Live!

Actually everything you write about this movie is too much... This is a movie you have to know nothing about when you see it. I saw it at the Sneak Preview at my local cinema. I never heard anything about it before I saw it, never saw trailers, posters or whatever.

The movie starts of a bit slow... you will think: 'Is this it?' But really, after a while this movie gets so incredible... Even if it is only in the last half hour of the movie. That is just what you want to see it for. The last half hour.

I have nothing more to say, I do not wish to spoil the movie for you. Just go see it, you won't be disappointed.

If you can suspend your disbelief enough to accept a reality TV show featuring Russian roulette, then you might enjoy this movie. If it bothers you that they're even insinuating that this is possible, then you should probably just skip it.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much more to this movie than the initial concept of an offensive reality TV show. The first half of the movie is downright boring at parts. People argue back and forth about whether the concept is moral or not. Then they argue back and forth about whether it's legal. Then they argue about budget, advertisers, and other crap. Maybe all this setup is necessary, but it's not very interesting. Some of the actors were pretty good, but I found most of the writing, direction, and acting to be of TV quality. In fact, when I was watching this, I assumed it was a made-for-TV movie, and I was somewhat surprised to find out that it wasn't.

Of course, one could look at this as yet another commentary -- satire layered on top of satire -- but I'm simply not interested in analyzing whether poor camera work was some part of an overarching statement on TV, media, and film. The movie was not compelling enough for that.

The story is original and shocking. I don't understand people saying it's implausible, because "there would never be such a show on TV". After years of reality TV, facebook, no privacy, no anonymity and attention seeking people, I think this is exactly what could happen on TV soon. People get bored too fast, you see and read lots of crazy stuff on media nowadays and yes- people love to see other people suffer, get embarrassed and get hurt. We are a mean species of animals and this movie shows exactly that- Schadenfreude and Unfallglotzer (people starring at car crashes). I think this story is telling us something about ourselves. Even tough I would never want to approve such a TV show by watching it, I would probably still watch at least one episode out of curiosity and the pleasure of being shocked by something far away, that doesn't concern my life at all.

As reality television become staple programming, we have contestants playing games around the world, or just doing so on an island. We have those that propel some into instant fame upon winning a singing competition, and audience participation is key if ratings are to rocket through the sky. Live! allows the audience a little of behind the scenes action in a mockumentary that takes a look at how such programmes get conceived with always an eye looking at the ratings, and the other eye looking at potential revenue stream in the form of selling air time to advertisers.

Eva Mendes, who also serves as executive producer, stars as Katy, a network station's programming manager out to look for the next big thing to save their flagging station ratings amongst the CBS and the NBCs. In one brainstorming session, the thought of Russian roulette got bounced around, and given the nature of the game - where one puts a loaded gun to the head and pulls the trigger - it borders on simple human decency, and who would want to allow someone getting killed live on air being put out by their station?

And there's where the mockumentary kicks into full gear for the first hour, where we follow Katy (conveniently she has an indie film crew following her in a bid to make their own documentary) around the office and engage in some heavy politicking and lobbying of her brainchild through departments such as marketing, sales, legal as represented by corporate counsel Don (Andre Braugher) and even to convince the network presidents herself. And it is indeed interesting as you see all the corporate backstabbing, back-biting, and elevator pitches get delivered with conviction to sell something as radical as this, with the stroking of egos constantly being proved to be effective.

We also get to be chummy with the would be contestants, as we dig a little into their backgrounds as diverse as an extreme sports athlete, to a farmer struggling to keep his family afloat, from an actress wannabe, to a gay Latino looking for some self-respect. Naturally you expect some stereotyping here, but one thing common with everyone is, so long as you're holding a loaded gun to your head, all bets are off and only a pull of the trigger, if they survive, will decide if they get to stay alive and walk away with the prize money of US$5 million. Which makes you wonder, would you risk it all to do the same, for the same amount of money?

The last moments of the film provide that debut episode, and truth be told, it is rather interesting to watch, playing to our voyeuristic tendencies which make reality TV so popular these days. It's openly admitting to satisfying our blood lust, with death on screen for the masses, like old styled gladiatorial fights, or public executions where you deliberate attend just to see what you've come to see. Those unfamiliar with how live or game shows are produced, get a look behind the scenes as well in the coordination of technical expertise and manipulation to milk shots of the moment, for the goggle box audience.

While this is fiction through and through, I wouldn't help but shudder if one day we do have such game shows being put live on the air, packaged as entertainment. Written and directed by Bill Guttentag (who brought us the documentary Nanking), this film does seem rather plain sailing, until of course a shocker of a finale which you probably didn't see it coming, re-emphasizing of course, whether TV violence has a negative aspect to daily lives.

The greedy ABN television network executive Katy Coubert (Eva Mendes) is seeking a way to increase the audience of her network. She recalls the arenas, police car chases and several other examples through history to demonstrate that people enjoy watching blood and she has the idea of producing a controversial reality show of Russian Roulette with six contestants and five-million dollars for each winner. Katy has to convince the network Powers That Be that the show will be well successful and will increase the TV ratings while the network lawyer Don (Andre Braugher) convinces the authorities to allow the late night show.

Then she selects the six contestants: the aspirant actress Jewel (Katie Cassidy); the Mexican gay cook Pablo (Jay Hernandez); the aspirant writer Byron (Rob Brown); the performer Abalone (Monet Mazur); the just graduated student and surfer Brad (Eric Lively); and Rick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Will the show be well-succeeded?

"Live!" is a drama with a great storyline that shows how far a TV might dare to go to increase the audience that loves to see tragedies and other bloody event. Unfortunately the idea of making of a documentary is unoriginal and serves only to make a cheaper movie, with a terrible camera work. The conclusion is not a surprise for a society that worships weapons. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Ao Vivo!" ("Live!")