This well-made documentary follows the last month of a year long visit of a New York independent film promoter and his family, who are showing free films on an island in Fiji to the local population.
The documentary makers realised that there was far more comedy gold to be mined in following this dysfunctional family than following the progress and impact of the cinema, and so the focus is mainly on the family.
The two spoilt and undisciplined kids, the frequently drunk Aussie landlord (who could have a reality series on his own), aggravating the local Christian mission by deliberately running the films halfway through mass... it amazes me that just one month of filming revealed such a catalogue of disasters.
Some of the more memorable scenes:
Dealing with the robbery of their house is just priceless, from the drunk landlord ("I had to compose myself!"), through the histrionics of the teenage girl as her parents ask who could have stolen the equipment, to the eventual return of the stolen property.
The "Student Film Festival", featuring films from New York students, had me in stitches. The two students turn up with their films and after burning out their projector two times in a row, they start playing their movies to a bemused crowd. The student movies are truly awful (I'll be humming that tune from "Robot Boy" for a while), and the Fijians show their disapproval by walking out of the cinema. The stunned looks on the wannabe directors' faces is priceless.
The clueless Janet, talking about how she was pulled to one side by a local mother and told about how wild her daughter is, made both me and my wife cringe in embarrassment.
A scene where Georgia (the daughter) and John are shooting hoops and the camera shows the large love bites on her neck from her latest boyfriend, with no comment from her father.
All in all a fascinating and memorable documentary - for all the wrong reasons. Watch it and prepare to cringe.
The documentary makers realised that there was far more comedy gold to be mined in following this dysfunctional family than following the progress and impact of the cinema, and so the focus is mainly on the family.
The two spoilt and undisciplined kids, the frequently drunk Aussie landlord (who could have a reality series on his own), aggravating the local Christian mission by deliberately running the films halfway through mass... it amazes me that just one month of filming revealed such a catalogue of disasters.
Some of the more memorable scenes:
Dealing with the robbery of their house is just priceless, from the drunk landlord ("I had to compose myself!"), through the histrionics of the teenage girl as her parents ask who could have stolen the equipment, to the eventual return of the stolen property.
The "Student Film Festival", featuring films from New York students, had me in stitches. The two students turn up with their films and after burning out their projector two times in a row, they start playing their movies to a bemused crowd. The student movies are truly awful (I'll be humming that tune from "Robot Boy" for a while), and the Fijians show their disapproval by walking out of the cinema. The stunned looks on the wannabe directors' faces is priceless.
The clueless Janet, talking about how she was pulled to one side by a local mother and told about how wild her daughter is, made both me and my wife cringe in embarrassment.
A scene where Georgia (the daughter) and John are shooting hoops and the camera shows the large love bites on her neck from her latest boyfriend, with no comment from her father.
All in all a fascinating and memorable documentary - for all the wrong reasons. Watch it and prepare to cringe.