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Forgotten Silver

1996, Movie, NR, 52 mins

Forgotten Silver: Review

FORGOTTEN SILVER
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An extended in-joke, this 1995 mockumentary purports to examine the brilliant career of New Zealand filmmaker Colin MacKenzie who, toiling in utter obscurity Down Under, single-handedly beat the acknowledged pioneers to such cinematic landmarks as the tracking shot, the close-up, color photography, the portable motion-picture camera, synchronized sound and feature-length filmmaking. Narrated by Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson (who codirected with compatriot Costa Botes), the film explores the Job-like run of bad luck that dogged MacKenzie's career from the time he was just a farm lad making his own film from flax leaves and egg whites: His first sound feature, an action-packed tale of feudal China called "The Warrior Season," fails because all the dialogue is in... Chinese. His first color test footage, filmed in Tahiti, lands him in jail on pornography charges because bare-breasted native girls keep wandering into his shot of brilliantly colored tropical foliage. His epic, feature-length "Salome" is interrupted by one catastrophe after another: His brother is killed in World War I; the American stock market crashes, ruining the principal investor; new funding comes from the Soviet government, with the proviso that the biblical story be recast as revolutionary propaganda; the Mafia comes looking for MacKenzie; and his pregnant wife -- who stars as Salome -- collapses on the set with only one shot to go. It's a rather slight joke, brilliantly executed: The faux archival footage, the labored overrating of events of minor historical interest and the talking-heads chats with the experts that characterize slightly pompous TV documentaries are aped with lethal accuracy. Interview subjects include Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein, New Zealand actor Sam Neill and critic Leonard Maltin, all of whom appear to be enjoying the prank immensely. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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