“How can tomorrow ever come when today never ends.”
Rating: 8 out of 10
There are experiences that can never be truly traded away or passed along, no matter how hard we try. The amazement and beauty of childbirth, the crushing sorrow of losing a parent, or even the serenity of knowing a job is well done. Try as we might, these things exist inside us and everyone else will only feel a sliver of what it is like through how we describe it. One of the most profound and life altering experiences is war and no one is affected by it more than those on the front lines. There is always training, there is always a new method to try to prepare, but no one comes back from war the way they went in. Our country is now in the midst of welcoming home thousands upon thousands of soldiers from the fighting in Middle East and those brave warriors face not only the struggles of reintegrating into society (and finding a job), but figuring out rote answers to that all too common question, “What was it like?” Those can be extremely hard conversations to have, but this film documents a program trying to help those soldier find a path to communication.
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience is an essay/memoir writing program that teaches soldiers how to use creative and journal style writing to get their thoughts and experiences cohesively onto paper. These tales of horror, fright, bravery and solitude pull the curtains away from the glorified image of war and patriotism, humanizing the soldiers.
The film brings together not only some of the authors of the essays, but also fellow writers, professionals in telling stories, who happen to also have personal experiences with wartime and being soldiers themselves. Together they weave a painfully accurate and unflinching tapestry of what wartime is really like, not painted in the bright red, white and blue of the flag, but doused in the blackest of night and dripping with the deep red of dead enemies, comrades and innocents. Some of them show the confusion suffered at the other end of a motor attack, while others detail the adrenaline rush of being ambushed and making the split second decisions on whether the person your sights is a combatant or a bystander, and does it even matter.
One by one, you hear about the deconstruction of the basic human belief to protect life as it rages against the programmed need to defend your country, your fellow soldiers and yourself. The documentary does not play itself out as a case for pacifism by any means, but there lingers a certain belief when the screen finally goes black that philosophers have intoned for years: in war, there is no winner.
Politics and beliefs aside, the real effort and success of this is the program itself and how it helps those soldiers returning from a living hell on earth, find their way back into a society that will never be completely theirs. It allows them to find a method of communication, almost a new way of speaking to the uninitiated about the nightmares they have lived through and continue to struggle with. More and more soldiers are coming back with PTSD and a variety of psychological issues, leading to drinking, drugs and a silently suffering uptick in post-return suicides. This program is certainly not the only weapon needed in the fight for the mental health of our returning warriors, but every effort counts and they’re are worth it.
The End of the Page recommendation:Operation Homecoming is an incredibly clear picture of the true life and times of our soldiers, including the issues they face returning to civilian life.
You can also watch replays of this on the Documentary Channel on 2/25 (8pm & 11pm EST) or go ahead and stream it here.
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Posted 2 days, 2 hours ago at 10:08 am. Add a comment
Documentaries are at their best when you feel absolutely compelled to jump out of your seat and help before the ending credits roll. Few of them can make such claims, but recently I was enthralled by The Cove and the images I saw made my eyes water and my stomach turn.
This post is not meant to be a review of the movie, but let me be as straight as I can when I say everyone should see this. There is no excuse at all for the massacre of dolphins still taking place in those waters. Even if you mock those who rally under the title ‘animal lover’, you would have a hard time defending those being exposed in this film.
Yet, as I mentioned before, the goal is not to just bring this terrible tragedy to light, but to also motivate you to help in whatever way you can. Take Part is a group that is not only managing the information about the current status in the cove and where all the help is going, but also a number of other charities and causes are listed there.
If you have any time, money or even free space in your brain, please take a look at their website and see if you can find a way to lend them a hand. I know there is an overwhelming number of issues and causes in this world, but if everyone just picked one and actually donated just a little time, money or effort, the results would not only change the world in the present, but it would help make sure places like ‘the cove’ never appear again.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 8:00 am. Add a comment
Who over there keeps requesting songs from “The Wiz”? Seriously, for the last time, that costume was itchy and I’m not doing it.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Sitting in the screening room, nearly breathless with anticipation, I waited for the lights to drop, the camera to roll and the music of the legendary “King of Pop” to fill the room. With that singular focus in mind, this concert film-cum-documentary fit the bill like a shiny sequined glove. Yet when you look beyond the harmonies and continually catchy beats, This is It fails to really capture much more and didn’t deliver the true experience many people are likely to be hoping for in terms of Michael Jackson’s final words.
