« March Of The Penguins | Main | Can We Be In The PDX Film Fest Please? »
Tell Them Who You Are
by j_john
Much like 2003's My Architect, Tell Them Who You Are by Mark Wexler is a documentary where the subject eventually takes a back seat to the documentarian. In both instances the filmmakers undertake these projects as a way to explore who they are in relation to their famous father figures. These sons hope to shed some light onto their troubled relationships and help them understand why it is so difficult to live in the shadows of such revered men.
The main difference between these two films is evident the first time you hear the subject of Tell Them... speak--Haskell Wexler, a renowned and politically outspoken cinematographer is still around to give us his views on not only cinema, but anything and everything that comes to mind. (In My Architect, there was never any chance to find out what the the subject, Louis Kahn, thought of his son Nathaniel, since he died many years before the film was made.) The elder Wexler rants and rages at the injustices in the world like an impassioned college student, while his Republican son tries with varying success to determine what to capture and include in this intriguing portrait of an artist.
My only exposure to Wexler was through his collaborations with John Sayles on Matewan, The Secret of Roan Inish, Limbo, and most recently Silver City. One look at his filmography and it's apparent he has worked on some diverse and mostly memorable films--One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest being the most notable, especially since he was fired for having too many differing opinions on the production. His constant need to speak his mind seems like it got in the way of allowing him to be more productive, especially when it came time for him to take the director's chair. I still haven't seen his 1969 film Medium Cool, but the footage they showed presented an amazing document of the era's political climate, mixing dramatic acting with real footage of a protest outside the 68 Democratic Convention.
Of course, all of this information was pulled out of the larger picture, as Mark tries to find some better understanding of the strained father-son dynamic after interviewing all of the various film industry people that have worked with Haskell over the years. I suppose I can sympathize with his goals, but I generally much prefer for a documentary to actually be about the subject, and not the person behind the camera.
