Monday was a day off, which was nice. Of course there’s not really such a thing as a day off. Today we were back at the pig farm. I think this is where Deliverance originated. Deep in their property I stumbled on bones (hopefully animal) spread all over the place. And I think there was a mummified dog in their barn…but they were really hospitable!
We’re returning to the police station one last time tomorrow. We’ve already smashed a hole in the wall and made it smell like pigs after we brought some in, so I’m kind of worried to see what will top these.
The film feels so much like one of the above movies that I forgot these were real people, my age, that had a history before the film and a life after.
This main shock came when I looked at their Facebook fan pages and they had the usual ‘my life in an album’ pictures. This is just a testament to how well the film was made.
Hopefully this will be one of those few docs that will break its way into the mainstream and hold its own against the Hollywood blockbusters.
I really wondered how Nanette Burstein, the director, got such candid shots and access to these teen’s lives, so the Q&A was quite enlightening.
There were lots of pre-interviews and location scouting to find high schools that would cooperate. In the end 10 high schools agreed. They did a casting call to pick who they would follow.
They started following quite a few students, but once the school year and stories unfolded, Nanette was able to focus on who she would feature.
In the beginning the students were still getting used to having a camera follow them, so none of the footage was usable.
Eventually they got used to the camera, and a second camera crew was around all the time, allowing for some nice cutting. Nanette had a small camera on her just in case.
Some of the most intimate moments caught (like filming the girlfriend of one of the main characters cheating on him during a late night swim) were a matter of coincidence and being at the right place. There were a lot of times when the students didn’t want her filming, but what they thought was private didn’t really interest Nanette.
I did stumble across this photo, which looks like they had some serious toys for B-roll (and a serious budget).
I strongly encourage you to watch this any way possible. It’s on a limited theater run, and if it’s not playing near you, since A&E produced it they’ll be screening it.
And of course there’s Netflix. The only thing there isn’t is an excuse, so check it out.
It’s a film about body building, Hulk Hogan, steroids, Sylvester Stallone, and the male image in America. Yes, men have image problems too, Jean Kilbourne. The steroids part was what got me into the the theater, after experiencing the magic1 of Prednisone firsthand thanks to Crohn’s.
While body building isn’t my first topic of interest (I took Physical Education online), I really enjoyed the doc and it was one of my festival favorites. One of the main drives was how personal it was. In Michael Moore style, the filmmaker took us through the film as narrator, while making it extremely personal - the main subjects were himself and his brothers, all wanting to be like Arnold, Hulk, and Sly and doing whatever it takes to get there, even taking steroids like their idols.
I’ve had different thoughts about an on camera narrator, sometimes wondering if that’s necessary for a film to be successful (think all of Michael Moore’s films, Super Size Me, etc.). It worked for the most part, probably because the film was so personal, but there were a few interviews that had the odd cut to of director Christopher Bell nodding in agreement, like a Daily Show interview.
But that’s just a minor detail for a film that raises a lot of good questions. Is it wrong if everyone is doing it? Why is there such a fuss over drugs that are not as harmful as they are made out to be? Congress spent 10 days debating steroids in baseball, more time than any other issue, like the environment or Iraq.
They interviewed Rep. Thomas Davis Henry Waxman, the Congressman that was heading the baseball investigation. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect scene to illustrate how clueless our lawmakers our. This guy had no idea about the issues he was preaching against, or even a brain at all. “We restrict people from drinking before they’re 18, right? No, 21? Is it 21?” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get his level of intelligence)
In an action that seemed like it was taken from Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week, my favorite scene was the Do-It-Yourself muscle building pill business. You’d like to think it’s a highly regulated and legit industry. You can remain in the Walgreen’s town of Perfect, because reality is cheap, easy, and legit.
Buy empty capsules and a few ingredients available online. Grab a few illegal immigrants to put ingredients into capsules. Snap a few picks, the first bloating yourself out as much as possible, the second sucking it in and enhancing the ‘results’ with Photoshop (like adding a six pack). Print up some labels for packaging, buy a few ads in muscle magazines, and wait for the phone calls. FDA approval? Yeah, right. It works, just look at the pictures!
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Following four high school seniors, 