This is It chronicles the final rehearsals for Michael’s massive and seemingly impressive last tour. If the level of performance and showmanship hinted at throughout the film was any indication of what the actual full concert experience would have been like, Mr. Jackson would have certainly cemented his place (if there was still any real doubt) as one of the best entertainers of all time. From a 3D movie experience built into “Thriller” to the iconographic dance routines brought back once more in “Beat It”, “The Way You Make Me Feel” and other #1 hit songs, the concert was set to amaze audiences with flashes of the new with blasts from the past.
The main downside of the project is that the footage, according to the opening preface, was commissioned by Michael for his personal archives. This was never really meant for widescreen audiences and in that respect wasn’t shot that way. It is tossed together as a montage of Michael’s greatest hits with a few CGI cutaways showing what things would have looked like if he had made it to the opening night of the tour. What is lacking from this is a real sense of who Michael was. On screen he is detailed as a generous, but strict perfectionist and loved and respected by everyone on the project alongside him, yet there is really no sense of what this tour meant to him and what it was like to get back on the stage again after so many years in relative seclusion. Again, that is not the fault of the director as much as it is a integral problem with why the footage was even shot in the first place.
There is a certain nagging voice in the mass consciousness wondering what the actual reason was for putting the movie together in the first place. Was this to give Michael’s fans one last look into what the King’s final bow would have looked like? Was this an attempt by the tour promoter to recoup some of the millions spent in preparation for this incredibly expensive spectacle? Was it pressure from Joe Jackson, Michael’s father, in an effort to keep himself viable in an industry he is largely shut out of? It’s hard to dig through the statements and actions on all sides and figure out the truth because they are all saying something different, but either way, the film itself proved two things: First, Michael was a consummate performer who at the amazing age of fifty could still move and sing and was prepared to deliver one hell of a final tour, and second, we will never truly know who he was underneath the shine and sparkles.
The End of the Page Recommendation: If you are one of the millions who enjoyed his music, this is entertaining just to hear those songs one more time from the man himself. Yet if you are looking for a deeper look beyond the legend and into the real person, this remains unfulfilling and nothing more than a concert film.
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 2:37 pm. Add a comment
Did you just use the words “serve and obey”? Seriously?
Rating: 8 out of 10
Love. When we don’t have it, we want it. When we have it, we struggle to hold on to it. When we lose it, we blame it. Yet we always come back around to the beginning again and feel the need to bring it into our daily life. For some people it is a lifelong quest to find the kind of love only talked about in movies and books, while for others they are content with a much more temporary version of the emotion. Then there are those few and far between who for one reason or another can’t seem to find the connection to that world-driving feeling. This is the story of one such girl.
Paper Heart is a quasi-documentary starring Charlene Yi as a young girl who questions whether or not she believes in love. She drives across the country from Los Angeles to New York with a small film crew conducting interviews with a wide cross section of the American populace. Along the way she meets fellow actor, Michael Cera, and she finds her search for the meaning of love becomes increasingly internal instead of external. The arc of the documentary contours to the arc of their relationship and we witness her take that journey first hand.
[Minor spoiler ahead. Be warned]
There are two main things this movie has going for it. Firstly, when talking about the film, Charlene, who was also the co-writer and producer, and director Nick Jasenovec make no illusions about the fact they scripted the relationship storyline with Michael Cera. You begin to feel throughout the movie that things were just too perfect to all happen on film and it makes you doubt the authenticity about what you’re seeing. Yet, with the filmmakerscompletely and freely admitting those portions were created specifically as a throughline and emotional pathway for the film, you can relax and fully appreciate how well it was crafted. Secondly, Charlene herself is a joy to watch. It is refreshing and relieving to see her as herself, or a close facsimile thereof, instead of a ninety-minute movie about the diminutive stoner girl from Knocked Up. In Paper Heart, Charlene is adorable, honest, intriguing and at times nearly heartbreaking. She walks a very thin line between lovable and painfully awkward, but on this occasion she keeps her balance with rare precision.
