Reel Paradise (2005) User Reviews

"Things could be worse... she could be a heroin addict turning tricks..."

[matthew-kenworthy · 8/10 · 13 January 2007]

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.

what price civilization?

[postmanwhoalwaysringstwice · 8/10 · 2 October 2006]

"Reel Paradise" documents the events surrounding the final month of an American family's one year stay on a remote Fujian island. Even though it deals mostly with John Pierson, previously a highly persuasive voice in promoting independent film, and his trek to show the locals free films, what really is exhibited is another example of Americans attempting to impose their culture onto another.

The film presents a very interesting view of film as an art form, and the film comedy as somewhat of a universal language. We were offered several opportunities to watch a myriad of films with the locals, who went wild over low brow comedy but remained as perplexed with student films as many in every population.

It's a fascinating documentary that deals not only with John's activities surrounding the theater, but it also follows the lives of his wife and two children who seem to get more from the experience in the end, as they build relationships. Sadly, John's vision seemed so singular that he went to the island to accomplish one goal, and that's the only thing he really accomplished. One almost feels that he missed the point entirely of what can be gained from the population of the island. He knew what he offered, but he seemed mostly like he was just herding the proverbial cattle into his theater and getting frustrated with the local help.

REELly Irritating people

[groggo · 7/10 · 12 January 2008]

I'm not sure if director Steve James set out to show us a glowing example of 'The Ugly Americans,' or not, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he did. And he succeeds spectacularly, down to getting me so irritated that I almost stopped the DVD three different times. As a documentary, it's very well done, but the subject matter is an entirely different story.

This is an examination of a dysfunctional family of four who practise mini-cultural imperialism -- without apparently realizing it -- on the island of Taveuni in Fiji.

Director James allows us to share in the lives of the obnoxious Pierson family, Americans who insist on stereotyping a stereotype. Why are they seemingly incapable of understanding that it's not a good idea to fling themselves into the centre of an entire culture and expect that culture to embrace THEIR values?

The patriarch of this family is John Pierson, an independent film producer with two rotten kids he can't control. His wife Janet is also a film producer with even less control, but she does at least show some sensitivity toward the Fijians.

Their children, surly 13-year-old son Wyatt and obnoxious 16-year-old daughter Georgia (she regularly calls her mother an a**hole), freely scream at or insult their parents, without even a sprinkle of respect. Why the Piersons would allow James's camera to capture their glaring parental inadequacies is surprising, unless they were oblivious to it. While watching this film, the word 'oblivious' becomes a pervasive motif when applied to the parents.

Fiji is a complex and even fragile country divided almost down the middle between indigenous Fijians and Indian-Fijians whose ancestors were brought to the islands by the British as slaves in the 1870s. There have been three military and civilian coups on the islands in the past 20 years alone, something that isn't mentioned in this film.

The indigenous Fijians (Melanesians and Polynesians) are a soft-spoken people with an ancient culture. Enter the well-meaning but goofy Pierson, a guy who thinks it's a great idea to show 'Jackass' to the natives at the community movie theatre he has bought as a kind of experiment. Pierson doesn't seem to understand that 'Jackass' or The Three Stooges might be campy cultural references in America, but they don't necessarily translate the same way in Fiji.

A Fijian film distributor tells Pierson it is not a good idea to show 'Jackass,' but the dime-store impresario insists. Not long after, the Fijian government showed eminently good taste and banned that brainless movie for being too 'gross' and not consistent with Fijian values. I almost applauded when I read that.

At one point in this film, Pierson, wearing a Three Stooges t-shirt, says 'maybe I don't belong here'. An excellent bit of soul-searching.

This worthy film has its faults: it's far too long and often meanders. After almost two hours, I was glad to see the back end of this family. I suspect a lot of Fijians felt the same way.

Amusing, but not a "Stevie" or "Hoop Dreams"

[robototron · 7/10 · 11 February 2006]

This movie is well made. It's amusing. It is an interesting portrait of families, cultures, and their various clashes as well has harmonies. It has a bit of an arc to it - enough to keep it going.

But this is no "Stevie" and it's no "Hoop Dreams," either. The true drama and tension and weight simply isn't there. What we have here is a wealthy and successful family attempting a sort of experiment. Yeah, it's meaningful; yeah, there are lessons to be learned; yeah, you care what happens. But it's not moving or powerful.

Then again, let it be a testament to Steve James and how he skilled he is that he can take a REALLY scant subject like this and spin it into a doco worth watching. Still, I'd prefer it if he returned to the more weighty subjects

Funny and entertaining documentary

[ArizWldcat · 7/10 · 28 January 2005]

This is a documentary about John Pierson, a film/TV producer that (to be honest) I had never heard of, who took his family (wife and two children) to Fiji in order to run the "most remote movie theater in the world." I have to admire the family for allowing the film crew to come and film them in their most private moments. They appear to be quite candid and "real" in the documentary, and not mugging for the camera at all. There are many funny moments in this film, and after it was over, I felt as if I knew this family. The young son is quite witty and stole the show, in my opinion. We were thrilled that the family came to the Sundance screening we attended, as it was in Salt Lake City instead of the main location of Park City, and a lot of filmmakers do not bother to attend shows in "the hinterlands." I recommend this one!

..."as close to Fiji you'll ever get".

[billymwilcox · 9/10 · 12 February 2006]

I fell in love with Fiji several years ago and return every June to detox from America. Fiji represents amazing incongruencies that push the visitor to the edge. You have unspeakable beauty and isolation in such a remote location but it is also a third world country that the British, of course, left in bad shape in the 1970's. Reel Paradise and its cast capture the contradictions that are ever present--down to the detail. And this is coming from someone who intimately knows Fijians and the culture. In fact, in many ways, Reel Paradise could be my story. The first time I arrived in Fiji my life was in complete transition. So I was completely open to all the joys and problems that come with Fiji. I experienced many of the misadventures, close friendships and odd occurrences that the Pearson's endured. This movie brilliantly captures the emotional struggles associated with painful choices and growth. I am loath to use pop psychology in my daily lexicon but I am sure the Pearson's did not realize they were indeed providing film viewers with a typical family's adjustment to life and all of its meltdowns. But with a twist. It isn't in some horrid American suburb but in a place so far away that most of its peoples were still living in bures only 40 years ago. This is why Reel Paradise is so special. I remember so vividly the first time I saw the star of the movie: the movie house itself. I was completely dumbfounded by such an odd sight. What was the story behind this old crumbling relic just beyond the international dateline? In fact the cinema was hardly in a village at all on an island far from Fiji's main island. It conjured up images of grey gardens --albeit one with kava, crime and conflicted relationships. Please experience Reel Paradise and know that this is as real as one may ever get to Fiji.

Pleasant-enough scenic escapism

[take2docs · 7/10 · 6 January 2023]

To think there was a time when there was no such thing as the cinema no doubt leaves many a film connoisseur and movie-lover absolutely horror-stricken. To have lived during such a woeful period in human history is unthinkable for those of us who depend on celluloid to provide much-needed fixes of escapism and to give our lives meaning and a sense of purpose. More than just a pastime, for the devotee the cinema is a way of life, a borderline religion, with movie theaters the near-equivalent of places of worship. What a wonderful moment in history to be living in, of motion pictures and shared dreams, and how shameful it would be for us to take such a fantastic gift from the gods for granted.

Such thoughts came to mind as I watched REEL PARADISE, a documentary film that at its core celebrates the silver screen experience and its power to enchant audiences like no other entertainment medium quite like it can. It's set in picturesque Taveuni Island, located in Fiji, and tells the story of a film enthusiast from New York who in 2002 traveled to these parts to help spread the word of the magic of movies, ultimately bringing cinema to these Fijians in a display of true humanitarian spirit.

That filmmaker John Pierson's wife and two kids ended up tagging along with him is a somewhat moot point, despite the excessive amount of screen time given to the accompanying clan.

Upon arrival in the tropical oasis, Pierson, as if heaven-sent, would go onto find and subsequently purchase a modest-sized theater; one, we learn, constructed in 1953, with a seating capacity of nearly 300 -- out of which he chose to show movies, *free of charge*. Yes, you read that correctly. 'Tis what's called 'giving freely.' Say what you will of the guy, but I don't think too many exhibitors are or would ever be as generous as Pierson in the way of general admission. (One can imagine Pierson, in perhaps trying to somewhat circumvent this decision of his during a moment of second thoughts, being tempted to utilize, say, the passing of a collection plate or basket, but no -- when he said free, he meant it.) Now, I thought, if only more or all movie theaters were this Pierson-esque, I personally think the world would be a much happier place, or at the very least more theatergoer-friendly.

Still, not everything for Pierson was sunshine and coconuts during this 'missionary' visit of his to Fiji. For if it wasn't having to contend with periodically incompetent and absentee projectionists, there were other crosses to bear, as well, including his having to cope with two mouthy, condescending dependants back at the familial hut and a local church that took to viewing him (that is, the movies he showed) as a semi-corrupting, if not outright unwholesome, presence within the community.

