The Maysles Brothers documentary edited by Charlotte Zwerin unfolds like a narrative fiction drama. From the opening Reservoir Dogs credits to the filmmakers POV central character the luckless salesman (note why the film was called Salesman not Salesmen) Paul Brennan, the story of these Boston bible salesmen on a trip to Florida is an American classic much like Death of a Salesman or Glengarry Glen Ross. It just happens to be a documentary. There is no voice over, no titles to tell us what is happening, no music cues or stings just what comes over the car radio. That this film was shot and cut on 16mm is more astounding in this digital era. Like door to door salesmen over the years so has Cinema Verite fallen out of vogue, replaced by filmmakers telling stories rather than showing them. More than any other genre documentaries are found in the edit but still need to be shot for the cut. Note not a single interview in the film, that takes conviction. What really sticks out the most when you watch the clip is... how simple the editing is. Remember this film was cut likely on a 16mm flat bed with maybe two tracks for sound sync. Too make any effect it meant marking the scenes up and sending them back to the lab for optical printing. Now watch any film on Vimeo and see how often the simplest shot films are dummied up with horrible post effects, sound and color correction when if the filmmaker had discovered his film while shooting it would have made a better film. Keep it simple, keep your cutting honest.
15 сен 2024
