I know An Inconvenient Truth isn’t really a movie. It’s a message about global warming and the end of the world in the form of a presentation given by Al Gore. But it’s solid science and it’s still worth watching — even if you think you already know everything about global warming. My only criticism: It was a mistake having a politician present the information. (My brother wrote a post about it too.)
I’ve seen the Townes Van Zandt documentary, Be Here To Love Me, and it’s not exactly great. As a big fan of his music, I had high hopes. But this documentary didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about him, nor will the film enlighten many newcomers to his music. If the filmmakers’ intention was to present the life story of Townes Van Zandt, they only got it half-right by presenting bits and pieces of his life; they didn’t tell much of a story. The most interesting aspect of the DVD is the bonus material, unused fragments of interviews with Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris and others, along with performances by Townes and others who knew him. J.T. Van Zandt, the oldest son of Townes Van Zant, does a remarkable job of the song, “Nothin’.” He looks and sounds a lot like his father. Guy Clark recalls this story Townes told him about something he learned in science class in grade 3 (short MP3 clip, contains profanity). As the only biographical film of Townes Van Zandt out there, it’s worth a look, but otherwise it;s not a must-see film. Too bad.
I saw a documentary over the summer called Festival Express. In 1970, artists including Buddy Guy, The Band, Janis Joplin, and The Grateful Dead hopped aboard a train going across Canada, stopping at a few cities along the way to play concerts. Deadheads are going to love watching The Grateful Dead perform. The Band plays a few of their big hits. A young Buddy Guy has the best time of anybody on stage, walking off stage playing his guitar, making the song go on for as long as he can. But the highlight is watching Janis Joplin sing “Cry Baby” (MP3). I’m normally not a fan of her screaming-like-a-banshee vocal style, but her performance here stuns the crowd into submission. It is a sight to behold. One of those moments where you turn to the person next to you and mouth the words, “Holy shit.” And considering how everyone is completely wasted, it’s remarkable they’re able to play anything at all. In between the concert footage are scenes from the train ride itself where Janis Joplin, members of the Grateful Dead, the Band and others, stay up all night and day for one long free-for-all jam session. If you like the music of Woodstock, you might want to check out Festival Express. (Lots of bonus concert footage on the DVD.)
I saw Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine last night, a documentary about the 1997 chess match between Garry Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue. Kasparov lost and then claimed IBM cheated. IBM’s behaviour was indeed suspicious. They had something like 30 grand masters as “consultants,” but you have wonder if some of these guys were in a back room somewhere over-riding some of Deep Blue’s moves. It’s an intriguing subject for a documentary, but the approach to it is stupid. Instead of letting the facts stand on their own, a variety of techniques are used to dramatize the events. An inaudible voice-over narration where two guys whisper the whole time as if they’re watching a chess match. Interviews where the camera is constantly going in and out of focus, moving all over the place, or filming from behind an office plant (like a hidden camera?). Music that sounds like it was written for Darth Vader. After-the-fact slow-motion close-ups of Kasparov’s eyes. All of this is done so badly, it makes the subject laughable and distracts from the real drama of the events. Too bad. If they’d just done a straightforward documentary, it could have been good. (More research about chess would have helped too.) If you want to watch good movie about chess, check out Searching for Bobby Fischer instead.
Himalaya tells the story of some Nepalese villagers who trek down the mountains to trade their mountain salt for grain and try not to get killed along the way. The plot is simple but contains all the elements of a great story. The magnificence of the Himalayan landscape provides an epic feel to every single frame of the film. The DVD bonus material, “Himalaya: The Making Of,” shows how it was shot entirely on location under environmental conditions that put all their lives at risk, and makes you wonder how they ever finished it. Deeply moving, astounding, and compelling in every way. This is my favourite movie of 2005.
Click the image for non-subtitled YouTube clip. It’s a good clip.
Near the end of the 1995 documentary, Anne Frank: Remembered, there’s a two-second clip of Anne Frank — 1943, ‘44, something like that, six months or so before she and her family went into hiding. A wedding was being filmed by someone with an early home movie camera. After taking some shots of the bride and groom in the street, the camera pans up to get a shot of some spectators looking down from the balcony of their apartment at the wedding party below. There is a young girl leaning over the railing of the balcony; we barely get a glimpse of her. She quickly turns her head and goes back into the apartment. They slow the film down and play it back. And it’s Anne Frank. Motion picture footage of Anne Frank. The real person. That is the most powerful, emotionally profound moment I’ve experienced watching a film. I totally lost it when they showed that two-second clip of Anne Frank. It cut me half. There was no denying that what I had just seen in the previous 100 minutes of the documentary was real. It hit me so hard I couldn’t talk about it for weeks afterwards. And I can still get choked up trying to talk about. Rabbit-Proof Fence has a moment like that. For me, not as powerful as that moment of seeing Anne Frank, but for some people it will be. And if for nothing else but that moment, that possibility, I have to recommend the film. Rabbit-Proof Fence tells the story of three Australian aboriginal girls who run away from a school that is essentially a prison. They trek through a desert for 9 weeks to be with their families. It’s an enlightening and still entertaining film (with a powerful soundtrack by Peter Gabriel). [Commentary originally from 2004.]