Home Theater Forum - View Single Post - 2003 Foreign, Alternative and Independent Films

Doug D · 04-24-2003, 01:06 PM

I saw STEVIE yesterday. It's a fascinating film - it starts off promising but not "holy crap this is interesting", and then a big dramatic revelation 20 minutes in throws everything open.

What's interesting about it is that it winds up becoming about as much as the making of the film as the character ostensibly being profiled - Steve James (the director) becomes a major onscreen character, and is grilled on his motives by others in the film. If you took the BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE model of filmmaker/narrator but made it honest - can you imagine Michael Moore saying "I wanted to get some damning footage of Charlton Heston, so I brought along a picture of a dead girl to ambush him with?" - you'd get something along the lines of STEVIE. Some may find James a little defensive at points, but I think it's an honest reflection of what he's feeling.

I will say that it's also one of the ugliest films I've ever seen. Apparently it was shot on super 16mm and then mastered on digital and printed to film from there, but plenty of shots looked just like flat out bad dv (though, thinking about it, I guess there was greater color depth than usually seen in DV, but that's about the only exception). There's also places that aren't entirely in sync, even. So if you have to see it at home, it's probably not the end of the world - although being in the theater did help a lot with the relentless feeling of being trapped in this world that Stevie, and those around him, must feel.

04-24-2003, 01:06 PM	#152 of 409
Doug D Member Join Date: May 1999 Local Time: 09:23 AM Local Date: 10-11-2008 Posts: 238	I saw STEVIE yesterday. It's a fascinating film - it starts off promising but not "holy crap this is interesting", and then a big dramatic revelation 20 minutes in throws everything open. What's interesting about it is that it winds up becoming about as much as the making of the film as the character ostensibly being profiled - Steve James (the director) becomes a major onscreen character, and is grilled on his motives by others in the film. If you took the BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE model of filmmaker/narrator but made it honest - can you imagine Michael Moore saying "I wanted to get some damning footage of Charlton Heston, so I brought along a picture of a dead girl to ambush him with?" - you'd get something along the lines of STEVIE. Some may find James a little defensive at points, but I think it's an honest reflection of what he's feeling. I will say that it's also one of the ugliest films I've ever seen. Apparently it was shot on super 16mm and then mastered on digital and printed to film from there, but plenty of shots looked just like flat out bad dv (though, thinking about it, I guess there was greater color depth than usually seen in DV, but that's about the only exception). There's also places that aren't entirely in sync, even. So if you have to see it at home, it's probably not the end of the world - although being in the theater did help a lot with the relentless feeling of being trapped in this world that Stevie, and those around him, must feel.