Comment by allturtles
6 hours ago
This actually says nothing at all about how the documentary deceives you. It simply claims that it does, with no evidence provided. This basically a clickbait headline stretched out to blog post size. Total garbage, IMO.
I think what's going on with this article and many of the comments here is that movie (I hesitate to necessarily call it a documentary) takes some twists in the second half that are causing a lot of people who have seen and enjoyed it to talk about it in very vague terms so as to not spoil those twists for anyone who hasn't yet seen it. Holmes is the central figure of the movie, but the filmmakers very clearly have higher ambitions than simply informing the viewer of the facts of her life.
That's fine, but that leaves two legitimate options:
1) Warn readers there are "spoilers ahead" and then proceed to actually say something.
2) Withhold from writing a totally vacuous post and write about something else instead.
As it is this reads like an Onion article titled "Man, that twist at the end of Empire Strikes Back was totally crazy!"
Completely agree. The whole spoilers thing is relatively recent and I think there's a strong argument that people who object to discussion of the narrative in any discussion of works of narrative art probably need to just avoid reading about anything. If you really don't want to know about a film or book because you're reserving judgement that's fine, but online communities these days seem fine with censoring discussion these days based on lazy spoiler grounds.
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This was one of the most engrossing theatrical experiences I have ever had and everyone that I know whose seen it has said they can't stop thinking about it. At the moment, it's literally the highest rated movie of all time on Letterboxd with 74% of ratings being 5 out of 5 stars with 98% of ratings being 4 stars or higher.
People are just trying to thread the needle of how to handle discussing this movie in this short window so soon after release. We want others to watch the movie so we can both have more people to talk about it with and so we can eventually talk about it more openly. But as is, the movie just came out a few days ago so people are trying to not diminish anyone's experience of watching this movie for the first time without knowing what transpires. I realize this likely all sounds frustrating to someone with little interest in the movie, but it's all a good intentioned way of engaging with a very special piece of art.
3) Write a piece persuading readers to go and watch it by making the case for how masterful it is at storytelling, without explaining the story.
I'm glad that pieces like this exist, encouraging people to go and see it, and I look forward to reading more of (1) once I've seen it.
I have revisited this thread, after having originally left despairing of the weird conversation. Thanks so much for clarifying what's going on! I hadn't followed this film and assumed people were afraid of being picked off the streets by the government if they spoke articulately about it. It's the "spoilers" problem then--online people who aren't used to how creative works are discussed thinking they have to use tradecraft. Ze beef iz in ze butchers!
> the filmmakers very clearly have higher ambitions than simply informing
I’d expect nothing less from Nathan Fielder. With his involvement, anything less than surprising weirdness taken to extremes would be a disappointment.
> This actually says nothing at all about how the documentary deceives you
That's because the film is easily spoiled, and the impact comes from watching it. Writing a film review without spoiling a film like this is hard.
Revealing more would spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it yet.
I appreciate this point of view, but I think people who are religiously adhering to "spoilers" to censor aesthetic discussion need to be honest about highlighting what they are doing. A proper discussion about this would have been explicit about what was being discussed. We are not children.
there's a valid point (not well reinforced) on how cinematography / photography can compel a perspective .
? That’s the point of film - to compel a perspective.
I agree, though documentaries are presented as objective / fact finding films. And most viewers seem to share that belief.
Even the trailer for this film implies "look at how cooky / manipulative this woman is -- we're just showing her staring at Nathan"
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Actually came here to "attack" that point. It's a view of reality that requires a conceptual bias-free media as reference for any commentary, and bias-free media is a tautology.
Compelling a perspective is the only thing cinematography / photography is doing. Bias equals point of view. There can't be any unbiased point of view because they're the same thing.
There's a conversation on education to be had here.
You're right but the distributors and creators pretend that documentaries are objective fact-finding media. and so does the audience.
Look at Super Size Me . The trailers, news media, promotions, critics, broader news media presented it as an objective case study. And McDonalds canceled a popular sales promotion over it. *and it had an enormous negative influence on McDonald's reputation, that it still hasn't yet recovered from.
90+% of people watch and share documentaries with the perspective that they are objective, truth seeking works.
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If A24 / Nathan Fielder promoted this "documentary" like Ali-G / Sasha Baron Kohen's works, they would be honest about it.
Kohen lampoons subjects in candid videos but at least presents his works as a joke, and we're all in on it.
This movie is the exact same thing, but it's promoted as an inside & sincere look at Holmes, when it's really just the Ali G schtick.
Agreed. Terrible writeup.