Kudos also must be given the director Nick Jasenovec who also helped to craft the story and bring in the Charlene on-camera idea. If this were to have been crafted solely as a documentary about love it would have felt incredibly slow and long-winded. Being able to follow Charlene on her personal and poignant journey gave the audience a respite from the real-life interviews and personal stories from those outgoing and kinetic Americans along the road. Also, even though the director in the film following Charlene is named Nick, he is not actually the director. The softly toned performance of Nick was actually given by Jake M. Johnson and the crux he found himself in between creating a true and meaningful documentary and doing unnecessary damage to the growing relationship between Charlene and Michael felt incredibly honest and true.
Michael Cera himself does deserve mention as well. He has a very unique and particular charm to him and this role did nothing to detract from that. He is very easily pigeonholed into one small character type, yet I find nothing wrong with continuing to give us more when he does it so well. It was interesting to see him here acting as himself, but my personal favorite of his so far is still Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist (my deepest apologies to the legions of Arrested Development fans out there).
The half-documentary genre is a hard one to get right. The balance of the real world and the fictional one needs to be nearly invisible, but not to the point where the audience is feeling duped or lied to. Paper Heart moves along the line with rare confidence, especially for a creative team with such little previous experience. I was completely unsurprised to hear Nick and Charlene are working together again and developing a project for the near future. A narrative voice emerged in this film and I look forward to hearing what oddly funny and touching words will flow from it next.
Recommendation: If you find Charlene adorable, the film will touch you. If you find her too awkward to enjoy, the movie will most likely miss its mark. Also, at the screening I went to we made bets on the number of “awwww” moments from the audience. I bet seven (I missed by one, we got six.).
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 5:31 pm. Add a comment
Do you know how long I have been waiting to duel with someone. Seriously! I have the sword and everything.
For movie fanatics all over the world, this is the morning we wipe our crusted eyelids, roll clumsily out of bed and collapse on the couch to see the live announcement of the Academy Award nominations. It is more than a testament to the passion we have for cinema, it is a statement of how much we want to quickly and violently debate the fairness of the Academy’s choices. So, let the debate begin…
What can anyone do to stop the steamrolling power of the Slumdog? Pretty much nothing. Sweeping every category it was nominated in at the Golden Globes, Slumdog has all the momentum and all the passion of an Oscar winner. It’s uplifting, full of hope and adversity, and overall everything the Academy voters love to rally around. When it wins for Best Picture it will also help paint the picture of the Academy as a more international accepting body of voters. I give great credit to Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon for both being incredible films, but I don’t see them climbing over Slumdog for a win. Milk to me is over-nominated and I would have gladly let this one go in favor of The Dark Knight or Revolutionary Road. My disappointment over the snubbing of The Dark Knight isn’t truly due to thinking it would win the category, but because it would have given some validation to the comic book genre and really helped to boost the idea that these are not just costumed vigilantes on a violence bender, they are incredibly complex and moving stories available to be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. As for The Reader, Ricky Gervais must have been right when he told Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes, “See, just do the Holocaust movie and awards just come rolling in.”
Best Achievement in Directing
- David Fincher: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
This is the first time since 1944 where there is an exact match between the Best Picture category and the Best Director. Commonly the two awards go hand-in-hand, but there is usually one oddball or mismatch between them. Not this year and my feelings remain pretty much the same from the previous category. Danny Boyle will walk away the winner.
Now here is some excitement and tension for the night. The inclusion of dark horse Richard Jenkins throws a distinct wrench in the celebratory plans of Mickey Rourke, who took the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Jenkins hands down deserves the nomination and I am pulling for him to win. All these performances were incredibly strong, which could split the voting and leave Jenkins available for the sneak attack. The big money is on Rourke because of his Cinderella-esque return to the limelight, but I’m personally hedging my bets and putting some small change on Jenkins. Sean Penn can proudly stand here as the one thing I agree with in terms of nominations for Milk. He was the lightning rod for this film and it all hinged on his stellar performance. Langella and Pitt both were terrific, but the momentum and buzz are not behind them this year.
