FATHER GEEK'S family is from south eastern New Mexico near Roswell (alot of family is buried there) There's a old Ghost Town near by that is called KNOWLES. Yep, that's us the very same Knowles'. My great, great grandpaw Knowles founded the town after the Civil War. My dad was stationed at Roswell for a while during World War II with the Army Air Corp and Father Geek actually lived there as a baby in 1946. COOOOOOOOOL!!! Well, on with Doc's report...
Dr. Emmett L. Bosch here.
This is my third year going to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and during the whole time I've been contemplating if I should write you with some reviews, especially since some of the movies that I've seen this year I first heard about here.
Either way, after I saw that you printed a review for Seven Girlfriends from some dude that's also here, I thought "what the hell".(BTW. I didn't see 7 Girlfriends, because, well, frankly, it looked like a piece of shit.)
I've seen a number of movies that are just plain good. Straight Story, Big Brass Ring, American Movie (this one rocked), Amerikan Passport (rocked too, just had to mention it), Deterrence, Gray Owl (dude, I met Lord Richard Attenborough, dude!). But, no matter how good they were, no film inspired me enough to get me to write a review for you. Untill...
(You knew that was coming) Six Days in Roswell. To tell you, I almost missed this movie. I thought it was going to be some dumb documentary about some alien parade in Roswell or something. I didn't think it was important enough to miss the Turkish movie showing at the same time. But when I saw it was from the same guys who made Trekkies (and after I met the director of the short that came before it) I thought I might as well check it out (besides, I don't like that Turkish kid at school, so I probably wouldn't have liked the Turkish movie either). And I thought you might like to hear about it (I haven't seen Trekkies yet, but I could have sworn I read about it somewhere on your site, I just can't seem to find where).
This movie can almost be thought of as an unofficial sequel to Trekkies (like U.S. Marshals is to the Fugitive). Trekkies' director (and Six Days producer), Roger Nygard, met our "guide" through the documentary while filming Trekkies. This dude, Richard Kronfeld's, ultimate goal in life is to be abducted by aliens. He has lived his whole life in, if I remember correctly, Minnesota with his mother, where he collects old A/V equipment, film strips, and model car kits and works at a surge protector manufacturing company. He dresses up as Captain Pike in his full body wheel chair for the Raspberry Festival parade in his home town, and, when asked about any girlfriends he has had, answers something like "You promised you weren't going to ask any questions about that." Basically, a pinnacle of geekness non of us wish to reach, but a perfect narrator for this movie.
Richard is convinced that he'll never get abducted in Minnesota, so he has decided to head over to Roswell for the 50th anniversary of what did or did not happen there. While there he plans to make a abductie profile, and hopes that after six days he will fit into that mold, and hopefully become a missing person. The movie's meat and potatoes was the footage of the outer spacey celebrations and the dude interviewing UFO experts and not so experts, but the parts that took place at home, with his over protective mother, Captain Pike wheel chair, senile grandma, search for coworker Jeff, and "self defense" instructors, were some of the funniest in the film ("Shoot like a white boy!").
The beauty of Six Days is that it's not only informative, as a documentary should be, but it's also able to execute a story line (Richard's home life along with his mission in Roswell) in a non-chronological order that keeps you interested, and it's also able to mix in great humor. Actually, the comedic aspect of it was the one part that worried me during the film. The way Richard talks with and questions store owners, convention goers, and just plain weirdo's seems a bit Daily Show-ish, just not as obvious. It made me wonder if Richard was a real person, as opposed to just a character. But the way his mother, grand mother, and gun "buddies" acted kept my faith that Richard was real. After the movie I met the producer and asked him just that. "Is that guy for real? I mean, I can understand his Star Trek obsession and the whole wanting to be abducted thing, but who can really get that exited about a cheese factory?" Well, as he told me, Richard is real, it just happens that he has a great sense of comedic timing and knew how to make things seem funny.
Six Days In Roswell is a beautiful examination of the strange things strange people do, as I would suspect Trekkies also is. But the thing is that, no matter how hilarious or ludicrous or stupid the things those people do are, because we see it through the eyes of Richard we don't as much pity them, but actually form a sense of understanding. I think we, of all people, would understand their fanaticism best after we consider our own monomania with everything cinema. But Roswell is also a great commentary on how capitalism and profiteering can truly shape our home towns and daily lives. If you've ever been to Orlando, Florida you know what I'm talking about; hundred foot tall McDonalds and Shoney's signs, giant balloon ads everywhere, miniature golfs courses on every corner, and constant road construction, just because of a mouse. How do you think Demi Moore, a Roswell native (Richard knocked on the door of the abandoned house she was born in), feels about the theme her home town has adopted? This is best exemplified while Richard is watching TV and three consecutive alien themed commercials come on; "Alien Bingo, every Sunday" "The aliens have landed again, and there back for the best salted beef jerky in town" and what I believe was a used car lot ad.
So Harry, even if you don't put this review up, I still recommend you see this movie. Now that I think about it, after you printed that 7 Girlfriends review, you better put this up too.
See you in the future (or maybe the past).
Doc Bosch<===
