To open these brief thoughts on "Next Attraction" I would like to add that this is my first posted comment/review on IMDb. Foremost, I will not deeply analyze this movie since there really isn't anything to dive into except you consider security camera footage as a form of art.
A friend and I watched this at the Viennale Film Festival 2009. The director Raya Martin was also present at this screening. Previously I watched "Independencia" by Raya Martin which I found interesting, so I thought I knew what my movie-mate and I were getting into. Before the "film" started the audience got a brief intro by one of the Viennale staff members who praised the upcoming feature and its director for its genius. The movie, according to description, is a view on the process of film making, which sounds intriguing.
The result barely consists of painfully long shots of a film-crew working (sometimes working, usually doing nothing though) on a short. A digital camcorder was placed somewhere on set to record the "happening"... little editing... that's it. Shaky cam home-videos or PowerPoint presentations are more involving and creative than this. I don't have anything against long shots (I even enjoyed the 5 min. freeway scene in the original Solaris) but this was just bland and hollow. *SPOILER* (not really) Then the movie switches to the short film, kept in 16mm b/w, no audio (except the sound of raindrops on a tin can), roughly displaying a homosexual teenager experiencing his first sexuality. There is not much more to say on behalf this, whatever it is.
Throughout the screening people continually left the cinema I can understand why. Afterwards the audience was invited to ask some questions to the director. The remaining audience was so speechless that the Viennale presenter had to break the uncomfortable silence by asking Raya what gave him the idea of making this film. Raya Martin explained that "Next Attraction" was his coming-out movie which he primarily made for his parents.. I ask myself "What does this have to do with film making and why submit this to a film fest!?" Wouldn't it be easier showing Wong-Kar Wai's genius "Happy Together" instead of wasting precious 16mm film and the time of an international audience?
Someone in the audience then asked if this wasn't more of a documentary than a feature film. I got the impression that this question upset the Viennale presenter, who answered with counter-question. He asked what about this film was like a documentary. Only because someone else was portraying the director doesn't make this to a piece of fiction. After these illusions of grandeur my friend and I couldn't take it anymore.
I consider myself a passionate cinephile who wants to get into film-making myself. I enjoy watching everything from avant-garde cinema to zombie flicks. "Next Attraction" was a real eye-opener of how distorted lots of film-students view on the materia becomes. It ends with no love for movies but an arrogant approach of achieving something different, something you could call art or at least talk people into believing it is art. I only recommend this to self indulgent cinema viewers that believe they know more about the art than the usual "feeble minded" cinema viewer.
A friend and I watched this at the Viennale Film Festival 2009. The director Raya Martin was also present at this screening. Previously I watched "Independencia" by Raya Martin which I found interesting, so I thought I knew what my movie-mate and I were getting into. Before the "film" started the audience got a brief intro by one of the Viennale staff members who praised the upcoming feature and its director for its genius. The movie, according to description, is a view on the process of film making, which sounds intriguing.
The result barely consists of painfully long shots of a film-crew working (sometimes working, usually doing nothing though) on a short. A digital camcorder was placed somewhere on set to record the "happening"... little editing... that's it. Shaky cam home-videos or PowerPoint presentations are more involving and creative than this. I don't have anything against long shots (I even enjoyed the 5 min. freeway scene in the original Solaris) but this was just bland and hollow. *SPOILER* (not really) Then the movie switches to the short film, kept in 16mm b/w, no audio (except the sound of raindrops on a tin can), roughly displaying a homosexual teenager experiencing his first sexuality. There is not much more to say on behalf this, whatever it is.
Throughout the screening people continually left the cinema I can understand why. Afterwards the audience was invited to ask some questions to the director. The remaining audience was so speechless that the Viennale presenter had to break the uncomfortable silence by asking Raya what gave him the idea of making this film. Raya Martin explained that "Next Attraction" was his coming-out movie which he primarily made for his parents.. I ask myself "What does this have to do with film making and why submit this to a film fest!?" Wouldn't it be easier showing Wong-Kar Wai's genius "Happy Together" instead of wasting precious 16mm film and the time of an international audience?
Someone in the audience then asked if this wasn't more of a documentary than a feature film. I got the impression that this question upset the Viennale presenter, who answered with counter-question. He asked what about this film was like a documentary. Only because someone else was portraying the director doesn't make this to a piece of fiction. After these illusions of grandeur my friend and I couldn't take it anymore.
I consider myself a passionate cinephile who wants to get into film-making myself. I enjoy watching everything from avant-garde cinema to zombie flicks. "Next Attraction" was a real eye-opener of how distorted lots of film-students view on the materia becomes. It ends with no love for movies but an arrogant approach of achieving something different, something you could call art or at least talk people into believing it is art. I only recommend this to self indulgent cinema viewers that believe they know more about the art than the usual "feeble minded" cinema viewer.
