Capturing The Friedmans

jokerspath · June 16, 2003, 02:55:54 PM

I'm not sure if this has already been posted (I couldn't find a different one) but has anyone seen this film? I enjoyed it...

I just snagged a synopsis offline:
"This documentary "captures" the experience of a family in crisis, through the actual home video movies of the Friedmans, a seemingly average upper-middle-class Jewish family in Great Neck, NY whose world was changed disastrously when the father and son were charged with horrible crimes of child molestation in 1987. In the 1980s, Arnold Friedman was a high school science teacher who taught elementary school children computer classes in his home where his wife also ran a toddler childcare group, which made him one of the first teachers to establish a computer education curriculum for children that young. Their lives changed, however, when the U.S. Postal Service began investigating Arnold and his family, which led to the eventual charges that he and his 18-year-old son Jesse had committed dozens of acts of a sexual nature. The media saturated the airwaves with coverage of the event, but some of the best footage was shot by the family themselves... which is seen publicly for the first time in this documentary."

I think the trailer might be available at http://www.capturingthefriedmans.com/main.html

***

Just wondering if anyone had seen this as well and what did they think of it...

aw

children with angels · June 16, 2003, 03:04:44 PM

I've never even heard of this film, but that is one great website. This looks really interesting...

bonanzataz · June 16, 2003, 03:34:49 PM

i heard about it. i live right near great neck, so they publicize it on local news channels.

filmcritic · June 18, 2003, 05:09:12 PM

If anyone out there has seen it, can someone please tell me why it's rated NR (Not Rated). Is the content too graphic to be rated R? Or did the MPAA just not rate it because they didn't see it? I'm gonna be going to Dallas Thursday to see that and a couple of other movies. Can anyone under 18 get into it?

dufresne · June 19, 2003, 03:14:55 PM

i saw this last night at my local cinema. it is a very well-made film, but obviously the subject matter is very disturbing. at no time did i feel comfortable watching this film, because when it isn't going into detail about the allegations, we are witnesses to a textbook dysfunctional family that is falling apart before our eyes.

i found it really interesting how the Friedman's captured absolutely everything on home video. it seems like that was the only way they could really let out their real emotions. it also seemed like a release for them. some people write in journals, some confide in friends...the Friedman's used a video camera.

as far as why it's NR, i really don't know.

Ghostboy · June 21, 2003, 01:05:27 AM

I saw it this evening, and agree completely with what Dufresne said. It's a good film, but it's almost unbearably unpleasant. I know everyone who is in it consented to be filmed, but I still felt very voyeuristic. I snuck into a few minutes of Bend It Like Beckham afterwards to cheer up.

It's sort of like the pedophile storyline in 'Happiness,' except that it doesn't have the cushion of fiction. It forces you to deal with your feelings on the matter in a more blunt manner. The revalation that the dad's brother is gay at the end of the film also raises a whole new set of problems.

One of the complaints about The Blair Witch Project was that the characters always were filming everything in the worst situations. That's sort of the case here too, and it's all real. It's amazing how much footage the family shot...I imagine the inception of the documentary was at least partially based around that.

filmcritic · June 21, 2003, 12:15:58 PM

I agree that it's very unpleasent, unsettling, disturbing and dark. But I also found it to be interesting how the court cases continued and how they came out. What makes it so upsetting is that we are looking at a family falling apart before our very eyes. I suppose it got the NR rating because of the subject matter and nothing more. I snuck into it in Dallas on the first day of it's release. While it's not for everyone, this is a great documentary that is always compelling and involving to watch.

jokerspath · June 23, 2003, 08:48:37 AM

Quote from: GhostboyI snuck into a few minutes of Bend It Like Beckham afterwards to cheer up.

Haha, I snuck into Spellbound afterwards, which was on an entirely different wavelength (as in cheery and positive)...

aw

Mesh · June 24, 2003, 11:35:03 AM

Quote from: GhostboyThe revalation that the dad's brother is gay at the end of the film also raises a whole new set of problems.

Let's explore this further; it's an angle I tried to think about post-film didn't get too far with.

Describe this "whole new set of problems" as you see it....

BTW: of the 5 new films of 2003 I've seen, Capturing the Friedmans is by far the best.

pete · July 08, 2003, 07:21:43 PM

I thought this film was beautiful. some scenes in there were just heartbreaking. but the film does follow a pretty recognizable tragic arc, even up until the "redemption" in the end. that's why I think it's a beautiful film. I dunno, I wasn't really that disturbed because the film really isn't about the details of the crimes, the only "graphic description" of the crime in the film were testimonies from obviously unreliable sources, therefore it's a lot easier to dismiss them and not picture them.

BrainSushi · July 09, 2003, 12:12:29 AM

I saw it this weekend with my mom... man, I liked this film, but felt weird sitting next to her as this guy explained "leap frog."

Anyway, I really loved it, but the entire epilogue (which doesn't have that much talking in it) was ruined by an old guy sitting behind us, who, more or less, explained the entire movie he'd just seen to his wife... and she saw it too!! For God sakes, wait for the movie to end completely to do that in your loud, raspy whisper!!!

Anway, I thought it was interesting how it actually started out as a documentary on New York's most successful party clown, David Friedman... then the director found out who his dad was... and about all those videos... and well... there you have it, a really great movie!

Ghostboy · July 09, 2003, 01:18:20 AM

Did you guys know the director, Andrew Jarecki, created Moviefone, and sold it to whoever runs it now for nearly 400 million? Now THERE'S a way to finance a movie (or ten).

pete · July 09, 2003, 01:27:23 AM

I think he's the brother of eugene jarecki who did the trials of henry kissinger.

snaporaz · September 29, 2003, 07:25:19 AM

i saw it while i was in austin a few days ago.

while i agree with some of the comments here that it was severely disturbing, uncomfortable, and at times beautiful, i felt it was way too long. some of the parts in the movie just went on forever, never really evolving the story. but on the whole, it was extremely fascinating. some of the people in it, i wanted to crack their fucking heads open, especially the zealot cops, or that prick in sillouhette in the jean shorts - i could just tell he was a fucking liar. not that i believe the friedmans, but you could tell some of the people in the film were simply just out to get them.

and i found it extremely odd that david [was it david? i mean the clown one] seemed to be so enraged and defensive about his family, while the accused brother and father were so calm throughout the movie. while david was trying to save every last bit of normalcy to his family, albeit acting like a complete psychopath.

i also didn't believe howard, arnold's brother, when he said he doesn't remember arnold fucking him. but that revelation, right there when the wife mentioned it, i almost jumped out of my seat.

when jesse got out of prison and met his mother...i was kinda moved.

anyways. great flick. extremely compelling and unhealthfully disturbing. however i felt it was stagnant for long periods a few times throughout the run. maybe thirty minutes too long.

7 1/2 /10

on a sidenote, i ran into harry knowles while walking into the cinema. heh.

abuck1220 · February 02, 2004, 03:26:55 PM

just caught this on dvd...pretty great.

one thing that was really interesting to me was the father's demeanor...SPOILERS...he never really said much throughout the film to proclaim his innocence. now, i'm of the opinion that he didn't molest any kids in his basement, BUT i think he may have done it in the past and there was a good chance that he'd do it in the future.

...and i got the weird feeling that he felt the same way...he didn't really do what he was actually being punished for, but rather what he'd done in the past or to prevent him from doing things in the future. he was certainly an interesting character.