by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
Have you ever wanted to love a film so bad for it to only disappoint you? When I heard there was an almost three-hour documentary about the 21st century of filmmaking, I was quite excited. I am such a huge cinephile, and the prospects of a deep and diverse dive into the world of cinema was tantalizing. But much to my surprise, it was not quite what I expected. I am all for subverting expectations, but just that doesn’t always mean that it will be for the best.
What does The Story of Film: A New Generation offer up to its audience? The film works as a video essay that is just short of three-hours. I am all for checking out some video essays on YouTube (there are plenty of great channels to check out), but 167 minutes worth? That is quite overwhelming. It is also a challenging undertaking to thread together a coherent narrative and structure to keep the film going. There are tons of ideas that writer-director Mark Cousins is throwing at the audience over the course of that time.
But what is the approach that Cousins takes with presenting his ideas? From the start, we are hooked with a strange comparison between two incredibly popular films, Joker and Frozen. It was a smart idea to start with such popular works to grab the attention of the audience quickly. But Cousins does not settle for just analyzing popular cinema. Most of this film is tackling international and independent films that you probably have never heard of (or ones you know so much about despite never actually watching them). The film is broken into a variety of types of films from slow burns to observational documentaries to motion capture presentation. The unfortunate fact is that the film feels listless in the way that it floats from one topic to the next. There also does not seem to be a clear and focused thesis.
What is the approach that Cousins takes with presenting his thoughts to the audience? Narration. The voiceover done by Cousins is not the strongest. There is a strange cadence that he utilizes while discussing his thoughts that make them feel less confident and somewhat jumbled. The awkwardness of the narration makes for a strange viewing experience, as you get distracted by the voiceover instead of learning from it. There is also something to be said about the actual analysis that Cousins provides. With such a film, its quality equates to the quality of the thoughts presented in them. Since Cousins offers up such a mixed bag, the film overall feels that way too. There are some deeply insightful perspectives on some of the films he discusses, but he should have made a few shorter essays instead. The rest of the film feels like half-baked ideas or confusing ones. But the worst is when the perspectives feel nonsensical.
In the end, what value does The Story of Film: A New Generation offer? From a cinephile’s perspective, there is the idea that this feels like a great way to create an extensive and diverse watchlist. That might not feel like it should be the biggest takeaway, but it sure does turn out that way. If you love film, you might even be likely to undertake such a long film experience just for some specific and limited impressive insights. But let’s get this straight, this is not a film for anyone that does not love film.
Score: 5/10
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