Although I disagree with the notion that Pierson's expansion efforts in promoting filmdom posed a threat to the morality of an already generally and admirably sex-positive and passive people, I do think that his preference in titles chosen for screening was indiscriminate to a fault. This isn't to say that vacuous actioners and slapstick comedies don't have their place in the cinematic diet, but a steady dose of these to the exclusion of more thoughtful, artful fare cannot be good for the mind. (John Pierson, in reference to the Three Stooges: "I had people asking my kids, what religion are you, where 'Curly' is god?")

Suffice it to say, however, REEL PARADISE isn't for everybody and is an acquired taste. Even if you're a cineaste you may not enjoy the film, as it's rather leisurely paced and focused more on the Pierson household and the lives of the natives than on the converts-seeking movie theater. I, for one, liked the documentary as a whole and found it to be relaxing, in getting to spend time, by way of the screen, in a land seemingly free of hustle-and-bustle, anxiety and stress.

Here are people who don't have much in the way of material goods but who appear joyful and well-adjusted, compared to the average well-to-do Westerner. In bringing the cinema to these laidback islanders, this was like the ideal fusion, a best of both worlds.

Another great film from Steve James

[turkam · 9/10 · 21 April 2005]

The director of "Hoop Dreams" and "stevie" has made another wonderful documentary film. The film profiles independent film guru John Pierson's 'mission' to bring back a cinema in the remotest island of the Fijis. Among his selections are Hollywood popcorn movies like "Bringing Down the House," hits like "X-Men," classics like "Apocalypse Now!" and Buster Keaton's "Stemaboat Bill Jr.", and even some Bollywood offerings and in one instance, some student films from Temple University. The biggest hit of them all seems to be "Jackass," which was encouraged by Pierson's 11 year old son, Josh. The film also captures the family's struggles to live in a far away place where modern technology is largely unavailable (no internet). There is also a battle with the local Catholic church, as its clergy feel that the cinema is competing with evening services. The film reminded of my own experiences at an outdoor cinema in Buyukada (an island near Istanbul) in Turkey where I spent several summers during my teenage years (I grew up here, but my father was from Turkey). Reel Paradise is a great tribute to the cinema, and even people who are not film fanatics will be genuinely moved by this film. Kudos to Kevin Smith for backing the project, and too everyone involved with Reel Paradise.

The Ugly Americans...

[hgjordan · 1/10 · 11 July 2006]

I viewed this based on, frankly, I can't remember what, but what I came away with was a vision of Americans as much of the world sees us, self-absorbed, selfish, completely unaffected by trampling on the rest of the world with what we think is "right for them"...John Pierson, his wife and children are some of the most abrasive, annoying and clueless characters to ever hit the screen, and all we get from their presence on Fiji is their "Manifest Destiny" take on things, that if it's good for us, then hell, it's good for everybody. They bring the worst of Western values to what may be in the middle of paradise but what is, in reality, a third world country, and they mistakenly think, by their mere presence, that they've somehow changed things. This is no "Sullivan's Travels", in which the filmmaker got the message and made a difference, but rather a grating examination of a dysfunctional family who can do nothing but bicker endlessly...Wyatt's a real prize, one of the few children whom I've felt like decking in my lifetime. Watch at your own risk, these are people you simply love to hate.

If you love movies, and movies about movies, you will love this film

[mystery12 · 10/10 · 5 November 2006]

Exhibitionist – a review of Reel Paradise By Steve Fesenmaier Nov. 4, 2006 Since I started exhibiting films for a living in fall 1972, about a hundred people have told me that I should make a film about my amazing life, and write an autobiography. Most recently Ken Hechler told me that I should write a book – I am helping him write a book about a "Supermarine" and working with Russ Barbour on a two-hour film about him, "Ken Hechler – In Search of Justice." Since I write a weekly Graffiti column, and spend most of my free time showing films, or writing about them, or previewing them for one of the several film festivals I program including The WV Jewish Film Festival and The WV Filmmakers Film Festival, I really don't have time. But there is finally a film that in certain ways shows the peculiar life I have led for more than three decades – Steve James' film about American indie promoter John Pierson in "Reel Paradise." Pierson met his wife while working at Film Forum in NYC, working for Karen Cooper. Over the years he helped fund Spike Lee's first film, wrote the best book on contemporary American indie films, "Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes," and hosted a cable show," Split Screen." He has spent most of his adult life, as I have, showing films, and promoting them in various ways. He finally decided to take his wife and two teenage children as far from America as he could, finding the 180 Meridian (International Dateline, where the day officially changes) Cinema in the Fiji Islands, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Steve James, who made the sensational "Hoop Dreams" and "Stevie," both world-class biographical films, spent the last month on the island filming Pierson and the amazing life he was leading.

