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Directed by: Jessica Yu Starring: Henry Darger Calling In The Realms of the Unreal a documentary feels slightly weird since its presentation isn't similar to most modern documentaries: there are interviews, yes, but glimpses of those being interviewed are kept to a minimum. In fact, very ltitle of the movie is "actual film", and most of it is comprised of photographs and Darger's own art. Darger, a lifelong recluse who worked menial jobs for various institutions within a few blocks of his apartment, was known to only a handful of people as a mentally ill, but quiet and gentle man. Upon his death in 1973, his landlords discovered his life's work: a 15,000 page illustrated novel which drew directly on Darger's own life and experiences for its story. Far from being a mentally disabled simpleton, Darger is an extremely creative and articulate writer and detail-obsessed artist. On his meager wage, Darger manages to produce his novel along with piles of paintings, many produced with innovative techniques that Darger was forced to invent due to the limitations of his artistic ability and budget. For me, this is hard to screw up -- some narration with a slide show would've pleased me, since from the beginning I was appealed to the story. Thankfully Yu minimizes the real world instrusions and is content to display Darger's art along with selected readings and summaries. I felt it was an unfortunate choice, however, that she animates a lot of Darger's paintings. By (rather crudely) shuffling characters or objects around on the screen, she distracts from the artwork. The movie can suffer at times from too many narrators -- Dakota Fanning is the voice of some of Darger's characters, and she does an excellent job. There are other voices -- neighbours, actors playing "Darger", etc -- and sometimes I wished for a single, adult narrator, who would simultaneously tell Darger's real story and his fictional one. 4.5 RATING: 4.5 PROS: Fascinating CONS: Too many narrators, interference with the subject ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/
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Jan 31, 2006 18:08
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 15:02 |
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I saw this last May, or so, so I can't give the most detailed review. I was working in an arts library at the time, and had become interested in Darger's work. This movie came out just at the right time for me. The film provides a strong history of Darger's life. He really seems like a full character. The director made a smart decision to not interview art critics, and other people institutionalized in the art world; instead, she stuck with people who "knew" him (as if anyone really knew the guy), thus allowing us to draw our own conclusions about him as both a person and an artist. He is not demeaned and deconstructed, but at the same time we have access to a lot of information about him. In the end, it feels like we've been given a full and fair picture. I remember thinking Dakota Fanning's narration was pretty good. I had no idea who she was at the time. In general, I think the different narrators/voice actors added textual elements to the film. The animated drawings also, in my opinion, contributed similar debth and life to the story. I didn't find the animation to be too intrusive. I thought they worked well (I remember reading a few criticisms about it at the time) -- they brought the scenes to life, and while it's risky to take such liberties with someone elses creations, I don't think it was out of line. The animators worked only with what Darger made. They didn't add any outside drawings, and I remember be not too surprised by it. It seemed fluid and fairly natural. I was luckily enough to be at a showing where the director was present. She stepped up onto the stage afterwards and took part in a long Q&A. It was extremely informative. She talked all about the process of gathering data (even she couldn't read all of his work -- there's a lot of it -- but she read most of it), her intentions (i.e. the uncritical presentation), and she gave us some funny anecdotes that couldn't make it in the film. One (and sorry if I'm confused, and this was actually in the film) was about the fact that Orson Welles had a good friend who lived in the same building in Chicago, and would frequently visit. No, there's no documentation of them ever meeting, but she said she likes to imagine them passing a few times in the hallway, and neither having any idea of who the other was. I remember the soundtrack being memorable, but for the life of me I can't remember if it was a good or bad type of memorable. I'm going to guess good. I think outsider art appeals to many people. The artist is not bound or forged by institutions. The art is not made for anyone else but himself (although Darger did possess his fair share of self-awareness, which can be seen in some of the notes he wrote to prospective viewers of his work). He created a bizarre, deep, and entirely new world, and this film provides us with a fantastic view of it.
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Feb 5, 2006 10:40
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