Directors: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger (2010)
Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley is a remote, rugged region located deep in Taliban territory. It is such a volatile area that it has been dubbed "The Valley of Death" by American forces and “the most dangerous place in the world” by CNN. Restrepo documents the 15-month deployment of a platoon of men assigned to the explosive area. While there have been myriad documentaries released in the last decade addressing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of them have offered the same kind of ground-level perspective seen in this film.
While the soldiers are fired upon every single day, they are still ordered to set up an outpost deeper in the valley. Under the leadership of the unflappable Captain Dan Kearney, they push forward. They set up a new camp, digging out trenches and setting up barricades. The only break from digging comes when they are suddenly faced with enemy fire. They fire back, wait until the shooting subsides, then start digging again. This world is beyond dystopian.
The soldiers are the reason the film is so compelling. Their captivating stories, often given intimacy thanks to the use of extremely tight shots, range from nerve-racking to quite humorous. It’s not often that subjects give so much of themselves during interviews. This may be due, in part, to their relationship with the filmmakers. The soldiers develop close relationships with each other due to the environment they are in. They may have developed similar bonds to the filmmakers, who had bore witness to the same harrowing events over the course of the 15-month deployment.
It would be difficult to overestimate the risk that the filmmakers took in shooting this footage. British photographer Tim Hetherington and American journalist Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) embedded themselves in the trenches alongside the soldiers for 15 months. They sacrificed their lives in order to provide this perspective from the front lines, an invaluable account for posterity’s sake. It’s delights the mind's eye to imagine the possibility of watching footage from the American Revolution, as future generations will have this priceless account of the current conflict.
I have always had mixed feelings about film reviews, the vast majority of which seem to be a recounting of plot (I try, with limited success, to avoid doing that in these posts). I feel the same way about trailers, though to a lesser degree. While debating whether or not to see Catfish, I decided to seek out the trailer. I turned it off after hearing the first sentence, which was congruous with my beliefs about any film: “The less you know about this movie, the better.” And so with that caveat, I will try to talk in general terms about the film. But you may want to just stop reading and go watch it. (Furthermore, the poster below warns, "don't let anyone tell you what it is").
The term “documentary film” denotes a rather broad classification. While technically referred to as a doc, Catfish is unique in that it is a reality-based film with a narrative structure (though its authenticity has been the subject of debate). Without any intent to cheapen the film, once could argue that it is made in the genre of reality-television. Cameras just seem to be omnipresent as the characters live their lives. As they make realizations, the audience experiences them concurrently. Typical of most fiction films, Catfish is successful in taking the audience on an emotional journey.
Serendipitous doesn’t truly capture just how lucky the filmmakers were to capture the journey they took. As the subjects are presented in the beginning of the film, the endgame is unfathomable. And that is exactly why many have questioned the film’s authenticity. Had Catfish been a script, it could have been a great one. It’s hard to imagine that not only did these events actually occur, but that these three guys documented it all from the very beginning.
I questioned the films authenticity as I watched it, as I’m sure any active viewer would also do. But I was never convinced that it was a fake because there’s no way these unknowns could act as convincingly as they appear in the film. However, some people do believe that the film is a hoax, including Zach Galifianakis. Ariel Schulman responded to these claims in an interview with the MovieFone blog:
"Zach, thank you. That makes Henry and I the two best screenwriters in Hollywood, and Nev is the best actor since Marlon Brando," if that's the case. You know we're not that smart; we just have good instincts. We know when people are being fake.
The fact that this question has been raised begs the question: does it matter? I suppose there may be some legal issues at stake. But from a purely theoretical standpoint, I would contend that it doesn’t matter at all if this story is true or not. Either way, the film is disconnected from it’s creators and left to stand alone for audiences to experience and perceive. I’m sure there are those who would disagree with me. After all, in the beginning of Fargo, the Cohen brothers included text indicating that, other than name changes, the events in the film took place exactly as presented (which isn’t the case). They believed that if the audience believed they were watching a film based on actual events, it would change their perception of it.
It’s classification as a documentary would obviously be at stake if the film turns out to be a hoax. But regardless of the legitimacy of Catfish, the film is quite entertaining and worth a viewing. It is like no other doc out there. At it’s strongest points, it is downright suspenseful.
The film took in $257,285 on 12 screens during its opening weekend in September of 2010
*** Major spoiler alert *** Aimee Gonzales, the Vancouver, WA native whose pictures were used by Angela to portray her daughter Megan, was compensated for her involuntary role in the film
A good education is the most vital asset a child can have. It has a profoundly widespread effect on the empowerment and development of our youth, and thus the future of our country. Waiting for Superman contends that the American education system is failing (American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science among industrialized countries) and points to immensely successful charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independent of bureaucratic regulations that hamper other public schools, as a means of comparison.
Guggenheim brings this issue to life through the stories of five children, all vying for desks at charter schools across the country. These children are painfully aware of the significance of gaining enrollment in these charter schools, and their presence provides the audience with an emotional connection to the issue and to the film itself. Their earnest desire to learn raises the question: why can’t we provide every child in America with such a premium education?