The highlights of the story include tracking down the thief who stole computers, passports, and other items from their home; the problems the two teenagers have living in such a primordial place, and the joys and defeats Pierson experiences while showing free, 35 mm., current films to such an isolated group of people. Films included "Jackass" (because his son suggested it) to "Bend It Like Beckham" to a Buster Keaton film. (He got married at Film Forum and screened a Buster Keaton film as part of his wedding ceremony. My wedding ceremony took place at the Dunbar Public Library after a New Orleans feast and several hours of Les Blank films with him serving as best man and visiting celebrity.) The most interesting part of the film is the brief discussion of the only opposition he faced on the island – from the missionary Catholic Church which also ran the "college" where his children attended school. They were against the "free" aspect of the films, thinking that it undermined their teaching that one has to work hard for everything. Pierson had to show the films free since few of the islanders could afford any admission fee.

I wondered why Pierson did not set up some kind of class on film-making at the local high school. I myself have always been involved with young would-be filmmakers, serving on the national board of a group, Cinema Six, whose board included Dr. Wayne Dyer and people at Lucasfilm. Locally, I have been on the board of the local communications dept. at WVSU, the only college in the state with a film school type program, and co-founded the WV International Film Festival, which has an annual student film competition. Perhaps Pierson didn't want to formalize his film program that would discourage adults, etc. from attending.

He was overjoyed introducing and watching the audience, mainly children laugh out loud with joy at the films. I certainly can identify with this feeling since I myself have enjoyed it since 1972, introducing the world's greatest films and filmmakers in person from 1972-78, and here in West Virginia, bringing many of my friends including Les Blank twice here, and many others including William Sloan from MOMA (who has a real MLS in library science and founded the NYPL film program), Linda Duchin from New Yorker Films, Dennis Doros from Milestone Films, Mitchell Block from Direct Cinema, John Hoskyns-Abrahall from Bullfrog Films, Mimi Pickering from Appalshop, and a hundred more.

I don't know how interesting the average film-goer would find this film. Likewise for other recent films about movies like "Cinemania," about NYC film fanatics who live for "competitive movie watching. " I recently saw a great film, "Ticket to Jerusalem" about a Palestinian film exhibitor who loved to show films to children in his house, and even better was "Mine Cine Tupy," a short documentary about a Latin American man who literally created a film theater for children out of parts he found on the street or junkyards. Recently a great documentary on perhaps the single greatest film exhibitor of all time, Henri Langlois, was released – "Phantom of the Cinematheque." I recall a film from Australian, "The Picture Show Man," that chronicled the life of an early 1930s era traveling film exhibitor through the Bush. "A Very Curious Girl," a hit French New Wave film, uses a local cine club as the focus of its portrait of a young girl growing up in France in the 1960s.

Since we have more than a century of movies, and people still love them despite the reality of YouTube and the entire web-movie mania sweeping the world, you may find this film worthwhile. If you enjoyed films like Les Blank's "Burden of Dreams" and "Heart of Darkness" about the making of Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," you would enjoy this film.

Disturbing Film

[sweetwater1980 · 1/10 · 4 January 2006]

John Pierson's goal was to immortalize himself on film. Mission accomplished. However, this indie film was quite disturbing on several levels. John and Janet Pierson don't have the first clue on how to be parents. John came across in the film as emotionally immature, self centered, and arrogant. He and Janet were completely out of control as parents. They provided absolutely no guidance, structure, or direction to their children. The children were in control. The parents were not. Georgia, the daughter, was especially obnoxious and disrespectful. Their parental skills were so lacking that it was disturbing to watch.

It was also disturbing to watch John Pierson's arrogance and total disregard for the Fijian people and their culture. He was such an Ugly American. He claims to disdain American culture. Why does he show American movies to the locals? Why does he behave so obnoxiously when he is a guest in another country?

I have no use for Catholicism or the Catholic Church, but the church was a far better influence on the local people than the self absorbed antics of an idiot like John Pierson.

Self promotion at its worst! Indie film-making at its worst!

Independent film at its best.

[austinhomey · 9/10 · 7 February 2006]

I didn't know much about this film going in, but I am glad I saw it.

The challenging environment that this family meets head on in this intriguing movie shows the ability of humans to adapt beautifully to stressful situations. And Steve James made a brilliant film that observes this process.

I found Reel Paradise to be engrossing from start to finish. Every scene is a gem of reality that TV series can only hope to match. And the Pierson family, parents John and Janet and children Wyatt and Georgia, are fascinating individually and as a unit.

