Truth or Consequences (2020) User Reviews

Mocumentary or horrid proportions... skip this one!

[davidjdoyle-140-892335 · 17 November 2020]

This is a work of fiction written and filmed in the form of a documentary but it fails as both.

I took the bullet... heed my warning. Save your time and skip this one.

A Story Of A Fictional Tale That Had No Content And, With An Ending That Never Happened!

[silicontourist · 1/10 · 15 February 2022]

Of the hundreds/thousands of documentaries - and the 38 I have seen in 2022 so far - this has the most dismal, lackluster, bland and annoying opening I have ever seen. It was so droll and miserable that minutes into it, you just wanted to turn it off! I unfortunately sat all the way through it (as I always do in order to reach a final conclusion about the subject viewed) and, it took a lot of willpower, effort to stay awake and the constant thought going round and round in my head...WHY?

The supposed fictional story, told as a documentary, of a historical event that never took place, actually never did for the viewer! The people in this were talking about things totally unrelated to what it was supposed to be about (I truly hate arty productions that are of a sense known only to the creator; be it film, theatre, art etc). It was a film way too long, at 1:49 minutes plus, that said nothing, told nothing and ended having delivered nothing that the viewer could connect the dots with.

The only things that I discerned from this tragedy was... a) New Mexico, though barren and aridly boiling hot, is a breathtaking landscape of treacherous beauty... b) The city of the title came across as a dismal depressing place to live where hardly anybody in the film smiled/laughed... c) gave you an unpleasant constant thought, as you viewed certain sections of it, that suicide may be a common event in this miserable Town/City!

The CONSEQUENCES of watching this will be total boredom, and that is the absolute TRUTH of the story without a tale!

This Film is a Gem

[patrickmoberg · 10/10 · 23 November 2020]

Truth or Consequences presents challenging questions about the future of our planet, the value of progress, and the importance of community, to name a few. The craft on display in this film, mixing archival footage and volumetric filmmaking, created a breathtaking experience. I love this film!

Interesting premise - but doesn't work out in the end

[flashlightreview · 2/10 · 21 November 2020]

I work in innovations and build the future of the world we live in. A documentary about our future should, in theory, work out then. Unfortunately it does not:

• New Mexico as a setting is ideal, but fails to rescue this plot
• would have needed different kind of editing

Not a good one. "I was there when it happened" - but why?

Please save yourself the time and watch something else.

A doc that pushes the form

[go-26492 · 10/10 · 23 November 2020]

Truth or Consequences is an unflinching look into the lives of individuals who don't often get to be in front of the camera. It records stories with honesty and dignity. The film itself also take chances with form, weaving new, computational photography techniques with a classic, cinema verite backbone. You've never seen anything like this. The movie will challenge you and challenge docs in general. Recommended!

A good place to contemplate

[caitlinmae · 10/10 · 23 November 2020]

What a timetraveling, shapeshifting story... At once a love letter to an overlooked town and a conversation about what could be, what is and what was. I'm so excited people are making movies like this and getting at "the truth" from different angles. Yvonne is unforgettable.

Beautiful

[aerichards1979 · 10/10 · 17 December 2020]

Truth or Consequences is a small, dusty city in New Mexico with a very strange name and this documentary is ostensibly about it -- but that label might be a bit misleading, especially if it sets expectations of talking heads, confessionals or explanations of things. ToC is not remotely interested in explaining anything to anyone -- it's an elegy for a place in the process of vanishing or has vanished or never was. Rejecting many conventional hallmarks of documentary filmmaking (or just narrative filmmaking in general) in favor of open spaces and hushed silences, ToC is nonetheless anchored by an unwavering humanity toward its subjects -- and, I'd argue, its viewers. A lyrical exploration of things lost and remembered, ToC also manages to evoke New Mexico, one of our greatest and most elusive states, more than all the maps, photos and "realism" in the world. Provided you don't go in expecting a travelogue, ToC will haunt you long after you're gone.

Captures something special

[nm11793 · 10/10 · 1 December 2020]

A time after the past that never was and before the future that may never come to be. This film is a sensitive portrait of that strange place that is the present moment, where we all live even though we dream of other times and spaces. A difficult thing to capture in a documentary, but very well done in this film.

A worthwhile watch with a beautiful soundtrack!

