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A personal weblog of words and pictures by Manchester-based journalist and filmmaker David Quinn.

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2010 (7)
2009 (22)
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September 2009

 

The Thin Blue Line

dir. Errol Morris, 103 mins, 1988 (USA)

Documentary employing Hollywood-style techniques to bring to light a miscarriage of justice in 1970s Texas. A film that seems to revel in debates about the status of documentary as objective and truthful, as it throws in a series of contradictory testimonies and reconstructions. Initially a touch confusing, thanks partly to the lack of voiceover or title cards denoting the wide variety of characters it introduces, the story eventually falls into place and ends on a chilling note. Splendid score by Philip Glass. ****

Filed under  //  documentary   errol morris  
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Lift

dir. Marc Isaacs, 24 mins, 2001 (UK)

Film in which the director sets up his camera in a lift and films a small cast of characters on their way in and out of a tower block. Initially the interaction between the filmmaker and the cast is awkward and the idea that people ignore each other in lifts is confronted. Each time the doors of the lift open a new person appears, which reminded me a bit of a theatrical stage and the opening of the curtains, while cutaways to the mechanical workings of the lift lend a nice rhythm but hint at repetitiveness. Later, the subjects seem to open up by answering the unpredictable range of "big questions" (religion, happiness, childhood memories) Isaacs throws at them. The director and participants in the film interact much more towards the end. It's interesting to ponder whether this openness would have occurred if Isaacs had not been holding a camera. ****

Filed under  //  documentary   marc isaacs  
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