Hey folks, Harry here with another report from One Haute Mama on SXSW 2005! Here's a pair of documentaries that she caught today and it seems she was on a sex and pain binge today. How fitting for One Haute Mama! Here ya go...
Harry, One Haute Mama here with a pair of looks from SXSW 2005:
PUCKER UP
The weirdest thing about documentaries is that the weirdest topics often work
the best. Whistling, or "puckulating," definitely fits this description.
Tight from start to finish, Pucker Up offers scads about the history of the art
of whistling in movies--from the Jazz Singer to Life of Bryan, in fact--while
also following the progress of several contestants in the 31st annual Whistling
Competition in Louisburg, North Carolina. The tension was great--I realy wanted
to find out who won!
Sure, like any good documentary, there's lots of historic footage that includes
a great Harpo Marx scene and the inevitable Andy Griffith Show, and that helps
build whistling's credibility as an art (and not just a nuisance). But that's
just the icing on the cake--the dazzlers in this film are the whistlers
themselves. I do not have words to describe how amazing these folks are. But
hey, I guess that's okay, since whistling is a wordless art, after all.
I must say that I went to this screening in honor of my cockatiel, Baldrick, who
has taught this non-whistler how to whistle over the past three years. So, this
review's for him, especially since he's on my shoulder as I type--proofreading,
of course.
A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN
When I think about problems with pain, I normally think of chronic pain, the
kind of pain that leads to movements to legalize medicinal marijuana and
assisted suicide. You know, the kind of pain you wouldn't wish on your worst
enemy--the kind of pain that would even make you wish you could no longer feel
pain. Well, A Life Without Pain will definitely give you serious second
thoughts about the importance of pain.
The subject matter here is difficult to review objectively. A Life Without Pain
introduces three children suffering from Chronic Insensitivity to Pain--a
condition so rare that it doesn't even have its own fancy-schmancy Latin name.
Each child has had a harrowing journey (not to mention the families'), and the
odd nexus of their painfully painless lives is their inability to feel the need
to poop or pee. Just imagine that.
A Life Without Pain is a very good documentary, though it misses being great
because it sags a bit in the middle. (It felt longer than another documentary
that I reviewed, Pucker Up, though it's 9 minutes shorter.) Luckily for the
director, Melody Gilbert, the subject matter and the subjects themselves
provide this documentary the impetus it needs to keep the audience involved.
One Haute Mama
