A Little Film About Friendship
Joel and Trent are the kind of duo that's just fun to watch, no matter what they're doing-even if, truthfully, there's not much actual substance to this documentary.
A documentary should tell something, and on that note, Joel has made one before that I absolutely loved: I Don't Know Where I'm Going. What makes his documentaries so engaging is the visual quality and the precision of the staging, even though-technically-there shouldn't be any staging at all. But let's be real: to film that shot of them walking among the rocks, Joel had to go ahead, set up the tripod, hit record, walk back, and then do the scene. So, it's a documentary that's not quite a documentary. And that doesn't necessarily make it any less compelling-he's a filmmaker, and when documenting his life, he doesn't handle the camera in the raw, unpolished way Caleb does. He applies his own style. In the end, it's closer to docu-fiction than pure documentary.
Shot/reverse shot means the scene was filmed at least twice. And that's fine. The issue is that the one genuinely interesting discussion-the one that transcends just watching two funny guys goofing around-is almost thrown away. At one point, on the beach, Joel says, "Before, when we had fun, we just had fun. Now we're still having fun, but there's almost a work aspect to it-because our job is to film ourselves having fun. So even when the cameras are off, that thought lingers in the background."
And that's such a fascinating realization because it applies to so many people. So many, for one reason or another, end up monetizing their relationships. Some don't even get actual money out of it-just attention, which is still a form of exploitation. And yet, this insight is given to us from behind, almost in passing. Meanwhile, a much less universal thought-about how Joel hates the city he's in but loves the people he's with-is delivered front and center.
Which... fine, whatever. But for the love of God, at least manage your shutter speed. What's up with those flickery lines?
