War Dance

This is about the documentary "War Dance". It is about the Northern Uganda Acholi tribe of Patonga. They are mostly orphaned children because of the rebels in that region that are fighting the government and consequently killing off farmers, raping their women, and abducting their children. The burning question I think this film really asks is why are we letting this happen? Sure, for the most part, it's about these children trying to compete in a national music competition, but I think at the heart of it, it's about the atrocities that are being committed by the rebels. The role of the filmmaker is the advocate and the observer, and the genre is direct cinema. The visual imagery is the first thing I noticed, and also happened to be the thing I found most stunning. The colors look so surreal, almost as if they had been doctored in post. Yet, that is just the beauty of Africa. The close-ups on the eyes during intense dramatic scenes are very moving. The theme of this doc is atrocities in 3rd world countries like Uganda. Again, masked by a music competition, but the real focus is obvious. The filmmakers' stakes were what if they were killed when they were out following some of the people into the bush, or if the rebels just attacked their village? The editing techniques used in this film were using shots of scenes of the tribe practicing for the competition, and then using shots of some of the children telling their stories, building up the intensity. It's like a rollercoaster of emotion. I think this along with Cove is one of the most moving films I've ever seen, and one I will never forget.

Unzipped

Unzipped is about Isaac Mizrahi and the world of fashion. The documentary takes place in New York and is the setting for his 1994 fall collection. Many actors, musicians, and of course, supermodels surround Mizrahi in this film. It's a delightful look at the hectic world that is fashion. This documentary is hard to define it to a singular genre. Some that come to mind are direct cinema, performance films, and biography. The role of the filmmaker is observer/ chronicler. We find out at the end (spoilers!) that his collection was a huge success, but my burning question is whatever happened to him? Well with a little internet help, it was easy to find the answer to that. He's still a gigantic influence to the world of fashion. The visual imagery was perfect for the early 1990's. Except for the actual show itself, the film was shot in black and white. I think it added a different element to it. Making it black and white seemed similar to the streets of New York, sort of an urban decay kind of feel. I think a lot of photographers were shooting in black and white at the time as a throwback to noir films. The theme for this film is fashion. The stakes for this film is what would the movie become had Mizrahi failed at his collection? Would he still be in the fashion world, or shunned away never to work again? The editing style is really smooth. With insert shots of Mizrahi as a child, and black and white shots before the show, and then the show in color, it blends very well. I guess the biggest thought or emotion that I have about this film is that I really want to go to a fashion show. Actually, I just really want to date a model.

Ricky J

Ricky J was about the magician, Ricky Jay, his climb to fame, and the heroes that inspired him. It is done in the genre of biography/portrait and the role of the filmmaker is chronicler. I really like biographies about magicians for some reasons. Also, I knew I recognized him from somewhere besides his own show. He played the camera operator on Boogie Nights. I thought that was kind of interesting. My burning question is what ever happened to Ricky J? I haven't seen him in a long time, and without doing any research, I'm assuming this documentary was made a few years ago. I thought the visual imagery was really cool. It felt like I was on in the front row of one of his magic shows. I also really liked the old footage with the older magicians. I think the theme was, or at least what I got out of it, was that we're never too old to stop believing in magic. Ok, maybe that was a little corny. Another theme could be, if you really want to achieve your goals, work hard and never give up. I'm not sure if there were any stakes. I mean, nothing worth calling a "stake" at any rate. Maybe, if he ever worries about his tricks becoming revealed. The editing style was done with a lot of flowing narrative that occurred chronologically. I want to know how did he perform those tricks, and will he ever reveal how he did them?

Cove

This was one of the most gut-wrenching, saddest movies I've ever seen. It seems today that sad documentaries are on the rise. I first heard about this film when it was at Sundance a few years ago, garnering critical acclaim, and now I see why. This film was done in the style of both Cinema Verite and Direct Cinema. They show direct evidence of the killing and maiming of dolphins which makes it kind of hard to prove otherwise. The role of the filmmaker was guerrilla. They had to be sneaky to evade Japanese police and fishermen. The burning question at the beginning was will they caught and be arrested? At the end, I think it was will the world put a stop to these inhumane catastrophes? The visual imagery used in this doc. was the use of interview, underwater shots, thermal shots, etc. They had to go out at night so as not to be detected. The theme was simple, stop animal cruelty. Some of the stakes were unlike any I've seen in other docs. They could have been arrested without charge and held in prison for 28 days according to Ric O'Barry. The editing style incorporated old footage from Flipper, interviews, thermal shots, etc. This movie will stay with me for awhile.

La Mancha

I first saw La Mancha a couple of years ago because for one, Terry Gilliam is a huge inspiration to me, and two it is about the process of making a film, and the sometimes problems that arise. The genre for this film is Direct Cinema or Observational because the filmmaker or even the camera have very little effect on the people in the movie. The role of the filmmaker is observer, again because they don't really interact with the subjects or the story in anyway. The burning question for me at the beginning and the end of the film is, "will this film ever get made?" I guess we answered that today though as Amazon is putting up the money to finance the project. Some of the visual imagery I noticed was old footage used to describe and illustrate the previous failed versions of the La Mancha. I think the theme of this movie was to show the audience just how difficult a process it is to make a movie, even with talent as great as Terry Gilliam or Johnny Depp. One stake was will Terry Gilliam prove worthy enough to beat the "curse" of this project and finally finish making it, where so many others failed. The editing style was kind of slow paced. I didn't get grabbed right away. But many times, I find that to not necessarily be a bad thing. All in all, it was a pretty good movie. I would highly recommend it to any film buff, but perhaps not to any regular Joe.

Rush

Ok, I have to start off by saying that I am not a fan of Rush. I've always respected their abilities as being extremely technical and doing things no band has ever done, and doing it their way. But I just couldn't ever get into them for some reason. I think they're an acquired taste, you either get it or you don't. The documentary genre is definitely performance film, music or concert to be more specific. The role of the filmmaker was reporter, reporting the facts that have taken place over the last 40 years. A good burning question this film asks is what makes Rush one of the greatest rock bands of all time? The visual imagery ties into the editing style, and they used a lot of stock footage and past interviews to highlight their road to success. The theme for me in this film was rock n roll, and showing the viewer just how much hard work goes into the process. Some of the stakes when this movie was made was will they ever get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Well the answer to that is yes they did. Even if you are not a fan of Rush, you will definitely take home a certain amount of respect for these guys. They were never popular growing up or even when they were starting out, but they stuck with it, and it goes to show you if you believe in yourself anything is possible. Ok, so it was a little corny at the end, but so what?!

Tesla

This film has a little bit of historical and biography genres for me. It's a film about the great Nikola Tesla who was probably one of the greatest minds in human history behind Michelangelo, Newton, and Einstein. The director took on the role of a reporter and a chronicler giving a very detailed account of what happened in his life over a 100 years ago. One burning question that comes to mind, is what would the world be like today had there not have been a Nikola Tesla? Some of the visual imagery I noticed in the film was a lot of old photos from that period, and newspaper articles that covered his progress in the field of electricity. The most important theme I took out of this movie was the dedication and sheer genius it took to make the man that he became. He worked tirelessly at his craft and came up with some very important discoveries and inventions that many of us take for granted today. And he never did it for the money, he wasn't a businessman like Thomas Edison. He did it to help mankind. One of the stakes I noticed was what would have happened had his warehouse not caught fire and spiraled him into obscurity? The editing style was very linear. They use a lot of stock footage to give the audience a magnificent illustration of the man. It never ceases to amaze me just how brilliant this guy actually was. The more I learn about him, the more I really respect him not just as a scientist, but as a human being.