THE PIANIST (2002). Adrien Brody stars in director Roman Polanski’s depiction of a Polish Jewish musician attempting to survive in the Warsaw Ghetto of WWII. Polanski won a Best Director Oscar for his work.
By cinema-stuff reviews (featuring Kevin & Cassidy)
Iris is a 2015 documentary about 93 year old fashion icon Iris Apfel, directed by Albert Maysles.
SCRIPT
Cassidy Says:
Well since Iris is a documentary, there isn’t really a script. Consequently my judgment hinges upon the organization and how the documentarians handled the subject matter. And so while Iris was certainly an interesting watch, the documentary itself isn’t particularly well constructed. There’s no through line save Iris herself, thereby creating this sort of montage that jumps from subject to subject without a clear structure. The specifics they chose to focus on were interesting enough, but the selection did little in the way of telling a concrete story or painting an in depth picture of an obviously complex and interesting woman. I feel like it was a good introduction to Iris Apfel as a person, but I got the impression that there was so much more to her and her story that the documentary just breezed over because it was busy wandering aimlessly around her sassy, colorful world.
★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
The content of this film is good, but by no fault of the director or film crew. This film had the luck of being focused on a very interesting, mildly entertaining woman. However, this wasn’t enough to overshadow the blatant directionlessness of the film. It seemed that everyone wanted to do this film, but nobody knew what they wanted to do in it; it was hard to decipher what exactly was trying to be accomplished. It was almost a day-in-the-life, but it appeared as if they wanted to say something that was never said. Multiple times throughout the film they would begin to focus on a specific part of Iris’ life and I thought they were finally getting to the point, but I was mislead every time.
★★★★★ / 10
DIRECTION
Cassidy Says:
Eh. Since it’s a documentary my problems with the script are really just problems with the documentarian, and I’m not wild about the direction. I think Albert Maysles did a fine job collecting footage of fun, eclectic moments that sort of amount to a day in the life of Iris Apfel, but that’s kind of all he did.
★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
I won’t spend too long on the direction, considering the problems in the content were mostly rooted in a lack of direction. I will say that, despite the problems in this film, Albert’s career should be celebrated; he had a fruitful life in film and that is something to be very proud of. It was also clear that he was good friends with Iris and this was a very charming honor for them both.
★★★★ / 10
ACTING
Cassidy Says:
No acting, just Iris, but boy did she put on a one woman show. A quick witted, no nonsense, 93 year old fashion guru with what I swear had to be ten pounds of jewelry on her arms alone, living and working with the energy of someone at least twenty years her junior. Unless you have a pointed interest in fashion, she is the one and only drawing factor of the piece, and even then I think you have to at least vaguely appreciate clothing as an art form or her personality alone won’t be enough to sustain your interest. But if you’re up for what is essentially an hour and a half long fashion show, Iris affords you the opportunity to meet a dynamo of a woman, beginning to show the pensive, quietude of her age while still sporting her outlandish, iconic, one of a kind look (with a persona to match.)
★★★★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
The people were easily the best part of this film, Iris and her husband are fun and the impact they’ve had on people is clear. Everyone used in the film seemed to have relevance to Iris or her career. Entertaining dialogue and watching Iris in her regular activities was an amusing experience. This was probably the only reason I was still engaged by the end of the film.
★★★★★★★ / 10
COSTUME/ART DIRECTION
Cassidy Says:
Since the visuals of a documentary aren’t completely under the creator’s artistic control, I am willing to be a little forgiving here. But at the same time I feel like I’ve seen documentaries that were visually striking not for their content alone but because of their composition, and Iris wasn’t one of them. Was it visually striking? Oh of course, it was this gorgeous cornucopia of colors and patterns with this prevailing zany vibe holding the whole thing together. But that had nothing to do with the costuming or art direction, it’s because the thing is about a notoriously vibrant fashion icon who previously worked as an interior designer. So of course it’s going to be a feast for the eyes. In fact, if you’re into fashion the art might even top Iris herself. But Iris the person gets all the credit, not Iris the film.
★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
Again, this film was extremely lucky in this field. Naturally, Iris’ life is filled with art and very engaging aesthetics. This makes it very hard to judge the art direction thoroughly, but nonetheless they did take advantage of the great surroundings given to them.
★★★★★★ / 10
CINEMATOGRAPHY/EDITING
Cassidy Says:
From the very first frame I thought the cinematography was kind of bad. I mean yeah it’s a documentary and you can’t always control how people are moving or whatever but still, the framing never struck me as particularly well done, the general clarity and quality of the visuals wasn’t always great, and sometimes the camera work was too shaky and it was distracting. Like, okay sure let’s follow her through five hallways of her house, but do you literally just have to walk behind her holding the camera through five hallways of her house? That’s boring, and it looked like I could have done it, which is never a good sign tbh. The one technical thing I’ll give it is there were one or two times where jaunty music was incorporated and I thought it was a nice touch.
★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
Painfully mediocre. It used extremely generic documentary footage, but to the point that you could predict what you would see next shot for shot. Too many times irrelevant shots were used because they looked “artsy” which was obnoxious and time-wasting. This may have been a result of the lack of direction or purpose through the film. Perhaps if they were attempting to get a specific point across to the audience more relevant camerawork would have been used.
★★★☆/ 10
THE “IT FACTOR”
Cassidy Says:
Eh. Just… eh. It was definitely worth watching because Iris Apfel is a hella interesting old gal, and I myself like fashion quite a bit so I had no problem sitting through an hour and a half long clunky costume jewelry montage. But outside of its subject matter it wasn’t anything special. Worth a watch but not really anything to write home to the family about.
OVERALL RATING ★★★★★★ / 10
Kevin Says:
The “It Factor” of this film has nothing to do with the production itself, simply Iris. If you like Iris, not necessarily her work, but her as a person than it is worth a one-time watch. Iris’ charm is the entirety of the watchability in this film and (even with little knowledge of her) you can easily appreciate her as an entertaining woman who has lead an interesting life. Simply put, this is an endearing nod to Iris and, if that interests you, it may be worth the time, but don’t spend too much money on it.
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