Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

The documentary film “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” by Todd Haynes is quite a dark depiction of the rise and fall of this singing sensation.

The documentary was done entirely without live actors instead Haynes uses modified Barbie dolls to portray the various members of the Carpenter family and other close associates.

Karen’s doll was modified to reflect the effects of anorexia nervosa on the body. As Karen’s anorexia progressed, the doll’s face became slimmer along with her arms. The use of the Barbie dolls was a bit distracting because even though it made a point about society, body image and anorexia, it was still a bunch of dolls bouncing around the screen. I personally found it harder to take seriously than if it had been done with live actors.

The documentary paints the Carpenter family in a negative light. It appears to be sympathetic to Karen’s struggle and everything she went through on her path to recovery from anorexia nervosa. Karen’s mother, Agnes is portrayed as a very controlling woman, not wanting Karen to move out of the house and making career decisions for Karen. Agnes also appears to be in denial of Karen’s issues with her weight until it gets to a point where it actually starts seriously affecting Karen.

Karen’s brother Richard looked scary in the film. The Ken doll used for him was almost “evil looking” and the very portrayal of him as a perfectionist with a temper, was not the most flattering.

Overall I found the documentary sad but I don’t think it really did the memory of Karen Carpenter any justice.

Nobody's Business

Watching the documentary Nobody’s Business was incredibly entertaining. A part of this film reminded me of my own family because our family tree is quite large back in Panama. I think it is important to try and find out about ancestors and great grandparents because it gives a sense of history. I found it rather sad that Oscar, (Alan’s father) did not care nor cared to find out more about his own grandfather in Eastern Europe.

The scenes where Oscar gets defensive which were cut interjected with a black and white boxing match made me wonder if the comments were real or not, especially since Oscar’s comments were just hilarious.

I think this film really explores the relationship between father and son overall. Alan compares his father’s upbringing with his own. He explores his father’s life with all of its ups and downs. Alan’s quest to get his father to confront his memory, and talk about his past is admirable because his father often refuses to cooperate. The film really hit a point by going and exploring different generations of the Berliner family going from the ancestors in Eastern Europe all the way to his sister’s daughter Jade.

One of the elements that stuck out to me the most was the sound used throughout the film. The bells, the ringing, the clock ticking, the fight scenes, were like another character in the documentary.

I liked how the film showed that even strangers can have a connection yet at the same time there are people living in this world who are completely lonely, and he used Oscar as an example.

Tarnation

It’s not often that I sit through a film and it has actually evoked some manner of emotion from my gut. I usually don’t feel anything after watching a film, besides a lingering giggle if I have watched a comedy or a slight shudder if it’s a thriller. But the film, Tarnation by Jonathan Caouette left me feeling like crap to be honest. I felt terrible after that movie, and I’m not saying the film was terrible by any means, it’s just that the absolute tragic portrayal of his mother - it’s just really unfair. I think the film in many ways made me think about my own mother and all her eccentric-like behaviors in the past. It made me miss her at times too.

Caouette’s style of editing, and what he chose to include made some scenes difficult to watch. I felt like I shouldn’t be watching some of the more private moments, and I think that was exactly his goal. In an interview with the BBC, he tells them “I love the idea of making a narrative where it feels like the audience member is peeping in on something that they don’t necessarily know if they should be peeping in on.” There were definite scenes where as the viewer I felt very intrusive, and I was tempted to almost look away. For me the scene where we see the degree of Renee’s mental degeneration towards the end of the film made me think that it was almost cruel to have her exposed like that at the same time it evoked so many feelings of sympathy from me that I couldn’t feel more sorry for her and all the crap she’s endured.

The entire film is like one long video confessional for Caouette. In the article “Video Confessions” Renov (the author) states that in one video “the subjects seek not forgiveness but expressive release in the form of dialogues” which I think has some baring on Tarnation. I think that the people in it, when in front of the camera feel some form of release by expressing themselves or else they would not say anything. I also think Caouette is using this film to as an apology for not being there for his mother. The scene where she tells him she’s all he’s got and that he never appreciated her was revelatory because even though Renee is highly delusional at times, I realized that more than anything she’s a very lonely person.

Grizzly Man

The documentary “Grizzly Man” by Werner Herzog gave me mixed feelings. The film documents the last seasons of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell. I can’t decide whether this documentary inspired a great deal of pity for a man that seemingly went mad because of an obsession with nature. Or whether to respect him utterly for his unwavering love and dedication to bears and wildlife.

Much of the film uses Treadwell’s original footage that he shot while living alone in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. This is interesting because Herzog is not using material that he did not gather, and splicing it together to create a narrative of his choosing.

In terms of the characters, I did find that some of them sounded rehearsed as if they had been preparing for their interviews. A sign of this was that some of the characters had nothing to say at the end of their scenes. The medical examiner was perhaps the worst of them all because his segment looked really rehearsed. He sounded like he was reading a script versus answering questions in an interview.

Also what caught my eye was near the end when Herzog instructs Treadwell’s girlfriend to destroy the footage of the bear attack that claimed Treadwell’s life. It’s not common for a documentary filmmaker to insert himself into the actual film in such a direct way.

I enjoyed this documentary, but it felt long at times. I think that by showing some of the raw footage of Treadwell like the multiple out takes and asides he filmed while in the wild, it gave the viewer a better sense of what this misunderstood character was all about.