A common fact easily overlooked: television isn’t the same medium as film. As modes of visual storytelling, they may bear a family resemblance, but they represent long-form versus short-form approaches to narrative. In short, the rules, as well as the limitations and advantages, differ greatly for both. A television show has room to breathe and stretch its legs by its very nature, for example, while a movie is more contained by its own. Conflating the two, then, is a mistake, and one which Tim Burton makes repeatedly throughout Dark Shadows, his interpretation of the identically-titled 1960s/70s televised Gothic soap opera; the result is so overstuffed and hopelessly rushed that there’s…
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[IFFBoston Review]…We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Brian Knappenberger’s We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists is a lot of things, but first and foremost it’s an outstanding example of documentary filmmaking done perfectly; it’s exciting, it’s propulsive, it’s entertaining, and it’s insightful. Documentaries should be educational and thorough as a rule, and We Are Legion doesn’t disappoint in that respect, but Knappenberger’s film– despite all of its historical and academic value– regardless manages to carry out its purpose with tongue firmly in cheek. And maybe there’s a point to that. After all, there’s something intrinsically bizarre about the idea that Knappenberger’s subject, the online, multi-faceted group of prankster-activists, Anonymous, actually has become a genuine catalyst for…
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[IFFBoston Review]…Polisse
Think of Polisse as a towering and worthy successor to television shows like The Shield and, far more accurately, The Wire. Dedicated to portraying its events and characters by way of a realistic mien, the film revolves around the lives of the Paris CPU (Child Protection Unit) both on the job and at home; the focus isn’t on a single narrative through-line carrying the picture from start to finish but rather on the people behind the armbands and badges and what motivates them and what haunts them. Polisse‘s stylistic bent lends itself to a sense of disarray, but while the movie may read as somewhat helter-skelter as it leaps from…
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[IFFBoston Review]…Sleepwalk With Me
If Sleepwalk With Me does one thing well, it’s strike a balance between truth and delusion. For a film that grounds itself so heavily in reality while simultaneously reveling in the dreams of its protagonist, equilibrium is paramount; mercifully, the line between waking life and fantasy is never irreparably, irresponsibly blurred. We may not be able to immediately identify when our protagonist is dreaming– neither can he– but Sleepwalk With Me clues us in quickly enough so as to avoid leaving us in the lurch, establishing a clear relationship between the stages of awareness experienced by Matt, the aimless, disconnected, would-be comedian serving as our anchor. And why not? Dreams…
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G-S-T Review…Wrath of the Titans
I, like Jonathan Liebesman’s Wrath of the Titans, am wracked with indecision. On the one hand I want to go to bat for the film on the virtues of its better elements– excellent eye candy, including, but not limited to, some eye-popping creature design– but Wrath’s tonal incongruity holds me back. There’s a place in the Hollywood ecosphere for fantastical sword and sandal films boasting either serious or silly makes, but Wrath can’t decide which of the two models it wants to follow and ends up existing as an unsatisfying halfway point between them; it’s silly, but not silly enough. It’s epic, but it’s not epic enough. If the film needs anything, it’s direction,…
