Postcards from the Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary (2003) User Reviews

a great look at the man and his cult!

[JCL_LDP · 8/10 · 24 March 2004]

after watching the whole DVD set twice now (and i will watch it and show it to other people many more times) i am left loving nearly all of this very entertaining and informative recap-u-mentary. the filmmakers should pat themselves on the back.

the set serves as a good starting point for those interested in author chuck palahniuk and his cult following, and is a great addition to any fan's collection. if you love palahniuk youre going to love this DVD set! the packaging is beautiful. the menu design is really clean and awesome. i wish i could somehow be living in NY when the filmmakers start work on "our lady of sorrow" and beg them to let me help out.

one thing held the doc down from perfection. i realize why they needed to put a "character" like dr. tropical into this documentary. he is a fan, and no docu can be made about a fanbase by only showing the people who make the subject look his best. that being said, this is a documentary on chuck, his fanS, and the edinboro university conference. way too much time was spent with one character and it wasnt the author. i would have preferred footage of chuck picking his nose, or more info on chuck's backstory. anything. really, anything else. but i lived through it and this is my sole complaint.

This will most likely be one of the best author documentaries ever made. how many authors even have documentaries? I was at both of the Edinboro conferences and the filmmakers did a very good job of recapturing what it was like to be there with the man and with his cult.

the greatest story ever told

[frankastle · 8/10 · 6 April 2004]

this film is, without a doubt, the best documentary about the edinboro palahniuk conferences ever made.

if you like chuck palahniuk but are unable to read due to the blindness then this is the movie for you.

i heard that three scenes were cut in order to appease the mpaa, one of which showed a baby's head being smashed by a cinderblock. hopefully the japanese release will have them.

i also heard if you turn the dvd volume off and sync the begining up with jethro tull's "thick as a brick" that the whole movie suddenly makes sense.

the film is brilliant. terribly, terribly brilliant.

**************** out of ********************

OK for the ultimate Chuck fan, but.......

[brando2323 · 13 February 2005]

My only problem with this documentary is that it spends way, way, way, (did I mention way?) too much time on his many super-lame and/or super-pseudo-intellectual fans. I consider myself a big fan, have all of his books, have all of them signed from the two times that I went to readings, have seen Fight Club a sick amount of times, and can't wait for Survivor, but still feel embarrassed watching this documentary (which I've only watched twice) because of all of the otherwise seemingly illiterate Chuck readers. The makers should have spent more time on actual footage of...hmmm...Chuck Palahniuk instead of his fans who seemed like Fight Club was the first book they ever picked up and probably couldn't spell his last name correctly if their lives depended on it. But, all of that said, the actual footage of Chuck is really good.

WOW !!! and Thanks !!

[olivier-58 · 10/10 · 2 May 2004]

I would like to thank you and the whole team that made "Postcards from the future". I just finished watching it...and if seeing and reading Fight Club, Choke,...changed something in my life, watching your doc did also change many things. I may not ne aware of what it did change exactly, not for the moment at least, but I have this strange feeling of feeling a lot better. I haven't go the chance to meet Chuck or to attend to a reading or conference, so this documentary was such a huge shock, what a great surprise !!

I was finishing some color-grading on some stupid commercial stuff I had to do to be able to eat, took a break and BAAAMMM...wow...I'm sitting there thinking staring at this white wall I always thought I should put a poster on. It made me feel so good to be able to listen to Chuck and to his fans, made me almost feel less lonely here. This doc is so well made that I never had the impression that Chuck and his fans were talking to you the documentarist but actually to me.

Thanks to the great team that made it possible, and of course, thanks to Chuck. I never thought that a DVD about an author could actually change something in me, but it did. Many many people should see it.

A Candid Look at Chuck Palahniuk

[DrJekyll8MrHyde · 3 March 2005]

This is a candid look at Chuck Palahniuk and his fans. Over the months that I've followed Chuck I've become more and more astounded at the relationship he has formed with his following.

This documentary doesn't only verify my beliefs; it also gives me renewed vigor to continue following Palahniuk's work throughout my lifetime.

It shows the ongoing benevolence of a man who has never shied away from giving back; whether in humor or wit, teaching, or mere enthusiasm for story telling.

This documentary shows how Chuck consistently inspires young and old artists, writers, and fans.

I credit the cult team for putting together such a detailed, professional, and entertaining documentary. I recommend it to anyone who wants to known more about the man, his work, his dedication, and his following.

One word: Great!

[bobdylanrules · 27 March 2005]

All right, so this is more than one word...

I was there for both Conferences, and I put off watching the Documentary for what amounts to two years since the last one, which is predominantly featured here. And everything, all the great times I had at both conferences came back all at once, and I remembered things that I had forgotten, and faces that made me smile all over again.

Dennis and crew hit all angles with these two-disks and to say that I am impressed is an understatement.

I did have one major gripe: Dr. Tropical. I could have done without him at the second conference for all that I had to deal with him personally, and I could have dealt without seeing him again in this much capacity. But if the object of this was to show an honest reflection of what happened over that stretch at EUP, well, this is how it really went down.

From somebody who was involved a lot in the background of the event, I can say that no one could have captured the essence of what power such an event(s) can hold as well as Dennis and his crew did.

This is highly recommended...best movie, documentary or not, that I have seen in a long, long time.