Review of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) by Art S — 18 Apr 2015

It must be fun, although painstaking, to make documentaries. The film would almost have to come together in the editing room, from hundreds of hours of footage. But there's so much crap out there and seemingly more docos than fiction films on Netflix, so it can't be easy to do it right or to make a buck.

You have to have the right idea. Seth Gordon started out to make a film about competitive videogaming on classic games (donkey kong, centipede, defender, etc.) but stumbled into a rivalry between world champion mullethead Billy Mitchell and suburban Seattle dad Steve Wiebe to have their name in the Guinness Book as Donkey Kong master.

Each contender is dutifully given some backstory and characterized (as almost good vs. evil) and the film builds tension along the way to their showdown. It is highly amusing - but is it real? Apparently, some lines were crossed to tell a good story.

This may be what Werner Herzog does but his attempts to get at the real reality seem less concerned with narrative structure and emotional manipulation and more interested in capturing perfect zen moments that create strange thoughts in your brain.

As it should be.