In this engaging film, two innocent, smiling nuns hit the streets of Chicago in 1968 to ask its citizens how happy they are
The second film by what would grow into Chicago powerhouse outfit Kartemquin, this 1968 documentary curio has the fun conceit of sending two smiling nuns out into the Windy City to quiz citizens about their lives. Directors Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner were inspired by Jean Rouch’s 1960 cinéma vérité touchstone Chronicle of a Summer. “How much should we do?” wonders Sister Marie Arné as she and Sister Mary Campion gather themselves before setting forth. Her efforts to demarcate their interviewing are almost a manifesto statement for the rawness with which vérité’s American counterpart, Direct Cinema, sought to encounter daily reality.
“Are you happy?” is what the sisters settle on: a humdinger they put to people in the streets, outside shopping malls, in museum and art galleries, to working men,...
The second film by what would grow into Chicago powerhouse outfit Kartemquin, this 1968 documentary curio has the fun conceit of sending two smiling nuns out into the Windy City to quiz citizens about their lives. Directors Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner were inspired by Jean Rouch’s 1960 cinéma vérité touchstone Chronicle of a Summer. “How much should we do?” wonders Sister Marie Arné as she and Sister Mary Campion gather themselves before setting forth. Her efforts to demarcate their interviewing are almost a manifesto statement for the rawness with which vérité’s American counterpart, Direct Cinema, sought to encounter daily reality.
“Are you happy?” is what the sisters settle on: a humdinger they put to people in the streets, outside shopping malls, in museum and art galleries, to working men,...
- 5/22/2019
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
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