Considering the subject matter of Albert Brook's first feature, Real Life, it's quite remarkable and quite frankly depressing, how much foresight the film shows in what has become what we now know as 'Reality TV'. Real Life is a wicked and highly amusing satire that sees Albert Brooks playing "Albert Brooks", an arrogant comedian turned filmmaker who has decided to create a documentary centered around the "typical American family". After an highly technical and exhaustive screening process led by Brooks and the studio to find the "perfect American family" is carried out, the Yeager family from Phoenix, Arizona is selected. Moving in across the street and having cameras filming day and night, Albert Brooks' chronicles the Yeager families' lives, with the support of psychiatrists and sociologists who wish to document what Brook's has described as "true reality". Of course things don't quite go as planned, with Brook's antics and high-tech cameras becoming incredibly obtrusive for the Yeager family, which begins to lead to drastic emotional changes and distress. Brooks never seems to write roles for himself that are sympathetic or likable and Real Life certainly isn't the exception, as he portrays himself as an arrogant, self-obsessed comedian who will stop at nothing to create what he perceives is his great masterpiece. Brooks is a character who never takes any suggestions from anyone, whether it be his subjects or his psychologists, constantly attempting to manipulate and craft the story he hopes to create. Real Life argues that inherent distraction of filmmaking makes it essentially impossible to document reality when the subjects are completely aware, setting its sights on the manipulative practices of egomaniac creatives and studioheads who have no issues destroying the lives of the Yeagers for their own personal gain. I particularly loved a sequence in the middle of the film, which finds Brooks in a meeting with the psychiatrist, socialogist, and studio, as they discuss the success of the production so far. While the scientists argue that the filming has strongly altered the reality of the Yeagers, Brooks isn't having it, headstrong in the belief that he is creating true drama. The studio exec shows little interest as well, instead focusing on trying to convince Brooks to introduce a big name star into the film for financial reasons, having absolutely no interest in being true to the "reality" which Brooks is so hellbent on creating/simulating, with only the almighty dollar in mind.. Full of lots of fun satirical moments that poke fun at Hollywood, Reality TV, and creative types in general, Real Life ends with a wonderfully realized finale, which finds Brooks on the verge of a nervous breakdown, eventually setting fire to the Yeager's house in a last ditch effort to create drama, due to his own twisted addiction to making a successful film.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|