Design © 1998-2008 Ken Kocanda |
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| Music after Katrina | ||||
| Hurricane on the Bayou | ||||
| Review by Ross Anthony | ||||
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This review is based on a rough-cut screening in April 2006. Wow! Even unfinished, this is a powerful piece of cinematography, nature, story telling, and history. I was pretty much blown away with the big huge shots of the devastation and large scale reconstruction efforts. This is a situation that needed the big screen to be comprehended. We all saw it on our little TV sets. We saw images of flooding and tragedy over and over, day after day. But our little TV's just couldn't communicate the scale -- even if we watched it 24 hours a day for a month. If you want a more actual size understanding of Katrina's devastation on the people of the New Orleans area and beyond -- see this film. For this very reason, however, you may worry that the large format filmmakers are simply being opportunistic. That is not the case at all. They started filming in New Orleans prior to Katrina. The film follows four local musicians -- their heart connection with the area, the wetlands, and how Katrina toppled their lives. The film feels very genuine, personal, and bold. It's colossal in its imagery, and quite warm in its coverage. The rough-cut is like an early rough draft. It still had elements that were missing -- sometimes the screen went black where soon-to-be acquired film should be. This is normal for a rough-cut. Oddly, I felt these "black outs" worked quite well to communicate the feeling of overwhelming destruction. I recommend it highly and have only one suggestion. Since the Mississippi soot situation seems to be quite a problem -- I would like to have it better explained. |
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Grade..........................A (3.5/4) |
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Copyright © 1998-2008. In addition to reviewing films and interviewing celebs at HollywoodReportCard.com, traveling the world, composing great music, motivational speaking, Ross Anthony also runs his own publishing company in the Los Angeles area. While traversing the circumference of the planet writing books and shooting documentaries, Ross has taught, presented for, worked &/or played with locals in over thirty countries. He's bungee-jumped from a bridge near Victoria Falls, wrestled with lions in Zimbabwe, crashed a Vespa off a high mountain road in Taiwan, and ridden a dirt bike across the States (coast to coast). To get signed books by Ross or schedule him to speak check out: www.RossAnthony.com or call 1-800-767-7186. Was this review helpful? (Include your email if you'ld like a response.)
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