Nauseau Cam

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Indiewire is reporting that Zeitgeist has picked up Trouble the Water, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's doc about the Katrina disaster. It's a sad and honest film, but the viewing experience is all when it comes to shaky-cam docs. I called it "the King Kong of hand-held nausea jiggle movies" after seeing it at last January's Sundance Film Festival. The Zeitgeist people are dreaming if they think people are going to rush out to see this.

(l. to r.) Trouble the Water executive producer Joslyn Barnes, co-directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, exec producer Danny Glover.

As I wrote last January, "Half of it was shot by Lessin and Deal in the usual fashion and is no big challenge, but the other half is shakycam footage of Katrina's devastation shot by one of the film's main subjects, Kimberly Rivers. (The other is her husband Scott.) The footage is so scattered and whip-panny that I was starting to think about bolting less than ten minutes in."

I'll feel better about this whole matter if Rivers agrees to take an ad in Variety pledging that she'll never shoot any more video footage of anything ever again, will never go to film school to try and learn how to shoot, will stay away from the visual art world for the rest of her days, etc. If she does this, it'll start to undo some of the damage.

All I know is that as I watched Trouble the Water at the Park City Library, I was saying to myself, "Whatever it is that good amateur video photographers have, this woman has absolutely none of....the gene that tells you how to hold the camera and how to shoot in a way that's pleasing or at least non-jarring to the eye has bypassed her entirely. Lemme outta here!"

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 10, 2008 at 12:09 PM

comment #1

Monument says ...

Referencing old spirituals and/or blues songs in the titles of documentaries about America is beyond played out. How many Satchmo cuts are in this thing? I predict more than one.

And since I'm complaining, Van Dyke facial hair needs to go too. Grow a real beard or rock a perfect mustache like Mr. Glover; or fuck it all and just be proud of your face and go clean shaven.

Posted by Monument at June 10, 2008 12:47 PM

comment #2

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Monument: I 'm not one to talk, but you're being too picky with the Van Dyke thing. (Or are you making fun of me?) I don't know if Carl Deal is from New Orleans or Louisiana, but I think there's something in the Bayou culture that winks at big bushy Van Dykes. Didn't Doctor John ("I was in the right place...") wear a pretty big one?

Posted by gruver1 at June 10, 2008 12:54 PM

comment #3

62Lincoln says ...

No Wells, he isn't being too picky about Van Dykes. After spending a week in Branson, Missouri so that my children could visit their maternal great grandmother, I can tell you unequivocally that every single overweight yahoo was sporting a Van Dyke. And, if every single yahoo in Branson (be it a resident or Country Music shrine visiting tourist) is sporting a Van Dyke, then the trend is absolutely, most assuredly DONE!

Posted by 62Lincoln at June 10, 2008 1:10 PM

comment #4

Monument says ...

No, I'm not making fun of you Jeff, I'm just over that beardstyle. To Mr. Deal's credit, he has let it grow out a bit and left it gray, which does mitigate things a bit.

As for Dr. John, I'm of the opinion that he can do what he wants, whenever he wants. After releasing one of the greatest, weirdest debut albums of all time (Gris Gris) and possessing the coolest voice in the universe, he can do no wrong in my book. I'd seriously consider moving to New Orleans if it meant I could develop a patois half as cool as his.

Posted by Monument at June 10, 2008 1:27 PM

comment #5

lbeale says ...

Can we get back to the main point? That being after Spike Lee's masterful doc, "When the Levees Broke," anyone who takes on this subject is either a total fool or the greatest documentary filmmaker in the history of the planet - and you can bet it will be the former.

Posted by lbeale at June 10, 2008 1:28 PM

comment #6