Michael Moore said he prefers nonfictional film when he introduced his newest documentary, “Where to Invade Next,” at the Egyptian Theater on Saturday evening. The world, both cinematically and otherwise, is too fictional, and documentaries help balance things out, he said.
Moore makes a living out of poking holes in the zaniness of real life, particularly in the United States government. His nonfictional style is incredibly unnatural – there is always some form of agenda behind his editing and interviews, most often to skewer the political right. So to say that the world is too fictionalized and he is fixing the problem, seems strange to me.
A lot of what makes Moore’s movies so entertaining is that they don’t often present the reality of the situation. His documentaries are meant to be somewhat sensationalized, in order to make his points more grand. A lot of the films at AFI Fest take that concept to heart: Serious ideas need some kind of sensationalization to grab audiences.
In “Where to Invade Next,” Moore is at his humanizing best while “invading” other countries. He depicts the invasions as him carrying the American flag to mostly European nations and taking their best ideas back with him stateside. From Italy’s extremely long paid vacation days to Slovenia’s free university tuition, Moore points out how the American system has brought the nation down. However, he still remains hopeful that traditional American values can set things right.
The other grand event of Saturday’s selections was the also sensationalized “The Forbidden Room.”
Co-directed by Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, “The Forbidden Room” is a strange movie. The film boasts hallucinatory accounts of lumberjacks, a submarine, wolves, flapjacks and very orderly bath-taking. It’s strange almost for the sake of being strange, edited in the style of films from the silent era but with a grainy, heavily produced overcoat. It’s hard to explain, but its weirdness certainly grabs the audience’s attention.
“The Forbidden Room” is an artistic masterpiece and easily the most original film at the festival this year. Most of its plot centers around the concept of dreams, and dreams within dreams, but with an imagination so vivid and developed that it’s a hilarious splendor to watch.
Saturday’s display of absurdist reality continued with Greek film “Chevalier.”
The film centers around six men aboard a fishing ship in the Aegean Sea and takes testosterone-fueled friendship to great heights and silly lows. Chevalier is the title of a game in which each participant comes up with their own contest, either of physical or mental strength, that everybody undertakes to discover who is the best. But after a heated, nonsensical debate, the characters decide to make it more interesting. They achieve this by rating each other on every aspect of their being to ultimately determine who is “the best in general.”
The group judge each other on absurdly random criteria like pebble-throwing abilities, sleeping mannerisms and erect penis size. Naturally, “Chevalier” is filled with quotable snaps and laugh-out-loud moments, but never entirely finds its tone. It’s unfortunate that the film builds to no significant climax and even the results of the game are disappointingly underplayed.
“Chevalier” is not as mind-bending as “The Forbidden Room” or as relatable as “Where to Invade Next.” However, there is something to say about an all male cast and female director that can successfully show that average-looking people are, in fact, nuts.
Even the most serious movies at the festival need to let loose for their audiences. It’s impressive that films that showcase the preposterousness of life are being given so much attention at this year’s festival.
Compiled by Sebastian Torrelio, A&E senior staff.