I was thinking about just leaving this area with one word, “Duh”, but that would steal my opportunity to praise and shout for the nomination of Michael Shannon. He was the most outstanding and powerful part of Revolutionary Road and I am thrilled he got the nod here. Yet, with that said, let me now return to my previous thought…
- Kate Winslet: The Reader (most likely winner) WINNER
Who is Melissa Leo and what is this film, Frozen River? Pulling a repectful Jenkins-like move, Leo throws this semi-strong category into a whirl. Hathaway and Winslet are the two obvious front runners, with Hathaway almost sure to take the Independent Spirit Award the night before the Oscars and Winslet still fanning herself off after the double grab at the Golden Globes for both her roles this year. Holocaust subject matter aside, I think Hathaway was stronger in her role as an ex-junkie struggling with reintegrating herself into her own family, where as if Winslet had been nominated for Revolutionary Road instead of The Reader I would be more inclined to begrudgingly hand it to her. Streep can’t be totally counted out, especially since all four of the main actors from Doubt got nominations, but I think she will fall by the wayside here. Maybe when she lands there, she can bring Jolie a drink, she’s been down there all year.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
- Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler (deserves to win, most likely winner)
Even though Vicky Christina Barcelona took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, I think Penelope is the only one is this category you can count out of the running. The two Doubt women, Davis and Adams, were both sensational, but they might end up splitting that audience in half. This leaves Henson and Tomei to battle it out, with Tomei a touch ahead since I think she only lost out on the Globe because she was battling Winslet on her night-of-all-nights. If Henson pulls it out here, she will most likely be one of very few of the thirteen nominations for Button that will result in a win.
- Wall-E (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
I’m still baffled by all the acclaim for Bolt, but it really doesn’t matter this year. Wall-E lost out on a Best Picture nod most likely because everyone just wanted to give it this award and be done with it. Plan on Pixar walking away once again, proud of its tiny trashman.
- Simon Beaufoy: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
There’s a good chance Slumdog will continue its reign here, but it’s a strong category so anything could really happen. The Reader has pulled in lots of support and you can count on a huge studio push for the win, but the rest of the pack are no slouches either. Shanley wrote the play for Doubt as well as the screenplay and he was already heaped with acclaim for the stage version (surprisingly, the same holds true for Morgan with Frost/Nixon). Hare succeeded greatly with taking an incredibly minute starting point, a much loved, but much thinner short story, so his skill and credit comes from the expansion and illumination of tale we are lucky to not have missed. Anyone’s game, but I’ll lean towards the Bollywood train based on sheer momentum.
Again, this is a category where Milk really doesn’t fit. I don’t see it as an original story since it was a biopic and mostly a dramatization of the documentary, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. It’s a good film, but not what I consider an original story. Then there’s that mystery movie, Frozen River, once again. I really need to see this. Wall-E deserves writing acclaim without a doubt since the first twenty minutes were done beautifully with virtually no dialogue at all. That’s talent, people. Happy-Go-Lucky and In Bruges are getting more acclaim since both movies had their main actors recognized with Golden Globes this year, but I think this one will still end in the incredibly cute storage bin of our friend, Wall-E.
Best Achievement in Art Direction
- Changeling
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
The Duchess is a period drama and those tend to do well in this category. As for the rest, they are all incredibly picturesque and beautifully designed films, ranging from the aging, earthy tones of Button to the stark and stunning colors of Road, any of these films deserves the accolade on this night. Just for the sake of picking a winner, I’ll toss my tiny iota of support behind Button. (Sorry, Dark Knight, I still love you.)
Best Achievement in Cinematography
- Changeling
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- The Reader
- Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)WINNER
Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the difference between Best Art Direction, which is how the film and its universe looks, and Best Cinematography, which is how the film is shot, which in turn show you how the universe looks. It’s a fine line, but this year I think the inventiveness of movement and pacing coupled with the saturated colors of India are going to bring Slumdog yet one more statue for the night.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely to win)
- The Duchess WINNER
- Milk
- Revolutionary Road
Except for The Duchess, these are all dramas set in fairly contemporary time periods, so the costume design was more about complementing the world and environment, whereas in Duchess gets to really show off the fashions of its 18th century era; big hair pieces, huge dresses and rib-crushing corsets. I’ll lean towards Button due it sheer volume of nominations and its clarity of vision inside the entire project, but this is truly a toss-up.
I can’t put “deserves to win” here since I have seen absolutely none of these. I love documentaries, but I happen to miss this grouping completely. I’ve heard amazing things about Man on Wire from both friends and industry readings, so I’ll go with that one.
