This blogger viewed a great documentary on HBO last Saturday night: "Thrilla in Manilla" which recounts the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on September 30, 1975. While not a fight fan, this blogger was astounded by the violence narrated by Liev Schreiber (a gifted actor who is also the narrator of Bud Greenspan's Olympic Games documentaries). However, the other side of the documentary coin is the mockumentary and the Bud Greenberg of this film genre is Christopher Guest.
In 1984, Rob Reiner's film, "This Is Spinal Tap," marked the beginning of Christopher Guest's work in mockumentaries. Guest and his writing partner, Eugene Levy, and a small band of other actors have formed a loose repertory group, which appear across the several films. These include Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Harry Shearer and Fred Willard. Guest and Levy write backgrounds for each of the characters and notecards for each specific scene, outlining the plot, and then leave it up to the actors to improvise the dialogue, which is supposed to result in a much more natural conversation than scripted dialogue would. Despite making a number of mockumentaries, Guest himself dislikes the term. He maintains that his intention is not to mock anyone, but to explore insular, perhaps obscure communities through his method of filmmaking. When pressed in a 2003 PBS interview by Charlie Rose, however, he could not provide a word to substitute for "mockumentary."
Guest's mocumentaries include "Waiting for Guffman" (1997), "Best in Show" (2000), "A Mighty Wind" (2003), and "For Your Consideration" (2006). However, a mockumentary challenger has emerged: Sacha Baron Cohen, a British comedian and actor, is most noted for his comic characters Ali G (an inner city youth from suburban London), Borat (a Kazakh reporter), and Brüno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter).
In his shtik, Cohen typically conducts interviews with respected figures while posing as one of his characters for comedic effect. Those he interviews mistakenly believe that the interviews are sincere and legitimate. After the release of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," Cohen announced that because the public had become too familiar with the characters, he would retire Borat and Ali G.
But wait, there's more! In July 2009, Cohen will release "Brüno," the self-proclaimed "voice of Austrian youth TV." According to pre-release chatter, Brüno gains an interview with Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) and during the course of the interview, Brüno attempts to seduce the congressman. Ultimately, Ron Paul (not to be confused with RuPaul) splutters and flees the camera. At this time, Cohen is embroiled in a ratings controversy with the Motion Pictures Association of America. As submitted, the film was to be given a rating of NC-17 which is the modern-day equivalent of X-rated. Will Ron Paul end up on the cutting room floor? Stay tuned. If this is (fair & balanced) cinematic lunacy, so be it.
[x Associated Content]
Top 8 Best Mockumentaries
By Aida Ekberg
Tag Cloud of the following article
Mockumentaries have been around for a long time, but this film genre just hasn't exploded the way others, like romantic comedies and horror films, have. However, with Americans getting tired of reality television, mocking these shows about real life captured by tag-along camera crews will likely become more popular. Until then, you can view great mockumentaries like these:
"Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages" - This is the oldest film on this list, and may be the first mockumentary ever made. It's a silent gem from 1922 that purports to tell the tale of witches, demons, and devils. It's full of scenes of sexual perversion, torture, nudity, and frightening costumed characters, so it was probably a little too much for audiences of early cinema, who were very susceptible to believing that what they were seeing was real. The film contains some amazing special effects, costumes, and camerawork for its time, and was resurrected many years later as a "Midnight Movie" narrated by William S. Burroughs. It's a great movie for viewing around Halloween, and a must-see for film students.
"The Blair Witch Project" - A great companion piece to the film above would be this more modern mockumentary (It was even produced by Haxan Films). Like 'Haxan', this film had many audience members wondering if what was happening was actually real (nice to know we're still so gullible today). It's based on a great spooky story: a group of film students go out into the woods to search for the Blair Witch, only to never return. The footage of their journey is found later, and turned into a feature film. The mood of the film is created by the actors and actresses, whose shaky scenes of terror have become some of the most-mocked of all time (who knew you could mock a mockumentary?) Just beware when watching this film: it's known to induce vomiting (not from loads of blood and gore, but because of extremely unstable camera work.)
