Change Your Image
tranquil17
Reviews
Stevie (2002)
An excellent sociological portrait chronicalling the cycle of victimization
As you watch this film, it seems important to remember throughout that the director Steve James did not know what to expect when he came back to see Stevie 10 years later. There is a temptation at times to think that the filmmaker is exploiting his subject by putting this story to film. But then you remember that he came back as an accomplished filmmaker and out of a genuine curiosity about and care for this boy he had known from their relationship in the Big Brother/Little Brother program. He is not sure what he will find, but it seems that he hopes to discover something optimistic that was never really there. So once things go bad for the film's subject, should the filmmaker abandon the project so as not to exploit his subject's troubles? The director struggles with this question but ultimately decides that leaving Stevie would be worse than sticking around. By staying, he helps not only himself but all of us to understand the tragic life course of one man who, in the process of being victimized himself, turned to victimizing others.
This film is a unique documentary about a man in a legal crisis--unique in that the filmmaker, although sympathetic to his subject, also believes him to be guilty. This is not a film about trying to prove an accused man innocent but rather one that attempts to explain (but not excuse) why he might have done these things. His fractured family, his scattered upbringing, his history of abuse, his subsequent alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness, his lack of adequate treatment for these problems--all of these factors contribute to his worsening behavior. The filmmaker, others around him, and the viewers all wonder if something more could have been done to help Stevie before things went so wrong for him. Stevie's foster mom offers that perhaps she could have done something more if she weren't so human. Unfortunately, this is the kind of attention he needed and that nobody could have possibly given to him.
Vakvagany (2002)
An outstanding, unconventional, accessible documentary film
This is a film that deserves much more attention then it will probably ever receive. "Vakvagany" is at different times disturbing, thought-provoking, and hilarious. It is a documentary done by a relatively unknown director, and yet it is not only as good as any documentary film you will ever see, but to its great credit, it is also probably as accessible to a mainstream audience as a film like this could be. Hopefully the inclusion in the film of the renowned author and personality James Ellroy (at his wry best) will create an audience for the film; it has a timelessness about it that should allow it to sustain its relevance and impact over time.
Three different perspectives about a series of remarkable old "home movies" that were discovered in a decrepit apartment in Hungary are provided by a filmmaker, a psychologist, and an author. Their vastly contrasting input provides the perfect framework for the astonishing footage that is the foundation of this film. The decision by the director Benjamin Meade to splice the comments of a panel of interviewees with disparate perspectives about a central subject reminded me of Errol Morris's great film "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control."