Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful curve ball of a film, August 18, 2004
As the subtitle of this marvelous documentary (?) hints, this is a wildly improbable movie. There actually is little that one can say about the content of it, since its substance lies in its execution and collection of odd and bizarre moments, not in what it has to say. Ross McElwee obtains a grant to make a documentary about the lingering effects of Sherman's march through Georgia in the Civil War, but instead keeps getting sidetracked and obsessed by women he meets along the way. Occasionally it occurs to him that he ought to stop shooting film of the women he yearns for and start worrying about Sherman, but he never can quite force his attention in that direction. The movie may start off as a documentary on SHERMAN'S MARCH, but it morphs quite rapidly in the film's subtitle: AN IMPROBABLE SEARCH FOR LOVE.
I'm not quite sure that this film can truly be categorized as a documentary: it is more of a confessional, an exploration of the McElwee's desire for love. I think it will feel uncomfortably familiar for many of its viewers in a way that a fictional account of the search for love could never be.
|
|
|
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'll take this over reality TV anytime!, December 24, 2004
I saw this film for the first time with my wife, Andrea. Our reactions were mixed. I loved it. I was fascinated by the characters, and the by the not-so-subtle way in which the intellectual pursuits of a scholar are subordinated to his personal life and hang-ups. As an academic who is often painfully aware of the overlap between my life and my work it was refreshing to see this overlap admitted so openly -- even embraced to the point where it becomes the subject matter of the entire investigation.
My wife, on the other hand, was bothered by what she saw as Mr. McElwee's pretentiousness, and his "exploitation" of the women in the film. It is true that all of them were more or less willing participants -- and a commmon feature of each of them was that they were in some way entertainers who were interested in being seen -- still, she thought, the very fact that they revealed themselves and he could step back and observe and judge set up what she saw as an unequal situation. Having said that, she did admit that the film held an undeniable fascination for her.
As it turned out, we talked about the film on and off for the next few days, even comparing people we know and ourselves to the characters revealed there. That is, I think, one of the signs that the film was effective. In a time when most films, and certainly to my mind all of reality TV, are forgettable, this film is not. I think Mr. McElwee sets himself up to be vulnerable to the criticisms my wife suggests -- and does not shy away from them. As a character, and as narrator of his own story, he is neither hero nor villian but is a real person, and that is what makes his stories interesting.
I can't wait to see the other films he has made -- like Time Indefinite and, most recently, Bright Leaves that is currently in (selected) theatres.
|
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent surprise, December 15, 1999
This documentary was difficult to approach but well worth it. Some parts have a very voyeauristic feel to them, like reading someone else's love letters. It seems that the movie wasn't made for anyone but the filmmaker himself. The feelings he experiences are shown with a stark directness that, at first, make you uncomfortable because they come so close to things most of us have felt but will never offer up for such public consumption. His courage should be applauded.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ William Tecumseh Sherman
DVD ~ John Lurie
DVD ~ Randall Adams
DVD ~ Paul Brennan
DVD ~ Allakariallak
DVD ~ Ross Mcelwee
by Burke Davis
DVD ~ Allan Gurganus
