Forgotten Silver

This life of a forgotten New Zealander at the dawn of movies is very knowing and loving. Its weirdly right on target with the way things were done by the maverick film makers of the day. Its also very funny and touching and a really good way to spend 53 minutes. I'm baffled that people actually thought this was real since there are numerous clues, nay, out right examples of why this couldn't be real, how the young film maker made movies years before anyone else is actually quite silly.

If can see this on the DVD since the extras add to the magic of the film. Chief among them is the making of documentary that tells you and shows you how they did what they did. In strange way thats even better than the film itself.

That said this is probably a renter rather than a keeper, but it should be on the must see list especially f you love old movies and movie history.

Peter Jackson and Costa Boeates decided to make this great mockumentary about a man called Colin McKenzie, a man who invented such things as color film, audio film and above all, made the first full length feature movie.

Apparently it was quite a successful hoax in New Zealand, people really did buy it. And I really can't blame them, as most of the fabricated film material really looks like almost hundred years old, almost destroyed film.

And there are some very convincing famous film people, like Sam Neil, telling their knowledge of this McKenzie.

Even the tone of the film isn't actually very funny, even thought there are some things in it that are so absurd, that they make you laugh.

Over all well made mockumentary.

This mockumentary starts out tame but becomes slowly more and more ridiculous. Despite being completely fictional, it shows his story quite well and in an engaging and unfolding way.

This hour-long documentary details the amazing work of the nearly unknown Colin McKenzie, the first man to film movies with sound or in color. He documented the first man to ever fly (before the Wright Brothers, even!) and filmed a biblical epic on a massive set he built single handedly in the mountainous forests of New Zealand. So why haven't you heard of him? It might be because most people are biased against New Zealand film-makers, or it could be because this movie is entirely fictitious.

The very real, very brilliant director Peter Jackson fashioned this very funny and touching film for New Zealand television, and it's worth checking out for many reasons. First of all, it's technically amazing- the vintage film scenes are very convincing and well thought out. Second of all, the movie is very funny, including the hilarious antics of Stan the Man, a mean spirited prankster who is kind of like Tom Green, only much less annoying because he's silent. Finally, this movie has real heart, and gets you to care about the eccentric MacKenzie. As a bonus, this movie also features (an was co-conceived by) the guy from "Bad Taste" who threw the pine cone at Derik.

This movie is kind of hard to find, but well worth hunting down, especially if you are a fan of Jackson's work (and everyone should be).

Colin Mckenzie was a brilliant New Zealand filmmaker who FINALLY got his due from Peter Jackson's brilliant documentary, "Forgotten Silver". Mckenzie seems to have inspired Jackson quite amusingly, because you can totally see some of the elements used from his 'Salome', (Which I attended the world premiere of it's restoration) in his Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. In Forgotten Silver, Jackson intertwines footage from Griffiths' early movies and his masterpiece Salome, with interviews and a fascinating trek into New Zealand wilderness to try to find the sets used in 'Salome'. It's all quite interesting and absorbing. I admire Jackson for unearthing this silent movie master (which actually I knew about before this movie came out), and await when Salome comes out on DVD!

ps Yes, I did get the joke ;)