Doc should be thorn in the side of decision makers without credibility.
Imagine a famous painter being critically evaluated by someone who buys their artwork from the Home Shopping Network. Award-wining documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick does some deeper probing than imagined asking questions like how many times is one allowed to “hump†onscreen or whose interests are being protected when art is evaluated by an organization that comes across like a Sunday bridge club. Informative and enraging as much as it is goofy and juvenile in its delivery, This Film is Not Rated Yet should be of interest to true film buffs and aspiring filmmakers who might not know the meat grinder that awaits them.
U.V rays are dangerous for you. The internet is more addictive than nicotine. Videogames make young children into couch potatoes. Yet the truthful depiction of two people in love is harmful to young viewers. Citing recent examples of NC-17 rated material and stocked with testimonials of filmmakers who were victim to this act of sabotage, Dick sets out on a one man misadventure making a doc about Jack Valente’s Classification and Ratings Administration and the entire process of having a film’s voice and sometimes destiny slaughtered by a rating board populated people who haven’t the fondest clue. Dick rightly disputes an organization that has way too much power of veto, acting with guidelines that don’t consider artistic reality or for that matter, just basic common sense.
What’s inhabitable about this filmmaker’s practices is not only does he put this film through the process of being evaluated for the board, but he plays detective staking out the people who make a living by saying “cut this scene out and you’ll get your ratingâ€. With hilarious animated bits that make fun of the appalling situation, this Sundance pick tries desperately to get answers but is left with even more questions.
Democracy and freedom of speech seem like the topic du jour in America and it comes as no surprise that art still gets the daily shaft from zealous good family value Americans. While major studios will keeps within several arms length away from This Film is Not Rated Yet, at least the filmmaker can console himself by not needing to change his last name to Richard.
Sundance 2006. Jan 26th
