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"Series 7" is "Gladiator" for the digital video generation. Designed to look like a reality television show called "The Contenders", in which real people stalk and kill one another in real locations, the film was in development long before "Survivor" hit the airwaves. Writer-director Daniel Minahan even has the Sundance Lab records to prove it. Yet how eerie for art to anticipate life -- or rather to anticipate populist programming at its lowest-common-denominator depths.
Coming on the heels of the Japanese film "Battle Royale", in which 52 ninth-grade students fight to the finish on a small jungle isle, and "15 Minutes" -- also opening today -- in which two maniacs videotape their murderous crime spree in hopes of making a fortune off their infamy, "Series 7" is on the money when it comes to the media zeitgeist. That doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
This is 88 minutes of morose, amoral people stalking and murdering one another, which doesn't sound like a date movie. It certainly isn't fine art either. More interesting in concept than execution, the movie will generate controversy and late-night debates -- but only among the handful who venture into specialty venues for the offbeat. "Series 7" looks like a cult home video favorite.
It perhaps is a compliment to say that Minahan accomplishes his goals all too well. A veteran of TV documentaries and tabloid newsmagazine shows, Minahan has created a video-shot movie that perfectly mimics the TV reality show look, complete with hooky music cues, ponderous voice-overs and teasers to keep viewers glued to their sets.
His cast is convincingly "real." The best-known is Dawn (Brooke Smith), and -- again it's a left-handed compliment -- she actually makes you root for her in her quest to survive as the best killing machine in the contest. Staged in and around Minahan's hometown of Danbury, Conn., "Series 7" goes full-bore in its ruthless satirization of television at its worst. It's "Jerry Springer" crossed with "Survivor" and "Big Brother", with a hint of "Rollerball".
As contestants stake out positions -- and segments explore their individual back stories -- the key satirical ingredients are the disconnection between what they're doing and their explanations of their actions in terms of motives and strategy. Their world is one of institutionalized murders, such as in the classic short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery", but the participants discuss their approach to hits as a young person would his Little League game or SAT scores.
Dawn is the reigning champ. But she's now eight months pregnant and faced with a new battlefield: her hometown, where she encounters not only friends and relations but an ex-boyfriend (Glenn Fitzgerald) who, despite being a cancer victim, is a contestant.
Her main opponent turns out to be a Catholic nurse (Marylouise Burke), whom you might discount unless you remember Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Others include a young girl (Merritt Wever), whose family eggs her on; an unemployed married man (Michael Kaycheck), who desperately needs the money; and a crazy old trailer-park coot (Richard Venture), whose orneriness just might save his life.
As with "The Blair Witch Project", the behind-the-camera personnel take advantage of what are normally drawbacks: limited resources and a video camera. Here it all makes perfect sense as a sendup of reality television.
Music by Girls Against Boys gives "Series 7" an MTV feel. Malcolm Jamieson's editing keeps things moving at the right pace for a show designed for viewers with short attention spans. There is sharp wit in the writing, and the direction is quite good. "Series 7" is undeniably effective, but that doesn't mean you feel good when it's over.
SERIES 7
USA Films
An October Films presentation of a Blow Up Pictures presentation of a Killer Films/Open City Films production
Producers: Jason Kloit, Joana Vicente, Christine Vachon, Katie Roumel
Screenwriter-director: Daniel Minahan
Executive producers: Charles J. Rusbasan, Judith Zarin, Michael Escott
Co-producers: Evan T. Cohen, Gretchen McGowan
Director of photography: Randy Drummond
Production designer: Gideon Ponte
Costume designer: Christine Beiselin
Editor: Malcolm Jamieson
Music: Girls Against Boys
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dawn: Brooke Smith
Connie: Marylouise Burke
Jeff: Glenn Fitzgerald
Tony: Michael Kaycheck
Franklin: Richard Venture
Lindsay: Merritt Wever
Sheila: Donna Hanover
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Coming on the heels of the Japanese film "Battle Royale", in which 52 ninth-grade students fight to the finish on a small jungle isle, and "15 Minutes" -- also opening today -- in which two maniacs videotape their murderous crime spree in hopes of making a fortune off their infamy, "Series 7" is on the money when it comes to the media zeitgeist. That doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
This is 88 minutes of morose, amoral people stalking and murdering one another, which doesn't sound like a date movie. It certainly isn't fine art either. More interesting in concept than execution, the movie will generate controversy and late-night debates -- but only among the handful who venture into specialty venues for the offbeat. "Series 7" looks like a cult home video favorite.
It perhaps is a compliment to say that Minahan accomplishes his goals all too well. A veteran of TV documentaries and tabloid newsmagazine shows, Minahan has created a video-shot movie that perfectly mimics the TV reality show look, complete with hooky music cues, ponderous voice-overs and teasers to keep viewers glued to their sets.
