IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Cathy; have given this discussion its own heading,

Enjoyed the film; I grew up with the Goons so surrealistic madness appeals and nothing deserves sending up more than "serious" film analysis. For me the best characters are the academics; you could build a film around those two. I am sure I have seen the spider film in a Festival? In the end the film is a tad too long and the gazebo/Benny Hill seems to be from another film.

Thanks

ned c

And to save people jumping around - here's a link to the film

https://youtu.be/1UjwyxF3ZB0

For me this film just missed the mark. There's a lot of work in there - for example the mocked up DVD covers & books which appear on screen barely long enough to be able to read - and I love that sort of thing: it usually makes me want to watch again to see what I missed. Stylistically, whilst I initially liked the joke of the film being very bitty, jumping around between different threads, suddenly introducing characters with no forewarning or apparent reason ina "modern, trendy" style, this eventually became rather tiring.
Unless I totally misssed the point, the Benny Hill bit rather devalued the film.
A lot of it is quite clever and I found many of the individual gags very funny, but for some reason I found the result somewhat less than the sum of its parts. I wonder whether its because it is not entirely clear what it is satirising (documentary makers, the film/TV industry, the IAC? I can't believe the title "A Life in Film" and the camper van are entirely coincidental).
Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable diversion and I wish more makers would attempt satire.