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May 25, 2005
At least Caryn James isn't sarcastic
Surveying the trend of documentaries being more interesting than fiction features, cultural gatekeeper and arbiter of acceptable visual style Caryn James works light-hearted snark into her piece in the Times: "Digital technology has made filmmaking so cheap and easy that now almost anyone can point a camera at a difficult father or a wicked stepmother and call it a movie." She's not interested in most of the stuff she sees, however: "Even the most successful political documentaries are not likely to approach the box office numbers of Michael Moore's artful, entertaining Fahrenheit 9/11 which was propelled by election-year frenzy. But that hasn't stopped less creative filmmakers from trying, and being overpraised for their modest efforts. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room has a topical subject, a lucidly told story, and no more flair than a cheap documentary on cable television." She likes Herzog, however: "There are still documentaries transformed by an artist's vision," singling out the soon-to-be-released Grizzly Man.
Posted by at May 25, 2005 11:03 AM
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