At the start of the month I watched David Axe's latest film, Acorn for review. The film was meta in that it was about a filmmaker making a film within a film, and they in turn were being followed around by a documentary crew. Create or Die (directed, shot and edited by Sarah Massey) is a companion piece to that film, a more straightforward documentary, not only about the making of Acorn, but about Axe's creation process in general.
Having liked Acorn (personally thinking that it is Axe's best film to date), I was interested to see a behind the scenes documentary about its creation. I found this seventy minute piece to be really interesting, and also a bit inspiring. Not that I ever have any intention to do anything as creative as creating a film, but I could sense the drive that the director has, which compels him to carry on doing what he does. I could draw some very minor parallels with my perseverance with this blog, knowing full well that likely barely anyone ever reads it, but it is something that gives me personal satisfaction and a sense of leaving something behind for after I'm gone. Even if that something is just a poorly written blog where I critique the work of people that I could never create myself in a million years!
It was interesting to see how self deprecating Axe is, he openly admits that he doesn't think he is a good film maker, and that it is a constant work in progress. He states it is better to make bad movies than to make nothing at all, and that each film he does is a work in progress towards being a good filmmaker. It was cool to see his passion for filmmaking, despite his own criticisms of his ability as a creator, he is compelled to carry on, not for the hope of finding fame and fortune, but his own creativity as an artist.
The creation of Acorn itself made up a lot of the documentary. That this was shot over just three weeks and is essentially two films in one was impressive. Talking about the editing process, and how this was very nearly two separate films rather than one integrated whole was fascinating. Again with the passion, the director talking about the most important scenes in his own movie was so interesting to watch. This is of course intercut with clips from the film, and also features parts about his prior films, such as Lection and Bae Wolf. There are many talking head parts from people who worked on the film, both from the actors themselves, as well as crew members who have worked with Axe a lot over the years.
Maybe if you saw Acorn and didn't enjoy it then you wouldn't get so much out of this than I did. Usually I really am not a fan of behind the scenes stuff, I prefer to leave the creation process as much a mystery as possible to avoid me being pulled out of the movie I happen to be watching. I thought this was both really inspirational as well as enjoyable to watch. Best of all, the fantastic soundtrack from the film is used lots throughout, possibly the very best part of Acorn was that music, so a big plus for my enjoyment of Create or Die.
SCORE:
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