Ignore the "best documentary every made" reviews you see here -- the truth lies in the reviews that are 5 stars or less. I was seduced on Amazon Prime by the title, description and nice camera work in the preview, but don't repeat my mistake.
This documentary reminded me strongly of another documentary I watched by an actor/aspiring indie filmmaker friend of mine. He was fascinated by his grandfather and spent months following this poor man around filming him. When it was all done he catered a big party at a producer/friend's mansion for a premiere. About a hundred people were there and there was much anticipation about this film that my friend had been hyping for months. And in the end we all had to sit through an hour-and-a-half of his grandfather talking about his first wife, his divorce, and his career as a train conductor. Then the film ended.
That's what this film is like. You meet this eccentric, semi-charming but basically unremarkable and ultimately unlikeable bum who seems to have accomplished nothing with his life and has some obsession with a walking stick he found on a lake in Scotland and a potential connection to lost treasure. He is self-absorbed and embittered towards his 90-year-old mother (the most interesting person in the film by the way) for having the nerve of living so long and holding him back. In the end you are just left with three questions: Is this guy crazy? Or is he just a jerk? And finally, why was this film even made? One gets the impression the director knew this guy and figured there was something interesting in his life but after shooting tons of footage realizes there isn't any there there and just edits something together to justify his efforts.
This documentary reminded me strongly of another documentary I watched by an actor/aspiring indie filmmaker friend of mine. He was fascinated by his grandfather and spent months following this poor man around filming him. When it was all done he catered a big party at a producer/friend's mansion for a premiere. About a hundred people were there and there was much anticipation about this film that my friend had been hyping for months. And in the end we all had to sit through an hour-and-a-half of his grandfather talking about his first wife, his divorce, and his career as a train conductor. Then the film ended.
That's what this film is like. You meet this eccentric, semi-charming but basically unremarkable and ultimately unlikeable bum who seems to have accomplished nothing with his life and has some obsession with a walking stick he found on a lake in Scotland and a potential connection to lost treasure. He is self-absorbed and embittered towards his 90-year-old mother (the most interesting person in the film by the way) for having the nerve of living so long and holding him back. In the end you are just left with three questions: Is this guy crazy? Or is he just a jerk? And finally, why was this film even made? One gets the impression the director knew this guy and figured there was something interesting in his life but after shooting tons of footage realizes there isn't any there there and just edits something together to justify his efforts.
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