Errol Morris is My Own Personal God
Comments: 3 - Date: April 1st, 2007 - Categories: Errol Morris
Seriously, I think I might make a shrine to him in my dorm room.
I agree 110% with (oh I wish I knew which blogs belonged to whom) the post on the blog All I Could Say Was about Fast, Cheap & Out of Control. I just can’t wrap my brain around it… yet. Let me watch it about nine times or so before I really get to know what I’m talking about, but until then, we’ll all just have to deal with my incoherent ramblings about one of the best films I’ve ever seen.
Morris uses a number of interesting movie effects in this film: canted camera angles (nearly every other shot is canted), black and white juxtaposed with color, extreme close ups, slow motion, fast motion, and… oh-my-god, the score. To what effect? I don’t know. Did it affect me? Why yes it did, a whole lot. I felt that out of all the Morris films we’ve seen so far, this was the most cinematic, I guess you could say. This felt to me like more a “movie” than a “non-fiction feature film.” And I think I know why. Morris is making this film about all these people talking about life. We have the wild animal trainer, the topiary master, the naked mole rat expert, and the robot scientist. All of these men are creating, discussing, observing, philosophizing, and living life. But the lives that they talk about are all drastically different, and at some point in the film (due to the heavy overlaying of one theme on another, great sound bridges, some graphic matches, and even a few sight gags) the lines between these drastically different lives seem to merge into one. That line between those separate realities begin to blur. Just as our perception of reality is being blurred and manipulated by Morris. Suddenly, these men aren’t talking about naked mole rats, robots, lions, or topiaries… they are all talking about humans, and human existence. ::please allow for a slight pause while my brain explodes from the absolute brilliance that is Errol Morris::
There’s so much more to say about this film, but first I need to watch it about a million more times. Oh, I can’t wait for class tomorrow… Until then, go to Tyler’s blog for some ideas that will help to convert you to the new religion I’m starting which will revolve entirely around Errol Morris.
Pingback by . » Blog Archive » Cut and Wait: Tyler’s Paper - April 27, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
[...] I remember there was some controversy over my initial Fast Cheap post, where I wondered about the men as four models of God. Someone suggested that it was a new religion based on Morris, which wasn’t exactly what I meant. Then Mary Carolyn pointed out that my four models of God weren’t complete, which I understood. Morris is asking questions, probing- I think he has an open mind about the whole question of God. I’ve probably talked about this film with Serena the most. We watched it together initially, so she caught both my opening frenzy and has been willing to keep talking about it over the weeks. Serena continued probing the initial idea in an interesting way. She took the movie as a religious text, trying on the implications as Morris made them, finding her own personal interpretation through a Morro-religious lens. Serena ended up thinking that she’s a headless giraffe shrubbery. I guess that may be so. I’m pretty sure I’m a toothless tiger myself, bluffed into a cage I’m more than capable of escaping, or at least wrecking. Serena’s issues and my issues are represented in different parts of the film. Even more than the technical artistry of the film, it is this that makes it a masterpiece. Fast Cheap and Out of Control smashes into my soul every time I watch it (rather, both times I’ve watched it). But it doesn’t leave me alone, or empty- just open. [...]
Pingback by Errol Morris is My Own Personal God at ELS Autoblog - June 26, 2007 @ 9:29 am
[...] Original post by lscot7ow [...]
Pingback by Poetics by Praxis » Cut and Wait: Tyler’s Paper - September 11, 2007 @ 7:37 pm
[...] over my initial Fast Cheap post, where I wondered about the men as four models of God. Someone suggested that it was a new religion based on Morris, which wasn’t exactly what I meant. Then [...]
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