I was excited to watch this film about Johannesburg. After all, I was there last year and loved much of what I saw. Of course, with the highest murder and rape rate in the world, there also is a lot to fear in parts of the city. It's really an exciting and scary place at the same time--and I was eager to hear the film's insight into the city.
The filmmakers thought they were being clever when they made "Unhinged: Surviving Jo'Burg". To show you just how big and frenetic the pace is in Johannesburg, the film deliberately is delivered in a very, very, very fast-paced manner in the first five minutes or so. It does slow down--but NEVER is the normal pacing of any documentary. Additionally, the music is often cacophonous and discordant. The overall effect is to push you as far as the film can--and I am sure many folks will just turn it off and watch something else. This is a shame, as Jo-burg and South Africa are interesting topics--and talking about the good and the bad is important in this post-apartheid world. But with the film assaulting your senses almost constantly, I really hated the film's style. One of the more questionable uses of music was the music of Daniel Johnston--a man who is NOT South African but an American diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder!! And, playing some of Johnston's weirder songs just made the film a chore to watch. Overall, a GREAT topic but the subject matter is delivered in such a painfully hip manner that it just lost me. Perhaps you could get more out of this---it just made me frantic.
The filmmakers thought they were being clever when they made "Unhinged: Surviving Jo'Burg". To show you just how big and frenetic the pace is in Johannesburg, the film deliberately is delivered in a very, very, very fast-paced manner in the first five minutes or so. It does slow down--but NEVER is the normal pacing of any documentary. Additionally, the music is often cacophonous and discordant. The overall effect is to push you as far as the film can--and I am sure many folks will just turn it off and watch something else. This is a shame, as Jo-burg and South Africa are interesting topics--and talking about the good and the bad is important in this post-apartheid world. But with the film assaulting your senses almost constantly, I really hated the film's style. One of the more questionable uses of music was the music of Daniel Johnston--a man who is NOT South African but an American diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder!! And, playing some of Johnston's weirder songs just made the film a chore to watch. Overall, a GREAT topic but the subject matter is delivered in such a painfully hip manner that it just lost me. Perhaps you could get more out of this---it just made me frantic.