"This is Spinal Tap" - This mockumentary is perhaps the most famous of all time, and it has become a very popular cult classic. It's about what it's really like to be a ditzy member of a big-time rock band. The film perfectly portrays rock n' roll star stereotypes, with the band Spinal Tap changing its name multiple times, changing its music genre a few times, and changing drummers a few times (due to mysterious deaths). Of course the band members clash and their fame slowly fades, but what remains is a spot-on satire. My favorite scene in the film has to be the discussion over the amp that goes to eleven.
"Man Bites Dog" - This is, perhaps, the darkest mockumentary on this list. It's about a charismatic serial killer who is being followed by a crew of cameramen that record his crimes and commentary on them. Serial killer Benoit is almost charming as he explains his art form to the camera crew, telling them why he chooses certain people to kill and what methods are best for certain situations. His likeability ultimately draws the crew closer and closer to him, and they eventually find themselves becoming a part of their own documentary. It's a very dark comedy, but it's definitely a must-see.
"CSA: The Confederate States of America" - This mockumentary takes a hilarious look at what life would be like in our country if the Confederacy had won the war. It's set up like a British documentary being shown in the CSA that doesn't exactly agree with the way that the CSA has written American history. We learn the history of the country through two viewpoints: that of a white CSA man and a black Canadian woman (both are historians). The film is interrupted periodically with racist commercials aimed at white families who own black slaves, like that for a COPS-like television program where runaway slaves are hunted down. It's a very funny, well-thought-out film, but it's also extremely frightening to imagine that America could have very well gone in this direction.
"A Mighty Wind" - This movie is the 'This is Spinal Tap' for folk singing. It's a very creative and funny mockumentary about a reunion show of three folk singing groups, and it's directed by one of the masters of the mockumentary and star of "Spinal Tap," Christopher Guest. One of the made-up classic folk songs in the film actually managed to get nominated for an Academy Award. It's not the best on this list, but if you're a fan of "Spinal Tap" or folk music, you'll probably really enjoy this film.
"Zelig" - Woody Allen has done a few mockumentaries, but this one has to be my favorite. It's about an incredible man named Zelig (Woody Allen), who desires so badly to fit in wherever he finds himself, that, like a chameleon, he changes his appearance (as well as his personality) to do so He becomes a national superstar and finds himself in many now-historical situations, but a psychologist (Mia Farrow) becomes determined to help him with his problem. Of course she falls in love with him, and things start to get really crazy and bizarre. Among the pieces of historical footage that Woody Allen has his likeness placed are newsreels that include long-dead legends like Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Al Capone, Adolf Hitler, Josephine Baker, and Pope Pius XI. The special effects for this film were incredibly hard to create, because digital technology didn't exist at the time, so it is truly a one-of-a-kind work of cinematic art.
"Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" - Awards show announcers certainly had fun reading the title of this film for anything it was nominated for, and members of the Nation of Kazakhstan definitely did not have a very good time dealing with their newfound fame. This film, however, is probably one the funniest of recent years. It stars comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as Kazakh journalist Borat as he tours the USA. Borat is sexist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic, and some countries even banned the film because of its outrageousness. Borat's beliefs about America are funny but offensive to some, as he believes that the September 11th attacks were caused by Jews and that Pamela Anderson is a virgin. Many who appear in the film are unaware of exactly what kind of film they are taking part in, which led to many participants being angered when they saw the final product. Some see it as anti-American and extremely controversial, but it is truly just a comedy about America, and it's healthy for us to have a laugh at our own expense every now and then. Cohen has another mockumentary in the works, so be prepared to do it again.
There are a few other great mockumentaries out there (many of which were done by Christopher Guest), but these are a few of the best of the genre. So if you're tired of reality television dominating the airwaves, have a laugh at reality's expense with some of these funny and very entertaining films. ♥
[Aida Ekberg is a blogger living in Waco, TX. She is a self-described community college journalism dropout whose personal motto is "Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?"]
Copyright © 2009 Associated Content, Inc.
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Copyright © 2009 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves
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