MovieChat Forums > Forgotten Silver (1997) Discussion > A real masterpiece

A real masterpiece

posted 20 years ago by Heinsbergen
4 replies | jump to latest

Don't know why nobody has posted here already. This films seems very discussable (is there such a word in English?).

For me this 53-minute short (everything under 70 minutes is a short) mockumentary is a masterpiece, the work of two real geniuses - Peter Jackson and Costa Botes. Of course the latter is not that well known but if you saw "Bad Taste", he was the alien which was chopped in two halfs by Derek and his car. Anyway, "Forgotten Silver" is a highly underrated gem and it should be seen by lots more people. It's full of funny little details and "historic" events. Personally I loved the idea of the early version of Rodney King.

Jackson and Botes did an amazing job in doing the old film footage. Overall "Forgotten Silver" is technically brilliant.

But like Jackson and Botes already said, if you look carefully at the movie you'll notice that it can't be true. I mean, there's just two much of it. McKenzie invented cameras, color films, projectors, he made the first sound movies, he made the first full length-feature, he made the first biblical epic. He filmed the first flight before the Wright Brothers got in the air. See what I mean? Would this all really be lost in the course of the time? All this revolutionary stuff? No way.

Enough said, this movie is overall brilliant as this what it is. It's brilliantly made, great acted and simply great.

By the way: Stan The Man rules! :-)

"That cab has a dent in it."

www.peterjackson.de.vu

[–] jbm27 19 years ago

But is it honstely on the level of any of the Christopher Guest Mockumentaries?

[–] Unicorn-9 18 years ago

"But is it honstely on the level of any of the Christopher Guest Mockumentaries?"

Yes, but different... for one thing, it's far more believable, if you don't think about it too hard.

[–] Quasarsphere 18 years ago

Stan the Man was played by Peter Corrigan, who was headmaster at St Benedict's school in Wellington while I was there from 1981 - 1984.

[–] moivel 17 years ago

Not to mention how McKenzie gets money from US mafiosos to shoot a film in the NZ jungle. Or the whole bit about building a giant city in the jungle. :)

But I like how he initially builds things up slowly, offering at least semi-valid explanations why noone heard of him and finally going totally over the top (around where they go off to find the city in the jungle all Indiana Jones-like). It's a master-piece and if you want to believe in it, like I did the first time I saw it as a sunday-matiné while munching toast, you will. :)

Also, you are quite right. Wether you belive it or not, this mockumentary truly is excellent.