So, the cinetrix and the 'Fesser finally watched Grizzly Man this weekend. Talk about turning the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom* on its ass ear! Timothy Treadwell combines Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler with Prince Valiant and Peter Pan.
Before I say anything about the film, I'd like to chime in with the chorus of complaint. It is ludicrous that Grizzly will not be nominated for an Academy Award. [I took a pass on 39 Pounds of Love, the doc most often identified as the interloper that edged out Grizzly, when it screened at Full Frame, and I'd make the same decision today]. But I don't think this film needs an Academy Award to reach an audience. The publicity about its non-nom works just as well.
Anyhow, part of the reason we saw it when we did is that I'd been entertaining the idea of showing the film for our class unit on documentary, with perhaps a little of Les Blank's Burden of Dreams thrown in for flava. Now that I've seen it, I probably won't. Not because I didn't love it, mind, but because it functions as a "documentary" on such a meta level I fear some of the basic precepts of the form might get lost in the grizzly maze.
But what I would like to recommend to you all is a visit with the nearly hour-long additional doc on the dvd, which deals with how musicians like Richard Thompson and Jim O'Rourke composed the score. You may think an hour in which the notorious dry wit Thompson is rarely permitted to crack wise is far too long to devote to the subject, but you'd be wrong. See, Werner is right there in the recording studio with them, dispensing such pearls of wisdom as
I can thank God on my knees that cinema is probably the closest to music you can find.
Amen. But better still is his correction when the producer asks about the function of music in a certain scene [and here you really must adopt your most withering, German-accented voice]:
There's never anything like background music in my films.
Indeed. Still not convinced? Well, even if you've seen Grizzly Man before, you just haven't lived until you've seen Jim O'Rourke's impersonation of Timothy Treadwell.
*Please note: You can watch classic clips from "Wild Kingdom" on the show's site. For that viewing experience, I recommend a soundtrack of Bell Orchestre.
