Now I look at the graphics / visuals in Errol Morris's films, it is very sharp and terrific looking (in the 80s words), visual metaphors, good composition, lighting, layout, hardcopies from poster, newspaper and moving images in a clean focused flow. It does look quite 80s but what style! He made over 1000 commercials, and we could see in all his shots an accomplished economy of stylish means - he does not blur his images with useless frills - a lot of new directors have borrowed or learnt from his style, for example "Les amours imaginaires" by Xavier Dolan- great use of all these big head monologues on love - and precise heart wringing use of pop music (absolutely perfect match here because the love thats experienced by the characters in the film is essentially pop culture induced, they lived the words of pop love aligned in the enamored heat of a generic love of passion and romance of love.) In Morris films its Philip Glass who did the original sound (Morris himself was a child prodigy cellist who had abandoned the career path, as an accomplished musician he also knew who and what he wanted) - now you have such great images and superb sound - its truly filmic art with solid feet on ground based on real life people. We see all these tv detective cop shows that has policemen/lawyers argue in court; this and that is impossible in the dark. The tv shows mime detective work, whereas Errol Morris was a real detective! He did it to make money to put bread on the table for 3 years. So he's good at asking questions and talking to people.
Good friend of Werner Herzog, also a strange bird, but Herzog is very poetic and elegant - and wild with the will power to walk on foot from Munich to Paris as a mystical pilgrimage for a friend. As a person, I like Herzogs style more than Morris. But as film maker, I like Morris's point blank way of telling stories.
I had a project in 2004, which I didn't carry out due to many other parallel things happening. The conception was to have people talk about themselves, reveal the essence of their vitality as a person. These would have been small clips of interviews of people.
I didn't know about Errol Morris' work then, now that I know, I wonder how I could further advance this project.
Herzog has a certain way of speaking thats very soft on the listener, very clear and soft. He lets/offers people steps up and down kindly.
Morris in his film Tabloid, I have not yet seen it, I only saw the presentation with the lady Joyce McKinney in the film heckling about how the tabloids destroyed her life. She is suing him. She probably suffered from the tabloid newspaper in an unprepared way, and Morris does look a bit like sleazy film maker cashing in on others misfortune. I thought she would strike him right then and there on stage. But, in her quick rapid fire words - on the sleaze papers accusation that she raped a man for 3 days non stop, she says "either you want to have sex or you don't, you can't put a marshmallow in a parking meter" - interesting image - she does not mince words or have queasy self censorship problems - I don't think she is someone who couldn't handle the heat thats generated. I would say, she enjoyed her fame, the good and the bad. Morris and McKinney makes an interesting pair of presenters and its good to have them on stage together. In the fuss, each got their share of fame. Not altogether negative for both. They deserve the attention both worked hard following their beliefs.
And McKinney had a clone dog with her on stage - a clone of her pet dog now in heaven - $50,000us (discounted price because of her fame which is good publicity because - all publicity is good publicity and there is no bad publicity in the showmanship area) she paid from a Korean clone pet animal service.
Can you really clone a pet? Then you could clone yourself! That is interesting. How could you be sure the dog you got was really a perfect clone, dogs looks more or the less the same to me... If I were cloned, I could certainly tell if the clone were a true copy of myself, but a dog? I see a dog as a distanced other, I can never tell whether its just a dog naturally born but look a like or a true clone.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/subject-of-errol-morris-documentary-tabloid-files-suit-against-filmmakers/
Just finish watching Tabloid.
Its not so interesting, somehow sleazy and mean in spirit - yes Tabloid in deed. In fact Morris is very much an ad man, a popular press type of film maker - artful well crafted ad man, which is quite different from Werner Herzog who does unusual spiritual challenges first for himself and not setting up challenging situations for others. Morris somehow doesn't seem to have much sympathy for Joyce. This makes this film very Tabloid, cheap in spirit. Not generous towards another human being. I think the pictures we saw of Joyce as a bondage sex service person is not so unusual, so these images are showing this, so what? She is a person, what right does he have in making this movie to augment the Tabloid aspect of the already real original Tabloid newspaper?
The film is no better than the original Tabloid papers. The five little clone dogs are so cute and a very good idea. I wonder if the new little dogs had memories of the original dog?
I think if the film doesn't reveal something that helps the person be in a better position then this film is done for no good reason. Yes, i do think a documentary film on a specific person, just like in real life, should make things better and not pile salt on wounds. What good does it do to anyone? Not even good for the director! Just sleazy and cheap and little depth from a human point of view. Unless Joyce wants attention via this film... then its another story. Then, its a collaboration for some other reason, maybe for the publicity of the clone dog company. I see benefit for the Korean clone dog service.
On the other hand, Joyce comes across as someone who is rich even when she was very young, Corvette and doing the chase with 13 suitcases... you have to have a lot of money - either inherited or work for it - to do this. She wanted to be rich and famous - with some romance too. So she got what wanted. As for the loneliness, with the repeated panning of her backyard that its empty, empty empty. She has clone dogs, which is also fine too. Lots of people have little dogs for company.
We all start out young doing what we wanted to do and we will get what we want - only details vary.
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