It’s unfortunate when a filmmaker sets out to pay tribute to a cinematic classic yet somehow manages to mangle the effort, but, regrettably, that’s precisely what happened in writer-director Nancy Buirski’s attempted homage to John Schlesinger’s “Midnight Cowboy” (1969), the only X-rated release ever to win the Oscar for best picture. The scattered narrative of this poorly constructed documentary seems to focus on virtually everything except the film itself, drawing upon an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to explaining what influenced this screen epic rather than what went into the making of the picture itself. While it’s certainly enlightening and helpful to provide viewers with sufficient back story about the timing of a movie’s production and the filmmaking influences that helped shape it, these practices nevertheless become a burdensome distraction when they dominate the documentary’s content and overshadow what made its supposed subject matter so noteworthy in the first place. As a consequence, the flow of this offering is about as unwieldy as its title, jumping around from ancillary subject to ancillary subject and often providing only the most tangential connections to its alleged core material. Granted, there are a few moderately interesting anecdotes here and there, as well as a few insightful references to how “Midnight Cowboy” went on to influence a number of subsequent film productions. But even the contemporary and archive interviews with director John Schlesinger, screenwriters Waldo Salt and James Leo Herlihy, and cast members Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Brenda Vaccaro, Jennifer Salt and Bob Balaban shed little meaningful new light on this highly regarded offering. Perhaps the biggest problem here is that the underlying story of this documentary turned out to be inherently thinner than the filmmaker thought it was and that she chose to pad the material to artificially extend its length (although coming up with an entirely different narrative or editing the current one down to a film short would have made better options). It’s too bad this one fared as it has, as it’s a release that I truly looked forward to screening. It’s indeed one thing to establish a story in the context of its times and influences and to do it correctly (as was very much the case, for example, with the David Bowie documentary “Moonage Daydream” (2022)), but this offering, sadly, is a prime example of how not to do it. “Midnight Cowboy” certainly deserved better than this, and one’s time would definitely be better spent watching the original than this failed attempt at honoring it.
Nearly half a century ago, Carmen Ignarra arrived to Mexico after leaving behind her Cuban homeland, in the hopes of becoming the greatest Caribbean actress in Hollywood. But the American dream tur- ned out to be more difficult than she’d thought, and her brief initial success was followed by a slow, painful decline. Today, at 80, the woman who was once Cuba’s most beautiful actress lives totally forgotten in an old mansion in Monterrey. There she survives thanks to her tenants—strange men who she is constantly blaming for mysterious thefts and disappearances. Laura, a young woman also from the Caribbean, arrives at the mansion to work as an assistant in cleaning and housekeeping. With her she brings a video camera and the secret intention of making a documentary about the diva. Together they talk about the past, about wasted talent and lost loves.
Movie Star Rating : 6.9 Read More
A retrospective look at the brilliance of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Dial M for Murder.'
Movie Star Rating : 6.6 Read More
This documentary is not a straightforward portrait of Armenian film director Sergei Paradjanov's life, but rather a fluid celebration of his talent and creativity. Focusing on the collages he produced during his years in prison, and featuring interviews with the director himself, Cazals' film demonstrates the scope of Paradjanov's artistic vision, lovingly commemorating this rebel of art cinema.
Movie Star Rating : 0 Read More
A feature-length documentary on the life and work of Wisconsin grindhouse cinema auteur Bill Rebane, featuring historians, critics, and filmmakers, plus cast and crew members who worked with Rebane himself.
Movie Star Rating : 5.5 Read More
A documentary showcasing a family as they pack up their home of twelve years and begin looking towards the future.
Movie Star Rating : 10 Read More
A documentary about the career of legendary production designer Joe Alves and his four decades in Hollywood.
Movie Star Rating : 0 Read More
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