We journalists love to recall from time to time in a new/old report, with all the gravity, pose and pomposity possible, the epic feat that represented the intense filming of Fitzcarraldo (1982). Almost all of these texts are a rehash of what has already been told in The weight of dreamsa how it was made turned into a documentary that shows Werner Herzog as a filmmaker in trouble, trying to survive the inclemencies of the Peruvian jungle and, what is worse, the psyche of Klaus Kinski, its leading actor. The fourth season of Documentary Now!, series composed of sketches humorous that review the history of the documentary genre and that can be seen in its entirety on AMC+, begins by laughing at it all.
In the first two episodes, Alexander Skarsgård plays Rainer Wolz, a filmmaker (after Herzog) who is preparing a documentary about an indigenous people in the Russian Ural Mountains. Due to things in the entertainment industry, he is also in charge of carrying out, sharing space and resources, the pilot of a not very brainy sitcom for the new television season: Single babysitter. If the nonsense sounds like a gag Saturday night Live It’s because all the creators of this semi-unknown gem have been through the legendary comedy show, including Seth Meyers, Bill Harder and Fred Armisen. But, this time, his comedy scenes last at least 20 minutes.
One of the most interesting things about the experiment is seeing established actors—Cate Blanchett and Jonathan Price also appear in this new batch of installments—walking along the fine wire of parody, which so closely stops them from falling into excess. They have at their side an expert tightrope walker, Armisen himself, brilliant and extremely accomplished in that missile against the problems of the millennial bourgeoisie that was comedy. portlandia.
Documentary Now! It challenges the viewer on several levels. There are those who can see it as a comedy show without further ado, without needing to know the references from which its gags are inspired. It works perfectly. The chapters dedicated to Herzog take the German filmmaker as a starting point to end by mocking the complexities and absurd clauses that any actor or director encounters on a shoot. And the joke in another of its episodes at the expense of the Belgian Agnès Varda – who has so much bad blood to take advantage of a being as charming and earthly as her? – is still a half-funny and confusing look at a group of Americans toward European culture and lifestyle. But for moviegoers, this curious format could be an even more alternative version of the mythical Testimonialsof The chanante hour.
There is also an intermediate space for those who wish, through laughter and with an internet search engine in hand, to learn more about the documentary genre and independent cinema. Because each episode is an exercise in different style, which imitates the aesthetic modes of those it parodies. With them, it awakens a reflection on how rich and creative the languages of documentary have been since long before it became, a few years ago and in parallel with the rise of digital platforms, mass entertainment.
Documentary Now! It reminds us that non-fiction can host auteur cinema as personal as that made from fiction. And that Hollywood, that factory of fleeting stories, often easily forgettable, is also capable of launching the most caustic criticism, towards others and towards themselves.
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