There has got to more ppl out there that have seen this film. Anyone who loves watching movies, old movies, learning about filmmaking, peter jackson, documentries, mockumentries, or anyone who has an hour to kill will be honored to have seen this film. This is like Spinal Tap meets The Princess Bride (the novel) meets Ed Wood. I know I'm going all over the top, but whatever. I love this movie. It's clever as all hell.
shareI think that's because its about an era of film that the average film audience really doesn't care about anymore. Sure, physical humor was better, stunts were way cooler because of the placing-life-in-your-own-hands-aspect, but, frankly, only more involved film students know anything about pre-40's cinema.
It struck me as a bit self-indlugent, which I actually like in films.
Well, I just watched the picture, and it is my habit to check out what other's have to say about it. I might even drop my 2 cents (right before I pick 'um back up that is) about the film in question.
This one I liked because of 1. Peter Jackson. 2. Peter Jackson 3. The guy who played Derek in Bad Taste is in it. I also am a big fan of the old silents, with Chaplin being the Lord Ruler, with a few of those crazy Germans right behind (also gotta mention Melies, Griffith, Lubitsch, DeMille). This little hour long mock did a great job of re-introducing a few (I hope) cinephiles to the genre.
I feel bad for the New Zealand foliage that was damaged during the making of the film, but I guess it was kinda like a warm-up for the massive destruction of the shrubbery that went on during the production a that little trilogy that what-his-name did that won an Oscar or two or three... etc...etc...etc
Up next... The Frighteners.
D E
[deleted]
I seen this when it was first shown on New Zealand television back in 96 it was shown on a Sunday night. I was one of the many people who was fooled into thinking it was real, I guess there was apart of me that wanted it to be real.
I guess that what true cinema is supposed to do, thrust you into different world's, and make you believe the unbelieveable.
Peter Jackson put a lot of nice touches into the documentary like the bicycle cranked camera, film stock made from egg whites, the lost film set in the middle of a forest.
Ha crazy stuff.
i saw this in my film studies class in university on the first day.. the teacher gave us a lecture on the importance of taking notes and then threw this on.. so i scribbled away furiously for about an hour about fictitious genius colin mckenzie before it finally began to dawn on me that something wasn't right.. of course, when the film was over i found out the truth.. i don't think i took any more notes for the rest of the year..
The exact same thing happened to me today. First day, a lecture on note taking, and then he throws this on.
The teacher actually mentioned your post after the movie. Said not to follow your example.
----
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold... -- Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
[deleted]
Yea.
----
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold... -- Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I didnt see this when it was originally screened on TV1 in New Zealand, but apparently it caused a huge uproar and a stream of complaints was received by TVNZ (broadcasting company) after people 'clicked'!!!!
Just goes to show how convincing documentary conventions are.....
I am a enthusiastic aspiring film maker, and I love this film! I am a fan of almost every film genre, and I lvoe good silent films (The Passion of Joan of Arc, is fantastic!). I loved the this film, it has such heart, humor, wit, and originality. I also like the many nods to classic films. Such as Colins big project being 'Salome', the same film Norma Desmond wanted to make in 'Sunset Blvd.', which is one of my favorite films. And also the production of Salome being so similar to the production of 'Intolorence'.
share[deleted]
I LOVED this film when I first saw it a few years back. I suppose that I had the benefit of having seen it as either a VHS or DVD rental at the time, so perhaps had the advantage of being "in on the joke". I absolutely howled my way through this film! The reviewer on this page who says that it's a tragedy rather than a comedy entirely misses the point entirely: Its both! The idea of a brilliant innovator who is so repeatedly thwarted by circumstance sends the pathos of this story so far into the stratosphere that it becomes ridiculous and therefore hilarious. Events that explain why Mckenzie's technicolour process never took off with the topless native women constantly moving into the camera shot causing the film footage to be confiscated by a censorship board are funny not just because of the unfortunate end, but because you see it coming as the "camera man" keeps shifting the camera to recapture the intended focus: the flowers.
