Product Details

• Actors: Georgia Pierson, Janet Pierson, John Pierson, Wyatt Pierson
• Directors: Steve James
• Producers: Janet Pierson, John Pierson, P.H. O'Brien, Steve James, Aaron Wickenden
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• DVD Release Date: February 14, 2006
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000CQM4JM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #95,847 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Reel Paradise" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Indie-movie guru John Pierson fell in love with the remotest movie theater in the world, the 180 Meridian Cinema, located on the island of Taveuni in Fiji. Instead of filing the place away as an exotic memory, he decided to move his family to Taveuni for a year and run the movie house, an experience documented in the entertaining Reel Paradise. It's not all papaya and roses, as Pierson, his patient wife Janet, and their two willful teenage kids learn; the island's culture shock is real and sometimes alarming. The best part of the film isn't the domestic bickering of the Piersons but the affectionate portrait of the 180 Meridian, with its beat-up chairs, raucous audience, and projectionists who might or might not show up that evening. Pierson is the enthusiastic and sometimes stern high priest of the Meridian, willing to show the Jean-Claude Van Damme movies beloved by locals but also insisting on educating them with more ambitious fare. (The Three Stooges are here confirmed as the universal language of cinema.) Director Steve (Hoop Dreams) James assembled this chronicle, which doesn't skimp on revealing John Pierson as an eccentric, volatile, but very committed presence. The kind of person who gets things done--including this South Pacific lark. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Award-winning director Steve James' (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) Reel Paradise tells the extraordinary story of one American family's unique adventure running a cinema in one of the most isolated villages on the planet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Escape with a family's getaway, February 7, 2006

By	Lausten Austin (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Reel Paradise features a family of four intelligent, talented, articulate people from America-parents John and Janet Pierson, daughter Georgia, and son Wyatt, who go to Fiji to reopen an abandoned movie theatre.

The effect they have on the culture of the island and the effect the island has on them produces a story that grabbed this viewer from the outset and held me to the end. Frankly, when I see two adults who are willing to tackle a project so far out in left field like this and then two children who are so witty and able to adapt to new surroundings in such a hurry, I have greater respect for my fellow human beings.

Director Steve James gives an unsparing view of the stresses and strains - and the triumphs -- of being in this situation. And the Piersons are to be commended to letting the lens peer into their homelife. Frankly, I think that they shine through the whole process. And as for Wyatt and Georgia, if I had kids, I could only hope that they would be so bright.

This film intrigues the viewer on several levels:

--Seeing the reaction of the Fiji natives to the films.

--Observing the adaptive capabilities of the Piersons.

--All the subplots like the Catholic Church's negative reaction to the Piersons giving the natives free admittance to the films and Wyatt's taking over the announcing one night, not to mention the landlord scene.

If you want to spend a couple of hours immersed in another culture, Reel Paradise is a great way to do just that.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars extraordinary film & extra, December 28, 2006

By	Marcy Garriott (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Loved it; it's at once compelling, complex, and authentic.

I highly recommend the "commentary" audio also -- Steve James and doc subject Janet Pierson intertwine comments in a way that reveals the subjectivity inherent (but not always obvious) in any documentary film. Steve's discussion of the subtleties of story-telling craft and Janet's nuanced comments on perception transcend the specifics of the film to shed light on documentary in general.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An American Family Experiences Life in Fiji, April 5, 2006

By	Jane (Florida) - See all my reviews

I was totally entertained by this film about an American family who leave their comfortable life in New York to spend a year in Taveuni, one of the Fiji islands. The impetus was Dad's need for a little time off from his career in independent films. Dad, John Pierson, known as the independent film "guru," purchases an old movie theater and shows free movies to the natives of Taveuni.

I enjoyed learning about daily life on the island and seeing the natives' reactions to the movies; but most interesting was watching the personable and articulate Piersons experience life in a world so exotically different from their own. Janet, John, Georgia, and Wyatt are shown as four distinct individuals, and we get intimate views of their interactions with one another as well as with their Taveuni friends and neighbors. Actually, I wasn't surprised to find how good "Reel Paradise" is. It was directed by Steve James who made the equally absorbing basketball documentary "Hoop Dreams."