Every once in a while I find a film that explores an idea that is so universal and commonplace that I can't believe someone made a film about it. My disbelief doesn't come out of the notion that the film's premise isn't worth being a film, but rather that I can hardly believe that other filmmakers didn't come up with the idea first. I think that is a great strength of Alan Berliner's. He has a wit strong enough to carry you through films about the most personal and equally universal stories. This knack of his was excellently demonstrated in The Sweetest Sound.The film was comprised of what could be described as vignettes. These vignettes are constructed by archival footage and interviews of Alan Berliner, the director of the film, as well as 13 other Alan Berliners. These vignettes converge on the singular idea of names. How do names give us identity and shape our personalities. They way the film is constructed mirrors in a way the manner in which all the Alan Berliners congregate for the first time, that being, 13 individuals, arriving to create one body.
The film was fascinating in the way it exposed the commonalities shared amongst the name sharers, ultimately answering questions I didn't know I had. For instance, do people named Jared inherently like the color green, is it something that comes with the name? What baggage do we give others when we name them? These are important questions that the film raised.
Perhaps the film's strongest point was the clever sound design. Shaped around the computer, the noises throughout the film added to the theme of resolving identity amidst a sea of individuals, especially individuals that happen to share your name. The sounds ushered the action along, and emphasized repetition, perhaps one of the film's more subtle points of consideration.
Oh and of course Alan Berliner - that is the director Alan - got the www.alanberliner.com domain. Evidence of his forward thinking filmmaking.
No comments:
Post a Comment