Umm…[tries to read tea leaves]…uh…The Witness? Yeah, that’ll win.
Best Achievement in Film Editing
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- Frost/Nixon (deserves to win)
- Milk
- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner) WINNER
Although the editing in Slumdog was sensational, I am happy to announce I think there is actually a better choice in this category. Frost/Nixon tackled a nearly yawn-inducing subject, one last interview with an old and broken man, and turned into a harrowing, sweat-filled ride towed along by brilliant pacing. Do I think it will actually win, nope, but it most certainly gets my vote for most deserving.
Bashir took home the Globe and you can expect it will do the same here. Nothing but praise has been heaped on this oddly animated drama and I am itching for my chance to witness it myself.
Best Achievement in Makeup
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (most likely to win) WINNER
The real choice here is what you find more impressive, making something look incredibly realistic with a mixture of CGI and practical makeup or making something fantastical come to life with prosthetics and makeup? The former would give you Button as the winner and the latter would give you Hellboy II, while the only makeup worth celebrating in Dark Knight is the insanely creepy and dripping face of the Joker. I would like to see Hellboy win here for the amazing work not only on the main character, but also the underworld villain Prince Nuada and his sister, Princess Nuala.
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
While this might be the happiest group of characters Danny Elfman ever scored for, I think he will lose and quickly return to his gothic roots. Slumdog has a good chance due to its unique international flavor and the Golden Globe A.H. Rahman is already carrying, but the other three are very much in the running.
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
-Peter Gabriel: “Down to Earth” from Wall-E (most likely winner)
- Gulzar: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win) WINNER
- A.R. Rahman,Maya Arulpragasam: “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire
There is a distinct lack of the man commonly referred to as “The Boss”! Why Bruce Springsteen didn’t get a nomination for the Golden Globe winning song he wrote and performed for The Wrestler is beyond me. Also surprising is the exclusion of Academy golden oldie, Clint Eastwood, and his warbling diddy for Gran Torino. With those two oddly out of the limelight, Gabriel could indeed walk away with it for his heartwarming tune, but Gulzar’s tune is the ending credits number and backs up a huge Bollywood dance number, which helps lift the audience to their feet after all the yearning and struggling they just witnessed. I’m going to put my mark there, while internally wishing I could actually dance like that.
Best Animated Short Film
- La Maison en Petits Cubes WINNER
- Lavatory – Lovestory
- Oktapodi
- Presto (most likely winner)
- This Way Up
Presto is the only one I have seen since it was shown before Wall-E in the theater, but the whole thing is done with no dialogue and is gut-wrenchingly funny. Plus, it’s a Pixar joint, so just give it the gold and be happy they want to make more.
Best Live Action Short Film
- Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
- Mannon on the Asphalt (most likely winner)
- New Boy
- The Pig
- Spielzeugland (Toyland) WINNER
I’ll go with Mannon on the Asphalt because it makes me think of a montage of skateboarders faceplanting.
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
- The Dark Knight (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
The fact Wanted can now call itself an Academy Award nominated film just tickles me. There was some great sound work by all the nominees in this category, but here I will lovingly and joyously put my ballot into the box of Dark Knight. From the sounds of the jet engine of the Batmobile to the bone-crushing thud of Ledger’s head hitting the interrogation room table, this was a symphony of audio accomplishment.
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight (deserves to win)
- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner) WINNER
- Wall-E
- Wanted
Evidently Iron Man didn’t mix as well as they edited. Odd. Anyway, I’d still like to see Dark Knight get this, but I think the voting block might split this one up. There might still be enough uber-love for Slumdog to pull this one through for them as well.
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- The Dark Knight
- Iron Man
This is the one category where Button truly deserves to win, hands down. The character of Benjamin was so incredible and adorable, I couldn’t felt any more sympathy and yearning for him if he were sitting right in front of me. The only reason it worked was the sheer realism of this aged and decrepit child, so without any reservations, this one goes to them.
If you made it all the way down here, thanks once again for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts. Tell me I’m right, tell me I’m wrong, make me believe I missed out on something truly great or just let me know what you thought of that box of Raisinets you got at the movies (Were yours stale? Mine were last time, but I can’t stop getting them). :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
My name is gonna be up there someday. Someone’s gonna see it up there and think, “Yeah, i wanna see her new film. Oh, and I really want a pack of Goobers too. Mmm…Goobers.”