The irony at the end is the true "kicker". This fictional director goes to great lengths to ensure that he maintained control of his epic masterpiece to keep it from being cheapened from his original vision. Yet you have all of the film notables effusing over a version that has been drastically edited down to make it more palatable to the premiere audience.
This film is a hilarious "must see"!
The movie is called "Intolerance".
shareI, too, fell for the movie. How could you not, though, when you're not told?
Like many here, this was shown in a film class. The instructor billed it as a documentary and pretty much left it at that. Except for one or two people who recognized the actor playing Colin McKenzie from his role in 'The Two Towers,' everyone fell for it. I even saw a few people shedding tears when they showed Colin's camera capturing his own death.
When we were told afterwards that it was fake I was overjoyed. It was the perfect prank. I have some feeling of how listeners of Orson Welles' radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' might have felt... well, not scared, but the after sensation of realizing that you fell for it. The funniest part is that we all should have known better. We had a very comprehensive textbook which didn't reference any Colin McKenzie, the instructor never mentioned him and, of the countless genuine mini-documentaries we saw, his name never came up.
What better testament to a filmmaker's genius than to not recognize that he's lying. All movies are lies, but most of the time we know it. Here, however, we were caught completely off guard. We believed because we were told by people we've learned to trust that these filmmakers were onto something. We believed because everything was so precise, so accurate, so authentic-looking. We believed because we had no reason not to believe it.
This movie demonstrated exactly how dangerous filmmakers can be. I think it was Plato who said that the writer is the most dangerous member of society because of his ability to manipulate emotion. (If I am wrong on the philosopher, please correct me) This is a perfect example of that theory. It also goes to show how effective something so simple can be and how much joy can be found in fooling people. This is a great, important film for many reasons, not least of which is that it is entertaining.
I was going to say SPOILER, but what the hell. The word "mockumentary" at the top of the page spoiled it for everyone already. It caught me unaware too (NZTV in 96), and I think everybody should watch it in that vein. Just to be able to watch it a second time.
Absolutely brilliant. It's witty and perfectly timed. As it starts dawning on you that the incredible gusts of bad luck and tragedy in McKenzie's life are a bit too much, his tragic life becomes oh so funny. Jackson and Botes spike it with pinches of references to actual events and so many winks a cinema, it all falls into place for the unsuspecting viewer.
We've all seen that Frank Cappa picture of the Spanish war soldier being shot in mid charge. It didn't matter that the camera was on the floor and nobody was turning it. Even if the story goes completely over the top, people still swallowed it and many claimed for weeks after airing that they knew Colin McKenzie...
Makes me think of Orson and War of the Worlds.
Can't you understand that the lady doesn't wanna go shrimpin' with you, young man?
I watched this movie with my year 11 English class it was very funny. I was extremely sceptical from the start and it only built as the film continued. While my class were planning road trips to the set of the movie, the teacher kept looking at me and he knew I wasn't buying it. It was great when he told us what it was really about.
shareI cant beleive people actually like this and also fell for this awful 'documentary,' it is so dull and obviously fake. A steam powered camera come on people and the flight scene was laughably bad. This is a waste of 1 hour i would rather watch paint dry. GO BUY JACKSON'S BEST FILM - BRAINDEAD
shareI got the DVD for Christmas and it was extremely funny.
Anyway, BAD TASTE IS THE BEST PETER JACKSON FILM!!!
Truely a flick worthy of the Pythons. Up with Brian! Trev
shareHehe, 'nother funny thing is that every once in a while people emerge at internet-forums speaking about "this great documentary" they found lying about (no pun intended;)) in a basket of vhs-cassetes and promptly feels the need to tell the world about the great moviemaker. And we all must tell the truth about it all. it's like telling a kid there's no santa y'know... but hey, that's suspension of disbelief! |:3=
share[deleted]