His cast is convincingly "real." The best-known is Dawn (Brooke Smith), and -- again it's a left-handed compliment -- she actually makes you root for her in her quest to survive as the best killing machine in the contest. Staged in and around Minahan's hometown of Danbury, Conn., "Series 7" goes full-bore in its ruthless satirization of television at its worst. It's "Jerry Springer" crossed with "Survivor" and "Big Brother", with a hint of "Rollerball".
As contestants stake out positions -- and segments explore their individual back stories -- the key satirical ingredients are the disconnection between what they're doing and their explanations of their actions in terms of motives and strategy. Their world is one of institutionalized murders, such as in the classic short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery", but the participants discuss their approach to hits as a young person would his Little League game or SAT scores.
Dawn is the reigning champ. But she's now eight months pregnant and faced with a new battlefield: her hometown, where she encounters not only friends and relations but an ex-boyfriend (Glenn Fitzgerald) who, despite being a cancer victim, is a contestant.
Her main opponent turns out to be a Catholic nurse (Marylouise Burke), whom you might discount unless you remember Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Others include a young girl (Merritt Wever), whose family eggs her on; an unemployed married man (Michael Kaycheck), who desperately needs the money; and a crazy old trailer-park coot (Richard Venture), whose orneriness just might save his life.
As with "The Blair Witch Project", the behind-the-camera personnel take advantage of what are normally drawbacks: limited resources and a video camera. Here it all makes perfect sense as a sendup of reality television.
Music by Girls Against Boys gives "Series 7" an MTV feel. Malcolm Jamieson's editing keeps things moving at the right pace for a show designed for viewers with short attention spans. There is sharp wit in the writing, and the direction is quite good. "Series 7" is undeniably effective, but that doesn't mean you feel good when it's over.
SERIES 7
USA Films
An October Films presentation of a Blow Up Pictures presentation of a Killer Films/Open City Films production
Producers: Jason Kloit, Joana Vicente, Christine Vachon, Katie Roumel
Screenwriter-director: Daniel Minahan
Executive producers: Charles J. Rusbasan, Judith Zarin, Michael Escott
Co-producers: Evan T. Cohen, Gretchen McGowan
Director of photography: Randy Drummond
Production designer: Gideon Ponte
Costume designer: Christine Beiselin
Editor: Malcolm Jamieson
Music: Girls Against Boys
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dawn: Brooke Smith
Connie: Marylouise Burke
Jeff: Glenn Fitzgerald
Tony: Michael Kaycheck
Franklin: Richard Venture
Lindsay: Merritt Wever
Sheila: Donna Hanover
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
![Daniel Minahan at an event for Marco Polo (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTg3NzMzNDM2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjI0MDk1MzE@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
![Daniel Minahan at an event for Marco Polo (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTg3NzMzNDM2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjI0MDk1MzE@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
"Series 7" is "Gladiator" for the digital video generation. Designed to look like a reality television show called "The Contenders", in which real people stalk and kill one another in real locations, the film was in development long before "Survivor" hit the airwaves. Writer-director Daniel Minahan even has the Sundance Lab records to prove it. Yet how eerie for art to anticipate life -- or rather to anticipate populist programming at its lowest-common-denominator depths.
Coming on the heels of the Japanese film "Battle Royale", in which 52 ninth-grade students fight to the finish on a small jungle isle, and "15 Minutes" -- also opening today -- in which two maniacs videotape their murderous crime spree in hopes of making a fortune off their infamy, "Series 7" is on the money when it comes to the media zeitgeist. That doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
This is 88 minutes of morose, amoral people stalking and murdering one another, which doesn't sound like a date movie. It certainly isn't fine art either. More interesting in concept than execution, the movie will generate controversy and late-night debates -- but only among the handful who venture into specialty venues for the offbeat. "Series 7" looks like a cult home video favorite.
It perhaps is a compliment to say that Minahan accomplishes his goals all too well. A veteran of TV documentaries and tabloid newsmagazine shows, Minahan has created a video-shot movie that perfectly mimics the TV reality show look, complete with hooky music cues, ponderous voice-overs and teasers to keep viewers glued to their sets.
His cast is convincingly "real." The best-known is Dawn (Brooke Smith), and -- again it's a left-handed compliment -- she actually makes you root for her in her quest to survive as the best killing machine in the contest. Staged in and around Minahan's hometown of Danbury, Conn., "Series 7" goes full-bore in its ruthless satirization of television at its worst. It's "Jerry Springer" crossed with "Survivor" and "Big Brother", with a hint of "Rollerball".
As contestants stake out positions -- and segments explore their individual back stories -- the key satirical ingredients are the disconnection between what they're doing and their explanations of their actions in terms of motives and strategy. Their world is one of institutionalized murders, such as in the classic short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery", but the participants discuss their approach to hits as a young person would his Little League game or SAT scores.
Dawn is the reigning champ. But she's now eight months pregnant and faced with a new battlefield: her hometown, where she encounters not only friends and relations but an ex-boyfriend (Glenn Fitzgerald) who, despite being a cancer victim, is a contestant.
