| Tuesday, March 27, 2007 |
| THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED |
What is this program? showbiz documentary
When and where? premieres March 31, 11 p.m., on IFC
Who should watch this program? free-speech advocates, pornographers
So how is it? Perhaps it's the perpetual drone of talking heads (John Waters, Allison Anders, Kevin Smith, et al) or maybe the incessant self-righteous indignation, but IFC's This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a history of unfairness by the Motion Picture Association of America's G-through-NC-17 movie-rating system, feels like just another sour sermon. Sure, the MPAA rates explicit violence "R" and explicit nudity "NC-17" (to the detriment of marketing, distribution, and profitability), but what else is new? The one inspired element of this production is director Kirby Dick's hiring of private investigators to uncover the identities of the MPAA's secret cabal. He then submits this very documentary for an MPAA rating, with the raters' identities revealed. That's ballsy. But, while the parade of commentators make salient points (it's an arbitrary system, allegedly protecting children while "turning us all into children," says Newsweek film critic David Ansen), it's all been said before. Nobody watching this program is rooting for censorship. It's on the Independent Film Channel!
Do you want to save this program or delete? DELETELabels: documentary, IFC |
posted by Derek Thomas @ 3/27/2007  |
|
|
|
