Saturday, October 27, 2007

shut up!

"Imagine you’re on trial, defending yourself, only to be judged by an anonymous group whose deliberations are held behind closed doors, whose unchallengeable standards are seemingly arbitrary."

sounds a lot like some of the messed up sh*t going on at and being reported on the wpa listserv, but actually, this is a review of Kirby Dick's This Film is Not Yet Rated, which attempts to describe the MPAA: "It’s not a system that would hold up in many courts of law, but it’s the way that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classifies movies in the US."

This documentary came to our theater at last year's Sundance Film Festival. Eddie Schmidt (a very likeable producer) was there, as he had been before with other films, such as the Academy Award nominated Twist of Faith (we like Eddie. and Kirby). I'm adding this info just to plug the film and because i've been ranging around the idea of censorship (ever since both CJ and i have received requests that we, um, shut up). but so the film is very entertaining and lighty informative (if you don't know anything about the MPAA, and I knew very little). it's a great film for class because it's just that informative and not over-the-top didactic.

2 comments:

bdegenaro said...

I found myself wanting 'This Film is Not Yet Rated' to be **more** didactic. But I agree, it certainly is entertaining and reveals some of the biases--esp. the anti-indie slant.

bonnie lenore kyburz said...

i think it almost went for a cartoonish parody . . . kept it "sweet" as a way of being seen/heard in a very difficult (and restrictive) industry. maybe?