[leylanuritova · 10/10 · 8 December 2020]

Truth or Consequences is a documentary unbounded by any presupposed forms; a captivating portrait of a place and its inhabitants caught in an elusive promise of the future that may never come. Jayanti's approach is truly authentic. An experiment of film as a time-scape, where the arrival of the future is a decaying memory, and memories of things long lost are the present tenderly excavated.

See this Film

[overhere-68050 · 10/10 · 22 December 2020]

I don't normally write reviews of films, but in the case of Hannah Jayanti's Truth or Consequences, I have to. Don't walk, run and see this spellbinding fever dream of a documentary. Set in the Truth Or Consequences, the film weaves a remarkable cast of the towns inhabitance to a hypnotic soundtrack by Bill Frizell. TOC is wonderfully shot by Jayanti, whose ever present eye, allows us a view into the lives and across the landscape, giving us vantage points through magnificent compositions.

The geography is exploded through a series of volumetric 3D captures that amplify the landscape and through the screen. These vignettes are subtle and effective.

This film is a blue print to an emerging wave of cinematic experiences that blend of reportage and science fiction. Truth or Consequences is the beginning of a that journey.

be taken to another world

[laurenleemccarthy · 10/10 · 22 December 2020]

To watch this film is to be taken to another world. It is Truth or Consequences in the future, or maybe the past, or maybe just a dimension where there is space to appreciate individual lives, time to listen without agenda, and a desire to find each other where we're at. This film, like the portraits it paints of ToRC residents, exudes wonder, passion, integrity, and an unapologetic dedication to living life on one's own terms.

Weird and wonderful...

[metzler-2 · 10/10 · 28 December 2020]

When I think of independent film, I adoringly think of films like "Truth or Consequences". That is, they are films that try to do something different, are uncompromising (ideally in a good way), and express a unique, personal vision. This film has all of that in spades and is also both an intriguing piece of art and an interesting film to watch and experience.

If you're looking for a standard PBS doc this might not be the film for you, but if you like stories of different sorts of people, odd places and philosophical questions then you're in luck here. It's a wonderful, timeless film that is waiting to be discovered.

Breathtaking portrait of a town out of time

[k-33999 · 10/10 · 30 December 2020]

This intimate and poetic portrait of New Mexico took me on a journey to a place I'd never been before. It is an encounter with the people left behind by the stratospheric ambitions of late capitalism, in a small town called Truth or Consequences. It isn't simply a place jilted by modernity, it feels almost outside of time.

Interviews with the inhabitants of this desolate place are deftly interwoven with ethereal studies of their environment. The characters are given the space to be candid about the unspeakably hard lives they have led, and through an empathetic lens, we develop a composite understanding of their experience and of their bleak surroundings. The depiction of the built and natural landscape is breathtaking. While highlighting both mythologized and forsaken places, the film's methodology seems archaeological, (re)constructing a rich, layered perspective from fragments excavated in the field, and offering a multitude of pathways for interpretation and meaning.

The integration of sophisticated digital reconstructions flows seamlessly into the narrative fabric, offering an alternative gaze which is both forensic and poetic. There has never been a more human and sensual use of these techniques, which so often feel self indulgent and add little to the film. Here, there seems to be a desire to explore the gaps in our understanding of a place, the holes in the virtual reconstruction echo the lapses in the inhabitants' recollections and stories.

The finely tuned score leads the audience through a masterfully edited narrative, it's own glitches and asperities further enrich the immersive environment this film creates. Both deeply moving and exquisitely shot, this is one of the best films I've seen in a very long time.

This is something I never though I'd see

[hcab-26956 · 10/10 · 11 October 2021]

Just by the fact that it's a speculative documentary should mean mandatory watch.

The idea and the execution are so different but remain interesting as it feels new and captivating while watching.

A true recommendation for anyone interested, not only in documentaries but great ideas overall.

You want to stay with the people

[cunhads · 10/10 · 24 September 2021]

A beautiful portrait of lives that persist in search of their achievements, with all the difficulty that this journey requires. A gentle listening record.

Truth or Consequences, the town, seems like one of those small country towns where things change little and time goes by without feeling. By putting the extraordinary story of ordinary people so cleverly against the ordinary story of a megalomaniac enterprise, Truth or Consequences, the film, makes us see the glow of human life.

An inventive documentary format with very mature directing and editing. I recommend it to anyone who wants an experience that will resonate for a long time to come.