One of the central figures of the film is the ebullient Geoffrey Canada, founder of the immensely successful Harlem Children's Zone. Canada invokes a childhood hope that Superman himself would emerge to rescue him from the desperation of the South Bronx. Canada’s career has led him to become Superman to the Harlem community, rescuing children by providing them with an education "from birth to college."
The coveted desks at the charter schools are in high demand. In order to keep admissions impartial, interested students are selected literally through a lottery drawing. Guggenheim captures the lottery on film, in all of its unwarranted horror. Students have a 5% chance of winning the lottery. The other 95% are destined for public schools and increased drop-out-rates.
Guggenheim mainly points to powerful teachers unions as a culprit against reform. However, in an article on HuffPo, Rick Ayers, Adjunct Professor in Education at the University of San Francisco, points out that there are other issues that need to be addressed;
The film dismisses with a side comment the inconvenient truth that our schools are criminally underfunded. Money's not the answer, it glibly declares. Nor does it suggest that students would have better outcomes if their communities had jobs, health care, decent housing, and a living wage. Particularly dishonest is the fact that Guggenheim never mentions the tens of millions of dollars of private money that has poured into the Harlem Children's Zone, the model and superman we are relentlessly instructed to aspire to.
Guggenheim has excelled in using the medium to address social issues and inspire reform. His previous film, An Inconvenient Truth, was heralded for raising international attention to global warming. During the closing credits for Waiting For Superman, the audience was urged to text "POSSIBLE” to 77177 to have $15 contributed to a Donors Choose project. The official film site, www.waitingforsuperman.com, also offers opportunities to take action.
When You're Strange is billed as an objective portrayal of The Doors. Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore all avoided involvement in the production of the film in order to preserve an honest representation of the band. Prior to its release, the only cinematic record of the band was Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic, which was heavily criticized for its factual inaccuracies. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek noted, “This is the anti-Oliver Stone. This will be the true story of the Doors."
All of the footage found in the film was shot between 1966 and 1971. DiCillo was wise to avoid the temptation to shoot interviews with the surviving members of the group: an easy to generate content for such a film. Jim Morrison himself will always be remembered as a youthful figure. By not including any recently shot talking heads with the other members of the band, he allows the audience to fully remember them the way they had been in their 1960s prime.
When You’re Strange was screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and had originally featured narration by DiCillo himself. While receiving overall positive reviews, audiences criticized the director’s droning monotone. The film was then redubbed using the voice of Johnny Depp in advance of the April 2010 release. Depp’s velvety voice would be a benefit to any narration, as it certainly is to this film.
The film portrays Morrison as an enigma, a loose canon, a heavy drinker, an outsider who fed off of the love of the audience. One takeaway is how stressful it must have been to be a non-Jim Morrison member of the doors. Playing a riff over and over as Jim lay on the floor of the stage, hopeful that he’ll get back on his feet and continue singing.
Some have criticized the film for its lack of fresh content. However, When You’re Strange does contain rare footage from Morrison’s 1969 experimental film: HWY: An American Pastoral. Furthermore, the film is edited brilliantly in a way that offers a comprehensive history of the band, and an analysis of Morrison that had previously been unavailable.
"If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.” -William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Morrison was sentenced to 6 months in prison and a $500 fine for his alleged antics at the infamous March 1, 1969 concert in Miami, but died in Paris before he could serve the sentence.
This is essentially the story of Thierry Guetta, an ebullient Frenchman with a penchant for videography whose life completely changed when he serendipitously discovered his cousin, Invader, creating colorful tile mosaics of vintage video game characters meant for illicit installation on the streets of Paris. This opened the door to a world that Guetta would entrench himself in for the next decade.
Guetta forced his way deep into the street art subculture, and captured mesmerizing footage of street artist icons Shepard Fairey (who gained mainstream attention thanks to his Barack Obama “HOPE” portrait) and British artist Banksy (who has remained an enigma despite the fact that his oeuvre has fetched a fortune and captured the imagination of people across the world). Guetta proved to be an invaluable asset to the community, acting not only as a videographer to document the illicit installations, but also as an assistant, chauffeur, navigator, and lookout.
Midway through the film, the focus changes onto Guetta himself, who takes on the moniker Mr. Brainwash and masterminds an art show of his own under Banksy’s commission. While many docs change their focus midway through, they often lose their sense of balance as a result. Exit Through the Gift Shop manages to shift it’s spotlight in a way that harmonizes the film as a whole – evoking questions about the meaning, value, and commercialization of art in general.
Mr. Brainwash prepares for his exhibition, titled “Life is Beautiful,” with the mindset of quantity over quality. Much of his work was produced by mindlessly spray painting canvases or scanning and photoshoping existing images, all executed by an army of minions. Some of his pieces so closely resemble the work of his inspirations that Mr. B comes across as a copycat creator. Yet, with some clever marketing, he defied the odds. He made the cover of LA Weekly in June of 2008, had over 7,000 people attend his “Life is Beautiful” show on its opening night, and in the end, he netted nearly a million dollars in sales.
