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Reviews
Instant Dreams (2017)
Hypnotic Polaroids.
Where to start with this documentary? Can you even call this a documentary? If you're expecting talking heads about the ins- en outs of a once great company or typical story structure for that matter, you are in the wrong place. There is history in it and Edwin Land plays a big part in the overall story, but it's no History Channel affair. I would say it's about how humanity relates to analog Polaroid photography and what we have lost along the way.
The story focuses on Polaroid devotees in the age of digital. One uses these ethereal pictures to bond with his son, another uses it in her art and yet another is on a quest to recreate the secret chemical formula. Each of them has a special bond with analog. There is a girl in Tokyo, who I guess represents the way photography will evolve into the future. I was glued to my seat throughout, taking in the hypnotic scenery, going along for a ride that is best described as ' a dream within a dream'. I highly recommend it. If you enjoy off beat films or have an interest in photography. One of the most interesting things I have seen this year.
Leaving Neverland (2019)
Unsettling maybe not for the right reasons.
At times I felt like a creepy voyeur taking in the horrible events these boys suffered. But is it true? And if not who is the real monster here? The boys - grownups now with a checkered past - seem genuine but also have a lot to gain. Maybe not financially, but at least in gaining back respect in their field of work. One of them is a music director that failed after his nervous breakdown. Then there are the families of these men, that are dysfunctional at it's core. The filmmaker meanwhile doesn't bring any evidence into his documentary only sentiment a specialty considering his 'Terror' series of the past. It really left me conflicted, which is a good thing maybe but also worries me. Unsettling maybe not for the right reasons.