FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 8.0 Alternative Scale: ***1/2 out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: beginning 10/3/97 (limited) Running Length: 1:22 MPAA Classification: PG (Nothing offensive) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Featuring: Dave Hoover, George Mendonca, Ray Mendez, Rodney Brooks Director: Errol Morris Producer: Errol Morris Cinematography: Robert Richardson Music: Caleb Sampson U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Perhaps you have the same reaction to documentaries that I do. In general, they aren't my favorite type of movie, and it's usually only with a degree of reluctance that I see even a highly praised member of the genre. Despite my misgivings, however, I almost always come away educated and intrigued, provided, of course, that the film maker has a clear idea of what he or she is doing. And, in the case of Errol Morris, the man who made one of the best-ever documentaries (THE THIN BLUE LINE), the strength of presentation couldn't be more apparent.
FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL isn't much like any of Morris' other well-known films -- GATES OF HEAVEN (about a pet cemetery), THE THIN BLUE LINE (about a murder), and A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME (about science, space, and infinity). In fact, at first glance, this movie appears startlingly unambitious by comparison -- the kind of project one might encounter any night on PBS or the Discovery Channel. But there's more to FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL than initially meets the eye. Not only is there a great deal of craft involved in the film's production, but its underlying themes are compelling and universal.
The basic framework for FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL has Morris interviewing four men with unique, but not terribly interesting, professions. Dave Hoover is a wild animal trainer who works with lions and tigers in the circus ring. George Mendonca is the topiary gardener (the person who sculpts hedges into lifelike shapes) for Green Animals' Gardens. Ray Mendez is a mole-rat specialist (mole-rats are hairless mammals that live in insect-like colonies). And Rodney Brooks is a robot scientist who works in an artificial intelligence lab at M.I.T. All four of these individuals are among the best in their respective fields, and it's their passion for their jobs, rather than anything especially startling or hypnotic about the work itself, that piques our interest.
As we watch, however, we become aware that, by structuring FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL as he does, Morris is doing far more than merely presenting a series of talking-head interviews. By piecing the film together with fast cuts and sequences where the soundtrack of one interview overlaps images depicting the activities of another of the subjects, Morris explores at least two intriguing, interrelated themes: the evolution of humankind and our never-ending attempt to control our environment.
Contrast is a critical element. Hoover, with his wild animals and his stories about serial film star Clyde Beatty, belongs to a business (the circus) that is losing out to the glitz of modern-day entertainment. Likewise, Mendonca is one of the last of a dying breed. On the other hand, Mendez, with his observations about how the survival instincts of mole-rats exceed those of humans, and Brooks, who postulates that robots may ultimately outlive their creators, are men whose skill and knowledge place them on the road to the future. Shaped by an ever-changing cultural and technical climate, jobs, like people, evolve. By telling all four stories, Morris gives us a sense of what will be lost and what may be gained as time moves on. FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL functions as a requiem for the past and a nod to the future.
One thing that never changes, however, is man's desire to regulate everything around him. Brooks speaks of his robots being the forerunners of a new breed of silicon-based life form that may eventually render our species extinct. Despite his assertion that he is only an observer, Mendez takes an important role in shaping the existence of his mole-rats, hoping to learn more about himself through their actions. Hoover's entire livelihood is based on mastering creatures that are more powerful and dangerous than himself. And even the mild-mannered Mendonca alters the course of nature by twisting and shaping bushes into works of art. In one way or another, all four are playing god.
Still, if you're a reluctant documentary-goer like me, there's probably only one question that you want answered: what's so special about a movie than interviews a no-name lion tamer, a no-name hedge trimmer, a no-name vermin photographer (with a funny bow-tie), and a no- name robot scientist? The answer, simply and succinctly, is Errol Morris, who has the talent to give meaning to even the most apparently- mundane material. Spending time with the four subjects of FAST, CHEAP & OUT OF CONTROL isn't just an opportunity to learn about what they do, but, surprisingly, a chance to understand a little more about our place in the universe.
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@mail.cybernex.net
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"The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it..."
- Jean-Luc Godard
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