Holden Pike
12-20-01, 08:42 AM
Just released on video, Series 7: The Contenders (http://bzine.bscene.com.au/entertainment/reviews/i12/series7-0.jpg) is a timely satire of the TV media gone wrong (or rather, taking the next step from how wrong it has already gone). The movie is played as if we are watching a TV show called "The Contenders" (this is the seventh series). It is a reality program where five random contestants are chosen, given guns, then try to kill each other. The winner - meaning the one contestant left alive, moves on to the next game. If you win three games in a row, you are allowed to leave. You cannot refuse to play or flee.
This all takes place not in some stylized future like BladeRunner or even a very near future like RoboCop, but rather a regular suburb in a regular town (in this case a fictional town in Connecticut). The only conceit of the movie is that this TV gameshow is accepted as normal, and somehow or another sanctioned by the Government.
The style of the show is very much MTV's "Real World" or "Road Rules" combined with "Dateline" or "20/20". There are interviews and profiles, and it is mostly shot by hand-held video. Obviously the cut-throat aspect is just a notch or three above "Survivor". Perhaps not surprisingly, the writer/director Daniel Minahan really worked on network news magazines as a segment producer, so he knows the business and format intimately. I think it shows.
The movie doesn't go for 'jokes' (thankfully), and it doesn't really try to stress the satire in the actual performances, which are played straight. The satire comes in the way the fictional program is packaged, which is very much like something you'd see on American TV - minus the actual murders (maybe). It all works pretty well. The actors will all be unknowns to most, and that is crucial. This format wouldn't have worked with say Mel Gibson as one of the contestants...unless it was a "celebrity" version of the show - which actually is a great idea, now that I think of it. I've got some celebrities I'd like to see 'play'.
It's not a great or amazingly inventive movie, but it's a good idea and done well. It might not have actually been worth tracking down when it briefly played the art house circuit earlier this year, but now that it's available on video it is worth a look. Grade: B-.
This all takes place not in some stylized future like BladeRunner or even a very near future like RoboCop, but rather a regular suburb in a regular town (in this case a fictional town in Connecticut). The only conceit of the movie is that this TV gameshow is accepted as normal, and somehow or another sanctioned by the Government.
The style of the show is very much MTV's "Real World" or "Road Rules" combined with "Dateline" or "20/20". There are interviews and profiles, and it is mostly shot by hand-held video. Obviously the cut-throat aspect is just a notch or three above "Survivor". Perhaps not surprisingly, the writer/director Daniel Minahan really worked on network news magazines as a segment producer, so he knows the business and format intimately. I think it shows.
The movie doesn't go for 'jokes' (thankfully), and it doesn't really try to stress the satire in the actual performances, which are played straight. The satire comes in the way the fictional program is packaged, which is very much like something you'd see on American TV - minus the actual murders (maybe). It all works pretty well. The actors will all be unknowns to most, and that is crucial. This format wouldn't have worked with say Mel Gibson as one of the contestants...unless it was a "celebrity" version of the show - which actually is a great idea, now that I think of it. I've got some celebrities I'd like to see 'play'.
It's not a great or amazingly inventive movie, but it's a good idea and done well. It might not have actually been worth tracking down when it briefly played the art house circuit earlier this year, but now that it's available on video it is worth a look. Grade: B-.