Errol Morris is easily the most famous documentarian around. His following is somewhat ridiculous. Being the foremost documentarian, it is easy to recognize his faults, as well as his strengths. I have seen several of his films, Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, Mr. Death, and many episodes of his television show First Person. I don't think he's ever produced a masterpiece, or even a great film, for the cinema. Personally, I think he is at his most successful with First Person. His most successful films, IMO, are Mr. Death and The Thin Blue Line. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control is the pinnacle of what Morris was going for in films like Vernon Florida and Gates of Heaven, that is, documentaries featuring several interviewees with an abstact theme developing in the background. Personally, although it has great critical support, especially with Roger Ebert, I find Gates of Heaven to be an awful film. It's the least coherent documentary I've ever seen. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control is good, but it seems more like an exercise than a real film. Its themes and points are there, but they are labored. The reason I like Mr. Death and The Thin Blue Line best is because they are concentrated on one subject. I can see what Morris wants to do with Vernon, Florida. It is a series of interviews with eccentric individuals from a small town in Florida. Most are elderly and retired. We have a turkey hunter, a priest, a bored police officer, and a couple who believes that sand grows amongst many others. This seems to me like an attempt to show that everyone has their story or that everyone has something interesting to say. This documentary doesn't really work, but there are several scenes that are very interesting or entertaining. It could use subtitles, because almost all of these people are only semi-coherent. I like this film much better than Gates of Heaven. It's not nearly as messy as that thing. Still, this is a flop. 5/10.
Review of Vernon, Florida
