When the DVD arrived to replace the VHS
in the home cinema market, one of the ways that distributors marketed the new
format was by including ‘extras’ that would be includable due to the increased
memory of the disc. One of the most
obvious features to include (and still is) was unseen footage and
behind-the-scenes shorts to give people more of an insight into their favourite
films. This in turn then made a whole
generation of viewers more interested in filmmaking and the technical process.
Films about films (or meta-documentaries
if you will) are hardly new (look at Heart of Darkness, the film about
Apocalypse Now), yet now in the age of cheap and high quality digital, it would
be crazy not to collect footage alongside a feature to share with your audience
so it is not just classics that get documented.
Quite often, non-fiction films that give an insight into the process and
characters can be more interesting that the actual feature being made.
This is where Kung Fu Elliot comes in.
Elliot Scott is an amateur filmmaker
from Nova Scotia that dreams of being Canada’s answer to Bruce Lee, Jean Claude
Van Damme and Chuck Norris. He knows a
little bit of Karate, can’t write or direct and only owns a crappy camcorder,
and yet he is charming enough to convince the people around him to help him
make his films – no-one more so than his long suffering Chinese/American girlfriend
Linda, who is arguably the real hero of Matthew
Bauckman & Jaret Belliveau’s
film.
KFE is in the same vein as American Movie – a documentary about 9mm
horror director Mark Borchardt – or Worst Best Movie – a film about the
resurrection of Troll 2. All of these
examples are of great films, which are made about rubbish films.
Elliot’s best friend, and trusty actor, is
Blake Zwicker - A man who doesn’t want to compare himself to Brando, but with
the right training thinks that he ‘can be just as good’ – is a lot like Mike in
American Movie: terrible actors but
brilliant at telling stories. Blake
get’s the most touching moment in the film when he is genuinely talking about
his late wife, and yet I imagine the irony might be lost on him if you said
that this was his best ‘performance’.
Because of Linda’s Chinese heritage, and
because of Elliot’s obsession with Martial Arts, in the centre of the film they
go to China in order to shoot some footage and meet with some Monks (who actually know Kung Fu). My favourite single shot in the film is of
the laugh a monk gives when Elliot claims that he has spent 20 years learning
Karate… But here is also where Elliot’s
potential interest in other women is explored.
Due to Elliot’s wild imagination and tendency
to manipulate the truth (ahem), he and Linda inevitably end up occasionally
having incredibly fiery rows - And just as the film is making you question the
ethics of the filmmakers sat by watching these moments they suddenly intervene
and the tension level absolutely skyrockets.
The outburst of drama is so palpable that I was completely stunned and
couldn’t believe what I was seeing. For
that alone, this film is worth watching – even if at moments you begin to
question why it is worth paying attention to someone like Elliot (which I
personally never did), then it is crucial to watch until the end.
Elliot’s ambition and obsession with
making films is mostly admirable and something that he believes in, but on the
other hand his narcissistic fantasies of stardom and fame are the worst kind of
selfishness, causing pain and discomfort for all around him. Only a egomaniac would act so naturally
arrogant on camera anywhere, and kudos to the filmmakers for managing to
capture this footage with such objectivity.
But liking the central character is not
what Kung Fu Elliot is about. It is about the crazy lengths that some people
go to to tell stories, and about the lies that people tell themselves in order
to believe that those stories are worth hearing…
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