Anthropologists will find the push and pull of the cultures to be of great interest. Candor abounds. The Piersons are to be applauded for letting Steve James peer so deeply into their lives. And I would only hope that every child in the country could be so tough and strong as Georgia and Wyatt.

I haven't had a film "go by so fast" in quite a while.

Unlike anything you've ever seen before. Sheer Genius.

[tralfaz · 10/10 · 16 August 2005]

Steve James' film is amazing. The only thing more amazing is the unique family of John and Janet Pierson, and their brilliant and appropriately wonderful children, and their participation in this film that captures their incredible journey from the world of NY indie film-making to the middle of f***n nowhere, where the free-spirited family obtains an experience they will never forget.

This film should win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and the Piersons, one and all four, should be recognized for having had the courage, tenacity, and the ability to be so open to a totally foreign culture, and bridge their gap through cinema.

Take STAR WARS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, FANTASTIC FOUR, and all the other pre-frabricated Hollywood crap and burn it forever. This is what cinema and life is all about.

All hail Mr. James...and the amazing Pierson family. If only my family was so cool :)

Village Idiot

[pacificheights94115 · 1/10 · 6 January 2006]

John Pierson imposed himself, his wife, and his two children on the natives of a remote island in Fiji. The island could have used resources for education and health care. John Pierson "contributed" by showing movies to the island people. He didn't even know how to use the projector. He was just present.

He showed loathing for one positive outlet the children on the island had, their school.

He had no regard for the Fijian people, their culture, or their future. He imported the very worst in American culture (extremely poor parental guidance, instruction, discipline, structure). He was loud, boorish, and obnoxious in his host country.

The documentary has no point. It is meant to be funny, but it just shows a selfish idiot who imposes himself on people who didn't ask him to come. He made a fool of himself, but at least he starred in his own documentary.

Layers of self-absorption

[mediadave · 2/10 · 7 April 2008]

I've been on a documentary jag recently and I've seen a lot of them, across a wide range of production value and personal interest.

I ran across REEL PARADISE and found it REEL HARD TO WATCH. Like sitting next to a really annoying family at a restaurant, I found myself listening in on the conversation and being oddly fascinated with the inanity but ultimately wondering why I wasted my time.

You know the gist of the story--indie film guy takes his family to Fiji to show free movies at the local theater. You might think there'd be much to discuss about whether it's a good idea to bring American film into rural Fijian culture in this way, but the way they went about it is so obviously wrong-headed that it isn't discussable at all.

OK, it's one thing for the Pierson family (including two of the most poorly parented teens you can imagine) to be self-absorbed while immersed in a meaningless project in Fiji. It's another thing to shoot a documentary on it. Perhaps that's where it should have ended. But to have edited the footage and released this to the world is the height of self-absorption on the part of the filmmakers.

I see no redeeming qualities in the people, the project, nor the film.

Disappointed

[imdb-448 · 2/10 · 18 November 2007]

We rented Reel Paradise anticipating a look into the trials of running a movie theater in a remote location, and dealing with cultural and language challenges. Evidently there weren't enough trials to fill the film, so the trials of being urban Americans in a non-urban culture filled in the gaps.

It was embarrassing to watch the teenage Fijian girl tell the camera how it's strange to watch the American girl talk to her parents. "We don't... talk like that". The tattooed and pierced American 16 year old did what and who she wanted. Not terribly related to running a theater, and not terribly interesting.

John proved to be rude and condescending to the Fijians, as well as his landlord. He insulted the school and church on the island, and showed the movies half way through the local mass, saying, they're going to have to make a choice.

As a fan of documentaries, and the new infotainment from Michael Moore and others, I was looking forward to a good independent film. What we got was an unfortunate display of how Americans act away from home, and why so many people around the world don't like us.

One of the few DVD's we have ever turned off before finishing.

Poor In Every Way

[johanrattus · 1/10 · 16 February 2015]

Doesn't even qualify as a movie. This is a home video made by the Pierson family, all about the Pierson family, in Fiji and the final month of the year they spent embarrassing themselves and America. Self-centered, self-absorbed, grandstanding, foul, irritating, unlikable, abrasive jerks filming themselves, and denigrating the native Fijians while they're at it. There is nothing redeeming about any of them or the drivel on this DVD. I mentioned donating the DVD to Goodwill but my movie companion said don't make someone else watch it, and she's absolutely right. Trash bin. The fact that this scored a 6.5 on IMDb and positive comments on the DVD cover calls the entire process into serious question. My guess is the Pierson family spent much of their abundant free time pumping up their own ratings. It is horrible. Cut your wrists - you'll have more fun.