mediadave I've been on a documentary jag recently and I've seen a lot of them, across a wide range of production value and personal interest.I ran across REEL PARADISE and found it REEL HARD TO WATCH. Like sitting next to a really annoying family at a restaurant, I found myself listening in on the conversation and being oddly fascinated with the inanity but ultimately wondering why I wasted my time.You know the gist of the story--indie film guy takes his family to Fiji to show free movies at the local theater. You might think there'd be much to discuss about whether it's a good idea to bring American film into rural Fijian culture in this way, but the way they went about it is so obviously wrong-headed that it isn't discussable at all.OK, it's one thing for the Pierson family (including two of the most poorly parented teens you can imagine) to be self-absorbed while immersed in a meaningless project in Fiji. It's another thing to shoot a documentary on it. Perhaps that's where it should have ended. But to have edited the footage and released this to the world is the height of self-absorption on the part of the filmmakers. I see no redeeming qualities in the people, the project, nor the film.

postmanwhoalwaysringstwice "Reel Paradise" documents the events surrounding the final month of an American family's one year stay on a remote Fujian island. Even though it deals mostly with John Pierson, previously a highly persuasive voice in promoting independent film, and his trek to show the locals free films, what really is exhibited is another example of Americans attempting to impose their culture onto another.The film presents a very interesting view of film as an art form, and the film comedy as somewhat of a universal language. We were offered several opportunities to watch a myriad of films with the locals, who went wild over low brow comedy but remained as perplexed with student films as many in every population.It's a fascinating documentary that deals not only with John's activities surrounding the theater, but it also follows the lives of his wife and two children who seem to get more from the experience in the end, as they build relationships. Sadly, John's vision seemed so singular that he went to the island to accomplish one goal, and that's the only thing he really accomplished. One almost feels that he missed the point entirely of what can be gained from the population of the island. He knew what he offered, but he seemed mostly like he was just herding the proverbial cattle into his theater and getting frustrated with the local help.

robototron This movie is well made. It's amusing. It is an interesting portrait of families, cultures, and their various clashes as well has harmonies. It has a bit of an arc to it - enough to keep it going.But this is no "Stevie" and it's no "Hoop Dreams," either. The true drama and tension and weight simply isn't there. What we have here is a wealthy and successful family attempting a sort of experiment. Yeah, it's meaningful; yeah, there are lessons to be learned; yeah, you care what happens. But it's not moving or powerful.Then again, let it be a testament to Steve James and how he skilled he is that he can take a REALLY scant subject like this and spin it into a doco worth watching. Still, I'd prefer it if he returned to the more weighty subjects

austinhomey I didn't know much about this film going in, but I am glad I saw it.The challenging environment that this family meets head on in this intriguing movie shows the ability of humans to adapt beautifully to stressful situations. And Steve James made a brilliant film that observes this process.I found Reel Paradise to be engrossing from start to finish. Every scene is a gem of reality that TV series can only hope to match. And the Pierson family, parents John and Janet and children Wyatt and Georgia, are fascinating individually and as a unit.Anthropologists will find the push and pull of the cultures to be of great interest. Candor abounds. The Piersons are to be applauded for letting Steve James peer so deeply into their lives. And I would only hope that every child in the country could be so tough and strong as Georgia and Wyatt.I haven't had a film "go by so fast" in quite a while.