Delayed Reaction: Cameraperson

The Pitch: A documentary cinematographer cuts together a movie out of extra-footage from other projects of hers over the years.

2016 had a lot of good documentaries. It was lousy with them and I've probably saw more documentaries from that year already than I have for any other year. Some were fantastic (OJ: Made in America, Tower). Many were passionate (13th, Audrie & Daisy, The Witness). In  some cases, the story was so compelling that it didn't matter how well made the documentary was (Author: The JT Leroy Story, Holy Hell, The Lovers & The Despot). And there's still a lot that I'm looking forward to seeing (Wiener, I Am Not Your Negro, Kate Plays Christine). If OJ: Made in America and 13th were the most highly praised docs of the year, Cameraperson wasn't far behind. More than the other two, Cameraperson struck me as the kind of documentary that would be more appealing to critics than general audiences. There's no narrative structure to it. No narration. It takes a while to get used to the rhythm of the film. Overall, I liked it. It's simple, effective, well-edited, and a little ballsy. Figuring out the thematic significance requires a sort of "choose-your-own-adventure" approach.  By the end, it all feels right. It can be rough to push through the first 30 minutes or so, because it really does feel like a bunch of random footage put together. Around that point, it all starts to make sense in an ineffable way. Even if that didn't happen and it was just a bunch of random clips, that would've been fine by me. As long as the footage is interesting, I don't need to feel like it's going anywhere. I'm not as enamored by this film as some, but I still liked it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend