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New Errol Morris short for ESPN called Team Spirt. Kind of like Gates of Heaven for sports fans.

Errol Morris discusses the Zapruder Film with Ron Rosenbaum.

There should really be a general Errol Morris thread, where one can air all the more there is to say about him that doesn't have anything to do with Tabloid.

This, by Morris, is one of The finest and most compelling interviews on the face of the planet. Treat yourself to an hour of utterly compelling human drama, and watch that incredible real life horror story unfold from one of the most humble and dignified gentlemen you'll ever have the pleasure to watch.

ONE HELL OF A TALE, indeed. I'm already into aviation, but I have literally watched that episode three or four times through after discovering it earlier this year.

Sadly, Denny Fitch, the interviewee, lost his battle with brain cancer last year, after surviving that horrible incident.

That was fantastic Schreck, thanks.

Isn't it just one of the most involving things on the face of the earth? Each time I finish watching it I want to go to Denny Fitch's grave and leave flowers and salute his memory, I just find him an enormously moving man.

The way that the piece is put together is hugely satisfying. Nothing irks me more than overblown cinematic stylization for its own sake-- I've ranted enough about for example BECOMING JOHN FORD as a perfect representation of this stylistic desease in action.

Here however is an hourlong interview that uses some interesting cinematic effects . . . very tight cinematography almost viz Dreyer's JOAN, photography that references itself by projecting onto a table below the subject the image of the subject filmed, jarring cuts from camera to camera mid-sentence, tinting and esoteric editing . . .

. . and yet it all works, all works beautifully. It's a wonderfully executed piece of television, with all of these effects in complete harmony with the tale; they serve to bring out the drama and help define the nature of the pathos in the piece, so that as Fitch is narrating his tale, you're living in his miind's eye during its recall of the event.

I can't praise it enough.

During the first part, I was anticipating a narrator's arrival, explaining to us more than obvious points, like on Air Crash Investigation. Was glad it never came, and it was instead just Fitch telling the whole tale. I've already shared the link with friends and family members and have had enthusiastic responses. I spotted the IFC logo at the end; if this episode is anything to go by, I would love to see Criterion put these out, perhaps the best ones as supplements on other Morris releases.

I get that it's compelling subject matter and that Morris does it justice, but is it really that superior technically or aesthetically to any other episode of First Person? Or to the more recent shorts he's produced for the NYT? This whole digression would probably be better on the Errol Morris director page.

Now about this actual release: It seems to me that the decision to split this title off from the other Morris films has mainly to do with the broader anticipated appeal of the science-y subject matter and the more general audiences acceptable approach to it, which will likely result in greater sales to schools, libraries and other institutional buyers for whom this is primarily a film about Stephen Hawking and popular cosmology directed by who was that again?

warren oates wrote:but is it really that superior technically or aesthetically to any other episode of First Person? Or to the more recent shorts he's produced for the NYT?

There's an undertone to your question that makes me want to say--

Who knows and who cares? But please do insure from now on Warren that you footnote every iota of praise you put down for a film with a statement that you have

1) viewed the entire directorial canon and are
a) praising whatever it is that you are praising not because that as a work of cinema it moved you unto itself, but that it
a.1) earned its praise from you sheerly because of your perception of it as posessing a uniquely superlative qualitative effect vis a vis the sum balance of the filmmaker's canon. Very good but not the best will no longer be discussed on the forum.

And I guess I just did. I think that sort of prequalification of praise absurd, and frankly have no clue why the warm discussion of Morris over a couple of tiny posts (while waiting for someone who has seen the film to begin a discussion) seems to irritate you.

Perhaps the praise suggests that ALL of First Person is this good. Frankly I have no idea... I've only seen ONE HELL OF A TALE and a couple others, and did find the llinked episode the best, but that's all very personal.

Jeez, Schreck, sorry. I didn't mean to rile you up. And I suppose I was also reacting a bit Eddie Larkin's seemingly surprised mention of the lack of an omniscient narrator (a device which appears in exactly zero other Morris productions). And yeah, I kind of did mean to imply that perhaps not all but many of the other Morris shorts from First Person and elsewhere -- particularly "The Umbrella Man" and "One In A Million Trillion" -- are indeed that good, certainly as well put together technically, independent of the content of their narratives. This, er, warm (or is it heated now?) discussion of Morris shorts would still probably make more sense in the dedicated Errol Morris director thread the mods created a while ago to discuss exactly this kind of thing.

My surprise was not at the lack of a narrator in a Morris production, but a lack of a narrator in this style of storytelling.

I'm less riled up than amused that your conversational needs are so desperately in need of satisfaction that you literally stopped the conversation in its tracks. . . and found official support.

So... Understood.. You like Errol Morris FIRST PERSON in general.

(Flump)

Listening to Morris' sometimes sparse but always trenchant commentary on The Unknown Known Blu-ray, which alone makes it worth purchasing. The commentary track is Morris speaking explicitly about everything he implied in the filmmaking. So in a way it's like "The Unknown Known For Dummies" and/or the version of the film people who hate Rumsefeld beyond all reason and feel like Morris didn't "challenge" him enough wish they'd seen instead. Morris does get refreshingly ornery at times, talking back to the screen sarcastically, but it's generally more like a masterclass in how to effectively interview his subject, perhaps the supreme high priest of doublespeak and self-deception. The other extra on the disc that's indispensable is Morris' four-part essay series in the NYT that accompanied the release. But I'd recommend just reading it at the paper's own website.

Three Short Films About Peace at the New York Times.

Morris has a new book coming this month that would probably be of interest to fans interested in his philosophical interrogations of the nature of objective truth and the difficulties in wrapping our hands around it, much less communicating it to others.

Also, I continue to be stunned at the lack of attention paid to Wormwood around here - which I regard to be his masterpiece and is objectively a major advancement/transition in form and style - especially given its easy availability via Netflix.

I know I'm a rare case but I don't stream and I keep up with new movies via my physical Netflix disc queue, so I'm not even able to put Wormwood on my "to watch" list.

What's keeping you from at least streaming the stuff you can only access via streaming?

Part of not streaming is not paying for the streaming service. I mean, I know I could pay for it for just a month to catch up on all the exclusives, but I could also go outside and plant a tree.

swo17 wrote:Part of not streaming is not paying for the streaming service. I mean, I know I could pay for it for just a month to catch up on all the exclusives, but I could also go outside and plant a tree.

https://www.gardening-forums.com

Likewise I would probably never pay for a streaming service. I'd soon just switch to books full time.

Is that a question of money or principle ? (genuinely curious) These days if I had to decide between conventional TV and Netflix I’d always pick Netflix. Then again, I live in Germany and TV isn’t that great here.

Principle! I don't watch much TV these days either.

Interview with Indiewire in which Morris covers some of the distinctive techniques and stylistic changes he makes use of in Wormwood.

Just announced as playing Venice, Errol Morris’ latest documentary American Dharma is a feature conversation with Steve Bannon.