... is not a phrase I use lightly. It was coined, as far as I can tell, by my friend Mike (the smartest human I've ever known). But I'm using it now to describe a true story you must view: "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father"
Staggering.
Amazing.
Shattering.
Sobering.
Wonderful.
Horrible.
Uplifting.
Shocking.
Quite frankly, I haven't cried like this since my grandmother died. This is a moving, terrible, wonderful event.
This is why film was invented. Truly, if 'art' is defined as one human trying to express an emotion or a moment or an experience to another human being then this is one of the finest examples of art I've ever seen.
It should be required viewing (especially for anybody interested in movies and movie making). Trust me.
If you can't find it at your local rental, ask them to get it in. If they don't/can't, let me know and I'll bootleg you a VHS.
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4 comments:
while i appreciate your quaint and anachronistic offer to "bootleg a vhs" i had this downloaded before i was done watching the trailer.
i have to say, i am glad i didn't google this before watching it. i.... did not see that coming. fucking. devastating.
I didn't think I'd need to make you a copy, living in the future with all your toys as you do.
But as for the film, see what I mean? I mean did I undersell it? I watch a lot (A LOT) of movies, and it's been a very long time since I've seen something as incredible as this....
i don't know, i think it takes a very specific type of person to be interested in this. i don't know if undersell is the right word, the people who are going to want to take this journey and get value from the experience will agree with your assessment, but the people who aren't psychologically ready to handle this shit will fucking hate it. not everyone likes having their soul crushed for sport.
i definitely am not surprised by the depths of human depravity or the abject failure of the systems we create to rule over us, so i watched it paying a lot of attention to how impeccably it was made. you're dead on about the editing; this guy put a lot of thought into how the information in the movie is presented, and to (i sound like a broken record here) devastating effect. i don't want to get into spoilers here, but when they kept showing the baby playing in the pool - the picture of his mom in the pool with his face under the water, so innocent and innocuous - after "the reveal" i was bubbling like a bitch.
we pretend we're hardcore, but we're not. it's an affectation we assume because it works like armor against the tiny deaths you experience every second you're alive. the fact is we are actually more sensitive, more impacted, more destroyed by the big truths, the insurmountable despair that being conscious inflicts on you. watching all these people in this movie suffer, watching them lose it, watching dad tear up time and again, it's like the veil gets lifted for a second.
the central tragedy of human existence is that the double-helix mandates our capacity to endure suffering be surpassed only by our will to survive.
You are a poet, sir. Once again you've stated my thoughts/feelings better than I could.
(You bastard)
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