For those movie going fans trying to resist seeing their third or fourth viewing of The Dark Knight, this weekend offered a nice exit from the gloomy streets of Gotham City. The highly buzzed about documentary American Teen from Nanette Burstein opened, giving audiences a chance to look back into their senior year of high school and relive all those little moments which feel so paltry now, but in the moment felt like the weight of the world was in each and every second. What does he/she think of me? Who should I ask to Prom? What if my friends don’t like my choice? The fun part was trying to differentiate between those questions and the other ones, the ones which would drastically change the course of our lives. Where am I going to college? How am I even going to pay for college? Who do I want to be? It can feel as if the entirety of our existence from that moment on is figured out inside those awkward and tension filled nine months. The fact we make it through at all is a miracle in itself.
In American Teen we meet five youngsters from Warsaw, IN and try to figure out which one we identify with the most, which in some cases could be more than one. First, there is Megan, the reigning Student Council President and all around over achiever, but once again the universe proves the old adage, “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”. We witness Megan turn her high school network into an army of social assassins and she herself personally attacks and destroys anyone who doesn’t play along with her plans, even her best friends. Next we have Colin, the basketball star, who feels the pressure to dominate this year on the court so he can garner interest from college recruiters, but his personal motivation for points overwhelms his desire to be a team player and continue winning games. Then there’s Mitch, another player on the basketball team and rover in the popular click, but he makes an attempt to step outside their world and intermingle with the other social sects only to find his old friends rather unaccepting. Next is Jake, the band nerd, attacked by social invisibility, stifling levels of self-doubt and acne that needs something stronger than over the counter creams. He decides finding a girlfriend, no matter who she is, will solve all his social problems and fix his life, yet when he does get chances to make that connection, he still fails to see himself as anything but the loser. Lastly there is Hannah, the wild child in the group, not belonging to any group except the one with no labels at all. She plays rock music, dresses with more color than style and refuses to imagine her life continuing under the confines of religious conservatism in Indiana. So there you have it, the main achetypes of high school existence. Which one were you?
In terms of filmmaking, this is a solid documentary. There is a nice pace to the film and some very clever tools implemented to help the audience really dive into the minds of these chosen seniors. At some point in the film, each of the main characters (minus Mitch, who was almost a side character) has an animation sequence displaying their hopes, dreams and most inner fears. Some of them are poignant, while others remind us how deluded and rose-colored our visions were of the outside world at that age. A couple times during the film there were conversations used again, but in a new context, which isn’t at all uncommon, but since the people in the scene were obviously wearing the same clothes and you could tell it took place on the same night as a conversation we were shown from months before, it drops a little bit of the honesty from the moment. You start to wonder at which point in the film were you being manipulated. As I said, this is not unheard of in the documentary world, in fact it’s part and parcel with the genre, but it needs to be done a little smoother than this.
Emotionally it is a roller-coaster ride of angst, yearning, crushing self-defeat and explosive, giddy joy. There is no doubt somewhere along the way you will see something transpire on screen and think, “I totally remember that. I was right in their shoes!”. You also might find yourself identifying with someone you initially didn’t expect, proving once again we all have different levels to our character and they all don’t rest on the surface. In the end, this film doesn’t work without the inclusion of Hannah. She stands out among the rest as the heart and soul of the piece and she is the single character that you truly want to route for. Colin plays a close second, but Hannah really struggles through much more difficult circumstances during the filming and creates the biggest arc of all the participants. According to the Facebook celeb page created for her, i’m sure by the movie studio, she has “indeed turned into an asshole”, but let’s hope this was a terribly clever way for an intellgent and creative girl to keep from being flooded by a nation of new “best friends”.
Recommendation: If your a doc fan, this is worth seeing. If you want to remember your high school existance, this is worth seeing. If you didn’t go to high school or haven’t gotten that far yet, why not see what lays ahead?
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Posted 3 years, 6 months ago at 11:10 am. Add a comment
Who over there keeps requesting songs from “The Wiz”? Seriously, for the last time, that costume was itchy and I’m not doing it.
Did you just use the words “serve and obey”? Seriously?
Do you know how long I have been waiting to duel with someone. Seriously! I have the sword and everything. 
DandyID
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