Banksy clearly gave rise to Mr. Brainwash. While Guetta claims he put everything he had into the exhibition (he even refinanced his mortgage) it seems likely that Banksy put some of his own capital into the project, ensuring that Mr. B could afford the smoke and mirrors to dupe the Los Angeles scene. Once could argue that Banksy has such an adept understanding of the art world that he knew he would be able to ensure that Mr. Brainwash would be a success, and therefore essentially scripted the end of this documentary by playing on the credulous nature of art connoisseurs.
“I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit” via WebUrbanist
Banksy himself has shown contempt with commercialization in the past, including the above piece which he published to his website shortly after some of his own pieces were auctioned by Sotheby’s in Feb 2007. So it’s not unimaginable that he would direct a film that denigrates the idea of making money off of street art. From The NY Times:
Asked whether a film that takes shots at the commercialization of street art would devalue his own work, Banksy wrote: “It seemed fitting that a film questioning the art world was paid for with proceeds directly from the art world. Maybe it should have been called ‘Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You.’ ”
There is widespread speculation regarding the validity and scope of the film being a hoax. Perhaps most intriguing is the theory of blogger Rebecca Cannon, who postulated that:
If Guetta is a hoax, there also exists the possibility that these artworks are actually produced by Banksy himself, in a style deliberately intended to suggest inferior artistic skill. Should the hoax ever be proven, and Banksy’s hand revealed to be the creator of the works, a further hoax on the art world may unfold in which Banksy is found to have tricked collectors into passing-up the opportunity to purchase his works for so little, rather than having paid too much for Guetta’s.
Considering the fact that Banksy has kept his identity unknown for years, it is unlikely that the full truth regarding this film will ever be unmasked. In the end, it’s inconsequential. Hoax or not, Exit Through the Gift Shop is, it’s a thoroughly entertaining film.
The neglected genre of experimental film has been acknowledged in Visionaries, a documentary that recently saw its debut at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. This retrospective, directed by Oscar winning director Chuck Workman, showcases many of the icons of the movement and features over 100 clips of influential films.
Workman, who has made a career out of creating the montages seen during the Academy Awards, brings the mystifying genre to life by weaving together film excerpts and interviews with various filmmakers, including; Kenneth Anger (donning a NY Rangers jersey); Hollywood patriarch Robert Downey Sr. (a clip from Pound, featuring a 5-year-old Robert Jr., was a crowd pleasing moment); Austrian filmmaker Peter Kubelka; prominent critic Amy Taubin; Ken Jacobs (who started the experimentally-focused Cinema department at then Harpur College (now Binghamton University) in 1969); avant-garde cinema historian P. Adams Sitney; surrealist Palme d’Or winner David Lynch (briefly); and American filmmaker Su Friedrich (who was in attendance for the Q&A following the screening). Brilliant vintage interviews of the late, great Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, and Norman Mailer were some of the most compelling moments in the film.
Following the screening, Workman talked about how grateful he was that the featured filmmakers gave him permission to use clips of their films, despite the fact that they would be taken out of their context. Workman did a great job of delving into some of the techniques and motivations of the filmmakers, which all shared a common anti-Hollywood sentiment and style.
"The godfather of American avant-garde cinema," Jonas Mekas, was highlighted in the second half of the film. His work in founding the New York-based Anthology Film Archives has been indispensable in the conservation of experimental films. Preservation is a concern within this art form, particularly considering how unprofitable experimental films tend to be. However, while the early portion of the film was a balanced retrospective, this final portion feels like a standalone short film dedicated to Mekas. This may have been better suited as a much shorter epilogue at the end of the film rather than the focus of the last chunky chapter, which only ended up throwing the film off balance.
While the content of Visionaries was incredibly inspirational, the documentary itself was flawed. Workman frequently employed a scrolling text across the top of the screen that fought for the audience’s attention. A voice-over would’ve been more appropriate, rather than forcing the audience to decide between watching Meshes of the Afternoon and reading a racing Maya Deren quote.
Su Friedrich, Chuck Workman, and Jon Gartenberg speaking after the screening
In the end, the content of Visionaries is inspiring. Workman should be praised for introducing this widely unknown movement to a wider audience. However, the construction of the film itself leaves something to be desired. Visionaries may be likened to a mundane book on the Dadaist Art Movement – after skimming the book, praise would be given to the artists, not the editors or even the book itself.
Trivial Tidbits:
Avant-garde icon Stan Brakhage was professor to Matt Stone and Trey Parker (of South Park fame) during his tenure at the University of Colorado
Andy Warhol's Sleep (1963) is a film which consists of a long take of his close friend sleeping for over 5 hours
While the soldiers are fired upon every single day, they are still ordered to set up an outpost deeper in the valley. Under the leadership of the unflappable Captain Dan Kearney, they push forward. They set up a new camp, digging out trenches and setting up barricades. The only break from digging comes when they are suddenly faced with enemy fire. They fire back, wait until the shooting subsides, then start digging again. This world is beyond dystopian.
