My first documentary at Edinburgh's International Film Festival this year directed by Alexandre Philippe, The People vs George Lucas.
I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, in fact I watched the star was franchise in the wrong order. I started with Episode 1 and worked my way to 6. I've received a lot of grief for this over the years from friends and film lovers but I'm not that bothered. I did it that way so as to achieve a unique perspective on the films, it may have been the "wrong" perspective but I was given the chance to watch them from Ep 1 to Ep 6 and it made sense to me at the time. I've watched all the films once, they were OK, the last three (or first three depending on what way you look at it) Ep 4 – 6 were definitely superior but still for me, nothing special. I can appreciate that had I been around in the 70s or watched the films at a younger stage in my life I may feel differently. I know also of the huge fan base Star Wars has. Anyway the point of saying all this is, I went into the film not knowing much about the subject, unlike the majority of the rest of the folk in my screen.
I found the film entertaining, funny and informative. I laughed, not at all the jokes but enough to say its a comedy documentary that will make you laugh despite your knowledge of the subject. If you have seen the films many times over you will no doubt get more of the jokes though.
There was great use of archive photos and footage from the likes of 'The Daily Show' and You tube etc
I found this impressive as I know it can be considerably difficult to gain copyright permission for these type of things. There was maybe a lack of actual footage from the films. There was some but probably not enough in my opinion.
The structure of the film was great and seemed to be appropriate length for the most part. I'd argue the last 3rd of the film dragged on a little, and began to repeat itself a lot. There's only so many times you can make the one point. The film is 97mins and I thing should be at most 80.
The music also at points became a little distracting for me. It was played quite loudly throughout the film which was OK most of the time but sometimes the audio was not lowered enough during interviews and I was distracted. On the subject of the interviews however I was impressed at the sheer amount. There were new opinions all the way to the end of the film. Some reasonably well respected faces appearing for only a few seconds. There was clearly a lot of work put into the film which I respect deeply.
I think Star Wars fans will be happy with the film.
People who aren't bothered about Star Wars should also see the film if possible. I found it interesting finding out some of the big debates in the star wars universe. I will now be able to appreciate and join in discussions with my mates about it. I think girlfriends subjected to Star Wars chat may find it a useful tool.
I'd say the film was a very good one indeed.