Her main opponent turns out to be a Catholic nurse (Marylouise Burke), whom you might discount unless you remember Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Others include a young girl (Merritt Wever), whose family eggs her on; an unemployed married man (Michael Kaycheck), who desperately needs the money; and a crazy old trailer-park coot (Richard Venture), whose orneriness just might save his life.
As with "The Blair Witch Project", the behind-the-camera personnel take advantage of what are normally drawbacks: limited resources and a video camera. Here it all makes perfect sense as a sendup of reality television.
Music by Girls Against Boys gives "Series 7" an MTV feel. Malcolm Jamieson's editing keeps things moving at the right pace for a show designed for viewers with short attention spans. There is sharp wit in the writing, and the direction is quite good. "Series 7" is undeniably effective, but that doesn't mean you feel good when it's over.
SERIES 7
USA Films
An October Films presentation of a Blow Up Pictures presentation of a Killer Films/Open City Films production
Producers: Jason Kloit, Joana Vicente, Christine Vachon, Katie Roumel
Screenwriter-director: Daniel Minahan
Executive producers: Charles J. Rusbasan, Judith Zarin, Michael Escott
Co-producers: Evan T. Cohen, Gretchen McGowan
Director of photography: Randy Drummond
Production designer: Gideon Ponte
Costume designer: Christine Beiselin
Editor: Malcolm Jamieson
Music: Girls Against Boys
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dawn: Brooke Smith
Connie: Marylouise Burke
Jeff: Glenn Fitzgerald
Tony: Michael Kaycheck
Franklin: Richard Venture
Lindsay: Merritt Wever
Sheila: Donna Hanover
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Coming on the heels of the Japanese film "Battle Royale", in which 52 ninth-grade students fight to the finish on a small jungle isle, and "15 Minutes" -- also opening today -- in which two maniacs videotape their murderous crime spree in hopes of making a fortune off their infamy, "Series 7" is on the money when it comes to the media zeitgeist. That doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
This is 88 minutes of morose, amoral people stalking and murdering one another, which doesn't sound like a date movie. It certainly isn't fine art either. More interesting in concept than execution, the movie will generate controversy and late-night debates -- but only among the handful who venture into specialty venues for the offbeat. "Series 7" looks like a cult home video favorite.
It perhaps is a compliment to say that Minahan accomplishes his goals all too well. A veteran of TV documentaries and tabloid newsmagazine shows, Minahan has created a video-shot movie that perfectly mimics the TV reality show look, complete with hooky music cues, ponderous voice-overs and teasers to keep viewers glued to their sets.
His cast is convincingly "real." The best-known is Dawn (Brooke Smith), and -- again it's a left-handed compliment -- she actually makes you root for her in her quest to survive as the best killing machine in the contest. Staged in and around Minahan's hometown of Danbury, Conn., "Series 7" goes full-bore in its ruthless satirization of television at its worst. It's "Jerry Springer" crossed with "Survivor" and "Big Brother", with a hint of "Rollerball".
As contestants stake out positions -- and segments explore their individual back stories -- the key satirical ingredients are the disconnection between what they're doing and their explanations of their actions in terms of motives and strategy. Their world is one of institutionalized murders, such as in the classic short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery", but the participants discuss their approach to hits as a young person would his Little League game or SAT scores.
Dawn is the reigning champ. But she's now eight months pregnant and faced with a new battlefield: her hometown, where she encounters not only friends and relations but an ex-boyfriend (Glenn Fitzgerald) who, despite being a cancer victim, is a contestant.
Her main opponent turns out to be a Catholic nurse (Marylouise Burke), whom you might discount unless you remember Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Others include a young girl (Merritt Wever), whose family eggs her on; an unemployed married man (Michael Kaycheck), who desperately needs the money; and a crazy old trailer-park coot (Richard Venture), whose orneriness just might save his life.
As with "The Blair Witch Project", the behind-the-camera personnel take advantage of what are normally drawbacks: limited resources and a video camera. Here it all makes perfect sense as a sendup of reality television.
Music by Girls Against Boys gives "Series 7" an MTV feel. Malcolm Jamieson's editing keeps things moving at the right pace for a show designed for viewers with short attention spans. There is sharp wit in the writing, and the direction is quite good. "Series 7" is undeniably effective, but that doesn't mean you feel good when it's over.
SERIES 7
USA Films
An October Films presentation of a Blow Up Pictures presentation of a Killer Films/Open City Films production
Producers: Jason Kloit, Joana Vicente, Christine Vachon, Katie Roumel
Screenwriter-director: Daniel Minahan
Executive producers: Charles J. Rusbasan, Judith Zarin, Michael Escott
Co-producers: Evan T. Cohen, Gretchen McGowan
Director of photography: Randy Drummond
Production designer: Gideon Ponte
Costume designer: Christine Beiselin
Editor: Malcolm Jamieson
Music: Girls Against Boys
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dawn: Brooke Smith
Connie: Marylouise Burke
Jeff: Glenn Fitzgerald
Tony: Michael Kaycheck
Franklin: Richard Venture
Lindsay: Merritt Wever
Sheila: Donna Hanover
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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