Review of Cinema Verite (2011) by Spencer S — 22 Jan 2012

The story of the dirtbag producer who takes advantage of the sensibilities of people to make a fast buck is a commonplace story, but when its a true story, and one about the first reality show family you sit up and pay attention.

The original process of reality television comes to life in this beautifully wrought film, using some of the original footage of the show and interviews the family went on to air their grievances. An American Family was a 10 hour special on PBS and was the first time a regular family was shown in the same introspective capacity as the natives of National Geographic.

The family is a dippy liberal set from California, the mother a self aware but open individual who is described as too old for woman's lib but too young to be a frumpy housewife. She is portrayed by Diane Lane, and shown as a mother who is torn between her children, her philandering husband, and pleasing Craig Gilbert (Gandolfini) by giving him the most naked of footage of her family but still retaining a realistic view that doesn't degrade them in any way.

She is naive to the process of film editing and the manipulative way Craig is twisting her emotions so she'll turn on her husband and give a performance that will make good television. Her children have the typical goals of seventies teens, including forming a popular rock band and seeing the world.

Kudos go to Thomas Dekker who plays the flamboyantly gay son of the Louds who lives in New York and frequently feels embroiled in the judgment of the public but never of his family. They accept him for who he is, while his mother also doesn't want to completely give up her son for who he really is for the public eye to watch over.

Though much of the conflict is typical of these kind of stars in their eyes protagonists, it's the family itself and Lane's hinging performance that make this so encapsulating. The ending is a little anti-climactic, but perhaps that's just because there just wasn't enough story to tell.

Though it covers the backlash against the Loud family it still could have gone farther. For such a pointed story, Lane really brought everything upon herself to make this film the gem that it is.