One of my concerns was that of copyrighted items, which are shown briefly throughout the film, and rather glaringly so, in a shot of Kamikaze’s apartment when he pulled several items, including a name-brand light beer, out of his fridge. Since the budget includes legal aspects, of which I am sure permits were a large part, I would hope that a part of that was used to secure permission to use those copyrights on film or to find out if the use of them falls under "fair use." (This is another area that first-time filmmakers tend to overlook. While many documentaries can make a case for "fair use" since the brand is part of the environment the person is living in, if a company wants to state that showing their brand name in a certain type of documentary casts an unfavorable light on their brand, they can cause it to really come back to bite the filmmaker. This can even end up causing a film to be unable to be shown in public. For more on the showing of brand names in films, check out our legal article, What Can and Can't Be Visible on Set.)
Lasting Appeal
This film has already been shown in several film festivals and, not surprisingly, its two wins were in both the Coney and Staten Island festivals. This seems like the type of film that New Yorkers would connect to, but that folks outside the area might not react to as strongly. Perhaps one way to draw non-New Yorkers in would be to use the suggestions mentioned above – have a more concrete structure, consistent narration, or even a brief history of bike messengers in New York City.
My other concern is that the director tried to turn what should be a straightforward documentary into more of an art film (as mentioned in the visual section above.) Mixing genres creates more confusion, unless there is a very good reason to mix them, because typically a film ought to have a consistent look – and a documentary even more so.
Given Hollywood’s recent trend toward “indie” films, they have tried very hard to mimic the low-budget look, often with less-than-stellar results (i.e. Domino.) And, unfortunately, many microfilmmakers have gotten it into their heads that they must imitate this kind of look as well. This makes about as much sense as paying $100 for a pair of jeans that look as if they have been through a wood chipper, as opposed to buying a pair from Goodwill and distressing them yourself. (And if any of our readers can’t see the logic in this, I think you’re in the wrong business).
Overall Comment
One of this film’s strengths is its uniqueness. I doubt many New Yorkers think of bike messengers as anything other than an annoyance, and certainly very few would consider doing a documentary on them. A filmmaker’s ability to create a story out of the unusual is a great asset, and director Gary Beeber deserves a great deal of credit for thinking this one up.
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Content |
6.4 |
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Visual
Look |
8.1 |
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Use
of Audio |
9.1 |
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Use
of Budget |
8.5 |
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Lasting
Appeal |
7.0 |
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Overall
Score |
7.8 |
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