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+1 Adam Curtis. Even his old works are interesting, even if they seem dated politically.
by marcf 15y ago
+1 Adam Curtis. Even his old works are interesting, even if they seem dated politically.
- wahnfrieden 15y agoAfter watching some short pieces of his, he came off much too much like a British and slightly cleverer version of Michael Moore -- entertaining to watch, the editing is great, but the documentarian techniques are wholly deceptive. He'll link unrelated things with a sleight of hand, then sneak in several ideas during the shock that follows. Do I have the wrong impression?
- gruseom 15y agoBased on one thing I saw, I think you may be right. One of Curtis' documentaries linked the Scottish (anti-)psychiatrist R.D. Laing to the cold war game theorists of RAND as if they were collaborators in social control. You don't have to know much about Laing to know this is spurious. It's a pity, because I've learned things from watching Curtis. The Bernays-Freud material at the start of Century of the Self is riveting.
- wahnfrieden 15y agoAh, that's too bad. The editing and sound and done so well, he really knows how to make an engaging docu. One of his latest ones, "It Felt Like a Kiss" is a new direction for him and pretty interesting from what I saw of it. It's almost mocking his own style in some ways -- it uses the techniques of typical TV news media to show a series of absurd and shocking material, with the context switching rapidly enough that there's no chance to reflect on what you've just seen. I suppose it's a meta-criticism of the TV news medium, mimicking it in an extreme way to show how ridiculous and harmful it is. It's an exciting trip to watch, though the content is nonsense and it doesn't have a whole lot to say -- it's more just a way to get you to reconsider the usual media you might consume.
- pauldelany 15y agoYou should check out his latest 'All watched over by machines of loving grace' -- probably his best yet.
- wahnfrieden 15y agoThanks. Can you tell me if my impression of his older stuff ("Felt Like a Kiss" aside) still applies to to this one though? Or has he changed his approach now?
- marcf 15y agoI guess it depends on why you consider Michael Moore to be a bad film maker. Quite a few of Michael Moore's critics dislike his films because of his political positions, not because of his film making techniques. If you believe his political positions have no merit, one will disagree with the presentation of them. Adam Curtis does have political opinions about society. If opinionated films bother you, and particularly ones that lean left or are not decidedly right leaning, it may be worth skipping Adam Curtis' work.
- JonnieCache 15y agoThis excellent adam curtis parody about sums it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1bX3F7uTrg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1bX3F7uTrg
- wahnfrieden 15y agoI'm fine with opinionated filmmaking, and I even agree with much of Moore's messages, but at more moments than I'm comfortable with I find Moore's filmmaking to be dishonest, insincere and deceptive. Very well edited and engaging though, so I wish I could like him.