact that these are just ordinary people (the survivors) makes me think of the power of going through something so traumatic. These people tell stories better than some authors. It makes me think of this very famous piece of prose that ran in several New York papers, where a man who made it out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001... he went home and just wrote down what he was feeling. It was powerful, the fact that an ordinary joe had such a traumatic first-hand experience and communicated it to others so effectively.

As you can see, Shoah really has me just sort or rambling (and yet I have less thoughts on this then I did other films in the MDC). I loved the film. It was just very emotional to watch at times. I still love how the movie, as I said above, also celebrates life. That is what is important. That is what we have to do. We have to understand, not spend all the time condemning.

Thanks for the dictation.
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Totoro

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #35 on: April 03, 2011, 03:24:15 AM »
Interesting review, Student. I may just add this to my 3hr+ marathon I'm starting in the summer. :)

Beavermoose

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #36 on: April 11, 2011, 03:58:01 PM »
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
The DVD box of this film features a quote from Michael Moore: "The most amazing piece of filmmaking!" Although I don't necessarily agree with Moore its easy to see how he would think that. It is also apparent to anyone who's ever seen a Moore film that his documentary tactics are very much inspired by this film. The film centers on Kenzo Okuzaki, a man looking to find out the truth about some killings that happened in his unit during WW2. He tracks down various people (soldiers, commanders) and ambushes them at their homes with a camera crew. This is a tactic that I hate in Michael Moore films and I hated it here as well. Okuzaki catches these people off guard, invades their homes and abuses them verbally and physically to get them to tell him what happened.
Although in this film the subject and documentarian are not the same person and so I believe that Okuzaki is not meant to be an likeable person. The director, Kazuo Hara, is impartial, he just shows it as it is, very cinema vérité kind of style, which I liked. The nature of the film is very repetitive. Okuzaki goes to someone's house, forces them to admit something they did during the war, that person tells him about someone else and he heads off to his next destination. There is a mystery about what actually happened during the war that is slowly unveiled but it takes a back seat to the Okuzaki and his quest to unveil the truth. If we're expected to care about his quest I think the movie fails, I know so little about the events and do not have any personal attachment to the mmystery has he does. Where the film really succeeds however is at showing us who Okuzaki is, what kind of person he is. His quest is noble but his actions are despicable, he is often stubborn, arrogant and dangerous. As a deconstruction of this man this film is a great success. The movie however does often drag and I had very little investment or interest in Okuzaki's cause.
I don't usually rank films but since we had to I gave it a 7 on my doc short list ballot.
Thanks Martin. Interesting dictation although not really my cup of tea.

MartinTeller

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Re: March MDC 2011 Documentaries: Write ups
« Reply #37 on: April 11, 2011, 04:04:52 PM »
Well, if you weren't invested, you weren't invested.  I found Okuzaki to be such a fascinating character that I was enthralled.  If I may post my old review:

Quote
Kenzo Okuzaki is a man with a mission: to uncover the truth of what happened to two soldiers in his regiment just after the end of the war.  As the story unfolds, it takes on a disturbing twist and speaks volumes about the horrors of war.  But what really makes this film is Okuzaki, an unbelievable and compelling individual.  He is utterly determined, and his confrontations are fueled by his fanatical righteousness, as well as his threats, and occasional acts, of violence ("I came here to beat you up").  The man is a whirlwind of paradox.  He demands nothing less than total honesty from those he accuses, but thinks nothing of using stand-ins to pretend to be the relatives of the victims (when the relatives themselves aren't vigilant enough to keep up with his ardor).  Even in the midst of a violent attack, he's cordial and humble, as if to say "I'm sorry, but this is what must be done".  He's anti-authoritarian (he did prison time for firing a slingshot at Hirohito, and also for a murder which is never explained) and yet cooperative with the police.  He's a hero and anti-hero, whose quest for justice is admirable and effective, but whose methods are highly questionable (though incredibly entertaining and riveting).  Amazing and unforgettable.  Rating: 9